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Listen to this song every so often to help you memorize the order of the planets.

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Take Notes!

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The Sun is the star at the centre of our solar system. It is an almost perfect sphere of super-hot gases whose gravity holds the solar system together. The energy produced by the Sun is essential for life on Earth and is a driving force behind the Earth's weather.

Facts about the Sun

The Sun is all the colours mixed together, this appears white to our eyes.

The Sun is composed of hydrogen (70%) and Helium (28%).

The Sun is a main-sequence G2V star (or Yellow Dwarf).

The Sun is 109 times wider than the Earth and 330,000 times as massive.

The Sun's surface area is 11,990 times that of the Earth's.

The distance between the Earth and the Sun is an Astronomical Unit (AU)

One million Earths could fit inside the Sun.
A hollow Sun would fit around 960,000 spherical Earths. If squished inside with no wasted space, then around 1,300,000 would fit inside. The Sun's surface area is 11,990 times that of the Earth's.

The Sun contains 99.86% of the mass in the Solar System.
The mass of the Sun is approximately 330,000 times greater than that of Earth. It is almost three quarters Hydrogen, whilst most of the remaining mass is Helium.

The Sun is an almost perfect sphere.
There is a 10-kilometre difference between the Sun's polar and equatorial diameter. This means it is the closest thing to a perfect sphere that has been observed in nature.

The Sun will consume the Earth.
When the Sun has burned all its Hydrogen, it will continue to burn helium for 130 million more years. During this time, it will expand to the point that it will engulf Mercury, Venus, and the Earth. At this stage it will have become a red giant

The Sun will one day be about the size of Earth.
After its red giant phase, the Sun will collapse. It will keep its enormous mass with the approximate volume of our planet. When this happens, it will have become a white dwarf.

The temperature inside the Sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius.
Energy is generated at the Sun's core, by nuclear fusion, as Hydrogen converts to Helium. Hot objects expand, the Sun would explode if it were not for its enormous gravitational force. The temperature on the surface of the Sun is closer to 5,600 degrees Celsius.

Light from the Sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth.
The Sun is an average distance of 150 million kilometres from the Earth. Light travels at 300,000 kilometres per second. Dividing one by the other gives us an approximate time of 500 seconds (or eight minutes and 20 seconds). Although this energy reaches Earth in a few minutes, it will already have taken millions of years to travel from the Sun's core to its surface.

The Sun travels at 220 kilometres per second.
The Sun is 24,000-26,000 light years from the galactic centre. It takes the Sun 225-250 million years to complete an orbit of the centre of the Milky Way.

The distance from the Sun to Earth changes throughout the year.
This is because the Earth travels on an elliptical orbit around the Sun. The distance between the two bodies varies from 147 to 152 million kilometres.

The Sun is middle-aged.
At around 4.6 billion years old, the Sun has already burned off about half of its store of Hydrogen. It has enough left to continue to burn Hydrogen for approximately 5 billion years. The Sun is currently a type of star known as a Yellow Dwarf.

The Sun has a very strong magnetic field.
Magnetic energy released by the Sun during magnetic storms causes solar flares. We see these as sunspots. In sunspots, the magnetic lines twist and they spin, much like a tornado would on Earth.

The Sun generates solar wind.
The wind is a stream of charged particles. This travels at approximately 450 kilometres per second through the solar system. Solar wind occurs when the magnetic field of the Sun extends into space.

Sol is the Latin for Sun
This is where the word "solar" comes from, which is used to describe things that are derived from, related to, or caused by the Sun

Size of the Sun

Sun size compared to Earth, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter

Sun Features

Sunspots

Sunspots are areas of the Sun's surface that appear darker than the surrounding areas, this is because they are cooler. They form in areas of strong magnetic activity that inhibit heat transfer.

Solar Flares

When the magnetic fields near sunspots cross, tangle or are reorganised, an explosion of energy can be released. Intense solar flares can interfere with radio communications on Earth.

Satellites

Sources: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/, https://www.nasa.gov/sun,
First Published: June 2012
Last Updated: May 2020
Author: Chris Jones

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Sun Facts ☀ - Interesting Facts about the Sun

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The Sun is the star at the centre of our solar system. It is an almost perfect sphere of super-hot gases whose gravity holds the

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Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and due to its proximity it is not easily seen except during twilight. For every two orbits of the Sun, Mercury completes three rotations about its axis and up until 1965 it was thought that the same side of Mercury constantly faced the Sun. Thirteen times a century Mercury can be observed from the Earth passing across the face of the Sun in an event called a transit, the next will occur on the 9th May 2016.

Facts about Mercury

Mercury does not have any moons or rings.

Mercury is the smallest planet.

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun.

Your weight on Mercury would be 38% of your weight on Earth.

A solar day on the surface of Mercury lasts 176 Earth days.

A year on Mercury takes 88 Earth days.

It's not known who discovered Mercury.

A year on Mercury is just 88 days long.
One solar day (the time from noon to noon on the planet's surface) on Mercury lasts the equivalent of 176 Earth days while the sidereal day (the time for 1 rotation in relation to a fixed point) lasts59 Earth days. Mercury is nearly tidally locked to the Sun and over time this has slowed the rotation of the planet to almost match its orbit around the Sun. Mercury also has the highest orbital eccentricity of all the planets with its distance from the Sun ranging from 46 to 70 million km.

Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System.
One of five planets visible with the naked eye a, Mercury is just 4,879 Kilometres across its equator, compared with 12,742 Kilometres for the Earth.

Mercury is the second densest planet.
Even though the planet is small, Mercury is very dense. Each cubic centimetre has a density of 5.4 grams, with only the Earth having a higher density. This is largely due to Mercury being composed mainly of heavy metals and rock.

Mercury has wrinkles.
As the iron core of the planet cooled and contracted, the surface of the planet became wrinkled. Scientist have named these wrinkles, Lobate Scarps. These Scarps can be up to a mile high and hundreds of miles long.

Mercury has a molten core.
In recent years scientists from NASA have come to believe the solid iron core of Mercury could in fact be molten. Normally the core of smaller planets cools rapidly, but after extensive research, the results were not in line with those expected from a solid core. Scientists now believe the core to contain a lighter element such as sulphur, which would lower the melting temperature of the core material. It is estimated Mercury's core makes up 42% of its volume, while the Earth's core makes up 17%.

Mercury is only the second hottest planet.
Despite being further from the Sun, Venus experiences higher temperatures. The surface of Mercury which faces the Sun sees temperatures of up to 427°C, whilst on the alternate side this can be as low as -173°C. This is due to the planet having no atmosphere to help regulate the temperature.

Mercury is the most cratered planet in the Solar System.
Unlike many other planets which "self-heal" through natural geological processes, the surface of Mercury is covered in craters. These are caused by numerous encounters with asteroids and comets. Most Mercurian craters are named after famous writers and artists. Any crater larger than 250 kilometres in diameter is referred to as a Basin. The Caloris Basin is the largest impact crater on Mercury covering approximately 1,550 km in diameter and was discovered in 1974 by the Mariner 10 probe.

Only two spacecraft have ever visited Mercury.
Owing to its proximity to the Sun, Mercury is a difficult planet to visit. During 1974 and 1975 Mariner 10 flew by Mercury three times, during this time they mapped just under half of the planet's surface. On August 3rd 2004, the Messenger probe was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, this was the first spacecraft to visit since the mid 1970's.

Mercury is named for the Roman messenger to the gods.
The exact date of Mercury's discovery is unknown as it pre-dates its first historical mention, one of the first mentions being by the Sumerians around in 3,000 BC.

Mercury has an atmosphere (sort of).
Mercury has just 38% the gravity of Earth, this is too little to hold on to what atmosphere it has which is blown away by solar winds. However while gases escape into space they are constantly being replenished at the same time by the same solar winds, radioactive decay and dust caused by micrometeorites.

Mercury Diagrams

Mercury size compared to Earth

Mercury distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity

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Mercury Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Mercury

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Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and due to its proximity it is not easily seen except during twilight. For every two orbits

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Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is the second largest terrestrial planet. Venus is sometimes referred to as the Earth's sister planet due to their similar size and mass. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Facts about Venus

Venus does not have any moons or rings.

Venus is nearly as big as the Earth with a diameter of 12,104 km.

Venus is thought to be made up of a central iron core, rocky mantle and silicate crust.

A day on the surface of Venus (solar day) would appear to take 117 Earth days.

A year on Venus takes 225 Earth days.

The surface temperature on Venus can reach 471 °C.

A day on Venus lasts longer than a year.
It takes 243 Earth days to rotate once on its axis (sidereal day). The planet's orbit around the Sun takes 225 Earth days, compared to the Earth's 365. A day on the surface of Venus (solar day) takes 117 Earth days.

Venus rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets.
This means that Venus is rotating in the opposite direction to the Sun, this is also known as a retrograde rotation. One possible reason for this might be a collision with an asteroid or other object.

Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky.
Only the Moon is brighter. With a magnitude of between -3.8 to -4.6 Venus is so bright it can be seen during daytime on a clear day.

Atmospheric pressure on Venus is 92 times greater than the Earth's.
Due to this crushing small asteroids when they enter its atmosphere Venus has not small craters. The pressure felt on Venus' surface is equivalent to that deep beneath the sea on Earth.

Venus is often called the Earth's sister planet.
The Earth and Venus are very similar in size with only a 638 km difference in diameter and Venus having 81.5% of the Earth's mass. Both also have a central core, a molten mantle and a crust.

The same side of Venus always faces the Earth when at their closest.
It is possible this is due to the Earth's gravational influence.

Venus is also known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star.
Early civilisations thought Venus was two different bodies. These were called Phosphorus and Hesperus by the Greeks, and Lucifer and Vesper by the Romans. When Venus' orbit around the Sun overtakes Earth's orbit, it changes from being visible after sunset to being visible before sunrise. Mayan astronomers made detailed observations of Venus as early as 650 AD.

Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system.
The average surface temperature is 462 °C, and because Venus does not tilt on its axis, there is no seasonal variation. The dense atmosphere of around 96.5 percent carbon dioxide traps heat and causes a greenhouse effect.

A detailed study of Venus finished in 2015.
In 2006, the Venus Express space craft was sent into orbit around Venus by the European Space Agency. Originally planned to last five hundred Earth days, the mission was extended several times before the craft was deorbited in 2015. More than 1,000 volcanoes or volcanic centres larger than 20 km have been found on the surface of Venus.

The Russians sent the first mission to Venus.
The Venera 1 space probe was launched in 1961, but lost contact with base. The USA also lost their first probe to Venus, Mariner 1, although Mariner 2 was able to take measurements of the planet in 1962. The Soviet Union's Venera 3 was the first man-made craft to land on Venus in 1966.

At one point it was thought Venus might be a tropical paradise.
The dense clouds of sulphuric acid surrounding Venus make it impossible to view its surface from outside its atmosphere. It was only when radio mapping was developed in the 1960s that scientists were able to observe the extreme temperatures and hostile environment.

Venus Diagrams

Venus size compared to Earth

Venus distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity

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Venus Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Venus

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Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is the second largest terrestrial planet. Venus is sometimes referred to as the Earth's sister planet

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Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and is the fifth planet out from the Sun. It is two and a half times more massive than all the other planets in the solar system combined. It is made primarily of gases and is therefore known as a " gas giant ".

Facts about Jupiter

Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the solar system.
Only the Sun, Moon and Venus are brighter. It is one of five planets visible to the naked eye from Earth.

The ancient Babylonians were the first to record their sightings of Jupiter.
This was around the 7th or 8th century BC. Jupiter is named after the king of the Roman gods. To the Greeks, it represented Zeus, the god of thunder. The Mesopotamians saw Jupiter as the god Marduk and patron of the city of Babylon. Germanic tribes saw this planet as Donar, or Thor.

Jupiter has the shortest day of all the planets.
It turns on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes. The rapid rotation flattens the planet slightly, giving it an oblate shape.

Jupiter orbits the Sun once every 11.8 Earth years.
From our point of view on Earth, it appears to move slowly in the sky, taking months to move from one constellation to another.

Jupiter has unique cloud features.
The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is divided into cloud belts and zones. They are made primarily of ammonia crystals, sulfur, and mixtures of the two compounds.

The Great Red Spot is a huge storm on Jupiter.
It has raged for at least 350 years. It is so large that three Earths could fit inside it.

Jupiter's interior is made of rock, metal, and hydrogen compounds.
Below Jupiter's massive atmosphere (which is made primarily of hydrogen), there are layers of compressed hydrogen gas, liquid metallic hydrogen, and a core of ice, rock, and metals.

Jupiter's moon Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system.
Jupiter's moons are sometimes called the Jovian satellites, the largest of these are Ganymeade, Callisto Io and Europa. Ganymeade measures 5,268 km across, making it larger than the planet Mercury.

Jupiter has a thin ring system.
Its rings are composed mainly of dust particles ejected from some of Jupiter's smaller worlds during impacts from incoming comets and asteroids. The ring system begins some 92,000 kilometres above Jupiter's cloud tops and stretches out to more than 225,000 km from the planet. They are between 2,000 to 12,500 kilometres thick.

Eight spacecraft have visited Jupiter.
Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo, Cassini, Ulysses, and New Horizons missions. The Juno mission is its way to Jupiter and will arrive in July 2016. Other future missions may focus on the Jovian moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and their subsurface oceans.

Jupiter Diagrams

Jupiter size compared to Earth

Jupiter distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity

Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Situated 22° south of Jupiter's equator, the Great Red Spot is a storm that has been raging for at least 186 years. Upper estimates suggest the storm could have been in existence for over three and a half centuries.

The first observation of the Great Red Spot was in the seventeenth century, when telescopes first started to be used. However, it is unknown whether this is the same red spot that we see today, or whether Jupiter has had many such storms that have come and gone.

The red spot spins anticlockwise and takes six (Earth) days to rotate completely. Another mystery surrounding the red spot is what makes it red. Scientists have several theories, for instance, the presence of red organic compounds.

Jupiter's Atmosphere

Jupiter's atmosphere is the solar system's largest planetary atmosphere. It is composed of hydrogen (90%) and helium (10%), in roughly the same proportions found in the Sun . It also contains much smaller amounts of other gases, such as ammonia, methane and water.

Sources: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/overview/, https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/jupiterfact.html, https://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/jupiter/20120906_jupiter_vgr1_global_caption.html
First Published: June 2012
Last Updated: February 2020
Author: Chris Jones

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Jupiter Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Jupiter

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Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and is the fifth planet out from the Sun. It is two and a half times more massive than all the other planets in the solar system combined. It is made primarily of gases and is therefore known as a " gas giant ".

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Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is the second smallest planet in the solar system. Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is also often described as the "Red Planet" due to its reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide.

Facts about Mars

Mars and Earth have approximately the same landmass.
Even though Mars has only 15% of the Earth's volume and just over 10% of the Earth's mass, around two thirds of the Earth's surface is covered in water. Martian surface gravity is only 37% of the Earth's (meaning you could leap nearly three times higher on Mars).

Mars is home to the tallest mountain in the solar system.
Olympus Mons, a shield volcano, is 21km high and 600km in diameter. Despite having formed over billions of years, evidence from volcanic lava flows is so recent many scientists believe it could still be active.

Only 18 missions to Mars have been successful.
As of September 2014 there have been 40 missions to Mars, including orbiters, landers and rovers but not counting flybys. The most recent arrivals include the Mars Curiosity mission in 2012, the MAVEN mission, which arrived on September 22, 2014, followed by the Indian Space Research Organization's MOM Mangalyaan orbiter, which arrived on September 24, 2014. The next missions to arrive will be the European Space Agency's ExoMars mission, comprising an orbiter, lander, and a rover, followed by NASA's InSight robotic lander mission, slated for launch in March 2016 and a planned arrival in September, 2016.

Mars has the largest dust storms in the solar system.
They can last for months and cover the entire planet. The seasons are extreme because its elliptical (oval-shaped) orbital path around the Sun is more elongated than most other planets in the solar system.

On Mars the Sun appears about half the size as it does on Earth.
At the closest point to the Sun, the Martian southern hemisphere leans towards the Sun, causing a short, intensely hot summer, while the northern hemisphere endures a brief, cold winter: at its farthest point from the Sun, the Martian northern hemisphere leans towards the Sun, causing a long, mild summer, while the southern hemisphere endures a lengthy, cold winter.

Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth.
Scientists have found tiny traces of Martian atmosphere within meteorites violently ejected from Mars, then orbiting the solar system amongst galactic debris for millions of years, before crash landing on Earth. This allowed scientists to begin studying Mars prior to launching space missions.

Mars takes its name from the Roman god of war.
The ancient Greeks called the planet Ares, after their god of war; the Romans then did likewise, associating the planet's blood-red colour with Mars, their own god of war. Interestingly, other ancient cultures also focused on colour - to China's astronomers it was 'the fire star', whilst Egyptian priests called on 'Her Desher', or 'the red one'. The red colour Mars is known for is due to the rock and dust covering its surface being rich in iron.

There are signs of liquid water on Mars.
For years Mars has been known to have water in the form of ice. The first signs of trickling water are dark stripes or stains on crater wall and cliffs seen in satellite images. Due to Mars' atmosphere this water would have to be salty to prevent it from freezing or vaporising.

One day Mars will have a ring.
In the next 20-40 million years Mars' largest moon Phobos will be torn apart by gravitational forces leading to the creation of a ring that could last up to 100 million years.

Sunsets on Mars are blue.
During the martian day the sky is pinkish-red, this is the opposite of the Earth's skies.

Mars Diagrams

Mars size compared to Earth

Mars distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity

Mars Features

Moons

Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. They were discovered in 1877 by astronomer Asaph Hall, who named them for the Latin terms "fear" and "panic". These moons are thought to be captured asteroids and are among the smallest natural satellites in the solar system.

Olympus Mons

Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system - Olympus Mons. It measures some 600 kilometres across and rises nearly 27 kilometres above the surrounding terrain. It is a shield volcano built by the continuous action of flowing lava over millions and millions of years that began some 3 billion years ago.

Olympus Mons is part of a complex of volcanoes that lie along a volcanic plateau called the Tharsis Bulge. This entire region lies over a hotspot, a place in the planet's crust that allows magma from deep inside to flow out to the surface.

Valles Marineris

The Valles Marineris is an extensive canyon system on the Mars equator. It is 4,200 kilometres long and, in places, is 7 kilometres deep. On Earth, it would span the entire North American continent and beyond.

Mars has has a very primitive form of plate tectonics, and the action of two plates past each other began splitting the surface some 3.5 billion years ago. That set the stage for the formation of the Valles Marineris.

Sources: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/ , https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html, https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/maps/mars-viking-hemisphere-point-perspectives
First Published: June 2012
Last Updated: May 2020
Author: Chris Jones

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Mars Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Mars

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Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is the second smallest planet in the solar system. Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is also often described as the "Red Planet" due to its reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide.

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Take test & print out grade to turn in.

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Start studying Planets. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.

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Study for Test!

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Start studying Planets. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.

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Study for Test!

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Exploring Our Solar System: Planets and Space for Kids - FreeSchool

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Best known for its fabulous ring system, Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in our solar system. Like Jupiter, Saturn is a gas giant and is composed of similar gasses including hydrogen, helium and methane.

Facts about Saturn

Saturn is the most distant planet that can be seen with the naked eye.
It is the fifth brightest object in the solar system and is also easily studied through binoculars or a small telescope.

Saturn was known to the ancients, including the Babylonians and Far Eastern observers.
It is named for the Roman god Saturnus, and was known to the Greeks as Cronus.

Saturn is the flattest planet.
Its polar diameter is 90% of its equatorial diameter, this is due to its low density and fast rotation. Saturn turns on its axis once every 10 hours and 34 minutes giving it the second-shortest day of any of the solar system's planets.

Saturn orbits the Sun once every 29.4 Earth years.
Its slow movement against the backdrop of stars earned it the nickname of "Lubadsagush" from the ancient Assyrians. The name means "oldest of the old".

Saturn's upper atmosphere is divided into bands of clouds.
The top layers are mostly ammonia ice. Below them, the clouds are largely water ice. Below are layers of cold hydrogen and sulfur ice mixtures.

Saturn has oval-shaped storms similar to Jupiter's.
The region around its north pole has a hexagonal-shaped pattern of clouds. Scientists think this may be a wave pattern in the upper clouds. The planet also has a vortex over its south pole that resembles a hurricane-like storm.

Saturn is made mostly of hydrogen.
It exists in layers that get denser farther into the planet. Eventually, deep inside, the hydrogen becomes metallic. At the core lies a hot interior.

Saturn has the most extensive rings in the solar system.
The Saturnian rings are made mostly of chunks of ice and small amounts of carbonaceous dust. The rings stretch out more than 120,700 km from the planet, but are amazingly thin: only about 20 meters thick.

Saturn has 150 moons and smaller moonlets.
All are frozen worlds. The largest moons are Titan and Rhea. Enceladus appears to have an ocean below its frozen surface.

Titan is a moon with complex and dense nitrogen-rich atmosphere.
It is composed mostly of water ice and rock. Its frozen surface has lakes of liquid methane and landscapes covered with frozen nitrogen. Planetary scientists consider Titan to be a possible harbour for life, but not Earth-like life.

Four spacecraft have visited Saturn.
Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and the Cassini-Huygens mission have all studied the planet. Cassini orbited Saturn from July 2004 until September 2017, sending back a wealth of data about the planet, its moons, and rings.

Saturn has more moons than any other planet.
20 new moons were discovered in 2019 bring the total to 82, 3 more than Jupiter.

Saturn Diagrams

Saturn size compared to Earth

Saturn distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity

Saturn's Rings

While all the gas giants in our solar system have rings none of them are as extensive or distinctive as Saturn's. The rings were discovered by Galileo Galilei 1610 who observed them with a telescope. The first 'up close' view of the rings were by Pioneer 11 spacecraft which flew by Saturn on September 1, 1971.

Saturn's rings are made up of are billions of particles that range in size from tiny dust grains to objects as large as mountains. These are made up of chunks of ice and rock, believed to have come from asteroids comets or even moons, that broke apart before they reached the planet.

Saturn's rings are divided into 7 groups, named alphabetically in the order of their discovery (Outwards from Saturn; D, C, B, A, F, G and E). The F ring is kept in place by two of Saturn's moons, Prometheus and Pandora, these are referred to as 'shepherd moons'. Other satellites are responsible for creating divisions in the rings as well as shepherding them.

Saturn's Atmosphere

Saturn's atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen (96%) and helium (3%) with traces of other substances like methane, ammonia, acetylene, ethane, propane and phosphine. Winds in the upper atmosphere can reach speeds of 500 metres a second, these combined with heat rising from within the planet's interior cause yellow and gold bands.

Sources: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/overview/, https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/saturnfact.html
First Published: June 2012
Last Updated: April 2020
Author: Chris Jones

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Saturn Facts 🪐 - Interesting Facts about Planet Saturn

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Best known for its fabulous ring system, Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in our solar system. Like Jupiter,

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Write on a piece of paper,
Explain why Pluto is not a planet.

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Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It's not visible to the naked eye, and became the first planet discovered with the use of a telescope. Uranus is tipped over on its side with an axial tilt of 98 degrees. It is often described as "rolling around the Sun on its side."

Facts about Uranus

Uranus was officially discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1781.
It is too dim to have been seen by the ancients. At first Herschel thought it was a comet, but several years later it was confirmed as a planet. Herscal tried to have his discovery named "Georgian Sidus" after King George III. The name Uranus was suggested by astronomer Johann Bode. The name comes from the ancient Greek deity Ouranos.

Uranus turns on its axis once every 17 hours, 14 minutes.
The planet rotates in a retrograde direction, opposite to the way Earth and most other planets turn.

Uranus makes one trip around the Sun every 84 Earth years.
During some parts of its orbit one or the other of its poles point directly at the Sun and get about 42 years of direct sunlight. The rest of the time they are in darkness.

Uranus is often referred to as an "ice giant" planet.
Like the other gas giants, it has a hydrogen upper layer, which has helium mixed in. Below that is an icy "mantle, which surrounds a rock and ice core. The upper atmosphere is made of water, ammonia and the methane ice crystals that give the planet its pale blue colour.

Uranus hits the coldest temperatures of any planet.
With minimum atmospheric temperature of -224°C Uranus is nearly coldest planet in the solar system. While Neptune doesn't get as cold as Uranus it is on average colder. The upper atmosphere of Uranus is covered by a methane haze which hides the storms that take place in the cloud decks.

Uranus has two sets of very thin dark coloured rings.
The ring particles are small, ranging from a dust-sized particles to small boulders. There are eleven inner rings and two outer rings. They probably formed when one or more of Uranus's moons were broken up in an impact. The first rings were discovered in 1977 with the two outer rings being discovered in Hubble Space Telescope images between 2003 and 2005.

Uranus' moons are named after characters created by William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
These include Oberon, Titania and Miranda. All are frozen worlds with dark surfaces. Some are ice and rock mixtures. The most interesting Uranian moon is Miranda; it has ice canyons, terraces, and other strange-looking surface areas.

Only one spacecraft has flown by Uranus.
In 1986, the Voyager 2 spacecraft swept past the planet at a distance of 81,500 km. It returned the first close-up images of the planet, its moons, and rings.

Uranus Diagrams

Uranus size compared to Earth

Uranus distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity

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Uranus Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Uranus

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Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It's not visible to the naked eye, and became the first planet discovered with the use of a telescope. Uranus is tipped over on its side with an axial tilt of 98 degrees. It is often described as "rolling around the Sun on its side."

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Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun, making it the most distant in the solar system. This gas giant may have formed much closer to the Sun in the early solar system history before migrating out to its current position.

Facts about Neptune

Neptune is the most distant planet from the Sun.

Neptune is the smallest gas giant.

A year on Neptune lasts 165 Earth years.

Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea.

Neptune has 6 faint rings.

Neptune was not known to the ancients.
It is not visible to the naked eye and was first observed in 1846. Its position was determined using mathematical predictions. It was named after the Roman god of the sea.

Neptune spins on its axis very rapidly.
Its equatorial clouds take 16 hours to make one rotation. This is because Neptune is not solid body.

Neptune is the smallest of the ice giants.
Despite being smaller than Uranus, Neptune has a greater mass. Below its heavy atmosphere, Uranus is made of layers of hydrogen, helium, and methane gases. They enclose a layer of water, ammonia and methane ice. The inner core of the planet is made of rock.

The atmosphere of Neptune is made of hydrogen and helium, with some methane.
The methane absorbs red light, which makes the planet appear a lovely blue. High, thin clouds drift in the upper atmosphere.

Neptune has a very active climate.
Large storms whirl through its upper atmosphere, and high-speed winds track around the planet at up 600 meters per second. One of the largest storms ever seen was recorded in 1989. It was called the Great Dark Spot. It lasted about five years.

Neptune has a very thin collection of rings.
They are likely made up of ice particles mixed with dust grains and possibly coated with a carbon-based substance.

Neptune has 14 moons.
The most interesting moon is Triton, a frozen world that is spewing nitrogen ice and dust particles out from below its surface. It was likely captured by the gravitational pull of Neptune. It is probably the coldest world in the solar system.

Only one spacecraft has flown by Neptune.
In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft swept past the planet. It returned the first close-up images of the Neptune system. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has also studied this planet, as have a number of ground-based telescopes.

Neptune Diagrams

Neptune size compared to Earth

Neptune distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity

Neptune's Great Dark Spot

The Great Dark Spot in the southern atmosphere of Neptune was first discovered in 1989 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. It was an incredibly large rotating storm system with winds of up to 1,500 miles per hour, the strongest winds recorded on any planet. How such powerful winds were discovered on a planet so far from the sun is still considered a mystery to this day.

Data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft also showed that the Great Dark Spot varied significantly in size during their brief pass of the planet. When Neptune was viewed by the Hubble Space telescope in 1994 the Great Dark Spot had vanished, although a different dark spot had appeared in Neptune's northern hemisphere.

Neptune's Atmosphere

Neptune has an incredibly thick atmosphere comprised of 74% hydrogen, 25% helium and approximately 1% methane. Its atmosphere also contains icy clouds and the fastest winds recorded in the solar system. Particles of icy methane and minor gases in the extremities of the atmosphere give Neptune its deep blue colour. The striking blue and white features of Neptune also help to distinguish it from Uranus.

Neptune's atmosphere is subdivided into the lower troposphere and the stratosphere with the tropopause being the boundary between the two. In the lower troposphere temperatures decrease with altitude however they increase with altitude in the stratosphere. Hydrocarbons form hazes of smog that appear in the entire upper atmosphere of Neptune and hydrocarbon snowflakes that form in Neptune's atmosphere melt before they reach its surface due to the high pressure.

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Neptune Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Neptune

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Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun, making it the most distant in the solar system. This gas giant may have formed much closer to the Sun in the early solar system history before migrating out to its current position. Neptune is the most distant planet from the Sun.