Tag: science & technology

Jimmy Donal Wales is the co-founder of Wikipedia. While Larry Sanger was also a co-founder and coined the name 'Wikipedia,' Wales is widely recognized as the primary founder. The other options (Thomas J. Watson of IBM and E. Urner Goodman of Boy Scouts) are unrelated to Wikipedia.

Pluto has the most eccentric orbit (0.248) of all planets/dwarf planets in our solar system. Its highly elliptical orbit sometimes brings it closer to the Sun than Neptune. Mars (0.093) has the second-most eccentric orbit among the eight major planets, but Pluto's extreme path is unmatched.

Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system with surface temperatures around 462°C (864°F), hotter than Mercury despite being farther from the Sun. This is due to Venus's extreme greenhouse effect from its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. Mercury's maximum temperature reaches only about 430°C because it has no atmosphere to retain heat.

Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, is the biggest moon in our solar system with a diameter of 5,268 km - even larger than the planet Mercury. Saturn's Titan is the second largest moon at 5,150 km.

Venus rotates very slowly (once every 243 Earth days), which creates minimal centrifugal force that would otherwise flatten a planet at its poles. This minimal rotation makes Venus the most perfectly spherical planet in our solar system, with the smallest difference between its equatorial and polar radii among all planets.

Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in our solar system without any natural satellites (moons). Mercury has no moons due to its small size and proximity to the Sun, while Venus has no moons possibly due to its unique formation history or a past collision that prevented moon capture.

Saturn actually has the LOWEST average density of all planets in our solar system - approximately 0.69 g/cm³, which is less than water's density of 1 g/cm³. Earth has the highest average density at about 5.5 g/cm³. Saturn's low density is due to its composition being primarily hydrogen and helium with very little rocky or metallic material.

Proxima Centauri is the closest known star to our solar system at approximately 4.24 light-years away. It is part of the Alpha Centauri star system but is physically closer to us than Alpha Centauri A or B. The Sun is our own star and technically the closest star to Earth, but the question asks about stars 'to our Solar System' implying other stars.