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Learn About the Planets - Our Solar System

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Easy ways to remember the order of the planets

 

Our solar system consists of the sun, eight planets, moons, dwarf planets, an asteroid belt, comets, meteors, and others. The sun is the center of our solar system; the planets, their moons, the asteroids, comets, and other rocks and gas all orbit the sun.

 

The nine planets that orbit the sun are (in order from the sun): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet). A belt of asteroids (minor planets made of rock and metal) lies between Mars and Jupiter. These objects all orbit the sun in roughly circular orbits that lie in the same plane, the ecliptic (Pluto is an exception; it has an elliptical orbit tilted over 17° from the ecliptic).

Easy ways to remember the order of the planets (and Pluto) are the mnemonics: "My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas" and "My Very Easy Method Just Simplifies Us Naming Planets" The first letter of each of these words represents a planet - in the correct order.


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Mercury 

Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, has almost no atmosphere, and its dusty surface of craters resembles the Moon.


The planet was named for the Roman god Mercury, a winged messenger, and it travels around the Sun faster than any other planet. Mercury is difficult to see from Earth-in fact, the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, for all his years of research and observation, never once was able to see Mercury.


Shortest year of any planet -- 86.969 Earth days. Moonlike, closest to the sun. Lowest known atmospheric pressure. It is not much thicker than the surrounding vacuum.

The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System 

The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System

The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System

by William K. Hartmann, Ron Miller

Amazon Price: $29.95 (as of 10/11/2008)

Introducing the new edition of the book praised as "spectacular" (London Times), "eye-boggling" (Future Life), "concise and informative...the colorful and imaginative paintings steal the show"(Chicago Tribune), with "page after page filled with new colour paintings, each the well-controlled evocation of a spectacular scene"(Scientific American).

Venus 

Venus is often called Earth's twin because the two planets are close in size, but that's the only similarity. The thick clouds that cover Venus create a greenhouse effect that keeps it sizzling at 864°F. Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is also known as the "morning star" and "evening star" since it is visible at these times to the unaided eye. Venus appears as a bright, white disk from Earth.

Highest atmospheric pressure of any surface planet. A surface pressure of 92 atmospheres can make walking very difficult (assuming you can manage not to fry in the heat). On Earth, 92 atmospheres is equivalent to being 920 meters (~3000 feet) underwater. Divers rarely go much below 150 meters (~500 feet) underwater, equivalent to 15 atmospheres of pressure. At such pressure the low winds of Venus (1 to 3 km/h) can overwhelm you with its strong current. In addition the high pressure makes anything at the surface heat up very quickly.

 

If you loved The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System, you might also enjoy:

Earth 

Earth is not perfectly round; it bulges at the equator and is flatter at the poles. From space the planet looks blue with white swirls, created by water and clouds.

Earth is a surface planet. We are stuck inside a huge gravity well that can kill (by a fall); Earth has the greatest gravity of any surface planet.

Earth is the only surface planet to have nearly equal tides from two different sources. The tides from the Moon are slightly more than twice the force of the tides from the Sun.

Visions of Mars 

Visions of Mars

Visions of Mars

by Olivier de Goursac

Amazon Price: $29.95 (as of 10/11/2008)

This amazing group of images, almost all previously unpublished, captures vast sandy plains, ancient lakes, deep canyons, the highest mountains in the solar system, polar ice caps, and other remarkable aspects of the planet's dramatic landscape. The book also includes a summary of the data that has been gathered about the planet up to this time.

Mars 

Because of its blood-red color (which comes from iron-rich dust), this planet was named for Mars, the Roman god of war. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, situated between Earth and Jupiter. Three-quarters red, Mars also has dark blotches on it and white areas at the poles-these are white polar ice caps.

Today's weather forecast for Mars:
Another cool and mostly clear day. Low morning haze will give way to a sunny afternoon with occasional high clouds. High temperature about -10 C at the equator; -25 C in mid-latitudes. Winds moderate, reaching 50 km/h in mid-afternoon. Expect a few clouds this evening and lows of -75 C to -90 C.
Source: Toronto Star, March 26, 1995, Terrence Dickinson, direct quote of part of his weekly The Universe column.

Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere 

Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere (Cambridge Planetary Science)

Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere (Cambridge Planetary Science)

Amazon Price: $86.53 (as of 10/11/2008)

"There are excellent photos, figures, tables, and diagrams and 19 pages in color. Without doubt, this is the best book available that summarizes knowledge of the largest planet in the solar system. Highly recommended." CHOICE

Jupiter 

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was named for the most important Roman god because of its size. About 1,300 Earths would fit into it. Viewed through a large telescope, Jupiter is stunningly colorful-it is a disk covered with bands of blue, brown, pink, red, orange, and yellow. Its most distinguishing feature is "the Great Red Spot," an intense windstorm larger in size than Earth, which has continued for centuries without any signs of dying down.

Jupiter's small moon Sinope, is the moon at the greatest distance from its primary (23,700,000 km or about 60 times the Earth-Moon distance, and 40% the Sun-Mercury distance). This moon is actually invisible to the naked eye from Jupiter.

Saturn: A New View 

Saturn: A New View

Saturn: A New View

by Laura Lovett, Joan Horvath, Jeff Cuzzi

Amazon Price: $29.20 (as of 10/11/2008)

This breathtaking volume, including authoritative essays on the planetary system and the mission, reveals the planet, its ethereally beautiful rings, and its 40+ moons in ways never before seen or recorded.

"Astonishing, amazing, and personal."
- Dr. David Livingston

Saturn 

Saturn, the second-largest planet, has majestic rings surrounding it. Named for the Roman god of farming, Saturn was the farthest planet known by the ancients. Saturn's seven rings are flat and lie inside one another. They are made of billions of ice particles.

Most known moons; current count is 18. Recent Hubble discoveries may bring that total up as much as four more, but more likely two or none at all. Jupiter has 16 moons, Uranus has 15, Neptune has 8, Mars has 2, and Earth and Pluto have 1.

Uranus 

Uranus is a greenish-blue planet, twice as far from the Sun as its neighbor Saturn. Uranus wasn't discovered until 1781. Its discoveror, William Herschel, named it Georgium Sidus (the Georgian star) after the English king, George III. Later its name was changed to Uranus, after an ancient Greek sky god, since all the other planets had been named after Roman and Greek gods.

Uranus has the strangest tilt of any planet -- 97.86°. Uranus is a world on its side, and as result has the most extreme seasons, with the sun almost overhead during summer at Uranus' north pole.

 

Encyclopedia of the Solar System, Second Edition

Encyclopedia of the Solar System, Second Edition

Amazon Price: $87.20 (as of 10/11/2008)

"Wonderfully updated and spectacular spacecraft images...Its a great primer for students as well as a reference for professionals."
-WILLIAM K. HARTMANN, Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute

Neptune 

Neptune, named for an ancient Roman sea god, is a stormy blue planet about 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth. Neptune was discovered when astronomers realized that something was exerting a gravitational pull on Uranus, and that it was possible that an unknown planet might be responsible. Through mathematical calculations, astronomers determined there was indeed an undiscovered planet out in space-a year before it was actually seen for the first time through a telescope (in 1846).

Strongest winds in the solar system -- 2200 km/h.

Pluto 

Pluto is usually farther from the Sun than any of the eight planets; however, due to the eccentricity of its orbit, it is closer than Neptune for 20 years out of its 249 year orbit. Pluto crossed Neptune's orbit January 21, 1979, made its closest approach September 5, 1989, and remained within the orbit of Neptune until February 11, 1999. This will not occur again until September 2226.

Pluto was officially labeled the ninth planet by the International Astronomical Union in 1930 and named for the Roman god of the underworld. It was the first and only planet to be discovered by an American, Clyde W. Tombaugh. It has since been reclassified as a Dwarf Planet along with Eris and Ceres.

 

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