This is a list of Solar System objects by size, arranged in descending order of mean volumetric radius.

The list can also be partially sorted according to an object's mass and, for the largest objects, volume, density and surface gravity. This list contains the Sun, the planets, dwarf planets, many of the larger small Solar System bodies (which includes the asteroids), all named natural satellites, and a number of smaller objects of historical or scientific interest, such as comets and near-Earth objects. The ordering may be different depending on whether one chooses radius or mass, because some objects are denser than others. For instance Uranusis bigger than Neptune but less massive, and although Ganymede and Titan are larger than Mercury, they have less than half its mass. This means some objects in the lower tables, despite their smaller radii, may be more massive than objects in the upper tables because they have a higher density. Many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) have been discovered, and their approximate locations in this list are shown, even though there can be a large uncertainty in their measurement. Solar System objects more massive than 10 kilograms (one yottagram [Yg]) are known or expected to be approximately spherical. Astronomical bodies relax into rounded shapes (ellipsoids), achieving hydrostatic equilibrium, when the gravity of their mass is sufficient to overcome the structural strength of their material. These are dubbed "regular". Objects made of ice become regular more easily than those made of rock, and many icy objects are spheroidal at far lower sizes. The cutoff boundary for [1] regularity is somewhere between 100 km and 200 km in radius. The larger objects in the mass range between 10 kg to 10 kg (1 to 1000 zettagrams [Zg]), such as Tethys, Ceres, and Mimas, have relaxed to anoblate-spheroid equilibrium due to their gravity, while the less massive rubble piles (e.g. Amalthea and Janus) are roughly rounded, but not spherical, dubbed "irregular". Spheroidal bodies typically have some polar flattening due to the centrifugal force from their rotation, but a characteristic feature of the "irregular"-shaped bodies is that there is a significant difference in the length of their two equatorial diameters. There can be difficulty in figuring out the diameter (within a factor of about 2) for typical objects beyond Saturn. (See 2060 Chiron as an example.) For TNOs there is some confidence in the diameters, but for non-binary TNOs there is no real confidence in the "unreferenced wiki-assumed" masses/densities. Many 3 TNOs are just assumed to have a density of 2.0 g/cm , though it is just as likely that they have a comet3 [2] like density of only 0.5 g/cm . Thus most provisional TNOs are not given an MEarth value to prevent from cluttering the list with too many assumptions that could be off by an order of magnitude. For example, if a 20 TNO is poorly assumed to have a mass of 3.5910 kg based on a radius of 350 km with a density of 3 3 2 g/cm and is later discovered to only have a radius of 175 km with a density of 1 g/cm , the mass 19 estimate would be only 2.2410 kg. The sizes and masses of many of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are fairly well known due to numerous observations and interactions of the Galileo and Cassini orbiters. But many of the moons with a radius less than ~100 km, such as Jupiter's Himalia, still have unknown masses with assumed [3] densities. Again, as we get further from the Sun than Saturn, things get less clear. There has not yet been an orbiter around Uranus or Neptune for long-term study of the moons. For the small outer irregular moons of Uranus, such as Sycorax, which were not discovered by theVoyager 2 flyby, even different [4] NASA web pages, such as the National Space Science Data Center and JPL Solar System
18 21 21

Dynamics, have somewhat contradictory size and albedo estimates depending on which research paper is being cited. Data for objects has varying reliability including uncertainties in the figures for mass and radius, and irregularities in the shape and density, with accuracy often depending on how close it is to Earth or if it has been visited by a probe.

[3]

Structure and composition

The orbits of the bodies in the Solar System to scale (clockwise from top left)

The principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a G2 main-sequence star that contains 99.86% [13] of the system's known mass and dominates it gravitationally. The Sun's four largest orbiting bodies, the gas giants, account for 99% of the remaining mass, with Jupiter and Saturn together comprising more [e] than 90%. Most large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of Earth's orbit, known as the ecliptic. The planets are very close to the ecliptic, while comets and Kuiper belt objects are frequently at significantly [17][18] greater angles to it. All the planets and most other objects orbit the Sun in the same direction that the [19] Sun is rotating (counter-clockwise, as viewed from a long way above the Earth's north pole). There are exceptions, such as Halley's Comet. The overall structure of the charted regions of the Solar System consists of the Sun, four relatively small inner planets surrounded by a belt of rocky asteroids, and four gas giants surrounded by the Kuiper belt of icy objects. Astronomers sometimes informally divide this structure into separate regions. The inner

Solar System includes the four terrestrial planets and the asteroid belt. The outer Solar Systemis beyond [20] the asteroids, including the four gas giants. Since the discovery of the Kuiper belt, the outermost parts [21] of the Solar System are considered a distinct region consisting of the objects beyond Neptune. Most of the planets in the Solar System possess secondary systems of their own, being orbited by planetary objects called natural satellites, or moons (two of which are larger than the planetMercury), or, in the case of the four gas giants, by planetary rings; thin bands of tiny particles that orbit them in unison. Most of the largest natural satellites are in synchronous rotation, with one face permanently turned toward their parent. Kepler's laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of objects about the Sun. Following Kepler's laws, each object travels along an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Objects closer to the Sun (with smaller semi-major axes) travel more quickly because they are more affected by the Sun's gravity. On an elliptical orbit, a body's distance from the Sun varies over the course of its year. A body's closest approach to the Sun is called its perihelion, while its most distant point from the Sun is called its aphelion. The orbits of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits. The positions of the bodies in the Solar System can be predicted using numerical models.

Solar System showing the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun in 3D. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are shown in both panels; the right panel also shows Jupiter making one full revolution with Saturn and Uranus making less than one full revolution.

Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only about 2% of theangular [22] [23] momentum due to the differential rotation within the gaseous Sun. The planets, dominated by

Jupiter, account for most of the rest of the angular momentum due to the combination of their mass, orbit, [22] and distance from the Sun, with a possibly significant contribution from comets. The Sun, which comprises nearly all the matter in the Solar System, is composed of roughly 98% [24] hydrogen and helium. Jupiter and Saturn, which comprise nearly all the remaining matter, possess [25][26] atmospheres composed of roughly 99% of those same elements.