The Largest Rock in our Solar System
There, that dot on the right,
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.
This rock is so large its
gravity makes it into a large ball
that holds heavy gases near its surface.
(It used to be the largest
known rock of any type until the
recent discoveries of large dense
planets orbiting other stars.)
The Voyager 1 spacecraft took the
featured picture -- famously called
Pale Blue Dot --
of this giant space rock in 1990 from the outer
Solar System.
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
inhabitants of this rock we call
Earth.