Question #7 - How many things are there in the solar system?

The Solar System. Start counting!

When I was at school the solar system consisted of the sun and 9 planets. The third planet had a moon, so that was 11 things. And if that was it, this would be so much easier, but it's not. There aren't even 9 planets any more, there are 8. The ninth planet was demoted to dwarf planet status and several other dwarf planets have been discovered since then. There are comets, asteroids, moons/satellites and of course the things that we have put out there.

I remember being amazed and fascinated when I learned that Mars has two moons/satellites but also being somewhat perplexed at the same time. For me, at the time, the solar system was this neat, tidy arrangement of planets spinning around the central hub of the sun like spokes on a wheel. This new information was messing with that perception.

Next I learned of the many moons of Jupiter and Saturn, of the asteroid belt and that the orbit of Pluto crosses the orbit of Neptune. "How do they not crash into each other?" I recall wondering. The asteroid belt, I pictured as an almost impenetrable barrier of floating rock in between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. Star Wars didn't help with that perception though. The chances of successfully navigating an asteroid field according to C3P0 are 3720 to 1. Approximately. But that's not entirely true, in fact the chances of actually encountering an asteroid in the asteroid belt are even greater against! 

My understanding of the solar system evolved much like the solar system itself does over time. Our (human) knowledge and understanding of our solar system has grown and changed with each discovery. We have to accept that at any point a discovery or realisation may make everything that we think we know is right, wrong. Whilst this is slightly troubling is also really exciting. 

The birth of the solar system.

Sometimes I will imagine that I am the Voyager spacecraft traveling through the solar system visiting the planets. I will imagine what it's like to be flying through the blackness of the space between the planets free from the effects of gravity until one of the planets gravity fields pulls me to it just enough to see it and pass by, escaping gravity again until the next planet. Both of the Voyager spacecraft are further away now than any of the planets and are heading out of the solar system forever. I picture Voyager racing to the edge of the solar system faster than any other man made object ever created, reaching the outermost limits and splatting flat against a wall of glass! 

Though I'm fairly sure that won't happen.

Back to the point though. The number of things in the solar system. Let's go.
Stars - 1 (the sun)
Planets - 8
Dwarf planets - 5 (known)
Moons/satellites :-
Earth - 1
Mars - 2
Jupiter - 67 (known)
Saturn - 62 (known)
Uranus - 27 (known)
Neptune - 14 (known)
Pluto (dwarf planet) - 5 (known)
Haumea (dwarf planet) - 2 (known)
Eris (dwarf planet) - 1 (known)
Comets - 4000+ (discovered)
Asteroids - millions!
Man made objects - 100,000+

The solar system is massive, so massive that most of it is empty space but there are also so many things in it that are often so big that it is difficult to comprehend. Everything in the solar system is moving, the solar system itself is moving, we are moving within the solar system and everything else is moving independently and relative to ourselves and each other but still governed by the laws of physics within the solar system. Everything in the system is affected by everything else. 

Currently, it is impossible to know how many individual objects there are within the solar system. This may not always be the case but for now, in order to answer the question, how many things are there in the solar system. The answer is 1. The solar system itself.

And then there's Pluto!