What is a Planet?
The latest definition of a planet was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2006. It states that the planet has to do three things:
- It must orbit the star (the neighborhood of our universe, the sun).
- It must be large enough to have enough gravity to force it into a sphere.
- It must be large enough for its gravity to wipe out all other similarly sized objects near the orbit around the Sun.
There is a total of eight planets in our solar system which are :
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
How does a planet differ from a star?
A star refers to a body that possesses a light that causes it to reflect the light independently and a planet, on the other hand, is a fixed celestial body that has its own orbit and spins on its own axis, yet also reflects the light from an, so external source. In the solar system, a very large round object in the universe orbiting the Sun or another star. A planet is a stationary celestial body in its own orbit, rotating around its own axis, but reflecting light from an external light source. Since the planet has no internal light source, the planet receives only light from the external light source, mainly the sun.