Universe Today
What is a Planet?
is in orbit around the Sun,
has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape),
has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit.
is not a moon.
This means that Pluto, which was considered to be the farthest planet since its discovery in 1930, now is classified as a dwarf planet. The change in the definition came after the discovery three bodies that were all similar to Pluto in terms of size and orbit, (Quaoar in 2002, Sedna in 2003, and Eris in 2005).
With advances in equipment and techniques, astronomers knew that more objects like Pluto would very likely be discovered, and so the number of planets in our Solar System would start growing quickly. It soon became clear that either they all had to be called planets or Pluto and bodies like it would have to be reclassified.
The Planets in our Solar System:
Diameter: 4,879 km (3,032 miles)
Mass: 3.3011 x 1023 kg (0.055 Earths)
Length of Year (Orbit): 87.97 Earth days
Length of Day: 59 Earth days.
Mercury is a rocky planet, one of the four “terrestrial planets” in our Solar System. Mercury has a solid, cratered surface, and looks much like Earth's moon.
If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 17 kg (38 pounds) on Mercury.
Mercury does not have any moons.
Temperatures on Mercury range between -173 to 427 degrees Celcius (-279 to 801 degrees Fahrenheit)
Just two spacecraft have visited Mercury: Mariner 10 in 1974-75 and MESSENGER, which flew past Mercury three times before going into orbit around Mercury in 2011 and ended its mission by impacting the surface of Mercury on April 30, 2015. MESSENGER has changed our understanding of this planet, and scientists are still studying the data.
Find more details about Mercury at this article on Universe Today, and this page from NASA.
Diameter: 7,521 miles (12,104 km)
Mass: 4.867 x 1024 kg (0.815 Earth mass)
Length of Year (Orbit): 225 days
Length of day: 243 Earth days
Surface temperature: 462 degrees C (864 degrees F)
Venus' thick and toxic atmosphere is made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2), with clouds of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) droplets.
Venus has no moons.
Venus spins backwards (retrograde rotation), compared to the other planets. This means that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east on Venus.
If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 41 kg (91 pounds) on Venus.
Venus is also known and the “morning star” or “evening star” because it is often brighter than any other object in the sky and is usually seen either at dawn or at dusk. Since it is so bright, it has often been mistaken for a UFO!
More than 40 spacecraft have explored Venus. The Magellan mission in the early 1990s mapped 98 percent of the planet's surface. Find out more about all the missions here.
Find out more about Venus on this article from Universe Today, and this page from NASA.
Diameter: 12,760 km (7,926 miles)
Mass: 5.97 x 1024 kg
Length of Year (Orbit): 365 days
Length of day: 24 hours (more precisely, 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds.)
Surface temperature: Average is about 14 C, (57 F), with ranges from -88 to 58 (min/max) C (-126 to 136 F).
Earth is another terrestrial planet with an ever-changing surface, and 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered in oceans.
Earth has one moon.
Earth’s atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% various other gases.
Earth is the only world known to harbor life.
Find out more about Earth at a series of articles found here on Universe Today, and on this webpage from NASA.
Diameter: 6,787 km, (4,217 miles)
Mass: 6.4171 x 1023 kg (0.107 Earths)
Length of Year (Orbit): 687 Earth days.
Length of day: 24 hours 37 minutes.
Surface temperature: Average is about -55 C (-67 F), with ranges of -153 to +20 °C (-225 to +70 °F)
Mars is the fourth terrestrial planet in our Solar System. Its rocky surface has been altered by volcanoes, impacts, and atmospheric effects such as dust storms.
Mars has a thin atmosphere made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen (N2) and argon (Ar).If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 17 kg (38 pounds) on Mars.
Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.
Mars is known as the Red Planet because iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize, or rust, causing the soil to look red.
More than 40 spacecraft have been launched to Mars. You can find out more about missions to Mars here.Find out more about Mars at this series of articles on Universe Today, and at this NASA webpage.
Diameter: 428,400 km (88,730 miles)
Mass: 1.8986 × 1027 kg (317.8 Earths)
Length of Year (Orbit): 11.9 Earth years
Length of day: 9.8 Earth hours
Temperature: -148 C, (-234 F)
Jupiter has 67 known moons, with an additional 17 moons awaiting confirmation of their discovery – for a total of 67 moons. Jupiter is almost like a mini solar system!
Jupiter has a faint ring system, discovered in 1979 by the Voyager 1 mission.
If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 115 kg (253) pounds on Jupiter.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm (bigger than Earth) that has been raging for hundreds of years. However, it appears to be shrinking in recent years.
Many missions have visited Jupiter and its system of moons, with the latest being the Juno mission will arrive at Jupiter in 2016. You can find out more about missions to Jupiter here.
Find out more about Jupiter at this series of articles on Universe Today and on this webpage from NASA.
Diameter: 120,500 km (74,900 miles)
Mass: 5.6836 x 1026 kg (95.159 Earths)
Length of Year (Orbit): 29.5 Earth years
Length of day: 10.7 Earth hours
Temperature: -178 C (-288 F)
Saturn's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He).
If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh about 48 kg (107 pounds) on Saturn
Saturn has 53 known moons with an additional 9 moons awaiting confirmation.
Five missions have gone to Saturn. Since 2004, Cassini has been exploring Saturn, its moons and rings. You can out more about missions to Saturn here.
Find out more about Saturn at this series of articles on Universe Today and at this webpage from NASA.
Diameter: 51,120 km (31,763 miles)
Mass:
Length of Year (Orbit): 84 Earth years
Length of day: 18 Earth hours
Temperature: -216 C (-357 F)
Most of the planet's mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of "icy" materials – water (H2O), methane (CH4). and ammonia (NH3) – above a small rocky core.
Uranus has an atmosphere which is mostly made up of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He), with a small amount of methane (CH4). The methane gives Uranus a blue-green tint.
If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 41 kg (91 pounds) on Uranus.
Uranus has 27 moons.
Uranus has faint rings; the inner rings are narrow and dark and the outer rings are brightly colored.
Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus. Find out more about this mission here.
You can find out more about Uranus at this series of articles on Universe Today and this webpage from NASA.
Diameter: 49,530 km (30,775 miles)
Mass: 1.0243 x 1026 kg (17 Earths)
Length of Year (Orbit): 165 Earth years
Length of day: 16 Earth hours
Temperature: -214 C (-353 F)
Neptune is mostly made of a very thick, very hot combination of water (H2O), ammonia (NH3), and methane (CH4) over a possible heavier, approximately Earth-sized, solid core.
Neptune's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2), helium (He) and methane (CH4).
Neptune has 13 confirmed moons and 1 more awaiting official confirmation.
Neptune has six rings.
If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 52 kg (114 pounds) on Neptune. Neptune was the first planet to be predicted to exist by using math.
Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune. You can find out more about this mission here.
Find out more about Neptune at this series of articles on Universe Today and this NASA webpage. We have written many articles about the planets for Universe Today. Here are some facts about planets, and here's an article about the names of the planets.If you'd like more info on the Solar System planets, dwarf planets, asteroids and more, check out NASA's Solar System exploration page, and here's a link to NASA's Solar System Simulator.We've also recorded a series of episodes of Astronomy Cast about every planet in the Solar System. Start here, Episode 49: Mercury.Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and it is the hottest planet in the Solar System due to its thick, toxic atmosphere which has been described as having a “runaway greenhouse effect” on the planet.