Solar System

The Solar System, in NationStates, consists of the Sun and the planetary system that orbits it. In relation to other systems, it is called Sol, after the Latin name for the Sun. Many, if not a majority, of NS nations are located in or based on the Solar System -- particularly the Earth -- as opposed to different systems. The NS Solar System more or less mirrors the RW Solar System. Eight or nine of the known objects that directly orbit the Sun are considered planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Pluto's planetary status is in dispute. Objects not of planetary size that orbit the Sun are called minor planets; they can be either asteroids, comets, or the many icy, comet-like objects that orbit beyond Neptune (called Trans-Neptunian objects or TNOs). The asteroid Ceres, Pluto, and a number of similarly sized TNOs are of planetary mass but are still not considered planets by some scientists. They are sometimes classified as "dwarf planets" -- though in NS the term can either mean a small planet, a planet populated by dwarves, or even a planet mainly populated by Little People.

Thousands of NS civilizations exist on Earth, the Moon and the three other terrestrial planets that orbit closest to the Sun; on some of the larger asteroids, and the larger moons of Jupiter and Saturn; and even on the icy, unforgiving worlds of Neptune's moon Triton, Pluto and its moon Charon, and several of the larger objects in the Trans-Neptunian region.