Planets of the Solar System

SUN

                                              SUN

            The sun is the center of the solar system and a star.It is consist of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields with its diameter is about 1,392,000 km and almost perfectly spherical. It is 109 times that of Earth, and its mass (about 2×10³⁰ kilograms, 330,000 times that of Earth) accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, while the rest is mostly helium. Less than 2% consists of heavier elements, including oxygen and others.

                                         MERCURY   

        Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system. Mercury is about the same size as our Moon. It is very close to the Sun. Mercury travels around the Sun faster than any other planet. That is how it got its name. It was named after Mercury, the swift messenger of the gods in ancient Roman mythology. Mercury can only be seen from Earth just before sunrise or just after sunset, but not in the middle of the night. That is because Mercury always appears near the Sun when viewed from Earth. Mercury has a very thin atmosphere. Humans would not be able to live there. The surface of Mercury has holes in it where objects such as meteorites and asteroids crashed into it.

                                                                                                   VENUS

           Venus is the second planet from the sun and passes closer to the Earth than any other planet at a minimum distance of 108 million km. It can reach magnitudes of -4.7, which is much brighter than the next planet, Jupiter. This is because of its dense atmosphere, which reflect about 65% of the light hitting them.

                   

                                               EARTH

Earth is our home; the third planet from the Sun. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 150 million km. Earth is the only planet in the Solar System known to support life. This is because our atmosphere keeps the planet warm from the vacuum of space, but it’s not so thick that we have a runaway greenhouse effect. The Earth has a solid core of iron surrounded by a liquid outer core that generates a magnetic field that also helps protect life on Earth from the radiation of space.

                                              MARS

 The 4th planet from the Sun is Mars, the second smallest planet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at an distance of 228 million km. You might think Mars is large, but it’s a tiny world, with about half the diameter of Earth, and just 1/10th the Mass. If you could stand on the surface of Mars, you’d experience about 1/3rd Earth’s gravity. Mars has almost no atmosphere to help trap heat from the Sun, and so temperatures can plunge below -140 °C in the Martian winter. Even at the height of summer, temperatures can get up to 20 °C in the day – just barely shirt sleeve weather.

                                           JUPITER

Mighty Jupiter is the biggest planet in our Solar System. It’s so large, in fact, that it has 2.5 times the mass of all the rest of the planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter orbits from the Sun at an average distance of 779 million km. Its diameter at the equator is 142,984 km across; you could fit 11 Earths side by side and still have a little room. Jupiter is almost entirely made up of hydrogen and helium, with trace amounts of other elements.

                                           SATURN

Saturn is the 6th planet from the Sun, and the 2nd largest planet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 1.4 billion km. Saturn measures 120,000 km across; only a little less than Jupiter. But Saturn has much less mass, and do it has a low density. In fact, if you had a pool large enough, Saturn would float!                                                       

                                             URANUS

Next comes Uranus, the 7th planet from the Sun. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 2.9 billion km. Uranus measures 51,000 km across, and is the 3rd largest planet in the Solar System. While all of the planets are tilted on their axes, Uranus is tilted over almost on its side. It has an axial tilt of 98°. Uranus was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope; it was first recognized as a planet in 1781 by William Herschel. 

                                                                                                   NEPTUNE

Neptune is the 8th and final planet in the Solar System, orbiting at an average distance of 4.5 billion km from the Sun. It’s the 4th largest planet, measuring about 49,000 km across. It might not be as big as Jupiter, but it’s still 3.8 times larger than Earth – you could fit 57 Earths inside Neptune. Neptune is the second planet discovered in modern times. It was discovered at the same time by both Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams.