Sol
| Sol | |
| Stellar characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Spectral type | G2 V |
| Distance from Sol | 0 ly |
| Planets | Mercury<br\>Venus<br\>Earth<br\>Mars<br\>Jupiter<br\>Saturn<br\>Uranus<br\>Neptune |
Our Sun, Sol, is not like most stars in the Solar neighborhood, or in the entire Milky Way galaxy. It is a single star although most stars have stellar companions, which is fortunate for Earth life because stable planetary orbits like the Earth's are much more likely around single stars. In addition, Sol is among the most massive 10 percent of stars in its neighborhood, which is also means that it is not too cool and dim. Finally, Sol has about 50 percent more heavy elements than other stars of its age and type, but only about a third of their variation in brightness, which is also fortunate because heavy elements are essential to make planets like Earth and large stellar flare-ups can harm planetary life with hard radiation.
Sol is a yellow-orange, main sequence dwarf star (G2 V). Born in our Milky Way galaxy's disk about 4.6 billion years ago, it may shine as a normal "dwarf" star for another five billion years. It is relatively rich in elements heavier than hydrogen created by primordial supernovas, and so is called a high metallicity, "Population I" star.
Known Places around Sol
Sol has eight[1] planets orbiting it, along with an asteroid belt and a Kupier Belt and Oort cloud. The Sol system is probably the best known and explored place in Fenspace[2].
- Mercury A hot, rocky planet that orbits Sol at about 0.4 AU, with a period of about 88 days. It is 40 percent larger than Luna but smaller than both Ganymede and Titan.
- Venus A rocky planet with a thick atmosphere. It orbits Sol at about 0.7 AU with a period of about 227 Earth days. A Venusian 'Day' is approximately 243 Earth days.
- Earth A rocky, water covered planet. It orbits Sol at a distance of 1 AU. May or may not be home to intelligent life.
- Mars The last of the rocky inner planets in the Sol system. It orbits at about 1.5 AU with a period of 1.9 Earth years.
- Jupiter The largest planet orbiting Sol, Jupiter is a gas giant with 62 known moons. It's orbital distance is 5.2 AUs and its period is 1.9 Earth years.
- Saturn A gas giant with an extensive ring system. It has an orbital distance of 9.5 AUs and a period of 29.5 Earth years.
- Uranus The third gas giant orbiting Sol. It has an orbital distance of 19.2 AUs and a period of 84.0 Earth years.
- Neptune The farthest planet, and last gas giant in the Sol system. It has a highly eliptical orbit with an average distance of 30.1 AUs from its primary. However, for part of its orbit it is inside the orbit of Uranus. Neptune's orbit takes 164.8 Earth years to complete.
(Scientific data from SolStation.com)
