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Mnemonics
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
My Very Easy Method: Just Set Up Nine Planets
My Very Empty Mouth Just Swallowed Up Ninety Peanuts
My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas
Many Very Early Men Ate Juicy Steaks Using No Plates
Or make up your own!!!
Mercury
Appearance – covered with craters
Composition – Terrestrial Planet
Composed primarily of rock and metal with
relatively high density and a solid surface
Position – 1st planet from the sun
Rotation = 59 Earth days
Revolution = 0.24 Earth years
Distance from Sun = 58,000,000 Km
Size –a little bigger than Earth's Moon
Diameter = 4,878 Km
Venus
Appearance – Earth’s ‘morning star’
Composition – Terrestrial Planet
Composed primarily of rock and metal with
relatively high density and a solid surface
Position – 2nd planet from the sun
Rotation = 243 Earth days
Revolution = 0.62 Earth years
Distance from Sun = 108,000,000 Km
Size – about the same size as Earth
Diameter = 12,104 Km
Earth
Appearance – looks like a big blue marble,
Composition – Terrestrial Planet
Composed primarily of rock and metal with
relatively high density and a solid surface
Position – 3rd planet from the sun
Rotation = 1 Earth days
Revolution = 1 Earth years
Distance from Sun = 150,000,000 Km
Size –
Diameter = 12,756 Km
Mars
Appearance – Red planet with polar ice caps
Composition – Terrestrial Planet
Composed primarily of rock and metal with
relatively high density and a solid surface
Position – 4th planet from the sun
Rotation = 1.03 Earth days
Revolution = 1.9 Earth years
Distance from Sun = 228,000,000 Km
Size –
Diameter = 6,794 Km
Jupiter
Appearance – distinctive color bands and red spot
Composition – Gas Giant
 Composed primarily of hydrogen and helium and
generally have low densities, deep atmospheres, rings
and lots of satellites
Position – 5th planet from the sun
 Rotation = 0.41 Earth days
 Revolution = 12 Earth years
 Distance from Sun = 778,000,000 Km
Size –
 Diameter = 142,800 Km
Saturn
Appearance – distinctive bands and multiple rings
Composition – Gas Giant
 Composed primarily of hydrogen and helium and
generally have low densities, deep atmospheres, rings
and lots of satellites
Position – 6th planet from the sun
 Rotation = 0.43 Earth days
 Revolution = 29 Earth years
 Distance from Sun = 1,427,000,000 Km
Size –
 Diameter = 120,540 Km
Uranus
Appearance – Pale blue-green disk
Composition – Gas Giant
Composed primarily of hydrogen and helium
and generally have low densities, deep
atmospheres, rings and lots of satellites
Position – 7th planet from the sun
Rotation = 0.72 Earth days
Revolution = 84 Earth years
Distance from Sun = 2,871,000,000 Km
Size –
Diameter = 51,200 Km
Neptune
Appearance – Blue disk with a Great Dark Spot
Composition – Gas Giant
 Composed primarily of hydrogen and helium and
generally have low densities, deep atmospheres,
rings and lots of satellites
Position – 8th planet from the sun
 Rotation = 0.67 Earth days
 Revolution = 165 Earth years
 Distance from Sun = 4,497,000,000 Km
Size –
 Diameter = 49,500 Km
Pluto
Appearance – too far for a good picture
Composition – Terrestrial
 Pluto has an icy surface comprised of 98% nitrogen
(N2) with small amounts of methane (CH4) and carbon
monoxide (CO)
Position – 9th ‘planet’ from the sun – no longer
considered a planet!
 Rotation = 6.4 Earth days
 Revolution = 248 Earth years
 Distance from Sun = 5,913,000,000 Km
Size –
 Diameter = 2,200 Km
Review
Terrestrial Planets
Gaseous Giants
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune