OtterKnow Kids EncyclopediaOur solar system is incredibly huge! It is so big that even if you could fly on the fastest airplane, it would take many years to get across it. The Sun sits in the middle, and the planets spread out in every direction around it.
The Sun is by far the biggest thing in our solar system. Over a million Earths could fit inside it! There is a lot of empty space between the planets. The outer planets like Neptune are so far away that sunlight takes over four hours to reach them. Beyond the planets, there are even more icy objects stretching way out into space.
- If the Sun were the size of a basketball, Earth would be smaller than a tiny bead.
- It takes light from the Sun about eight minutes to reach Earth.
- The farthest spacecraft from Earth, Voyager 1, has been flying for over 45 years and still has not left the solar system!
