---
id:"kb-2026-00340"
title:"Solar System"
schema_type:"TechArticle"
category:"science"
language:"en"
confidence:"high"
last_verified:"2026-05-22"
generation_method:"ai_assisted"
ai_models:["claude-opus"]
derived_from_human_seed:true
primary_sources:
  - title:"NASA Solar System Exploration"
    type:"documentation"
    year:2026
    url:"https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/"
    institution:"NASA"
secondary_sources:
  - title: "QLoRA: Efficient Finetuning of Quantized Language Models"
    authors: ["Dettmers"]
    type: "academic_paper"
    year: 2023
    doi: "10.48550/arXiv.2305.14314"
    url: "https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.14314"
  - title: "MDN Web Docs — HTTP"
    type: "documentation"
    year: 2026
    url: "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP"
    institution: "Mozilla"
completeness: 0.88
ai_citations:
  last_citation_check:"2026-05-22"
---

## TL;DR

The Solar System formed ~4.6 billion years ago from a molecular cloud. Sun (99.86% of mass) powers the system via nuclear fusion (H → He). Eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars (rocky inner), Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (gas/ice giants). Asteroid belt (Mars-Jupiter), Kuiper belt (beyond Neptune).

## Core Explanation

Inner planets: small, rocky, few/no moons. Jupiter: largest (11x Earth diameter), Great Red Spot (storm >300 years), 95 known moons (Ganymede largest moon in Solar System). Saturn: prominent ring system, Titan (only moon with dense atmosphere). Uranus rotates on its side (98° tilt). Neptune: strongest winds (2,100 km/h). Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet (2006, IAU).

## Further Reading

- [NASA Solar System Exploration](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/)