There are eight planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. They all revolve around the Sun. Most of them are named after Roman gods. Over the years, NASA has sent out many space crafts in order to find out more about the planets and their moons.
The sun is the star in the center of our solar system. It gives us light and heat. Without it, we could not live. It is very, very hot. It has a diameter of 1,392,000 km and a surface temperature of about 5,505C. The Sun produces solar flares that are like a solar tsunami. The sun is one of the only bodies in the solar system to be named after a Germanic deity rather than a Roman deity.
Mercury is the closest to the sun and also the fastest planet. It is named after the Roman Mercury who was the messenger god. Mercury has very little atmosphere which means it has a lot of craters. Its largest crater has a diameter of 900 meters! It is scorching during the day and freezing at night. This is because it rotates so slowly- 108 Earth days! However its orbit only takes 88 days. Mercury is the smallest planet.
Venus is the second planet from the sun. It was named after the goddess of beauty. It used to be referred to as Earth's twin because it is the same size. But Venus nothing like Earth! Its atmosphere is made up of Carbon Dioxide at it's surface temperature is 480C. Because of its dense atmosphere, the sun is not visible from Venus' surface. It has the most volcanoes in the solar system. It rotates backwards. It is visible from at dusk and dawn.
Earth is the only known planet to support life. It is third from the sun and its surface is mostly water. It's rotation takes 24 hours and its orbit takes 365.25 days. It has one moon that affects Earth's ocean tides. Earth has four seasons in a year and two hemisphere that are opposite of each other. In the southern hemisphere, water drains in the opposite direction from the northern hemisphere! Earth has many atmospheric layers. This protects us from the sun and meteorites. Earth's center is made up of lava, which is melted rock. It is possible to surf on the atmosphere!
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. It is named after the Roman god of war. It is often refereed to as the "Red Planet" and is half the size of Earth. There is water on Mars but it is only in ice and gas so it cannot support life. There is rust in the soil. It's climate is mild to cold. It has two moons named Phobos and Deimos that are irregularly. Mars has a canyon that would stretch from San Francisco to New York- ten times bigger than the Grand Canyon! It also has the largest mountain in the Solar system- Mount Olympus.
Jupiter is named after the King of the gods also known as Zeus. It is the fifth planet from the sun. It has 63 moons and it is the biggest planet in the solar system. It's biggest moon is bigger than Mercury. It's rotation is ten Earth hours long. Its famous red spot is a storm that has been on the planet for at least 100 years. 1,000 Earths could fit into Jupiter. Because of its dense gaseous atmosphere, Jupiter cannot support life. It has no known surface.
Saturn is the sixth planet in the solar system. Its distinctive rings are made up of rock and ice. It was named after the Roman god of the harvest. Saturn has no solid surface and it produces more energy than it receives from the sun which makes its center hot and surface freezing. A day on Saturn last 10 hours and 33 minutes. However, its is 27.5 Earth years. Its winds reach up to 1,100 mph. Saturn has 60 moons and one of them, Titan, has has liquid on its surface.
Uranus-number seven from the sun- is both a gas giant and an ice giant. It was named after the father of Saturn who was the god of the sky. It takes 85 Earth years to orbit and 18 Earth hours to rotate. Its unique rotation is sideways- north to south. Its surface temperature gets down to -950C. Its core is suspected to have diamonds. It is four times the size of Earth and some of Uranus' storms are as big as the U.S.A. Uranus is blue.
Neptune is the eighth and final planet from the sun. It was named after the god of the sea. It's one of the windiest planets with winds that reach up to 1,000 Km per hour and it's black spot storm could fit Earth inside. It has very thin rings around it. The cloudy surface of Neptune has a 19 hour rotation while the inside takes only 16 hours. It's moon Triton is the coldest part of the solar system.
Thanks to space exploration, we can learn about the planets and stars that surround us. Our understanding of them has greatly expanded over the past centuries. We know about all about the planets closest to us and about some of the stars as well.
