Solar System Clipart Pictures

The solar system consists of the Sun and everything that orbits around it. This includes the eight planets and their moons, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets and other objects. The Sun lies at the center of the solar system and provides heat and energy that powers the planets and other objects.

Overview of the 8 Planets

There are eight major planets that orbit the Sun. In order from closest to farthest from the Sun, they are:

Mercury – The smallest planet, covered in craters and with no atmosphere
Venus – Similar in size to Earth, with a toxic atmosphere
Earth – The only planet known to harbor life
Mars – Called the red planet for its rusty soil, with polar ice caps
Jupiter – The largest planet, with a giant red storm called the Great Red Spot
Saturn – Famous for its spectacular rings
Uranus – Tilted on its side and cold enough to have methane rain
Neptune – Windiest planet, with fast moving storms

The Inner vs. Outer Planets

The four inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are terrestrial or rocky planets. They are smaller and denser than the four outer planets. The outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are gas giants composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. Beyond Neptune lies the Kuiper Belt and scattered disc, home to dwarf planets like Pluto.

Dwarf Planets like Pluto

Dwarf planets are smaller than regular planets but still orbit the Sun. Notable dwarf planets include:

Pluto – Once considered the 9th planet, Pluto has an odd elliptical orbit that crosses inside Neptune’s orbit at times
Eris – At 96 miles wide, it is actually more massive than Pluto
Makemake – A red dwarf planet further out than Pluto
Haumea – An unusual football-shaped dwarf planet with two moons

The Sun at the Center

The Sun accounts for 99.8% of all the mass in our solar system. It is a huge ball of gases, plasma and reactions. The Sun produces energy from nuclear fusion reactions in its core. This energy radiates out into space in all directions, powering all the planets and maintaining life on Earth.

Interesting Moons like Europa and Titan

Many planets have one or more orbiting moons. Some of the most fascinating include:

Europa – An ice covered moon of Jupiter that likely has subsurface ocean Titan – Saturn’s largest moon, with lakes, rivers and even rain made of methane Enceladus – Active geysers were found on Saturn’s icy moon Io – Jupiter’s moon Io has extreme volcanic activity across its surface

These moons make intriguing candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Asteroid Belt and Comets

Between Mars and Jupiter lies the asteroid belt containing millions of rocky objects ranging from dust to dwarf planet-sized. Asteroids sometimes collide and fragment into smaller pieces, producing meteor showers when they enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Comets like Halley’s Comet have highly elliptical orbits bringing them close to the Sun. As they approach the Sun, they heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head and tail that can be seen from Earth.

Origins and Formation

Our solar system likely formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a giant, rotating cloud of gas and dust called a solar nebula. As gravity caused the cloud to contract, momentum conservation caused it to spin faster and flatten into a disk. Matter condensed in the center to form the Sun, while the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that clumped to form the planets and other objects.

Exploring the Solar System with Spacecraft

Various robotic spacecraft have explored most of the major solar system objects:

Mars rovers like Curiosity continue to explore the Martian surface
New Horizons flew by Pluto in 2015
Juno is orbiting Jupiter and studying its storms
Cassini orbited Saturn from 2004-2017, studying its rings and moons
Future missions like Europa Clipper will explore Jupiter’s moon

Solar System Clipart and Images

There is a wide variety of clipart, stock images, illustrations and diagrams used to represent the solar system, including:

Stylized images of the Sun and planets
Orbit diagrams showing relative positions and paths of objects
Spacecraft renderings and illustrations
Cartoon versions of planets with faces or as fictional characters
Photographs from spacecraft flown to different planets and moons
Charts of planetary statistics like size, mass, temperature, etc.

In this page clipartix present 52 solar system clipart images free for designing activities. Lets download Solar System Clipart that you want to use for works or personal uses.