How Big is the Solar System?

I'll bet you have a pretty good idea about the size of the solar system. Just to be sure, Richard F., gave us this answer.

There isn't a good definition for where the solar system ends and interstellar space begins, but it's certainly farther out from the sun than Pluto. The farthest Pluto gets from the Sun is about 7,500,000,000 kilometers. Some comets go even further. Is say, 50,000,000,000 kilometers across big enough for you?

Pierre Kerr, ac210@freenet.carleton.ca, adds...

You may have heard about the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft that were launched in 1977. They are still speeding away from the Earth and still measuring the solar system. Here is a report from the Voyager spacecraft.

Article #6997 (7001 is last):

From: newsdesk@jplpio.jpl.nasa.gov (JPL Public Information Office) Newsgroups: sci.space.news

Subject: Voyager status 4/1/95

Date: Fri Apr 7 00:51:00 1995

PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE

JET PROPULSION LABORATORY

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011

VOYAGER MISSION STATUS April 1, 1995

Both spacecraft are healthy and are continuing to make observations of their interplanetary environment as they leave the solar system.

They are using their ultraviolet spectrometers to map the heliosphere and study the incoming interstellar wind. The cosmic ray detectors are seeing the energy spectra of interstellar cosmic rays in the outer heliosphere. The magnetometer sensors are still measuring the strength and direction of the solar magnetic field. The plasma detectors looking back at the Sun record the solar wind parameters. The low-energy charged particle experiment studies the energy spectra of particles coming from the Sun. The plasma wave instrument is studying the incoming signals from the direction of the heliosphere.

Voyager 1 is currently 8.8 billion kilometers (5.5 billion

miles) from Earth and is traveling at a speed of 63,000 kilometers per hour (39,100 miles per hour). Voyager 2 is 6.8 billion kilometers (4.2 billion miles) from Earth and is traveling at a speed of 58,000 kilometers per hour (36,100 miles per hour).

The total distance Voyager 1 has traveled since its September 5, 1977 launch, called the arc length, is 10,595,000,000 kilometers (6,584,000,000 miles). The total distance Voyager 2 has traveled since its August 24, 1977 launch is 10,026,000,000 kilometers (6,230,000,000 miles).

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Also, I found some information about sizes of things in the Solar System. Please share them with your classmates. Thanks for your question.

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�s that I got from the Internet today