closest farthest

Direction Of Revolution Inner/Terrestrial Planets Outer/Jovian Planets

Mercury Messenger of Roman Gods Messenger of Roman Gods. Not much larger than OUR moon; 8 th smallest. Atmosphere composed of helium and sodium, renewable. Has a large iron core; magnetic field strength 1% of Earth’s. Surface temperatures range from C to C.

VENUS #2 goddess of love and beauty, springtime and flowers. Orbit is most circular compared to the others. Rotates clockwise on its axis. Atmosphere is composed mostly of carbon dioxide. Several layers of sulfuric acid clouds. Many kilometers thick. Surface temps are hotter than those on Mercury.

Population: 6,446,131,400 (July 2005 est., CIA world fact book.) Chemical composition is mainly composed of: Iron, Oxygen, Silicon, Magnesium, Nickel, Sulfur, and Titanium. Has one natural satellite; THE MOON!! It was in the 1500’s that scientists finally recognized that Earth was also planet. Atmosphere is 77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, with traces of argon, carbon dioxide and water. Only planet that has “plate tectonics.”

Roman God of war. Mars is much smaller than Earth. Home of Olympus Mons; 24km (78,000 ft.) high. Satellites: Phobos and Deimos Thin atmosphere composed mostly of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, and traces of water and oxygen. Very strong winds and vast dust storms. Permanent ice caps at both poles.

King of Roman Gods By far the largest planet; diameter 142,984 km (equatorial) Four large moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto; the Galilean moons. Atmosphere has hydrogen, helium and traces of methane, water, ammonia and "rock". As a gas giant has no solid surface. Radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun.

SATURN #6 God of harvest or time of reaping. Least dense of the planets. Interior and atmospheric conditions similar to Jupiter’s. 3 rings visible form earth. 7 total. Some of Saturn’s satellite (moons) help keep the particle rings in orbit. Saturn has 34 named satellites. Pan Atlas Prometheus Pandora Epimetheus Janus Mimas Enceladus Tethys Telesto Calypso Dione Helene Rhea Titan Hyperion Iapetus Phoebe

Father of Saturn and grandfather of Jupiter. Name is pronounced: YOOR-a-nus. Atmosphere is composed of hydrogen, helium and methane. Rotates on an axis that is parallel to its elliptical path. Still is hotter at its equator than at its poles. Overlying Methane layer, causes blue color

Roman god of the sea. Found while researching a disturbance in Uranus’ orbit. Planetary winds are the fastest in the solar system. Neptune can be seen with binoculars. 13 known moons. Has 4 rings of unknown composition. Is sometimes the most distant planet for a few years.

Greek god of wealth, ruled the dark underworld. PLUTO # 9 Smaller than seven of the moons in the solar system. Only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft. It’s orbit is highly eccentric Surface temperatures vary between about -235 and -210 C. Rotates in the opposite direction of it’s orbit, retrograde. One named moon, Charon, and two newly discovered tiny satellites.

Our Sun Recently discovered. Almost certainly larger than Pluto. An estimated 97 times further from the sun than the Earth. Most distant object ever seen in orbit around the sun. Takes more than twice as long to orbit the sun as Pluto.