Sol Planetary System Data

Planets1

Name of Planetary BodyOrbital Elements Orbital Period (years) Mass (ME) Number of Known Satellites Discovery
Semimajor Axis (AU)Eccentricity Discoverer NameAnnouncement Date
Mercury 0.38709930.20564 0.24084670.055270 ?Prehistoric
Venus 0.7233360.00678 0.615197260.815000 ?Prehistoric
Earth 1.0000030.01671 1.00001741.00001 --
Mars 1.523710.09339 1.88081580.107452 ?Prehistoric
Jupiter 5.20290.0484 11.862615317.8363 ?Prehistoric
Saturn 9.5370.0539 29.44749895.15961 ?Prehistoric
Uranus 19.1890.04726 84.01684614.50027 W. Herschel1781 Mar 13
Neptune 30.06990.00859 164.7913217.20413 J.C. Adams & U.J. LeVerrier1846 Sep 23
1 AU = 1.49597870700·1011 m            1 year = 365.25 days = 31557600 s            1 ME = 5.9742·1024 kg
All orbital characteristics are specified with respect to the Solar system's barycenter and the J2000.0 ecliptic

Dwarf Planets2

Name of Planetary BodyOrbital Elements Orbital Period (years) Mass (ME) Number of Known Satellites Discovery
Semimajor Axis (AU)Eccentricity Discoverer NameAnnouncement Date
Ceres 2.76580.078 4.599840.000160 G. Piazzi1801 Jan 1
Plutoids3
Pluto 39.48210.24883 248.02080.002205 C. Tombaugh1930 Mar 13
Haumea 43.340.189 285.40.000702 J. Ortiz, et al.2005 Jul 27
Makemake 45.790.159 309.90.00070 M. Brown, et al.2005 Jul 29
Eris 67.670.44177 557.20.002781 M. Brown, et al.2003 Oct 21

Small Bodies

333273 Numbered, 17301 Named

Asteroids
Rocky composition with few volatiles
Type of Asteroid Distinguishing Orbital Characteristics Number of Known Bodies
Atens a <1.0 AU Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs):
q < 1.017 AU and Q > 0.983 AU		 720
Apollos q < 1.0 AU 4484
Amors a < 1.3 AU Mars-Crossers:
q <1.617 AU and Q > 1.431 AU		 3767
Main Belt and other sub-categories 1.78 AU < a < 3.70 AU
(Main Belt: 2.1 AU < a < 3.27 AU)		 317518
Trojans 1:1 Resonance with a major planet; orbiting 60° ahead or behind the planet Martian: a = 1.524 AU 3
Jovian: a = 5.20 AU; e < 0.15 5162
Neptunian: a = 30.17 AU; e = 0.02 8

Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects
Kuiper belt objects that have migrated Sunward; Some cometary features
6.8 AU < q < 41 AU; Q > 8.7 AU 356 Known

Trans-Neptunian Objects
Kuiper Belt; Source of short-period comets
Some TNOs are in orbital resonance with Neptune
q > 30.1 AU; Q < ~70 AU 1251 Known

Oort Cloud
Source of long-period comets
q > ~70 AU; Q < ~105 AU 4 Known

Comets
Icy composition; mostly frozen volatiles; sublimating volatiles form gas and dust tails when near the Sun
Type of Comet Distinguishing Orbital Characteristics Number of Known Bodies
Short-Period P < 200 years; Small i More than 250 (At least seven have disappeared or been destroyed)
Long-Period P > 200 years, or Aperiodic; 0° < i < 180°  More than 2000 (At least 127 have disappeared or been destroyed)
In addition to those comets included above, three comets are known to have existed, for which meaningful orbits could not be determined
Much of the data given above has been compiled from, or calculated using data from, the following sources:
The International Astronomical Union has defined:
  1. a planet as a celestial body that
  2. a dwarf planet as a celestial body that
  3. a plutoid as a celestial body that
Copyright © 1996 Alexander J. Willman, Jr. All rights reserved.
The URL of this page is: http://www.princeton.edu/~willman/planetary_systems/Sol
This page was last updated: 2012 September 20
You may contact Alex at: willman@Princeton.EDU
Go Back to the table of Known Planetary Systems
Go Back to the list of Alex Willman's Recent Work
Go Back to Alex Willman's Home Page