The Solar System

Mercury
● smallest planet- only slightly larger than Earth’s moon
● named after Roman messenger god
● closest to the sun but not the hottest
● able to complete a full rotation in only 88 earth days
● no moons
○ possible Mercury once had a moon, but because Mercury is small and
does not have as much gravitational pull, the moon likely had an
unstable orbit. Otherwise, it is also possible the sun pulled Mercury’s
moon away with its gravitational pull.
Venus
Venus is the second closest planet to the sun. It is the sixth biggest planet in our
solar system. Venus may not have the traits for human beings to thrive but it is
beautiful to look at and is the second brightest in the night sky after the moon.
Venus’ thick atmosphere traps heat inside making it the hottest planet in the
solar system. The average temperature on Venus is 864 degrees Fahrenheit
(462 degrees Celsius) Venus has an active surface including volcanoes. Because
of its close range to the sun, Venus only takes 225 earth days to orbit the sun.
Venus also doesn’t have any moons for similar reasons to Mercury.
Earth
In our solar system, Earth is the only known habitable planet where life can
thrive. Earth is called the “Goldilocks Planet”, not too cold and not too hot.
Earth’s atmosphere not only contains the air we breathe but also protects us
from blasts of heat and radiation emitted from the sun. It warms the planet by
day and cools it by night, providing the conditions we live on today. Earth has
one moon and is the fifth biggest planet in the solar system. Earth’s name is
derived from English and German words and is the only planet not named after
a Roman god or goddess.
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. Mars gets its name from its reddish color
which the Romans thought looked like blood, so they named it after their
Roman god of war. Mars’ reddish color comes from a material in the soil called
iron oxide, making it seem red. Mars has close conditions to Earth because of
its distance from Earth. Mars has 2 moons, they are not big and round like our
moon. They were possibly captured asteroids from the asteroid belt between
Mars and Jupiter. Scientists take special interest in Mars because they think
living beings could one day call it home. Rovers are sent to Mars to study it and
see how humans could thrive there. Maybe one day Mars will be habitable by
living beings!
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It is called a gas giant because it is
extremely massive and is mostly made of gas. Because Jupiter is mostly made
of gas, there is nowhere to land! Besides that, it is the third brightest object in
the night sky, only Venus and the moon are brighter. Because of its distance
from the sun, Jupiter takes 12 earth years to orbit the sun. It is the largest
planet in the Solar System, 11 times wider than Earth! Because of Jupiter’s large
size, it is named after the king of the Roman gods. Jupiter has 4 sets of rings
but unlike Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s rings are fainter. With its massive size and
distance from the sun, Jupiter has 67 moons but 55 are very small. At least two
are as big as Mercury.
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth closest planet to the sun. It is also a gas giant, meaning it is
also mostly made of gas and is also extremely big, about 9 times bigger than
Earth. Saturn is known for its beautiful rings. Saturn’s rings are made from ice
chunks and dust pieces. Saturn may be large but it is not dense. In our Solar
System, it is the second-biggest after Jupiter. It takes 29 earth years for it to
perform a complete rotation of the sun. The planet is named for the Roman
god of agriculture and wealth. Saturn has 62 moons. It’s distance from the sun
makes it a very cold planet. The average temperature is about negative 285
degrees Fahrenheit or -176 degrees Celsius.
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun. Uranus is another gas giant but is
much smaller than Jupiter and Saturn. It is tilted so much, it spins sideways. It is
the third biggest planet in our solar system after Saturn and Jupiter. Like
Saturn, Uranus also has rings but they are much fainter. Uranus is the first
planet to be discovered by a telescope and is 4 times wider than Earth. Because
of its distance from the sun, Uranus takes 84 earth years to orbit the sun!
Uranus’ blue color comes from its clouds which are made of methane which
give it its beautiful blue color. Like Saturn, Uranus is very cold. The average
temperature on Uranus is -353 degrees Fahrenheit or -213 degrees Celsius.
Neptune
Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun. It is the fourth biggest planet in our
solar system, and not that much smaller than Uranus. Neptune is also a gas
giant, and, like Uranus, Neptune also has methane in its clouds giving it its dark
blue color. Because Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun, it takes 165
earth years to orbit the sun. When discovered, people thought the reason
Neptune was blue was due to water so they named it after the Roman god of
the sea. Because Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun, it has the coldest
average temperature of 417 Fahrenheit or 214 degrees Celsius. While Neptune
is the coldest, Uranus still holds the record for the coldest temperature reached
of -224 degrees Celsius.
Sun
The Sun is a star like other It is special because of its distance from us. The sun is
extremely big, it is about one million times as big as Earth. Luckily the sun is about
93 million miles away from Earth, allowing Earth to have the heat it needs for life
to survive but not get burned to crisp. The sun’s light takes 8 minutes to reach
Earth and can be 27 million degrees fahrenheit.
Sources
1. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/
2. https://www.space.com/
3. etc.