"Dwarf planet A dwarf planet is a planetary-mass object that is neither a true planet nor a natural satellite. That is, it is in direct orbit of a star, and is massive enough for its gravity to compress it into a hydrostatically equilibrious shape (usually a spheroid), but has not cleared the neighborhood of other material around its orbit. The term ""dwarf planet"" was adopted in 2006 as part of a three-way categorization of bodies orbiting the Sun, brought about by an increase in discoveries of objects farther away from the Sun than Neptune that rivaled Pluto in size, and"
"of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Comparatively, Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, has a semi-major axis distance of 0.39 AU. Proxima Centauri b receives about 65% of the amount of radiative flux from its host star that the Earth receives from the Sun - for comparison Mars receives about 43%. Most of the radiative flux from Proxima Centauri is in the infrared spectrum. In the visible spectrum the exoplanet receives only ~3% of the PAR (400-700 nm) of Earth irradiance - for comparison Jupiter receives 3.7% and Saturn 1.1%. So it would usually not get"
"Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. In the Solar System, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times the mass of Earth and slightly larger than Neptune. Neptune orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years at an average distance of . It is named after the Roman god of the sea and has the astronomical symbol ♆, a stylised version of the"
"given minimum mass. The planet has one of the longest orbits currently known for an extrasolar planet. The planet's mean distance from the star is close to the distance between Jupiter and the Sun. However, unlike Jupiter it has an eccentric orbit. At periastron the distance between the planet and the star is only 2.51 AU and at apastron the distance is as much as 5.33 AU (compared to the Solar System, distance from the Sun to the inner asteroid belt and from Sun to just beyond the orbit of Jupiter). The signal produced by the planet is very weak"
"that between Saturn and the Sun (11.2 AU). Alpha Centauri C, or Proxima Centauri, is a small and faint red dwarf (Class M). Though not visible to the naked eye, Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun at a distance of , being slightly closer than Alpha Centauri AB at a distance of . Currently, the distance between Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri AB is about , equivalent to about 430 times the radius of Neptune's orbit. Proxima Centauri b is an Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri; it was discovered in 2016. ""α Centauri"""
"Venus for the seventh and last time, decreasing its period to 88 or 89 days and allowing it to approach closer to the Sun. The perihelion distances above are from the center of the Sun. For altitude above the surface, subtract one solar radius ≈ 0.7 Gm.<br> By way of comparison, the planet Mercury orbits the Sun at a distance varying from about 46.0 Gm (46,001,200 km) at its closest to about 69.8 Gm (69,816,900 km) at its farthest. Parker Solar Probe Parker Solar Probe (previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plus, or Solar Probe+, abbreviated PSP) is a NASA robotic"
"Wisp or Light Sail type concepts). Such a system could grow organically if space-based solar power became a significant component of Earth's energy mix. Consumer demand for a multi-terawatt system would automatically create the necessary multi-million ton/year logistical system. Distances between the planets in the Solar System are often measured in astronomical units (AU), defined as the average distance between the Sun and Earth, some . Venus, the closest other planet to Earth is (at closest approach) 0.28 AU away. Neptune, the farthest planet from the Sun, is 29.8 AU away. As of January 2018, Voyager 1, the farthest man-made"
"to as ""volatiles"". The distance from Earth to the Sun is . For comparison, the radius of the Sun is . Thus, the Sun occupies 0.00001% (10 %) of the volume of a sphere with a radius the size of Earth's orbit, whereas Earth's volume is roughly one millionth (10) that of the Sun. Jupiter, the largest planet, is from the Sun and has a radius of , whereas the most distant planet, Neptune, is from the Sun. With a few exceptions, the farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger the distance between its orbit and"
"2018 VG18 , nicknamed ""Farout"", is a distant trans-Neptunian object. At an observed distance of ~ (more than three times the average distance of Pluto from the Sun, and nearly twice the average distance of Eris), as of December 2018 it is the most distant object in the Solar System ever observed (displacing the previous record holder, Eris, at 96 AU), and the first object discovered beyond , hence the nickname. However, it is not close to being the object with the most distant orbit on average, as its semi-major axis is only estimated to be about 95.2 AU (in"
"are gravitationally bound to the star. Almost all of the planets detected so far are within the Milky Way. Nonetheless, evidence suggests that extragalactic planets, exoplanets further away in galaxies beyond the local Milky Way galaxy, may exist. The nearest exoplanet is Proxima Centauri b, located 4.2 light-years (1.3 parsecs) from Earth and orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun. The discovery of exoplanets has intensified interest in the search for extraterrestrial life. There is special interest in planets that orbit in a star's habitable zone, where it is possible for liquid water, a prerequisite for life on"
"Proxima Centauri b Proxima Centauri b (also called Proxima b or Alpha Centauri Cb) is an exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, which is the closest star to the Sun and part of a triple star system. It is located about 4.2 light-years (1.3 parsecs, 40 trillion km, or 25 trillion miles) from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus, making it the closest known exoplanet to the Solar System. Proxima Centauri b orbits the star at a distance of roughly with an orbital period of approximately 11.2 Earth days, and has an estimated"
"Extragalactic planet An extragalactic planet, also known as an extragalactic exoplanet, is a star-bound planet, or rogue planet, located outside of the Milky Way galaxy. Due to the huge distances to such worlds, they would be very hard to detect directly. However, indirect evidence suggests that such planets may exist. Nonetheless, the most distant known planets are SWEEPS-11 and SWEEPS-04, located in Sagittarius, approximately 27,710 light-years from the Sun, while the Milky Way is between 100,000–180,000 light years in diameter. This means that even galactic planets located further than that distance have not been detected. A planet with a mass"
"moon Triton to be investigated around 2029. The proposed ""New Horizons 2"" mission (which was later scrapped) might also have done a close flyby of the Neptunian system. Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. In the Solar System, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times the mass of Earth and slightly larger than Neptune. Neptune orbits the Sun once every 164.8"
"approach to the Sun) is estimated to have occurred around September 2010. Aphelion (furthest distance from the Sun) is estimated to have occurred around February 2016. , the asteroid is estimated to be from Earth. Perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) may not occur again until August 2021. Orbits computed with only a handful of observations can be unreliable. Short observation arcs can result in computer generated orbits rejecting some data unnecessarily. The 2018 JPL orbit determination shows a semi-major axis of 4.9 AU (albeit with a large 20 AU uncertainty) which would be near Jupiter's orbit. Such an orbit"
"0.995 AU (or 700,000 km) closer to the star than Earth to the Sun, but its orbital eccentricity is much higher compared to Earth. At periastron, the planet’s closest distance to the star is 0.708 AU, which is slightly closer to the star than Venus to the Sun. At apastron, the planet’s farthest distance to the star is 1.283 AU, which is more than halfway between the orbits of Earth and Mars. 30 Arietis Bb 30 Arietis Bb (sometimes abbreviated 30 Ari Bb) is an extrasolar planet which orbits the F-type main sequence star 30 Arietis B, located in a"
"Distant minor planet A distant minor planet, or ""distant object"", is any minor planet found beyond Jupiter in the outer Solar System that is not commonly thought of as an ""asteroid"". The umbrella term is used by IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), which is responsible for the identification, designation and orbit computation of these objects. , the MPC maintains 3497 distant objects in its data base. Most distant minor planets are trans-Neptunian objects and centaurs, while relatively few are damocloids, Neptune trojans or Uranus trojans. All distant objects have a semi-major axis (average distance from the Sun) greater than 6"
"the heavens. In Hawaiian, its name is ""Hele‘ekala"", a loanword for the discoverer Herschel. In Māori, its name is ""Whērangi"". Uranus orbits the Sun once every 84 years. Its average distance from the Sun is roughly . The difference between its minimum and maximum distance from the Sun is 1.8 AU, larger than that of any other planet, though not as large as that of dwarf planet Pluto. The intensity of sunlight varies inversely with the square of distance, and so on Uranus (at about 20 times the distance from the Sun compared to Earth) it is about 1/400 the"
"Neso (moon) Neso ( ; Greek: ""Νησώ""), also known as Neptune XIII, is the outermost known natural satellite of Neptune. It is an irregular moon discovered by Matthew J. Holman, Brett J. Gladman, ""et al."" on August 14, 2002, though it went unnoticed until 2003. Neso orbits Neptune at a distance of more than 48 Gm (million km), making it (as of 2015) the most distant known moon of any planet. At apocenter, the satellite is more than 72 Gm from Neptune. This distance is great enough to exceed Mercury's aphelion, which is approximately 70 Gm from the Sun. Neso"
"It is by far the most distant and eccentric known asteroid orbiting the Sun, varying in its distance from the Sun over its orbit by 99.89% from slightly within the orbit of Jupiter, to more than 7,000 times Earth's distance to the Sun. While its orbit extends to the inner Oort cloud, it may not be a member of it, as it approaches very near to Saturn, implying Saturn has either captured a past Oort Cloud object onto this orbit, or it was a centaur ejected by Saturn from a much smaller orbit. However, it would be impossible to project"
"from extreme polar locations. Mars is at its brightest when it is in opposition, which occurs approximately every twenty-five months. Jupiter and Saturn are the largest of the five planets, but are farther from the Sun, and therefore receive less sunlight. Nonetheless, Jupiter is often the next brightest object in the sky after Venus. Saturn's luminosity is often enhanced by its rings, which reflect light to varying degrees, depending on their inclination to the ecliptic; however, the rings themselves are not visible to the naked eye from the Earth. Uranus and sometimes the asteroid Vesta are in principle visible to"
"Earth days and its orbital radius is only about 7% that of the Earth, about 11 million km, while the Earth is 150 million kilometres from the Sun. Since the host star is smaller and colder than the Sun—and thus less luminous—this distance places the planet on the ""warm"" edge of the habitable zone around the star according to Udry's team. Note that in astrophysics, the ""habitable zone"" is defined as the range of distances from the star at which a planet could support liquid water on its surface: it should not be taken to mean that the planet's environment"
"arcminutes across, but it would never be fainter than first magnitude, and at its closest would rival Canopus. A trans-Neptunian object is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance (semi-major axis) than Neptune, 30 astronomical units (AU). Pluto, accompanied by its largest moon Charon, orbits the Sun at a distance usually outside the orbit of Neptune except for a twenty-year period in each orbit. From Pluto, the Sun is point-like to human eyes, but still very bright, giving roughly 150 to 450 times the light of the full Moon from Earth"
"the Sun, which it orbits every 87.97 days. Kepler-9d Kepler-9d, formerly known as KOI-377.03, is a planet in orbit around the sunlike star Kepler-9. Initially discovered by Kepler spacecraft, a terrestrial planet-searching satellite built and operated by NASA, Kepler-9d is most likely a Super-Earth, with an estimated radius approximately 60% larger than that of Earth's, although its exact mass cannot be determined. Kepler-9d orbits Kepler-9 every 1.56 days at a distance of .0273 AU from its star, an extremely close distance. Although Kepler-9d is the closest planet to its star in its system, it is named Kepler-9d instead of Kepler-9b"
"close as to the Sun at its perihelion and take it as far away as at its aphelion. The aphelion, or farthest point from the Sun, would be in the general direction of the constellation of Taurus, whereas the perihelion, the nearest point to the Sun, would be in the general direction of the southerly areas of Serpens (Caput), Ophiuchus, and Libra. Brown thinks that if Planet Nine is confirmed to exist, a probe could fly by it in as little as 20 years with a powered slingshot around the Sun. The planet is estimated to have 10 times the"
"of its orbit, it is even farther from the Sun than at present, with its aphelion estimated at 937 AU (31 times Neptune's distance), making it one of the most distant-known objects in the Solar System other than long-period comets. Sedna has an exceptionally long and elongated orbit, taking approximately 11,400 years to complete and a distant point of closest approach to the Sun at 76 AU. These facts have led to much speculation about its origin. The Minor Planet Center currently places Sedna in the scattered disc, a group of objects sent into highly elongated orbits by the gravitational"
"than the Sun. WASP-15 is located at a distance of approximately 290 parsecs (900 light years), and it has an estimated apparent magnitude of 10.9. It is, thus, not visible from Earth with the unaided eye. WASP-15 is host to the planet WASP-15b. The planet, which is a Hot Jupiter, orbits its host star at a distance of 0.0499 AU every 3.7520656 days. WASP-15b was noted by its discoverers because of its anomalously high radius, which is 1.428 times that of Jupiter, compared to its mass, which is 0.542 times the size of Jupiter. WASP-15b's large radius cannot be explained"
"a higher proportion of carbon than in the Solar System. A 2012 study, analyzing gravitational microlensing data, estimates an average of at least 1.6 bound planets for every star in the Milky Way. On December 20, 2011, the Kepler Space Telescope team reported the discovery of the first Earth-size exoplanets, Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, orbiting a Sun-like star, Kepler-20. Around 1 in 5 Sun-like stars have an ""Earth-sized"" planet in the habitable zone, so the nearest would be expected to be within 12 light-years distance from Earth. The frequency of occurrence of such terrestrial planets is one of the variables in"
"and ""New Horizons"". The one farthest from the Sun is ""Voyager 1"", which is more than 100 AU distant and is moving at 3.6 AU per year. In comparison, Proxima Centauri, the closest star other than the Sun, is 267,000 AU distant. It will take ""Voyager 1"" over 74,000 years to reach this distance. Vehicle designs using other techniques, such as nuclear pulse propulsion are likely to be able to reach the nearest star significantly faster. Another possibility that could allow for human interstellar spaceflight is to make use of time dilation, as this would make it possible for passengers"
"X, Planet Next, or Giant Planet Five."" Planet Nine Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet in the outer region of the Solar System. Its gravity could explain the unlikely clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (eTNOs) that orbit beyond Neptune with average distances greater than 250 AU. These eTNOs tend to have their points of closest approach to the Sun clustered in one direction, and many of their orbits have a similar tilt. This evidence suggests that the gravity from a large undiscovered object is influencing the orbits of the most distant known Solar System objects."
"Kepler-20f Kepler-20f (also known by its Kepler Object of Interest designation ""KOI-70.05"") is an exoplanet orbiting the Sun-like star Kepler-20, the second outermost of five such planets discovered by NASA's ""Kepler"" spacecraft. It is located approximately 929 light-years (285 parsecs, or about km) from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The exoplanet was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured. The planet is notable as it has the closest radius to Earth known so far. Kepler-20f is very likely (>95% chance) a rocky"
"various long-period and hyperbolic comets are more distant, though all of these are much smaller bodies and not observable at such distances. Since the time of its discovery, the Voyager (""Voyager 1"", ""Voyager 2"") and ""Pioneer 10"" spacecraft have also been more distant; the Voyager probes are observable via their artificial radio transmissions. Observed Solar System objects that periodically become more distant than 103 AU from the Sun include Sedna (which is similar or modestly larger in size), , , , and . There are 726 known objects that have aphelia more than 103 AU from the Sun. This distance"
"the fifth planet from Kepler-11, Kepler-11f) at a distance of 0.462 AU, almost half of the distance from which Earth orbits the Sun. Its eccentricity is unknown. In comparison, planet Mercury orbits the Sun every 87.97 days at a distance of 0.387 AU. With an orbital inclination of 89.8°, Kepler-11g is seen almost edge-on with respect to Earth. Kepler-11g Kepler-11g is an exoplanet discovered in the orbit of the sunlike star Kepler-11 by the Kepler spacecraft, a NASA satellite tasked with searching for terrestrial planets. Kepler-11g is the outermost of the star's six planets. The planet orbits at a distance"
"Eleventh planet Eleventh planet (of the Solar System) may refer to Vesta, the eleventh object to be named a planet, later to be reclassified as an asteroid; Uranus, the eleventh planet from the Sun upon Vesta's discovery, though this was quickly superseded by new discoveries; or Haumea, which would be the eleventh planet if the classification advocated by Alan Stern ""et al."" were adopted; or Makemake, which would be the eleventh planet in terms of distance from the Sun, as opposed to order of discovery. The eleventh planet in the early 19th century was Uranus by order of distance from"