Solar System

Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh. Found by accident, Pluto was the last of our planets to be discovered.

The solar system is so huge it is very difficult to visualise, so don't even try to make it a scale model. This has been done, take a look at this site for more details.
Build a solar system allows you to calculate the distances between the planets, although it is too complicated for elementary level, it may give you some ideas.
I was working on including a scale model on this site, but the problem was it contained so much blank space that it was almost impossible to find the planets! Although not officially part of this page you can view my scale model here.

I try to update the guestbook every couple of weeks, although it usually depends on how busy I am as to how often it is done. I plan to add more new articles to the current collection, with information on the Sun, Moon, asteroids and comets and the history of the exploration of the solar system, but unfortunately I don't really have enough time to do that at the moment.

Yes. On the 5th of May 2000 seven of the planets in the solar system will line up in what is known as a conjuction (although it won't be perfect). Some people think that this will result in disaster, but I wouldn't let it keep you up at night. This site gives some information about the event, including a movie of what will happen. This site gives a slightly more in depth mathematical perspective.

The reason that the Sun doesn't need oxygen to burn is because it doesn't burn in the same way as a normal fire. The Sun is so hot that the centres of atoms actually fuse together, which gives off the heat and light we feel from Earth. This is a nuclear reaction, which is rather more powerful than the chemical reaction that happens when you strike a match.
A useful and straightforward guide to what happens in the Sun can be found at a site called The Virtual Sun.

I'm sorry if you couldn't find all the information that you were looking for here at the Virtual Solar System. The main aim of this site is to inform and entertain casual visitors without overwhelming them with pages and pages of information. If you need more detailed information on our solar system, you will do well to find a better site than Views of the Solar System which contains an extremely comprehensive catalogue of images and information.

The solar system is known to contain at least 60 moons. Because moons shine only reflected light, it is difficult to see small, dark moons far from the Sun. This means we cannot be sure that we have detected all of the solar system's smaller moons. The breakdown is:

Earth 1
Mars 2
Jupiter 16+
Saturn 17+
Uranus 15+
Neptune 8+
Pluto 1