| One light year: this is probably the only measure of | | | | is the interesting part; Jupiter has 63 moons that orbit it |
| distance that is pegged on a second albeit static | | | | and yet it is not the planet in the Solar System with the |
| component, the speed of light. Distances between | | | | most moons. That honor belongs to the ringed-planet |
| celestial bodies are so huge that using conventional | | | | Saturn, which has 66 moons identified so far. Pluto, the |
| measures of distance that we are so used to would | | | | farthest flung among the nine planets, has been the |
| prove difficult to conceptualize. Can you imagine a | | | | subject of heated debate on whether it really qualifies |
| distance of 9,460,730,472,580.8 kilometers? Mind | | | | to be considered a planet. Nowadays, it is classified as |
| numbing would be the term! A light year is the distance | | | | a dwarf planet. Its orbit around the Sun is somewhat |
| that light travels in one year. Remember that light | | | | heavily elliptical. In fact, there are instances where Pluto |
| travels at a speed of approximately 299,792 km per | | | | is actually closer to the Sun than Neptune, the planet |
| second. Even looking at the distance light travels in one | | | | that precedes it. |
| day in kilometers can be overwhelming and hence, the | | | | Now speaking of size within the Solar System, well, let |
| use of light years as a measure of the vast distances | | | | us just say that the Sun is unmatched. Did you know |
| in the universe. | | | | that the Sun comprises more than 99% of the total |
| The Earth is one of nine planets that form the Solar | | | | mass of the entire solar system? Jupiter actually takes |
| System, so called because the sun, the source of solar | | | | up much of the remaining proportion. Surface |
| energy, is the central point around which all the planets | | | | temperatures on the Sun stand at 5000 Kelvins (4727 |
| revolve. So far, scientists have not been able to | | | | degrees Celsius). With temperatures at its core |
| establish or prove the existence of life forms on any | | | | reaching a 15.6 million Kelvins (15.6 million Celsius), the |
| other planet within the solar system. Often, the search | | | | Sun is truly a celestial spectacle. It gets even better |
| for other life forms has focused on looking at the | | | | when one realizes that the Sun is classified as a class |
| climatic conditions of the celestial body in question. Of | | | | G star. Stars are classified in six major categories that |
| course, the assumption here is that life forms on any | | | | tie in to the surface temperature and brightness. The |
| other planet would require roughly the same type of | | | | categories are M, K, G, F, A, B and O listed in |
| conditions as life on earth, such as light, oxygen and | | | | ascending order brightness and surface temperature. |
| water, to survive. This may or may not be true. | | | | You can see that the Sun falls on the lower end of |
| Other than the sun, no other celestial body significantly | | | | this classification. Category B and O are rare in the |
| affects the earth as the moon does. It is well know | | | | universe while most stars are in the category M and |
| that the moon affects the rise and fall of the ocean | | | | emit less heat and light energy. That said, the Sun is |
| tide. Such is the effect of the gravitational pull between | | | | within the 90th percentile by mass among all stars. We |
| the earth and the moon. Jupiter is easily the largest | | | | have found other stars that are larger than our sun: |
| planet in our solar system. To put its size in context, | | | | one is estimated to be approximately 60,000 times |
| Jupiter is more than 300 times the mass of Earth. Here | | | | bigger. |