Terrestrial planets

The inner four worlds are called terrestrial planets, because, like Earth, their surfaces are all rocky.
Pluto, too, has a solid surface (and a very frozen one) but has never been rouped with the four
terrestrials.
Jovian planets
The four lare outer worlds ! "upiter, #aturn, $ranus, and %eptune ! are known as the "ovian
planets (&eanin "upiter'like) because they are all hue co&pared to the terrestrial planets, and
because they are aseous in nature rather than havin rocky surfaces (thouh so&e or all of the& &ay
have solid cores, astrono&ers say). These worlds are also fre(uently called the as iants, but that)s not
a reat way to describe the&, so&e astrono&ers say, because $ranus and %eptune are &ore ice than
as. *ll four contain &ostly hydroen and heliu&.
Mercury
The closest planet to the sun, +ercury is only a bit larer than Earth,s &oon. -ts day side is scorched by
the sun and can reach ./0 derees 1 (/20 3), but on the niht side, te&peratures drop to hundreds of
derees below freezin. +ercury has virtually no at&osphere to absorb &eteor i&pacts, so its surface is
pock&arked with craters, 4ust like the &oon.
Discovery: 5nown to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
Named for: +essener of the 6o&an ods
Diameter: 7,078 &iles (/,.9. k&)
Orbit: .. Earth days
Day: 2..: Earth days
Venus
The second (;nd) planet fro& the sun, <enus is terribly hot. The at&osphere is to=ic. The pressure at
the surface would crush and kill you. #cientists describe <enus) situation as a runaway reenhouse
effect. -ts size and structure are si&ilar to Earth, <enus, thick, to=ic at&osphere traps heat in a runaway
>reenhouse effect.> ?ddly, <enus spins slowly in the opposite direction of &ost planets.
The @reeks believed <enus was two different ob4ects ! one in the &ornin sky and another in the
evenin. Aecause it is often brihter than any other ob4ect in the sky ! e=cept for the sun and &oon !
<enus has enerated &any $1? reports.
Discovery: 5nown to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
Named for: 6o&an oddess of love and beauty
Diameter: 9,2;8 &iles (8;,80/ k&)
Orbit: ;;2 Earth days
Day: ;/8 Earth days
Earth
The third (7rd) planet fro& the sun, Earth is a waterworld, with two'thirds of the planet covered by
ocean. -t)s the only world known to harbor life. Earth)s at&osphere is rich in life'sustainin nitroen
and o=yen. Earth,s surface rotates about its a=is at 8,27; feet per second ! slihtly &ore than 8,000
&ph ! at the e(uator. The planet zips around the sun at &ore than 8. &iles per second.
Diameter: 9,B;: &iles (8;,9:0 k&)
Orbit: 7:2.;/ days
Day: ;7 hours, 2: &inutes
Mars
The fourth (/th) planet fro& the sun, is a cold, dusty place. The dust, an iron o=ide, ives the planet its
reddish cast. +ars shares si&ilarities with EarthC -t is rocky, has &ountains and valleys, and stor&
syste&s ranin fro& localized tornado'like dust devils to planet'enulfin dust stor&s. -t snows on
+ars. *nd +ars harbors water ice. #cientists think it was once wet and war&, thouh today it)s cold
and desert'like.
+ars, at&osphere is too thin for li(uid water to e=ist on the surface for any lenth of ti&e. #cientists
think ancient +ars would have had the conditions to support life, and there is hope that sins of past
life ! possibly even present bioloy ! &ay e=ist on the 6ed Planet.
Discovery: 5nown to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
Named for: 6o&an od of war
Diameter: /,;89 &iles (:,9.9 k&)
Orbit: :.9 Earth days
Day: "ust &ore than one Earth day (;/ hours, 79 &inutes)
Jupiter
The fifth (2th) planet fro& the sun, "upiter is hue and is the &ost &assive planet in our solar syste&.
-t)s a &ostly aseous world, &ostly hydroen and heliu&. -ts swirlin clouds are colorful due to
different types of trace ases. * bi feature is the @reat 6ed #pot, a iant stor& which has raed for
hundreds of years. "upiter has a stron &anetic field, and with dozens of &oons, it looks a bit like a
&iniature solar syste&.
Discovery: 5nown to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
Named for: 6uler of the 6o&an ods
Diameter: ..,970 &iles (/;.,/00 k&)
Orbit: 88.B Earth years
Day: B.. Earth hours
Saturn
The si=th (:th) planet fro& the sun is known &ost for its rins. Dhen @alileo @alilei first studied
#aturn in the early 8:00s, he thouht it was an ob4ect with three parts. %ot knowin he was seein a
planet with rins, the stu&ped astrono&er entered a s&all drawin ! a sy&bol with one lare circle
and two s&aller ones ! in his notebook, as a noun in a sentence describin his discovery. +ore than
/0 years later, 3hristiaan Euyens proposed that they were rins. The rins are &ade of ice and rock.
#cientists are not yet sure how they for&ed. The aseous planet is &ostly hydroen and heliu&. -t has
nu&erous &oons.
Discovery: 5nown to the ancients and visible to the naked eye
Named for: 6o&an od of ariculture
Diameter: 9/,B00 &iles (8;0,200 k&)
Orbit: ;B.2 Earth years
Day: *bout 80.2 Earth hours
Uranus
The seventh (9th) planet fro& the sun, $ranus is an oddball. -t)s the only iant planet whose e(uator is
nearly at riht anles to its orbit ! it basically orbits on its side. *strono&ers think the planet collided
with so&e other planet'sized ob4ect lon ao, causin the tilt. The tilt causes e=tre&e seasons that last
;0F years, and the sun beats down on one pole or the other for ./ Earth'years. $ranus is about the
sa&e size as %eptune. +ethane in the at&osphere ives $ranus its blue'reen tint. -t has nu&erous
&oons and faint rins.
Discovery: 89.8 by Dillia& Eerschel (was thouht previously to be a star)
Named for: Personification of heaven in ancient &yth
Diameter: 78,9:7 &iles (28,8;0 k&)
Orbit: ./ Earth years
Day: 8. Earth hours
Neptune
The eihth (.th) planet fro& the sun, %eptune is known for stron winds ! so&eti&es faster than the
speed of sound. %eptune is far out and cold. The planet is &ore than 70 ti&es as far fro& the sun as
Earth. -t has a rocky core. %eptune was the first planet to be predicted to e=ist by usin &ath, before it
was detected. -rreularities in the orbit of $ranus led 1rench astrono&er *le=is Aouvard to suest
so&e other &iht be e=ertin a ravitational tu. @er&an astrono&er "ohann @alle used calculations to
help find %eptune in a telescope. %eptune is about 89 ti&es as &assive as Earth.
Discovery: 8./:
Named for: 6o&an od of water
Diameter: 70,992 &iles (/B,270 k&)
Orbit: 8:2 Earth years
Day: 8B Earth hours