The Solar System: 10 Coolest Facts Every Student Should Know

1. The Sun holds 99.86% of the Solar System’s mass - Everything else—planets, moons, asteroids—makes up less than 0.14%.

2. Jupiter is a failed star - It has the same ingredients as a star but not enough mass to ignite nuclear fusion.

3. A day on Venus is longer than a year - Venus rotates extremely slowly, taking 243 Earth days for one rotation but 225 Earth days to orbit the Sun.

4. Mars has the tallest volcano in the Solar System - Olympus Mons is nearly 3 times taller than Mount Everest.

5. Saturn could float in water - It’s less dense than water—if you had a giant bathtub!

6. Neptune has supersonic winds - Winds reach speeds of over 2,000 km/h, faster than the speed of sound.

7. The Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth - Every year, it moves about 3.8 cm farther from us.

8. Pluto has a heart-shaped glacier - Called Tombaugh Regio, it’s made of nitrogen and ice.

9. Mercury has no atmosphere to protect it - So temperatures swing between +430°C during the day and –180°C at night.

10. There are more than 200 moons in our Solar System - Jupiter and Saturn lead with the most moons discovered so far.