THE SOLAR SYSTEM SPACE

Mercury THE PLANETS Earth Venus Mars Jupiter Suturn Neptune Uranus Pluto

Mercury The planet Mercury is the closest planet to the Sunwithin the solar system. Mercury was named by the Romans after their god of the same name. Due to its small angular separation from the Sun, which it orbits every 88 days, Mercury is not easily seen from Earth.

Venus Named for the Roman goddess of love by the same name, the planet Venus is the second planet from theSun, at a distance of roughly 108,209,000 kilometers. With an orbital circumference of 680,000,000 kilometers, Venus is just slightly smaller than the Earth and has a very similar chemical composition. For this reason, Venus is commonly referred to as the Earth’s “sister” planet. It takes Venus just under 225 days to orbit the Sun on full time, compared to the 365 day orbital period of the Earth.

Earth The Earth, which is located three planets from the Sun, is the only planet in the universe known to support any kind of life. The Earth is estimated to be approximately 4.57 billion years old. The moon followed not long after. The Earth rotates around its own north to south axis once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.091 seconds (one day), and around the Sun once every 365.2564 days (one year).

Mars Named after the Roman god of war, the planet Mars is located four planets from the Sun. Commonly referred to as “The Red Planet,” Mars tends to give off a reddish hue when viewed from Earth. This is believed to be caused by an abundance of iron oxide on the planet’s surface. Mars is about half the size of the Earth.

Jupiter Jupiter is the largest planet within our solar system, located five planets from the Sun. Jupiter has a total radius of nearly 70,000 kilometers, which is second only to that of the Sun’s 696,000 kilometer radius. Jupiter’s overall size is 318 times greater than that of the Earth. Jupiter is 2.5 times larger than all of the other planets in the solar system combined. It takes this massive planet a whopping 4,333 days to orbit the Sun one full time!

Saturn Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system, making it about 95 times larger than the Earth! The sixth planet out from the sun, it takes Saturn about 29.5 years to orbit the sun one time, traveling a distance of roughly 1,426,000,000 kilometers for one single revolution! Space.com allows you to discover the planet Saturn like you never have before! Check out our comprehensive articles, photos and interactive features to further explore this distant planet famous for its rings and more than 30 discovered moons!

Uranus The mysteriously tilted planet of Uranus is one of the 4 gas giants, or planets whose gas composes the majority of its mass. The planet Uranus is the seventh from the sun. Its 51,117km diameter classifies it as the third largest planet in the solar system. By mass, Uranus is the fourth largest.

Neptune Depending on its orbital position, Neptune is often the eighth, sometimes the ninth planet from the sun. The planet Neptune is the smallest of our gas giants, or the planets in our solar system whose mass is primarily made up of gas. It is, like the other gas giants of Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus, without a well defined surface. Therefore, descriptions such as diameter and volume generally refer to the outermost layer.

Pluto The icy, enigmatic planet of Pluto is the ninth and furthest planet from our sun. The planet Pluto is also the smallest in our solar system; it is even smaller than many of the moons that orbit other planets. While attempting to locate the cause of Neptune’s orbital interruption, Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto on February 18, 1930. While mistaken to believe that Pluto was the planet causing the disturbance, Tombaugh was correct about its presence.

The Moon When the Moon is not in its new phase, it can be seen on clear days or nights from anywhere on the surface of Earth if you know when to look. The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite, and has never been given any other scientific name. The Moon is about 384,403 kilometers from Earth, and has an approximate diameter of 3,476 km. The Moon is actually believed to be slowly moving farther away from Earth, at a rate of about 4cm per year!

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