Q&A for How to Draw the Solar System

Because astronomers check the "orbital elements" of the asteroid - stuff like how far away it is, if it's moving in a circle or an ellipse, and how long it takes - and see if they're the same as those of an existing asteroid. Two asteroids can't have the same orbital elements or they'd be in the same place.

It is up to you, but you should probably choose black or some sort of dark blue color. It really helps with drawing the planets.

It would be black with scattered white areas. Stars look white to the eye in space, but the atmosphere of earth makes them look different colors.

It depends on which part and in what light. It's generally gray, but the "seas" are a darker gray than the rest, because they are covered in solidified lava.

Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics, these elements are generally considered in classical two-body systems, where a Kepler orbit is used.

Since the universe is infinitely expanding in all directions, nothing can be "under" it, at least that we know of.

It would be black with scattered white areas. Stars look white to the eye in space, but the atmosphere of earth makes them look different colors.

There isn't to scale - it would get impossible to see. Just for comparison, the moon is 384,400 km away from Earth, Mars is 54.6 million km, and Venus is 261 million km. As you can see, the distances are too vast.

Yes! There is the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and the Kuiper belt from Pluto outwards.

There are 181 known moons orbiting the 13 planets and dwarf planets in our solar system.

In 2006 the International Astronomical Union redefined Pluto as a "dwarf planet," because modern observation discovered that it was not as large as we had previously believed. (It is much smaller than our Moon.)

Yes. Nothing has changed except our awareness of how small Pluto is.

It isn't. It's still there. It just got "demoted," because we recently realized that it's smaller than we previously thought.

Comets orbit the sun just like we do. They follow elliptical paths that (apparently) never end.

Jupiter is dominated by large bands of different colors ranging from white to brown and tan.

The theory is that the entire solar system formed from a nebula (a cloud of gas and dust) that gravitationally collapsed upon itself into a disk and subsequently into a star at the disk's center and planets and other objects in orbital rotation around the star.

Mercury is a medium gray, and Mars is a rusty red.

It is estimated that there are approximately two trillion galaxies (not stars) in the observable universe. (In other words, the universe is unimaginably huge.)

It is primarily a medium shade of gray.

No, since the "paths" are not actually visible.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.

Primarily a rusty red, owing to the iron oxide in the dust on the surface and in the atmosphere. Various minerals give some sections of the Martian surface other colors, too, including brown, tan, orange and even green.

The Sun's mass is 330,000 times greater than that of the Earth. The Sun's diameter is more than 100 times greater than the Earth's.

No. Comets are made primarily of ice. "Shooting stars" are meteors, and they are made of rock.

Blackness is simply the absence of light. Space appears to be black wherever there's no light source or any surface to reflect light.

Pluto was originally designated a planet when it was first discovered, but as we were able to view it more closely in recent years, we found that it was much smaller than we first thought. Pluto is now designated by the International Astronomical Union as a "dwarf planet" or a "minor planet," not technically a "planet."

Saturn's gaseous surface is primarily a pale yellow.

Eight, not counting Pluto.

Jupiter's surface consists almost entirely of prominent stripes of white, brown, orange, red and yellow.

The debate about Pluto is ongoing. It is presently designated a "minor planet" or a "dwarf planet" by the International Astronomical Union. That means it is not at this time considered a true planet. (Its mass is only one-sixth that of our Moon.)