2. By Ellenie Mejias

3.  Mercury was named for the Swift Roman Messenger God who wore winged sandals.  Mercury is a planet of extreme temperatures.  During the day, temperatures can reach over 800°F.  The craters were caused when comets and asteroids struck the surface billions of years ago.

4.  A year on Venus is 225 Earth-days long.  One day on Venus is 243 Earth-days long.  Venus is the brightest object except the Moon.

5.  The Earth is a ball of rock almost covered by oceans.  It is not too hot and not too cold.  From space, Earth looks like a ball covered with white clouds.

6.  The atmosphere of Mars is only 1/100 as thick as Earth ‘s.  It is made up of 95% carbon dioxide.  The rest is mostly nitrogen and argon.

7.  Jupiter has 16 moons.  If Jupiter were hollow, more than 1,000 planets the size of Earth could fit inside it.  One day is about 10 Earth-days long.

8.  Saturn has at least 18 moons.  Saturn is the second largest gas planet.  Clouds cover Saturn.

9.  Uranus has 5 large moons and 10 small moons.  Uranus rotates in a different way than the other planets.  Uranus tilts over its side.

10.  Neptune has at least 8 moons.  Neptune is a large blue – green ball of gas with a center of rock and iron.  Neptune has faint rings.

11.  Pluto is 3 billion, 666 miles (15 billion, 900 million kilometers ) from the Sun.  Pluto has one moon.  Pluto is the smallest planet. It’s smaller than Earth’s moon.