Tag: solar system

Our solar system

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Our solar system is something to behold! It consists of a star [the sun], eight planets including the one we are currently residing on aka planet Earth, moons, dwarf planets and asteroids, all of which gravitate around it[1].

The planets in size order[2]:

  1. Mercury (2,440 km / 1,516 miles) – 38% the size of Earth
  2. Mars (3,390 km / 2,460 miles) – 53% the size of Earth
  3. Venus (6,052 km / 3,761 miles) – 95% the size of Earth
  4. Earth (6,371 km / 3,959 miles)
  5. Neptune (24,622 km / 15,299 miles) – 388% the size of Earth
  6. Uranus (25,362 km / 15,759 miles) – 400% the size of Earth
  7. Saturn (58,232 km / 36,184 miles) – 945% the size of Earth
  8. Jupiter (69,911 km / 43,441 miles) – 1,120% the size of Earth

[1] NASA, ‘Solar System Exploration’ (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) <https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/> accessed 15 April 2020; [2] Elizabeth Howell, ‘The Planets in Our Solar System in Order of Size’ (Universe Today, 21 April 2014) <www.universetoday.com/36649/planets-in-order-of-size/> accessed 15 April 2020; [3] Kimberly Williams, ‘NASA Selects New Research Teams to Further Solar System Exploration Research’ (NASA, 17 March 2017) <https://www.nasa.gov/ames/press-release/nasa-selects-new-research-teams-to-further-solar-system-exploration-research/> accessed 3 May 2020

So far, rocketing from planet Earth into space, there has been over 300 robotic spacecraft which includes 24 astronauts who have orbited the moon[4]. To date our solar system is the only one known to support life[5]. I recommend following NASA’s Facebook page and checking out their website. I am all about the space pics, their planet photos are absolutely stunning! Do follow a few astronauts’ pages too.

Reviewing what goes on in our solar system reminds me of the majesty of God as it is not man made; we are still exploring and trying to understand what is out there. Galaxies, space, etc, helps me to acknowledge that my understanding of how and why things are is limited. When I am grappling with history or the present through what I have researched, viewed, been taught, or experiencing I know I just have a snapshot of a grand plan, but that really is it just snapshots. I feel like I may butcher this hypothetical, but someone once told me something like, “trying to understand everything God does/allows is like you being blind-folded and being brought to a leg of a very large elephant having never seen one before, and thinking that you going around touching it gives you a full understanding of what it looked like.”

[4] NASA, ‘Solar System Exploration’ (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) <https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/> accessed 15 April 2020; [5] NASA, ‘Solar System Exploration’ (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) <https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/> accessed 15 April 2020