Sun Solar System

Heres the order of the planets, starting nearest the sun and working outward through
the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and
Planet Nine.

1) Mercury
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.
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

2) Venus
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 "greenhouse 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. Because it is often brighter than any other object in the sky except for the
sun and moon Venus has generated many UFO reports.
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

3) Earth
The third planet from the sun, Earth is a waterworld, with two-thirds of the planet covered
by ocean. Its the only world known to harbor life. Earths 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).
Diameter: 7,926 miles (12,760 km)
Orbit: 365.24 days
Day: 23 hours, 56 minutes
4) Mars
The fourth planet from the sun, is a cold, dusty place. The dust, an iron oxide, gives the
planet its reddish cast. Mars shares similarities with Earth: It is rocky, has mountains and
valleys, and storm systems ranging from localized tornado-like dust devils to planet-
engulfing dust storms. It snows on Mars. And Mars harbors water ice. Scientists think it was
once wet and warm, though today its cold and desert-like.
Mars' atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist on the surface for any length of time.
Scientists think ancient Mars would have had the conditions to support life, and there is
hope that signs of past life possibly even present biology may exist on the Red Planet.
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)

5) Jupiter
The fifth planet from the sun, Jupiter is huge and is the most massive planet in our solar
system. Its a mostly gaseous world, mostly hydrogen and helium. Its swirling clouds are
colorful due to different types of trace gases. A big feature is the Great Red Spot, a giant
storm which has raged for hundreds of years. Jupiter has a strong magnetic field, and with
dozens of moons, it looks a bit like a miniature solar system.
Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
Named for: Ruler of the Roman gods
Diameter: 86,881 miles (139,822 km)
Orbit: 11.9 Earth years
Day: 9.8 Earth hours

6) Saturn
The sixth planet from the sun is known most for its rings. When Galileo Galilei first studied
Saturn in the early 1600s, he thought it was an object with three parts. Not knowing he was
seeing a planet with rings, the stumped astronomer entered a small drawing a symbol
with one large circle and two smaller ones in his notebook, as a noun in a sentence
describing his discovery. More than 40 years later, Christiaan Huygens proposed that they
were rings. The rings are made of ice and rock. Scientists are not yet sure how they formed.
The gaseous planet is mostly hydrogen and helium. It has numerous moons.
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

7) Uranus
The seventh planet from the sun, Uranus is an oddball. Its 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.
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

8) Neptune
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.
Discovery: 1846
Named for: Roman god of water
Diameter: 30,775 miles (49,530 km)
Orbit: 165 Earth years
Day: 19 Earth hours