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Planet Information
Mercury
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Its average distance from the sun is 36 million miles. Mercury
has a quick orbit, making one complete revolution around the sun every 88 earth days making that
0.241 earth years. Compared to Earth, Mercury rotates on its axis slowly, making one complete
rotation every 58.6 earth days. Mercury is a terrestrial planet meaning it has a solid surface. Its
surface is covered with craters. Because of Mercury’s small size it has almost no atmosphere to
protect it from things like meteorites and the Sun’s heat. What atmosphere it does have is composed
of helium and hydrogen. Such a lack of atmosphere allows extreme temperature changes. The side
that faces the sun can get as hot as 800°F and the side facing away from the sun can get a cold as 360°F. Mercury is the second smallest planet with a diameter of 3031 miles. Its gravity is only 0.38
times as much as the gravity on earth. Mercury was named after the Roman messenger of the gods.
Mercury does not have any moons. Some fun facts about Mercury are all of the craters are named for
artists, musicians and writers. All of the valleys are named after observatories and the ridges and
cliffs are named after ships that have explored the earth. Mercury probably received the name for the
Roman messenger of the gods because it moves so quickly across the sky. MESSENGER , which is
an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging, is a spacecraft
that was launched by NASA in 2004 and will orbit Mercury starting in 2011 after several flybys.
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the sun. Its average distance from the sun is 67 million miles. Venus
makes one revolution around the sun in 224.7 earth days making that 0.615 earth years. Venus has
the slowest rotation in the solar system. It rotates on its axis once every 243 earth days. Venus has a
rocky, solid surface with several large craters. Venus' atmosphere is 100 time thicker than Earths. It is
made up of 90% carbon dioxide and about 10% nitrogen. The sky of Venus is full of clouds made of
sulfuric acid. With such a thick atmosphere heat gets trapped and the surface can get as hot as
900°F. Venus is the planet that is closest in size to the earth. Its diameter is 7523 miles.
Its gravity is 0.91 times that of earth. Venus was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
Venus also has no moons. Some fun facts about Venus are Venus’ nicknames are the Evening Star
or the Morning Star because, besides the moon, it is one of the brightest objects in the nighttime sky.
That is because of its think atmosphere it reflects over 75% of the light that hits it. Also there has
been evidence of former lava flows. This shows that at one time Venus had volcanic activity. It is
believed that the surface use to be covered with hundreds of volcanoes.
Earth
The third planet from the sun is Earth. Its average distance from the sun is 93 million miles. Earths
revolution around the sun takes 365.26 days or 1 year. Its rotation takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4
seconds, or one day. Earth has a solid surface of which 72% of it is cover with water. The
atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, 0.9% argon and 0.1% carbon dioxide. Earth’s
temperature range is -60°F to 140°F. It has a diameter of 7926 miles. On Earth gravity is figured out
by multiplying by 1. In Roman Mythology, the goddess of the earth was Tellus, which means the
fertile soil. In Greek Mythology the goddess’s name was Gaia which means Mother Earth. The name
Earth itself does not derive from Greek or Roman Mythology but from Old English and Germanic.
There are hundreds of other names for the planet Earth in other languages. Earth has one moon
which is sometime referred to as Luna. Some fun facts about Earth are that out of all the planets
Earth is the only one to have a significant amount of water. Unlike Mercury, who has little
atmosphere, and Venus, who’s atmosphere is to thick, Earth has the perfect atmosphere to support
life. At the equator, the Earth is spinning at 1000 mph about its axis and moving at 67,000 mph
around the Sun.
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. The average distance from the sun is 142 million miles. Mars
revolves once around the sun every 686.98 earth days making that 1.88 in earth years. It rotates on
its axis every 24 hours and 37 minutes. Mars solid surface is mostly made up of iron oxide (rust)
which accounts for its red color and is covered with many craters, mountains and valleys. Mar’s
atmosphere is about 7% as thick as the atmosphere around the Earth making it very thin and is
composed mostly of 95.3% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, 0.15% oxygen, and 0.03%
water. Its temperature ranges from -220°F to 80°F. It has a diameter of 4222 miles. Mars gravity is
about the same as it is on Mercury and is 0.38 times the gravity on Earth. It was named after the
Roman god of war, probably because of its red color. There are two moons that revolve around Mars.
Their names are Deimos and Phobos. Some fun facts about Mars are that the largest canyon on
Mars would stretch form NYC to LA on Earth. That makes the Grand Canyon look very small. Also
Mars has higher mountains and deeper canyons than any other planet in the solar system. Mars is
also home to the biggest volcano in the solar system and it is called Olympus Mons. Mars moons
were named after the attendants of the Roman god Mars.
Jupiter
The fifth and largest planet in our solar system is Jupiter. It is an average of 483 million miles from the
sun. Jupiter takes 4332.59 earth days or 11.9 earth years to revolve around the sun. However, it has
the fastest rotation in the solar system-- rotating every 9 hours and 55 minutes. Jupiter’s nickname is
the Gas Giant because it has an atmosphere mainly composed of 90% hydrogen and 10% helium. Its
atmosphere is hundreds of miles thick. Jupiter’s average temperature is -250°F. Jupiter is 1 ½ times
larger than all of the other planets put together. It has a diameter of 89,372 miles. Because of
Jupiter’s large mass it has a gravitational pull that is 2.64 times that of Earth. It was named after the
ruler of all the Roman gods. Jupiter has at least 63 moons. The four largest are referred to as the
Galilean moons because Galileo was who discovered them. They are called Io, Europa, Ganymede
and Callisto. Some fun facts about Jupiter are that you can see the four larger moons with a pair of
binoculars at night. Also because of its fast rotation, the planet bulges in the middle. So instead of
being round it is really short and fat. Jupiter is home of the famous Great Red Spot. The Great Red
Spot is a giant windstorm that has winds like a super hurricane and it is the size of three Earths put
together. This storm is in the same position and is the same shape as it was when it was first
discovered 300 year ago. One other thing, like Saturn, Jupiter has rings but they are much fainter and
smaller. Unlike Saturn’s, Jupiter’s rings are dark and contains no ice.
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest planet in the solar system. It has an
average distance of 888 million miles from the sun. Saturn revolves around the sun once every
10759.2 earth days or 29.5 earth years. Like Jupiter, Saturn spins very quickly on its axis, making one
rotation every 10 hours and 13 minutes. Saturn is a gas planet and its atmosphere consists of 75%
hydrogen and 25% helium. Its average temperature is -300°F. Saturn has a diameter of 74,898 miles.
Saturn has a gravitational pull that is 1.13 times that of Earth. Its name comes from the Roman god of
agriculture. Saturn has 34 moons, the most famous of which is Titan. Titan is the second largest
moon in the solar system and is bigger than both Mercury and Pluto. Some fun facts: Although Saturn
isn’t the only planet with rings it is the one that is famous for having them. When Galileo first
discovered Saturn in 1610 he could not see the rings clearly to know what they were. He thought that
Saturn had two smaller globes circling it because what he saw looked like “ears” on the side of the
planet. In 1659, an astronomer named Christian Huygens was able to use a better telescope and saw
that the “ears” were actually rings around Saturn. The band of rings is mostly composed of pieces of
ice, dust and rocks and is about 170,000 miles across.
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun. The average distance from the sun is 1783 million miles. It
revolves around the sun once every 30,684 earth days or 84 earth years. Uranus spins on its axis
once 17 hours and 14 minutes. It is a gas planet with an atmosphere of 83% hydrogen, 15% helium
and 2% methane. Because Uranus is so far from the sun its average temperature is -365°F. It has a
diameter of 31,763 miles and its gravity is 1.17 times that of Earth. Uranus is named for the Roman
god of the heavens. Uranus has 21 named moons and six unnamed ones. Some of their names are
Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda,
Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, and Stephano. Some fun facts
about Uranus are that it rotates at a 90-degree angle compared to that rest of the planets. It’s as if it
was rotating on its side and appears to roll around the sun because of this unusual tilt. Uranus also
has rings surrounding it. There appears to be about 13 rings and link Jupiter’s, they are very dark.
Uranus' moons were named from the writings of Shakespeare and Pope. Since Uranus takes so long
to orbit the sun, each season is 21 years long.
Neptune
The eighth planet from the Sun is Neptune. Its average distance is 2794 million miles from the sun. It
revolves around the sun once every 60,190 earth days or 164.8 earth years and rotates on its axis
once every 18 hours and 30 minutes. Neptune is a gas planet whose atmosphere is made up of
about 15% hydrogen and a little helium. Its average temperature is about -370°F. Neptune’s diameter
is 30,775 miles. Its gravity is 1.19 times that of Earth. Neptune’s name came from the Roman god of
the sea. It has 13 moons one of which is named Triton who was the Greek god of the sea. Some fun
facts about Neptune are that it is so far from the sun that from the surface the sun appears to be only
a bright star. Also, like Jupiter, Neptune has what is believed to be a giant storm called the Great
Dark Spot. The winds in the Great Dark Spot blows at more than 700 mph. Neptune also has rings
and like Uranus and Jupiter they are very dark but their composition is unknown.
Pluto
Pluto is the ninth planet from the sun. It average distance from the sun is 3647 million miles. Pluto
orbits the sun once every 90,465 earth day or 248.5 earth years. It rotates on its axis once every 6
day and 9 hours. Because Pluto is so far away very little is known about it. It is not known whether it
has a solid or a gas surface. Its atmosphere is believed to be made up of nitrogen with some carbon
monoxide and frozen methane. Pluto’s average temperature is believed to be -390°F. It has a
diameter of only 1425 miles and its gravitational pull is only 0.08 time that of Earth. Pluto was named
after the Roman god of the underworld. It is believed that Pluto received this name because it is so
far from the sun that it is in perpetual darkness. Pluto has three moons. The largest is named Charon
which is named after the boatman who worked for Pluto in Roman mythology. Some fun facts about
Pluto are that it is believed that the person who was credited with discovering Pluto, Clyde
Tombaugh, also choose the name Pluto because “PL" are the initials of Percival Lowell who founded
the Lowell Observatory in Arizona which was where Clyde discovered Pluto. Also 20 out of 250 years
Neptune and Pluto cross orbits. The last time this happened was from 1979 to 1999. In 2006 Pluto
was demoted to a “dwarf planet”. In January of 2006 a spacecraft called New Horizons was launched
towards Pluto. If all goes well it should reach it in 2015.