The Largest Rock in the Solar System
			
		
		
		
			There, that faint dot in the center - that's the largest rock known in our 
Solar System. 
It is larger than every known 
asteroid, 
moon, and 
comet nucleus.  
It is larger than any other local rocky planet. 
(Nobody knows for sure what size rocks lie at the cores of Jovian planets, or orbit other stars.) 
It used to be the largest rock of any type known 
until earlier last year.  
The Voyager 1 
spacecraft took the above picture of the giant space rock in 
1990 from the outer Solar System. 
This rock is so large its gravity makes it nearly spherical, 
and holds heavy gases near its surface.
Today, this rock starts another orbit around its parent star, for roughly the 5 billionth time, 
spinning over 350 times during each trip.
Happy Gregorian Calendar 
New Year to all the 
human inhabitants of 
this rock we call 
Earth.