How did the Solar System form 4.6 billion years ago?
The Solar System formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region within a large molecular cloud collapsed under its own gravity to birth the Sun and a surrounding protoplanetary disc.
Questions about Solar System
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What percentage of mass does the Sun contain in the Solar System?
The Sun contains 99.86% of all mass in the Solar System making it the dominant gravitational force for all orbiting objects.
Where is the asteroid belt located relative to Mars and Jupiter?
The asteroid belt stretches between 2.3 and 3.3 astronomical units from the Sun occupying space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
When will the Sun become a red giant and what happens to Earth?
Over five billion years remaining hydrogen will convert entirely into helium ending the current stable phase before outer layers expand to approximately 260 times current diameter transforming the Sun into a red giant that destroys or severely strips Earth's atmosphere.
How far is the Solar System from the galactic center of the Milky Way galaxy?
Our position places us about 26,660 light-years from the galactic center while orbiting at 220 kilometers per second completing one revolution every 240 million years called a galactic year.