MERCURY VENUS EARTH

The closest planet to the sun, Mercury is only
a bit larger than Earth's moon. Its day side is
scorched by the sun and can reach 840
degrees Fahrenheit (450 Celsius), but on the
night side, temperatures drop to hundreds
of degrees below freezing. Mercury has
virtually no atmosphere to absorb meteor
impacts, so its surface is pockmarked with
craters, just like the moon. Over its four-year
mission, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has
revealed views of the planet that have
challenged astronomers' expectations
MARS
The second planet from the sun, Venus is
terribly hot, even hotter than Mercury. The
atmosphere is toxic. The pressure at the
surface would crush and kill you. Scientists
describe Venus’ situation as a runaway
greenhouse effect. Its size and structure are
similar to Earth, Venus' thick, toxic
atmosphere traps heat in a runaway
"greenhous e effect." Oddly, Venus spins
slowly in the opposite direction of most
planets.
The Greeks believed Venus was two
different objects — one in the morning sky
and another in the evening.
JUPITER
The third planet from the sun, Earth is a
waterworld, with two-thirds of the planet
covered by ocean. It’s the only world
known to harbor life. Earth’s atmosphere
is rich in life-sustaining nitrogen and
oxygen. Earth's surface rotates about its
axis at 1,532 feet per second (467 meters
per second) — slightly more than 1,000
mph (1,600 kph) — at the equator. The
planet zips around the sun at more than
18 miles per second (29 km per second).
SATURN

The fourth planet from the sun, is a cold, The fifth planet from the sun, Jupiter is The sixth planet from the sun is known
dusty place. The dust, an iron oxide, gives huge and is the most massive planet in our most for its rings. When Galileo Galilei
the planet its reddish cast. Scientists think itsolar system. It’s a mostly gaseous world, first studied Saturn in the early 1600s, he
was once wet and warm, though today it’s mostly hydrogen and helium. Its swirling thought it was an object with three parts.
cold and desert-like. clouds are colorful due to different types of Not knowing he was seeing a planet with
trace gases. A big feature is the Great Red rings, the stumped astronomer entered a
Mars' atmosphere is too thin for liquid water Spot, a giant storm which has raged for small drawing — a symbol with one large
to exist on the surface for any length of time. hundreds of years. Jupiter has a strong circle and two smaller ones — in his
Scientists think ancient Mars would have had magnetic field, and with dozens of moons, notebook, as a noun in a sentence
the conditions to support life, and there is it looks a bit like a miniature solar system. describing his discovery. More than 40
hope that signs of past life — possibly even years later, Christiaan Huygens proposed
present biology — may exist on the Red that they were rings. The rings are made
Planet. of ice and rock. Scientists are not yet sure
how they formed. The gaseous planet is

URANUS
The seventh planet from the sun, Uranus is
an oddball. It’s the only giant planet whose
equator is nearly at right angles to its orbit
— it basically orbits on its side. Astronomers
think the planet collided with some other
planet-size object long ago, causing the tilt.
The tilt causes extreme seasons that last 20-
plus years, and the sun beats down on one
pole or the other for 84 Earth-years. Uranus
is about the same size as Neptune. Methane
in the atmosphere gives Uranus its blue-
green tint. It has numerous moons and faint
rings.
MERCURY
NEPTUNES
The eighth planet from the sun, Neptune is
known for strong winds — sometimes faster
than the speed of sound. Neptune is far out
and cold. The planet is more than 30 times
as far from the sun as Earth. It has a rocky
core. Neptune was the first planet to be
predicted to exist by using math, before it
was detected. Irregularities in the orbit of
Uranus led French astronomer Alexis
Bouvard to suggest some other might be
exerting a gravitational tug. German
astronomer Johann Galle used calculations
to help find Neptune in a telescope.
Neptune is about 17 times as massive as
Earth.
VENUS
mostly hydrogen and helium. It has
numerous moons.
PLUTO
Once the ninth planet from the sun, Pluto
is unlike other planets in many respects. It
is smaller than Earth's moon. Its orbit
carries it inside the orbit of Neptune and
then way out beyond that orbit. From
1979 until early 1999, Pluto had actually
been the eighth planet from the sun.
Then, on Feb. 11, 1999, it crossed
Neptune's path and once again became
the solar system's most distant planet —
until it was demoted to dwarf planet
status. Pluto will stay beyond Neptune for
228 years. Pluto’s orbit is tilted to the
main plane of the solar system — where
the other planets orbit
EARTH
  Discovery: Known to the ancients
and visible to the naked eye
 Named for: Messenger of the Roman
gods
 Diameter: 3,031 miles (4,878 km)
 Orbit: 88 Earth days
 Day: 58.6 Earth days
MARS
 Discovery: Known to the ancients
and visible to the naked eye
 Named for: Roman god of war
 Diameter: 4,217 miles (6,787 km)
 Orbit: 687 Earth days
 Day: Just more than one Earth day
(24 hours, 37 minutes)
URANUS
 Discovery: 1781 by William Herschel
(was thought previously to be a star)
 Named for: Personification of
heaven in ancient myth
 Diameter: 31,763 miles (51,120 km)
 Orbit: 84 Earth years
 Day: 18 Earth hours
 Discovery: Known to the ancients
and visible to the naked eye
 Named for: Roman goddess of love
and beauty
 Diameter: 7,521 miles (12,104 km)
 Orbit: 225 Earth days
 Day: 241 Earth days
JUPITER
 Discovery: Known to the ancients
and visible to the naked eye
 Named for: Ruler of the Roman
gods
 Diameter: 88,730 miles (428,400
km)
 Orbit: 11.9 Earth years
 Day: 9.8 Earth hours
NEPTUNES
 Discovery: 1846
 Named for: Roman god of water
 Diameter: 30,775 miles (49,530 km)
 Orbit: 165 Earth years
 Day: 19 Earth hours
 Diameter: 7,926 miles (12,760 km)
 Orbit: 365.24 days
 Day: 23 hours, 56 minutes
SATURNUS
Discovery: Known to the ancients and
visible to the naked eye
Named for: Roman god of agriculture
Diameter: 74,900 miles (120,500 km)
Orbit: 29.5 Earth years
Day: About 10.5 Earth hours
PLUTO
 Discovery: 1930 by Clyde
Tombaugh
 Named for: Roman god of the
underworld, Hades
 Diameter: 1,430 miles (2,301 km)
 Orbit: 248 Earth years
 Day: 6.4 Earth day