The Planets (plus the Dwarf Planet Pluto)

The Planets (plus the Dwarf Planet Pluto)

Our solar system consists of the sun, eight planets, moons, dwarf planets, an asteroid belt, comets, meteors, and others. The sun is the center of our solar system; the planets, their moons, the asteroids, comets, and other rocks and gas all orbit the sun.

The nine planets that orbit the sun are (in order from the sun): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet). A belt of asteroids (minor planets made of rock and metal) lies between Mars and Jupiter. These objects all orbit the sun in roughly circular orbits that lie in the same plane, the ecliptic (Pluto is an exception; it has an elliptical orbit tilted over 17° from the ecliptic).

Easy ways to remember the order of the planets (and Pluto) are the mnemonics: "My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas" and "My Very Easy Method Just Simplifies Us Naming Planets" The first letter of each of these words represents a planet - in the correct order.

The largest planet is Jupiter. It is followed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury, and finally, tiny Pluto (a dwarf planet). Jupiter is so big that all the other planets could fit inside it.

The Inner Planets vs. the Outer Planets
The inner planets (those planets that orbit close to the sun) are quite different from the outer planets (those planets that orbit far from the sun).

• The inner planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are relatively small, composed mostly of rock, and have few or no moons.
• The outer planets include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet). They are mostly huge, mostly gaseous, ringed, and have many moons (again, the exception is Pluto, the dwarf planet, which is small, rocky, and has one large moon plus two tiny ones).

Temperatures on the Planets
Generally, the farther from the Sun, the cooler the planet. Differences occur when the greenhouse effect warms a planet (like Venus) surrounded by a thick atmosphere.

Density of the Planets
The outer, gaseous planets are much less dense than the inner, rocky planets.

The Earth is the densest planet. Saturn is the least dense planet; it would float on water.

The Mass of the Planets
Jupiter is by far the most massive planet; Saturn trails it. Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, and Pluto are orders of magnitude less massive.

Gravitational Forces on the Planets
The planet with the strongest gravitational attraction at its surface is Jupiter. Although Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are also very massive planets, their gravitational forces are about the same as Earth. This is because the gravitational force a planet exerts upon an object at the planet's surface is proportional to its mass and to the inverse of the planet's radius squared.

A Day on Each of the Planets
A day is the length of time that it takes a planet to rotate on its axis (360°). A day on Earth takes almost 24 hours.

The planet with the longest day is Venus; a day on Venus takes 243 Earth days. (A day on Venus is longer than its year; a year on Venus takes only 224.7 Earth days).

The planet with the shortest day is Jupiter; a day on Jupiter only takes 9.8 Earth hours! When you observe Jupiter from Earth, you can see some of its features change.

The Average Orbital Speed of the Planets
As the planets orbit the Sun, they travel at different speeds. Each planet speeds up when it is nearer the Sun and travels more slowly when it is far from the Sun (this is Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion).

The Planets in Our Solar System

Planet	Distance from the Sun (Astronomical Units miles km)	Period of Revolution Around the Sun (1 planetary year)	Period of Rotation (1 planetary day)	Mass (kg)	Diameter (miles km)	Apparent size from Earth	Temperature (K Range or Average)	Number of Moons
Mercury	0.39 AU, 36 million miles 57.9 million km	87.96 Earth days	58.7 Earth days	3.3 x 1023	3,031 miles 4,878 km	5-13 arc seconds	100-700 K mean=452 K	0
Venus	0.723 AU 67.2 million miles 108.2 million km	224.68 Earth days	243 Earth days	4.87 x 1024	7,521 miles 12,104 km	10-64 arc seconds	726 K	0
Earth	1 AU 93 million miles 149.6 million km	365.26 days	24 hours	5.98 x 1024	7,926 miles 12,756 km	Not Applicable	260-310 K	1
Mars	1.524 AU 141.6 million miles 227.9 million km	686.98 Earth days	24.6 Earth hours =1.026 Earth days	6.42 x 1023	4,222 miles 6,787 km	4-25 arc seconds	150-310 K	2
Jupiter	5.203 AU 483.6 million miles 778.3 million km	11.862 Earth years	9.84 Earth hours	1.90 x 1027	88,729 miles 142,796 km	31-48 arc seconds	120 K (cloud tops)	18 named (plus many smaller ones)
Saturn	9.539 AU 886.7 million miles 1,427.0 million km	29.456 Earth years	10.2 Earth hours	5.69 x 1026	74,600 miles 120,660 km	15-21 arc seconds excluding rings	88 K	18+
Uranus	19.18 AU 1,784.0 million miles 2,871.0 million km	84.07 Earth years	17.9 Earth hours	8.68 x 1025	32,600 miles 51,118 km	3-4 arc seconds	59 K	15
Neptune	30.06 AU 2,794.4 million miles 4,497.1 million km	164.81 Earth years	19.1 Earth hours	1.02 x 1026	30,200 miles 48,600 km	2.5 arc seconds	48 K	2
Pluto (a dwarf planet)	39.53 AU 3,674.5 million miles 5,913 million km	247.7 years	6.39 Earth days	1.29 x 1022	1,413 miles 2,274 km	0.04 arc seconds	37 K	1 large (plus 2 tiny)
Planet	Distance from the Sun (Astronomical Units miles km)	Period of Revolution Around the Sun (1 planetary year)	Period of Rotation (1 planetary day)	Mass (kg)	Diameter (miles km)	Apparent size from Earth	Temperature (K Range or Average)	Number of Moons