• Solar System
  • Our Sun
  • Terrestrial Planets
    • Mercury
    • Venus
    • Earth
      • The Moon
    • Mars
  • Joivan Planets
    • Jupiter
    • Saturn
    • Uranus
    • Neptune
• Additional Resources
• Test Yourself

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There are two basic types of planets, Earth-like (Terrestrial) planets and Jupiter-like (Jovian) planets. The Terrestrial planets are small, dense, rocky worlds. They are located in the inner part of the Solar System, they have solid surfaces, just a couple moons at most, rotate slowly, and have no rings around them.

The Jovian planets are large planets located in the outer part of the Solar System. The Jovian planets are gas giants, large objects made mostly of hydrogen and helium. They are much larger than terrestrial planets and are rapidly rotating objects. They all have rings, and extensive families of moons and no solid surface on which to stand on. The apparent visible surfaces are just the top layers of clouds in their atmospheres.

Our Sun

The Sun is the center star of our Solar System. All of the planets, asteroids and comets revolve around the Sun. The Sun’s role as the center of the system comes from its high mass. It has 99.8% of the mass in the Solar System. The sun is a star, a hot ball of glowing gases. Without the sun’s intense energy and heat, there would be no life on Earth. And though it is special to us, there are billions of stars like our sun scattered across the Milky Way galaxy.

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Terrestrial Planets:

Mercury

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and smallest of the terrestrial planets. It has a very thin atmosphere, which is only a little more substantial than a vacuum.

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Venus

Venus has a very thick atmosphere mostly composed of carbon dioxide gas. The thick carbon dioxide atmosphere traps heat from the Sun during the day and does not let the surface cool at night. The high temperature and unbreathable thick atmosphere would make the planet very inhospitable to human visitors.

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Earth

Earth is our home planet. Most of its surface (over 70%) is covered with oceans, with the remainder featuring a wide variety of land forms, from mountains and valleys to plains and beaches. Earth has a thick atmosphere, which is mostly nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%). The region on and below the surface of Earth is filled with life which makes this planet unique.

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The Moon

The moon revolves around Earth and determines Earth’s tides. The Moon is our natural satellite. So far is the only object in space humans have travelled to. Neil Armstrong is the first human to step on the moon on 20th of July 1969:

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Mars

Mars is about half the size of Earth in diameter. Mars has a carbon dioxide atmosphere, but it is extremely thin. The thin air does not retain heat well. Mars has polar ice caps, made of water ice and carbon dioxide ice. The Martian surface has features that look like dry stream-beds, leading many researchers to suspect that at some time in the distant past, Mars may have had liquid water flowing on its surface.

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Jovian Planets:

Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System. It is about 318 times as massive as Earth, and over 1,300 Earths could fit inside of it. Like all Jovian planets, Jupiter’s surface shows complicated wind patterns. Perhaps the most recognizable feature on Jupiter’s surface is the Great Red Spot, a huge storm, twice the diameter of Earth, which has been going on for at least 300 years.

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Saturn

Saturn is just a little smaller than Jupiter (its diameter is about 85% of Jupiter’s) but a lot lighter (its mass is about a third of Jupiter’s). This means that it has a very low density. In fact, its density is the lowest of all the planets and less than the density of water. In composition and internal structure, the planet is thought to be fairly similar to its larger sibling, Jupiter.

All Jovian planets are surrounded by a complex ring system made of icy particles. Saturn’s ring system is, by far, the most spectacular. The rings of the other Jovian planets are much thinner and fainter.

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^* Derived from a 1 bar radius of 60,268 km.

Uranus

Uranus’s unique feature is that it appears to have been knocked over sometime in the past. Spinning perpendicular to it’s orbit. Most planets orbit around the Sun spinning upright. The cause of this is not yet certain, but it has been suggested that it was caused by an impact of a large object, such as a large asteroid or moon. Giant impacts like this were common during the early history of the Solar System; a similar impact is thought to have created the Earth’s Moon.

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Neptune

Neptune is similar in size to Uranus. Giant storm centers can be seen on its visible surface, similar to those on the other Jovian planets. The atmosphere features great wind patterns; its winds are the fastest in the Solar System, reaching speeds of 2,000 km/hour (or 1,200 miles/hour).

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Additional Resources

Earth at night as seen from ISS

Solar Flares

Earth 360 degrees

Jupiter

stars.chromeexperiments.com

joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html

NASA Eyes simulation

Test Yourself

Match the names with the images.

Sun

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune