Facts About Planets (Compiled by Andrews)

Mercury
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and is also the smallest of the eight planets in our solar
system. For every 2 orbits of the Sun, which takes around 88 Earth days, Mercury completes three
rotations of its axis. It is gravitationally locked and this rotation is unique to the solar system.
Every seven years or so, Mercury can be seen from Earth passing across the face of the Sun. This
happens because Mercurys orbit is inclined by 7 degrees to the plane of Earths orbit and its known
as a transit. The next transit of Mercury is on May 9, 2016 and will be visible from Europe after noon.
It is named for the Roman god Mercury, the messenger to the gods most likely related to the
orbiting speed of the planet.
Facts about Mercury
- Mercury has been known to humanity since ancient times and although its discovery date is
unknown, the first mentions of the planet are believed to be around 3000 BC by the Sumerians.
- A year in Mercury is 88 days, yet a Mercury day is 176 Earth days. Mercury is nearly tidally locked to
the Sun also known as a gravitational lock and over time this has slowed the rotation of the
planet to almost match its orbit around the Sun.
- Mercury orbits so quickly around the Sun that early civilizations believed it was actually two
different stars one which appeared in the morning and another which appeared in the evening.
- Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system with a diameter of 4,879 km and is one of five
planets that is visible to the naked eye.
- After the Earth, Mercury is the second densest planet. Despite its small size, Mercury is very dense
because it is composed mainly of heavy metals and rock the main characteristic of terrestrial
planets.
- Mercury is named after the messenger of the Roman gods, who is also known as Hermes in Greek
mythology. This is because of the speed in which Mercury orbits the Sun and the speed with which
Mercury the Roman deity was able to deliver messages.
- Astronomers didnt realize that Mercury was a planet until 1543 when Copernicus published his
Sun-centered model of the Solar System putting the Sun as the centre of the solar system rather
than the previously believed centre, the Earth.
- The planet has just 38% of the gravity on Earth. This means that Mercury isnt able to hold the
atmosphere it has and it instead gets blown away by solar winds. However those same solar winds
are also bringing in new gases, radioactive decay and dust from micrometeorites replenishing the
atmosphere.
- Mercury has no moons or rings because of its low gravity and lack of atmosphere.
- It was once believed that a planet called Vulcan existed between the orbit of Mercury and the Sun
however the existence of such a planet was never found.
- The orbit of Mercury is an ellipse rather than circular. It has the most eccentric orbit in the solar
system and the least circular of all of the planets, according to scientists and astronomers.
- Mercury is only the second hottest planet. Venus, though farther from the Sun than Mercury,
actually experiences higher temperatures. This is because Mercury has no atmosphere to regulate
temperature and results in the most extreme temperature change of all the planets ranging from 170C (-280F) during the night to 430C (800F) during the day.
- Mercury does not experience any seasons. The axis of Mercury has the smallest tilt of all other
planets, and this results in a lack of seasons on its surface.
- Mercury is the only planet which doesnt rotate exactly once every year instead rotating three
times for every two orbits of the Sun. This is because it is nearly tidally locked to the Sun.
- The orbit of Mercury was important in proving Albert Einsteins theory of General Relativity.
- Mercury has a large iron core that is around 40% of its volume (compared to a core volume of 17%
for Earth) in its centre whose radius is 1800 to 1900 kilometers (1100 to 1180 miles). Scientists
believe the core of Mercury is probably molten.
- The outer shell of Mercury is only 500 to 600 kilometers (310 to 375 miles) thick. Earths outer shell
(the mantle and crust) is 2930 kilometers (1819 miles) thick.
- Mercury has a very thin atmosphere, which is made up of atoms from the surface of the planet that
have been blown away by solar winds. As Mercury is so hot, these atoms quickly escape into space
and so its atmosphere is constantly being replenished.
- Mercury has a weak magnetic field whose strength is about 1% of the magnetic field on Earth.
- Only two spacecraft have ever visited Mercury. It is difficult to reach the planet due to its proximity
to the Sun and any spacecraft visiting would need to travel 91 million kilometers into the Suns
gravitational potential well. The Mariner 10 visited during 1974-75, flying by Mercury three times and
mapping half its surface. On March 24, 1975 it ran out of fuel and is still believed to be orbiting the
Sun. The MESSENGER probe was launched in 2004 to explore Mercurys high density, its geological
history, the nature of its magnetic field and more. Another mission, BepiColombo, is to be launched
in 2015 by the European Space Agency and Japan is expected to reach Mercury in 2019.
- Mercury has more craters and impact marks that any other planet. The surface is similar to that of
the Moon, as unlike most planets, Mercury isnt geologically active and cannot self heal from
impacts with asteroids and comets. Most of the Mercurian craters are named after famous writers
and artists. If a crater is larger than 250 km in diameter, it is known as a Basin. The largest Basin on
Mercury, the Caloris Basin, is around 1,550 km in diameter and was discovered by the Mariner 10.
More information and facts about Mercury
What remains intriguing about Mercury is how scant our knowledge has been regarding some of its
key details until recently. For example, it was only in 1974 that the Mariner 10 spacecraft captured
the first images providing any specific detail of the Mercurial surface. Within the last several years,
unexpected discoveries regarding Mercurys atmosphere and interior have challenged previously
accepted theories.
Now is an exciting time of discovery and new understanding of Mercury. On March 18,2011, the
MESSENGER spacecraft achieved orbit around Mercury in what will be a year-long mission.
Hopefully, many of our questions will be answered, and, almost certainly, new ones will arise.
Atmosphere
The Mercurial atmosphere is so thin that it is virtually non-existent. In fact, at approximately 1015
times less dense than the Earths atmosphere, Mercurys is closer to a true vacuum than any manmade vacuum ever created.
The explanation behind the lack of substantial atmosphere is twofold. Firstly, with a gravity only
about 38% that of the Earths, Mercury is simply unable to retain much of an atmosphere. Secondly,
Mercurys close proximity to the Sun causes it to be constantly bombarded by solar winds, which
carries off most of what little atmosphere does accumulate.
However, as meagre as its atmosphere is, Mercury does have one. According to NASA, its chemical
composition is thought to be as follows: 42% oxygen (O2), 29% sodium, 22% hydrogen (H2), 6%
helium, .5% potassium, and possibly trace amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, xenon,
krypton, neon, calcium (Ca, Ca+), and magnesium.
A notable result of such a sparse atmosphere is the extreme temperatures found on the planets
surface. With a low temperature of approximately -180 C and high of approximately 430 C. Mercury
has the largest range of surface temperatures found on any planet. The extreme highs present on the
side facing the Sun are due to the insufficient atmosphere, for it is unable to absorb the solar
radiation. As for the extreme colds on the side facing away from the Sun, without a substantial
atmsophere to trap solar radiation, all heat is lost to space.
Surface
Until 1974, the Mercurial surface remained, in large part, a mystery to scientists due to Mercurys
close proximity to the Sun. Being so close to the Sun restricts Mercurys visibility to just before dawn
or right after dusk. At these times, unfortunately, the angle at which we see Mercury from the
ground takes our line of sight through a significant amount of the Earths atmosphere, greatly
obstructing our view.
However, during its three fly-bys of Mercury in 1974, the Mariner 10 spacecraft captured clear and
stunning photographs of the planets surface. Amazingly, Mariner 10 photographed almost half of
the planets surface during its mission! The results revealed that Mercurys surface has three
significant features.
The first feature is the huge number of impact craters that have accrued over billions of years. Caloris
Basin is the largest of these with a diameter of 1,550 km. The second feature is the plains found
between craters. These are smooth areas of the surface, hypothesized to have been created from
ancient lava flows. The third feature is the cliffs (also known as scarps), which run anywhere from
tens to thousands of kilometers in length and from one hundred meters to two kilometers in height.
The importance of these two features lies in what they imply. By the presence of ancient lava fields,
it is clear that there was volcanic activity at one time. However, given the number and age of the
craters, scientists have concluded that Mercury has been geologically inactive for a significant period.
The third of the surface features tells us something of great interest as well. Essentially, the scarps
found on the surface are huge cliffs caused by the buckling of the planets crust. What is significant
about the buckling on Mercury is what it implies. To understand the significance, we must use a
comparison. The buckling on Earth is due to the shifting of tectonic plates, whereas the buckling on
Mercury is due to the shrinking of its core. The implication is that because Mercurys core is shrinking
so, too, is the planet as a whole. Recent estimates show that Mercurys diameter has decreased in
excess of 1.5 kilometers.
Interior
Broadly speaking, Mercurys interior is composed of three distinct layers: a crust, mantle, and core.
The planets crust is estimated to be between 100 and 300 kilometers in thickness. Mercurys surface
is part of the crust, so the presence of the previously mentioned scarps indicates that the crust is
solid and brittle.
With a thickness of approximately 600 kilometers, Mercurys mantle is relatively thin. Supposedly, its
mantle has not always been this thin. Mercury used to have a much thicker mantle, but the leading
theory explains that during formation of the Solar System, a large planetesimal collided with the
planet, launching most of the mantle into space.
Mercurys core has been the focus of much research. With an estimated diameter of 3,600
kilometers, the core gives the planet some ineteresting properties. The most obvious of these
properties is Mercurys extreme density for its size. With a planetary diameter of 4,878 kilometers,
Mercury is smaller than the Jovian moon Ganymede and the Saturnian moon Titan, whose diameters
are 5,270 km and 5,152 km, respectively. However, with a mass of 3.3 x 1023 kg, Mercurys density of
5,540 kg/m3.
One debate that has recently be resolved regarding Mercurys core is whether or not it is solid or
liquid. By measuring how radio waves bounced off of the planet, scientists were able to determine
that the core is, in fact, liquid. More specifically, the data gathered help to measure the amount of
wobble in Mercurys rotation. With a solid core the rotation would be rigid, whereas with a liquid
core there are small amounts of variation in the rotation due to the liquid inside sloshing around.
Orbit & Rotation
With Mercury being so much closer to the Sun than any other planet, it naturally takes the shortest
time to complete one full orbit. As a result, a Mercurial year is only about 88 Earth days in length.
A significant feature of Mercurys orbit is its high eccentricity as compared to other planets.
Furthermore, of all the planetary orbits, Mercurys is the least circular. What this effectively means is
that the difference between Mercurys perihelion&#8212the closet orbital distance to the
Sun&#8212of 4.60 x 107 km and its aphelion&#8212farthest orbital distance from the Sun&#8212of
6.98 x 107 km is rather large when contrasted with that of the other planets.
This eccentricity, along with the lack of a substantial atmosphere, helps to explain why Mercurys
surface experiences a wider range of temperature extremes than any other planet in the Solar
System. Simply put, Mercurys surface is much hotter at perihelion than at aphelion due to the large
difference between the two distances. Conversely, the temperatures of other planets remain
relatively stable because their aphelion and perphelion are virtually the same.
Mercurys orbit is also significant in that it provides a beautiful example of modern physics. Over time
the orbit of Mercury shifts slightly around the Sun (See Figure 1). This process is known as precession.
Though Newtonian mechanics (i.e., classical physics) does a fairly good job of predicting the speed of
this precession, it still cannot predict it precisely. This was a persistent problem for astronomers in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Many theories were introduced to explain the
difference between the actual and theoretical rates. One theory even suggested the existence of a
unknown planet closer to the Sun than Mercury. However, the truth was finally revealed when
Einstein published his general theory of relativity. As a consequence of this theory, Mercurys orbital
precession was finally described exactly.
Though it was long believed that Mercurys spin-orbit resonance (the number of rotations per orbit)
was 1:1, it was discovered in the mid-twentieth century that it is, in fact, 3:2. This resonance
produces what would be fascinating phenomena for a witness on the planets surface. For example,
the Sun would appear to rise to the highest point in the sky, then reverse its course and set in the
same direction from where it rose.
Mercury Profile
Mass: 330,104,000,000,000 billion kg (0.055 x Earth)

Equatorial Diameter: 4,879 km
Polar Diameter:4,879 km
Equatorial Circumference: 15,329 km
Known Moons:None
Notable Moons: None

Orbit Distance:57,909,227 km (0.39 AU)
Orbit Period:87.97 Earth days
Surface Temperature:-173 to 427C
First Record:14th Century BC
Recorded By:Assyrian astronomers
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the third brightest object in Earth's sky after the Sun
and Moon. It is sometimes referred to as the sister planet to Earth, because their size and mass are
so similar. Venus is also the closest planet to Earth. The surface of Venus is hidden by an opaque
layer of clouds which are formed from sulphuric acid.
The planet is named for Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty and is the second largest
terrestrial planet.
Facts about Venus
- Venus is the second brightest natural object in the sky. The planet has an apparent magnitude of 3.8 to -4.6, which makes it visible on a bright, clear day. The Moon is the only other natural object
that is brighter.
- Venus is sometimes referred to as the morning star and evening star. This dates back to ancient
civilizations who believed that Venus was in fact two distinct stars appearing in the sky. When the
orbit of Venus overtakes Earths orbit, it changes from being visible at sunrise to being visible at
sunset. They were known as Phosphorus and Hesperus by the Greeks, and Lucifer and Vesper by the
Romans.
- One day on Venus is longer than one year. Due to the slow rotation on its axis, it takes 243 Earthdays to complete one rotation. The orbit of the planet takes 225 Earth-days making a year on
Venus shorter on day on Venus.
- Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. This may be, in part, due the
brightness of the planet and may date back to the Babylonians in 1581 who referred to Venus as
bright queen of the sky.
- Venus is sometimes called Earths sister planet. This is because their size is very similar (there is only
a 638 km different in diameter) and Venus has around 81% of Earths mass. They are also similarly
located with Venus being the closest planet to Earth. Both planets also have a central core, a molten
mantle and a crust.
- Venus has no moons nor rings.
- Billions of years ago, the climate of Venus may been similar to that of Earth and scientists believe
that Venus once possessed large amounts of water or oceans. However, due to the high
temperatures produce from the extreme greenhouse effect, this water boiled off long ago and the
surface of the planet is now too hot and hostile to sustain life.
- Venus rotate in the opposite direction to other planets. Most other planets rotate counterclockwise on their axis, however Venus, like Uranus, rotates clockwise. This is known as a retrograde
rotation and may have been caused by a collision with an asteroid or other object which caused the
planet to change its rotational path.
- Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system with an average surface temperature of 462C
(863F). Also, Venus doesnt tilt on its axis which means there are no seasons either. The atmosphere
is a dense 96.5% carbon dioxide which traps heat and caused the greenhouse effect which
evaporated any water sources billions of years ago.
- The temperature on Venus doesnt vary much between the night and day. This is due to the slow
movement of the solar winds across the surface of the planet.
- The estimated age of the Venusian surface is around 300-400 million years old. By comparison, the
surface of the Earth is about 100 million years old.
- The atmospheric pressure of Venus is 92 times stronger than Earths. This means that any small
asteroids entering the atmosphere of Venus are crushed by the immense pressure, which is why
there are no small surface craters on the planet. This pressure is equivalent to being around 1,000
km under Earths oceans.
- Venus has a very weak magnetic field. This surprised scientists, who expected Venus to have a
magnetic field similar in strength to Earths. One possible reason for this is that Venus has no solid
inner core, or that its core is not cooling.
- Venus is the only planet in the Solar System to be named after a female figure.
- Venus orbits the sun in an ellipse, but its orbit is the closest to being a circle out of all the planets in
the Solar System.
- Venus is the closest planet to Earth. When Venus is in line with Earth and the Sun, it is the closest
planet to us, at an average distance of 41 million kilometers (25.5 million miles) away.
More information and Facts about Venus
By the time of the ancient Romans it was understood that Venus was one of four planets other than
the Earth. Being the brightest and most visible of these planets, the Romans named Venus after their
goddess of love and beauty. As a result of its name, the planet has naturally been associated with
love, femininity, and romance throughout history.
It is often remarked that Venus and Earth are twin planets due to their similarity in size, density,
mass, and volume. Though these planetary characteristics are relatively the same, Venus and Earth
are still substantially different in many other ways (atmosphere, rotation, surface temperatures, and
Venus lacking a moon). If the twin relationship remains, it should be noted that they are not
identical.
As with Mercury, our knowledge of Venus has grown considerably during the latter half of the
twentieth-century. For example, prior to the several planetary missions conducted by NASA and the
Soviet Union beginning in the 1960s, scientists had been hopeful that conditions beneath the
extremely dense clouds covering the planet would allow for life. Unfortunately, the data collected
during these missions proved that the conditions present were too severe to support life.
Atmosphere
Venus atmosphere can be divided into two broad layers. The first is the cloud bank that effectively
encases the entire planet. The second is everything below these clouds.
The clouds surrounding Venus extend from 50 to 80 kilometers above the planets surface and are
composed primarily of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and sulphuric acid (H2SO4). These clouds are so dense
that they reflect 60% of the sunlight Venus receives back into space.
When studying the sub-cloud atmosphere two features are immediately prominent: density and
composition. Furthermore, the effect these two features produce on the planet is profound, making
Venus the hottest and least hospitable of any planet in the Solar System.
Firstly, with an atmospheric density of approximately 480 C. This easily makes Venus surface the
hottest of any planets in the solar system.
Surface
Due to the thick clouds enshrouding Venus, the details of its surface cannot be obtained through
simple photographic means. Fortunately, scientists have been able to use the method of radar
mapping to acquire this information instead. While both photography and radar imaging work by
collecting radiation that has bounced off an object, the difference lies in the forms of radiation
collected. Photography collects visible light radiation, and radar mapping collects microwave
radiation. The advantage in using radar mapping with Venus is that microwave radiation is able to
pass through the planets thick clouds, whereas the light necessary for photography is unable to do
so.
The first radar mappings of the Venusian surface via spacecraft came in 1978 when the Pioneer
Venus spacecraft began orbiting the planet. What the resulting maps revealed was a surface
consisting primarily of plains formed by ancient lava flows, with only two highland regions, Ishtar
Terra and Aphrodite Terra.
In 1990, the Magellan spacecraft began orbiting Venus. In addition to performing radar mapping
similar to that of Pioneer Venus, Magellan also undertook a more advanced radar imaging that
gathered much finer details. What Magellan found was approximately 1000 impact craters.
Interestingly, none of the craters seen were less than 2 km in diameter. This suggest that any
meteroid small enough to create a crater having a diameter less than 2 km would have broken apart
and burned up during its passage through the dense Venusian atmosphere.
An additional observation regarding the size of the impact craters helped to shed light on the age of
the planets surface. Not only were small impact craters absent on the planets surface, but also
those of large diameter. What this tells us is that the surface has been formed since the period of
heavy bombardment, a span of 3.8 to 4.5 billion years ago when a large number of impact craters
were formed on the inner planets. Thus, geologically speaking, the Veunsian surface is relatively
young.
Finally, the surfaces most prominent features are those produced by the planets volcanic activity.
As noted above, the first of these features is the enormous plains caused by ancient lava flows.
Covering over 80% of the Venusian surface, these plains are the most dominant feature. The second
prominent feature is the surfaces volcanic structures, which are numerous and varied. In addition to
shield volcanoes similar to those found on Earth (e.g., Mauna Loa), many pancake volcanoes have
been observed on Venus. These volcanoes, unlike any on Earth, are believed to have formed their
distinctive flat, disc-like shape due to an eruption of all of the volcanos lava at once through a single
vent. After such an eruption, the lava then spreads outwardly in a uniform, circular manner.
Interior
As with the other terrestrial planets, Venus interior is essentially composed of three layers: a crust, a
mantle, and a core. However, what is intriguing about Venus interior (as opposed to that of Mercury
or Mars) is how alike it is to the Earths interior. While it is impossible to test the true similarity of the
two planets interiors, it is reasonable to draw such conclusions based on the characteristics the two
planets are known to share. Hence, it is believed that Venus crust is 50 km thick, its mantle 3,000 km
thick, and the core has a diameter of 6,000 km.
An unanswered question about the Venusian interior is whether or not the planets core is liquid or
solid. On one hand, because Venus and Earth are so alike, it is reasonable to conclude that since
Earth has a liquid core, Venus does as well.
On the other hand, there is also evidence to suggest the Venusian core is solid. This evidence stems
from the planets lacking a substantial magnetic field. Simply put, planetary magnetic fields are a
result of the transfer of heat from inside a planet to its surface. A necessary component of this
transfer is a liquid core. The argument is since Venus lacks a substantial magnetic field, it cannot
possess a liquid core.
Orbit & Rotation
The most notable aspect of Venus orbit is its uniformity of distance from the Sun. Indeed, with an
eccentricity of only .00678, Venus orbit is easily the most circular of all the planets. Moreover, this
small eccentricity means that the difference between Venus perihelion (1.07 x 108 km) and its
aphelion (1.09 x 108 km) is a mere 1.46 x 106 km.
Like information regarding Venus surface, little data about its rotation could be obtained until the
radar imaging missions of the second half of the twentieth-century. Surprisingly, what these missions
revealed was just how unique Venus rotation is.
Whereas the standard rotation for a planet about its axis is counterclockwise (as viewed from the
top of the orbital plane), Venus rotation is retrograde or clockwise. The reason for this is presently
unknown, but there are two popular theories. The first points to the 3:2 spin-orbit resonance of
Venus with the Earth. To some, this is highly suggestive that over billions of years the Earths
gravitational force has altered Venus rotation to its present state. Some scientists, however, doubt
that the Earths gravitational force has been great enough to change Venus in such a fundamental
way. Instead, they have looked to the early Solar System when the planets were being formed to
provide an explanation. They theorize that Venus original rotation was similar to that of the other
planets, yet it was altered to its current orientation when a large planetesimal struck the young
planet with great force, essentially knocking the planet upside down.
A second unexpected discovery regarding Venus rotation is its speed. Taking approximately 243
Earth days to complete a single rotation, a day on Venus is longer than on any other planet. This
alone is noteworthy. What is even more striking, though, is when Venus day is compared to its year.
At roughly 224 earth days, Venus year is almost 19 earth days less than one Venusian day. Again, no
other planet shares such a property. The leading theory for this phenomenon is that which is used to
explain the planets retrograde rotation
VENUS PROFILE
Mass: 4,867,320,000,000,000 billion kg (0.815 x Earth)
Equatorial Diameter: 12,104 km
Polar Diameter: 12,104 km Equatorial Circumference: 38,025 km
Known Moons: None
Notable Moons: None
Orbit Distance: 108,209,475 km (0.73 AU) Orbit Period: 224.70 Earth days
Surface Temperature: 462 C
First Record: 14th Century BC
Recorded By: Babylonian astronomers
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and last of the terrestrial planets. Like the rest of the planets
in the solar system (except Earth), Mars is named after a mythological figure - the Roman god of war.
In addition to its official name, Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet because of the brownish-red
color of its surface. Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system behind Mercury.
Facts about Mars
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and last of the terrestrial planets and is around 227,940,000
km from the Sun.
- The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It was known to the ancient Greeks as Ares,
their god of war. This is thought to be because of the blood-red color of the planet which was also
used by other ancient cultures. Chinese astronomers call Mars the fire star while ancient Egyptian
priests called it Her Desher meaning the red one.
- The landmass of Mars and Earth is very similar. Despite Mars being just 15% the volume and 10%
the mass of Earth, it actually has a similar landmass because water covers about 70% of Earths
surface. The surface gravity of Mars is about 37% the gravity found on Earth. This means that on
Mars you could in theory jump 3x higher than you could on Earth.
- Only 16 of the 39 Mars missions have been successful. Beginning with the USSRs Marsnik 1 which
was launched in 1960, 39 orbiters, landers and rovers have been to Mars but only 16 of those
missions were a success. In 2016, Europes Exobiology on Mars program will search the planet for
signs of Martian life as well as study the surface and terrain of the planet and map potential
environmental hazards to future manned missions to Mars.
- Pieces of Mars have been found on Earth. It is believed that trace amounts of the Martian
atmosphere were within meteorites that the planet ejected. These meteorites then orbited the solar
system for millions of years amongst the other objects and solar debris before eventually entering
the Earths atmosphere and crashing to the ground. The study of this material has allowed scientists
to discover more about Mars before launching space missions.
- Mars was once believed to be home to intelligent life. This came from the discovery of lines or
grooves in the surface called canali by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli. He believed that
these were not naturally occurring and were proof of intelligent life. However, these were later
shown to be an optical illusion.
- The tallest mountain known in the solar system is on Mars. Olympus Mons is a 21 km high and 600
km diameter shield volcano that was formed billions of years ago. Scientists have found a lot of
recent evidence of volcanic lava which suggests Olympus Mons may still be active. It is the second
highest mountain in the entire solar system, topped only by the Rheasilvia central peak on the
asteroid Vesta, which is 22 km high.
- Mars experiences huge dust storms the largest in our solar system. This is due to the elliptical
shape of the planets orbit path around the Sun. The orbit path is more elongated than many of the
other planets and this oval shaped orbit results in fierce dust storms that cover the entire planet and
can last for many months.
- The Sun looks about half its size half it does from Earth when seen from Mars. When Mars is closest
to the Sun in its orbit the southern hemisphere points toward the Sun and this causes a very short
but fiercely hot summer. In the north it experiences a brief but cold winter. When the planet is
farthest from the Sun, Mars experiences a long and mild summer because the northern hemisphere
points toward the Sun. This is compared with a cold and lengthy winter in the south.
- With the exception of Earth, Mars is the most hospitable to life a number of space missions are
planning for the next decade the further increase our understanding of Mars and when it has the
potential for extraterrestrial life, as well as whether it may be a viable planet for a colony.
- Martians, also known as extraterrestrials from Mars, are a common character in science fiction
books and movies. This makes Mars one of the most popular and talked about planets in the solar
system.
- It takes Mars 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun with its orbit radius of 227,840,000 km.
- Mars is the only other planet besides Earth that has polar ice caps. The northern cap is called the
Planum Boreum, with Planum Australe in the south. Water ice has also been found under the
Martian ice caps.
- Mars has seasons like Earth, but they last twice as long. This is because Mars is tilted on its axis by
about 25.19 degrees, which is similar to the axial tilt of the Earth (22.5 degrees).
- The orbit of Mars is the most eccentric of the eight planets. This means it is the least circular orbit
path of the planets.
- The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, were written about in the book Gullivers Travels by
author Jonathan Swift 151 years before they were discovered.
- Mars does not have a magnetic field although there are some scientists that believe it did have a
magnetic field somewhere around 4 billion years ago.
More information and facts about Mars
It was believed life existed on Mars for much of the nineteenth century. The reason behind this belief
was part mistake and part imagination. In 1877, the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed what
he believed to be straight lines on Mars surface. As others noticed these lines, some suggested that
they were too straight and could only be the work of intelligent life. The popular conclusion as to the
nature of these lines was that they were canals constructed for irrigation purposes. However, with
the development of more powerful telescopes in the early twentieth century, astronomers were able
to view the Martian surface more clearly and determine that these straight lines were merely an
optical illusion. As a result, the earlier claims of life on Mars were without evidence and, therefore,
discarded.
The large amount of science fiction written during the twentieth century was a direct outgrowth of
the belief that Mars possessed life. From little green men to death rays, Martians were the focus of
many television and radio programs, comic books, movies, and novels.
Although the discovery of Martian life in the eighteenth century eventually proved to be false, Mars
is nonetheless the planet most hospitable for life other than the Earth. As such, recent planetary
missions have tried to determine if even the most basic of life exists on the planets surface. The
Viking mission in the 1970s conducted experiments on the Martian soil in hopes of detecting
microorganisms. While it was initially believed that the formation of compounds during the
experiments were a result of biological agents, it has since been determined that these compounds
can be created without biological mechanisms.
Even though the results lean toward the absence of life on Mars, scientists have speculated that
conditions are right for life to exist beneath the planets surface. Future planetary missions scheduled
to test the possibility of past and present life include the Mars Science Laboratory and ExoMars
missions.
Atmosphere
The composition of Mars atmosphere is extremely similar to Venus, one of the least hospitable
atmospheres in all of the Solar System. The main component in both atmospheres is carbon dioxide
(95% for Mars, 97% for Venus), yet a runaway greenhouse effect has taken hold of Venus, producing
temperatures in excess of 480 C, while temperatures on Mars never exceed 20 C. Thus, something
other than the composition is at work. The huge difference lies in the density of the two
atmospheres. Whereas Venus atmosphere is exceedingly thick, Mars is quite thin. Simply put, Mars
would resemble Venus if it possessed a thicker atmosphere.
Additionally, with such a thin atmosphere, the resulting atmospheric pressure is only about 1% of
that found at sea level on Earth. That is the equivalent pressure found at 35 km above the Earths
surface.
One of the long standing areas of research regarding the Martian atmosphere is its impact on the
presence of liquid water. What the research has shown is that even though the polar caps possess
frozen water and the air contains water vapor&#8212as a result of the freezing temperatures and
low pressure caused by the weak atmosphere&#8212it is not possible for liquid water to exist on the
planets surface. However, evidence provided by planetary missions suggests liquid water does exist
one meter below the planets surface.
Surprisingly, despite the thin atmosphere, Mars experiences weather patterns. The primary form of
this weather consists of winds, with other manifestations that include dust storms, frost, and fog. As
a result of this weather, some erosion has been seen to take place at particular locations on the
planets surface.
As a final note on the Martian atmosphere, leading theories claim that it may have once been dense
enough to support large oceans of water. However, through some means in the planets past the
atmosphere was drastically altered. One popular explanation for this change is that Mars was struck
by a large body and in the process a large portion of its atmosphere was ejected into space.
Surface
The surface of Mars can be separated into two broad features, which, coincidentally, are divided by
the planets hemisphere. The northern hemisphere is seen to be relatively smooth with few craters,
whereas the southern hemisphere is an area of highlands that are more heavily cratered than the
northern plains. Other than topographical differences, the distinguishing feature of the two regions
appears to be geological activity, with the northen plains being much more active.
The Martian surface is home to both the largest known volcano, Olympus Mons, and largest known
canyon, Valles Marineris, in the Solar System. With a height of 25 km and a base diameter of 600 km,
Olympus Mons is three times the height of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on the Earth. Valles
Marineris is 4,000 km long, 200 km wide, and almost 7 km deep. To put the shear magnitude of its
size into perspective, Valles Marineris would stretch from the East to West coast of the United
States.
Perhaps the most significant discovery regarding the Martian surface was the presence of channels.
What is so meaningful about these channels is that they appear to have been created by running
water, and thus providing evidence to support the theory that Mars could have been much more
similar to the Earth at one time.
A surface feature that has remained in popular culture since its image surfaced is the Face on Mars.
When this photograph was captured by the Viking I spacecraft in 1976, many took it to be proof that
alien life existed on Mars. However, subsequent images showed that lighting (and a little
imagination) are what brought life to the formation.
Interior
Similar to the other terrestrial planets, Mars interior is divided into three layers: a crust, mantle, and
core.
Although precise measurements cannot be made, scientists can make predictions as to the thickness
of the planets crust based on the depth of Valles Marineris. Such a deep, extensive valley system,
located in the southern hemisphere, could not be present unless the crust there is significantly
thicker than the Earths. Estimates put its thickness in the northern hemisphere at 35 km, and 80 km
in the southern hemisphere.
Mercurys core is believed to be approximately 3,000 km in diameter and composed primarily of iron.
There is a significant amount of research being conducted to determine whether or not Mars core is
solid. Some scientists point to the lack of a significant magnetic field as an indication that the core is
solid. However, within the past decade much data has been gathered to indicate that the core is at
least partially liquid. With the discovery of magnetized rocks on the planets surface, it appears, at
the very least, that Mars did possess a liquid core at some point in its history.
Orbit & Rotation
The orbit of Mars is noteworthy for three reasons. First, its eccentricity is second largest among all
the planets, smaller only than Mercurys. As a result of this more elliptical orbit, Mars perihelion of
2.07 x 108 km is much larger than its aphelion of 2.49 x 108 km. Second, evidence suggests that this
high degree of eccentricity has not always been present, and it may have been less than the Earths
at some point in Mars history. The cause for this change is attributed to the gravitational forces
exerted upon Mars by neighboring planets. Third, of all the terrestrial planets, Mars is the only one
having a year that lasts longer than the Earths. This, of course, is due to its orbital distance. One
Martian year is equal to almost 686 Earth days.
It takes Mars about 24 hours 40 minutes to complete one full rotation, easily making the Martian day
the closest in length to an Earth day.
At roughly 25, Mars axial tilt is yet another similarity the planet shares with Earth. What this means
is Mars actually experiences seasons like those on Earth, though each is substantially longer because
of the orbital distance of Mars. Unlike the Earth, however, Mars two hemispheres experience quite
different temepratures for each season. This is due to the much larger eccentricity of the planets
orbit.
Mars Profile
Mass:641,693,000,000,000 billion kg (0.107 x Earth)

Equatorial Diameter:6,805 km
Equatorial Circumference:21,297 km
Known Moons:2
Notable Moons:Phobos & Deimos
Orbit Period:686.98 Earth days (1.88 Earth years)
Surface Temperature:-87 to -5 C
First Record:2nd Millenium BC
Recorded By:Egyptian astronomers
Jupiter
Named after the Roman king of the gods, Jupiter is fitting of its name. With a mass of 1.90 x 1027 kg
and a mean diameter of 139,822 km, Jupiter is easily the largest and most massive planet in the Solar
System. To put this in perspective, it would take 11 Earths lined up next to each other to stretch from
one side of Jupiter to the other and it would take 317 Earths to equal the mass of Jupiter.
Moons of Jupiter
Jupiter has 67 confirmed moons orbiting the planet. These moons are separated into three groups:
- Inner moons. These orbit the closest to Jupiter and are sometimes called the Amalthea group. The
names of the inner moons of Jupiter are Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, and Thebe.
- Galilean moons. These are largest of Jupiters moons and were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610
Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
- Outer moons. These moons are much smaller and further away from Jupiter. They also have
irregular, elliptical orbit paths and many are captured asteroids.
Facts about Jupiter
- The first recorded sighting of Jupiter were by the ancient Babylonians in around 7th or 8th BC. It is
named for Jupiter, the king of the Roman gods and god of the Sky. The Greek equivalent is Zeus, god
of thunder. For the Mesopotamians, he was the god Marduk and patron of the city of Babylon.
Germanic tribes saw the planet as Donar, also known as Thor.
- When Galileo discovered the four moons of Jupiter in 1610 this was the first proof of celestial
bodies orbiting something other than Earth. The discovery also provided further evidence of
Copernicus Sun-centred solar system model.
- Jupiter has the shortest day of the eight planets. The planet rotates very Jupiter rotates very
quickly, turning on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes. This rapid rotation is also what causes
the flattening effect of the planet, which is why it has an oblate shape.
- One orbit of the Sun takes Jupiter 11.86 Earth years. This means that when viewed from Earth, the
planet appears to move very slowly in the sky. It takes months for Jupiter to move from one
constellation to the next.
- Jupiter has a faint ring system around it. Its ring is mostly comprised of dust particles from some of
Jupiters moons during impacts from comets and asteroids. The ring system begins about 92,000 km
above Jupiters clouds and reaches more than 225,000 km from the planet. The rings are somewhere
between 2,000-12,500 km thick.
- Jupiter has at least 67 moons in satellite around the planet. This includes the four large moons
called the Galilean moons that were first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610.
- The largest of Jupiters moons, Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system. The moons are
sometimes called the Jovian satellites and the largest of them are Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa.
Ganymede is larger than the planet Mercury with a diameter of around 5,268 km.
- Jupiter has a very strong magnetic field. This is around 14 times stronger than the magnetic field
found on Earth the largest of any planet in the solar system.
- Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in our solar system. After the Sun, the Moon and Venus, Jupiter
is the brightest and is one of five planets which can be seen by naked eye from Earth.
- Jupiter is the only planet that has a center of mass with the Sun that lies outside the volume of the
Sun, though by only 7% of the Suns radius.
- Jupiter has a very unique cloud layer. The upper atmosphere of the planet is divided into zones and
cloud belts which are made of ammonia crystals, sulfur and a mixture of these two compounds.
- Eight spacecraft have visited Jupiter so far. Those are Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo,
Cassini, Ulysses and the New Horizons mission. Another mission, Juno, is set to arrive at Jupiter some
time around July 2016. There are also plans for future missions to focus on the Jovian moons of
Jupiter Europa, Ganymede and Callisto and their possible subsurface oceans.
- Jupiter does not experience seasons like other planets such as Earth and Mars. This is because the
axis is only tilted by 3.13 degrees.
- Jupiters Great Red Spot is an enormous storm that has been raging for over 300 years. This storm is
so wide that three Earths would fit inside of it.
- If Jupiter had become 80 times more massive, nuclear fusion would have occurred in its core. Had
that happened, it would have become a star instead of a planet.
More information and facts about Jupiter
What is even more provocative is the theory that Jupiter is a failed star. Current scientific knowledge
suggests that if Jupiter had, in fact, been roughly 80 times more massive, nuclear fusion would have
taken place in its core; thus, Jupiter would have become a star, not a planet. Regardless, it is still
tempting to look at the number of satellites orbiting Jupiter and consider it and its moons as, in many
ways, a mini solar system.
Although our scientific knowledge of Jupiter has been greatly expanded as a result of the numerous
planetary missions beginning in the 1970s, these missions are unnecessary for viewing the planets
surface features. Instead, most of these features can be observed using Earth-based telescopes. For
example, as recently as 1994, the Hubble Space Telescope provided stunning images of the impact of
the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet into Jupiter.
Atmosphere
The vertical dimension (i.e., thickness) of Jupiters atmosphere is more difficult to define than those
of the terrestrial planets. For example, whereas the lower boundary for the atmosphere on Earth is
its solid planetary surface, there is no such equivalent on Jupiter. Essentially, Jupiters atmosphere
transitions from a gaseous outer zone into the planets liquid layer. However, for practical purposes
scientists have designated the depth at which the atmospheric pressure equals ten times the
pressure at sea level on Earth as Jupiters surface.
Those layers of the atmosphere visible to Earth-based telescopes are divided into lighter and darker
horizontal bands. Scientists believe these bands to be layers of high and low pressure. As a result,
storms often develop on the boundaries between two adjacent bands. The Great Red Spot, visible in
Jupiters southern hemisphere, is one such storm. Amazingly, this storm has raged for centuries and
is 25,000 km across&#8212that is big enough to hold two Earths!
The composition of Jupiters atmosphere is very interesting. At roughly 90% hydrogen and 10%
helium, Jupiters composition is nearly the same as the Suns. The only difference between the two is
that the Sun is much more massive than Jupiter. This composition supports the theory that Jupiter
could have been a star.
Interior
The interior of Jupiter is believed to consist of three regions. The first is a rocky core composed of
various elements with a mass between 12 and 45 times that of the entire Earth. The core is
surrounded by the second region, a layer of electrically conductive liquid hydrogen. It is due to this
layer, which comprises most of the planets mass, that Jupiter has such a strong magnetic field. The
third region consists of ordinary hydrogen with traces of helium, which transitions into the planets
atmosphere.
A fascinating property of Jupiter is that it emits more energy than it receives from the Sun. This is due
to the planet being so massive. As a result of such a large mass, Jupiter exerts a strong gravitational
force on itself, thus resulting in the compression of the planet as a whole. The cumulative effect of all
this inward force is the production of a large amount of heat, which is then radiated into space.
Orbit & Rotation
With a mean orbital distance of 7.78 x 108 km, Jupiter is, on average, a little more than five times the
distance from the Earth to the Sun. This means that it takes about 43 minutes for sunlight to reach
Jupiter. Also, Jupiters orbital eccentricity of .04838 is fourth largest among the planets, giving it a
perihelion of 7.41 x 108 km and an aphelion of 8.16 x 108 km. Jupiters year is about 4,333 Earth days
in length&#8212 thats about 12 times the length of one Earth year!
Jupiters axial tilt of 3.17 is extremely small, second lowest in the Solar System behind Mercury.
What this means is Jupiter doesnt experience seasons at all.
Two things stand out about Jupiters rotation. The first is its speed. At just under 10 hours, Jupiter
has the shortest rotational period in the Solar System. (Saturn is a close second at 10.7 hours.) This
quick rotational speed causes the planet to bulge near its equator, making it less spherical than most
of the other planets. The second stand-out characteristic of Jupiters rotation is that different parts
rotate at different speeds. This is due to Jupiters not being a solid body. For example, the polar
atmosphere rotates about 5 minutes more slowly than that found at the equator.
Rings
Although the rings of Saturn are well-known, it is uncommon to hear anything about Jupiters rings.
Nevertheless, Jupiter does have a ring system. Jupiters rings are lesser known than Saturns (or even
Uranus) because they are primarily composed of dust, which makes them difficult to see. The
formation of these rings is believed to have come about through Jupiters gravity having captured
material ejected from its moons.
Jupiter Profile
Mass:1,898,130,000,000,000,000 billion kg (317.83 x Earth)

Known Moons:67
Notable Moons:lIo, Europa, Ganymede, & Callisto
Known Rings:4
Orbit Period:4,332.82 Earth days (11.86 Earth years)
Surface Temperature:-108C
First Record:7th or 8th Century BC
Recorded By:Babylonian astronomers
SATURN
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and second largest planet of the Solar System in terms of
diameter and mass. If compared, it is easy to see why Saturn and Jupiter have been designated as
relatives. From atmospheric composition to rotation, these two planets are extremely similar.
Because of these factors, Saturn was named after the father of the god Jupiter in Roman mythology.
Facts about Saturn
- Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, and last of the planets known to ancient civilizations. It was
known to the Babylonians and Far Eastern observer.
- Saturn is one of five planets able to be seen with the naked eye. It is also the fifth brightest object in
the solar system.
- In Roman mythology Saturn was the father of Jupiter, king of the gods. This relationship makes
sense given that the planets Saturn and Jupiter are similar in so many respects, including size and
composition. The Greek counterpart is known as Cronus.
- The most common nickname for Saturn is The Ringed Planet, a nickname arising from the large,
beautiful and extensive ring system that encircles the planet. These rings are mostly made from
chunks of ice and carbonaceous dust. They stretch out more than 12,700 km from the planet but are
only a mere 20 meters thick.
- Saturn gives off more energy than it receives from the Sun. This unusual quality is believed to be
generated from the gravitational compression of the planet combined with the friction from large
amount of helium found within its atmosphere.
- It takes Saturn 29.4 Earth years to orbit the Sun. This slow movement against a backdrop of stars
led to the planet being nicknamed Lubadsagush or oldest of the old by the ancient Assyrians.
- Saturn has the fastest winds of any other planet in our solar system. These winds have been
measured at approximately 1,800 km per hour (1,100 miles per hour).
- Saturn is the least dense planet in the solar system. It is made mostly of hydrogen and has a density
which is less than water which technically means that Saturn would float. The layers of hydrogen
get denser further into the planet, eventually becoming metallic and leading to a hot interior core.
- Saturn has 150 moons and smaller moonlets. All of these moons are frozen the largest of which
are Titan and Rhea. The moon Enceladus also appears to have an ocean hidden below its frozen
surface.
- Saturns moon Titan is the second largest moon in the Solar System, behind Jupiters moon
Ganymede. It has a complex and dense atmosphere made mostly of nitrogen and is composed from
water ice and rock. The frozen surface of Titan has liquid methane lakes and a landscape which is
covered with frozen nitrogen. It is possible that Titan may be a harbour for life but that life would
not be similar to life on Earth.
- Saturn is the flattest of the eight planets. With a polar diameter that is 90% of its equatorial
diameter, Saturn is the flattest of all the planets. This is because of the planets low density and fast
rotation speed it takes Saturn 10 hours and 34 minutes to turn on its axis.
- Saturn has oval shaped storms which are similar to those of Jupiter. Scientists believe that the
hexadiagonal-shaped pattern of clouds around Saturns north pole may be a wave pattern in the
upper clouds. There is also a vortex over the south pole which resembles hurricane storms on Earth.
- Saturn appears a pale yellow color because its upper atmosphere contains ammonia crystals. Below
this top layer of ammonia ice are clouds that are largely water ice. Even further below that are layers
of sulfur ice and cold hydrogen mixtures.
- Saturn has been visited by four spacecraft. These are Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2 and the CassiniHuygen mission. Cassini entered into orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004 and continues to send back
information about the planet, its ring and many moons.
- The magnetic field on Saturn is slighter weaker than Earths magnetic field. Saturns magnetic field
strength is around one-twentieth the strength of Jupiters
- Saturn is known as a gas giant, but scientists believe it has a solid rocky core surrounded by
hydrogen and helium
- Saturn and Jupiter combined account for 92% of the entire planetary mass in the solar system.
- The interior of Saturn is very hot, reaching temperatures of up to 11,700C (21,000 F).
- Saturn is 1,424,600,000 km from the Sun. This is around 0.9 billion miles.
More information and facts about Saturn
Other than Earth, Saturn is easily the most recognizable planet in the Solar System. The reason for
this is obvious. Although the other gas giants possess a planetary ring system, none can match the
size or beauty of the one found encircling Saturn.
Saturn is the last of the planets known to ancient civilizations. It is also one of the least understood in
modern times. With the Cassini-Huygens planetary mission that is currently underway, scientists
hope to not only learn more about Saturn, but also Saturns moons and its planetary ring system.
Atmosphere
Saturns atmosphere is composed of roughly 96% hydrogen and 4% helium, with trace amounts of
ammonia, acetylene, ethane, phosphine and methane. It has a thickness of approximately 60 km. In
the highest layer of the atmosphere, wind speeds reach 1,800 km/h, easily some of the fastest in the
entire Solar System.
Although not as visible as those seen on Jupiter, Saturn does possess a horizontally banded cloud
pattern. Furthermore, these bands are considerably wider near Saturns equator than those found at
Jupiters equator. These cloud patterns were unknown until the Voyager missions beginning in the
1970s. Since that time, technology has increased to the point that Earth-based telescopes can now
view them.
Another fascinating phenomenon that can be found in Saturns atmosphere is the appearance of
great white spots. These are storms on Saturn, which are analogous to the Great Red Spot found on
Jupiter, though they are much shorter lived. The Hubble Space Telescope observed such a storm in
1990, though it was not present when the Voyager spacecraft had flown by in 1981. Based on
historical observations, it appears that these storms are periodic in nature, occurring approximately
once per Saturnian orbit.
Interior
The interior of Saturn is believed to be extremely similar to Jupiters in the composition of its three
layers. The innermost layer is a rocky core between 10-20 times as massive as the Earth. The core is
encased in a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen. The outermost layer is composed of molecular
hydrogen (H2). The only significant difference between the interiors of Saturn and Jupiter is thought
to be the thickness of the two outer layers. Whereas Jupiter has a metallic hydrogen layer of 46,000
km and molecular hydrogen layer of is 12,200 km, those same layers on Saturn have a thickness of
14,500 km and 18,500 km, respectively.
Saturn, like Jupiter, emits approximately 2.5 times more radiation than it receives from the Sun. This
is due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism, which essentially creates energy through gravitational
compression of the planet due to its enormous mass. However, unlike Jupiter, the total amount of
energy emitted cannot be accounted for through this process alone. Instead, scientists have
suggested that the planet generates additional heat through the friction of helium rain.
A unique feature of Saturn is that it is the least dense planet in the Solar System. Although Saturn
may have a dense, solid core, the large gaseous outer layer of the planet makes its average density a
mere 687 kg/m3. As result, Saturn is lighter than water.
Orbit & Rotation
The average orbital distance of Saturn is 1.43 x 109 km. This means that Saturn is, on average, about
9.5 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The result of such a long distance is that it takes
sunlight about an hour and twenty minutes to reach Saturn. Moreover, given Saturns distance from
the Sun, it has a year lasting 10,756 Earth days; that is, about 29.5 Earth years.
At .0560, Saturns orbital eccentricity is the third greatest behind Mercurys and Mars. The effect of
this large eccentricity is a substantial distance between the planets perihelion (1.35 x 109 km)
aphelion (1.50 x 109 km) of about 1.54 X 108 km.
Saturns axial tilt of 26.73 is very similar to the Earths. Thus Saturn also experiences seasons like the
Earth. However, due to Saturns distance from the Sun, it receives significantly less solar radiation
year-round, and so Saturns season are much more subtle than those on Earth.
Much like Jupiter, Saturn is very interesting when it comes to its rotation. Having a rotational speed
of roughly 10 hours 45 minutes, Saturn is second only to Jupiter for the fastest rotation in the Solar
System. This extreme rotation causes the planets shape to take on the shape of an oblate spheroid;
i.e. a sphere that bulges near its equator.
A second feature of Saturns rotation is the different rotational speeds found between the different
visible latitudes. This phenomenon is due to Saturn being primarily gaseous rather than solid.
Rings
The ring system of Saturn is the most prominent found in the Solar System. They are composed
primarily of billions of tiny ice particles, with traces of dust and other debris. This composition
explains why the rings are visible to Earth-based telescopesice is very reflective of sunlight.
There are seven broad classifications among the rings: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, each receiving its name in
the order it was discovered. The main rings most visible from Earth are A, B and C. Each ring is really
just a collection of thousands of smaller rings packed very closely together. Furthermore, between
each ring there are gaps. At 4,700 km and occurring between rings A and B, Cassani is the largest of
these gaps.
The main rings begin roughly 7,000 km above Saturns equator and extend out another 73,000 km.
Interestingly, though this radius is substantial, the actual thickness of the rings is no more than about
one kilometer.
The most common theory used to explain the formation of the rings is that a medium-sized moon
orbiting Saturn broke apart due to tidal forces when its orbit became too close to Saturn.
Saturn Profile
Mass:568,319,000,000,000,000 billion kg (95.16 x Earth)

Known Moons:62
Notable Moons:Titan, Rhea & Enceladus
Known Rings:30+ (7 Groups)
Orbit Distance:1,426,666,422 km (9.58 AU)
Surface Temperature:-139 C
First Record:8th Century BC
Recorded By:Assyrians
Uranus
Uranus, named after the the father of the Roman god Saturn, is the seventh planet in the Solar
System and third of the gas giants. It is the third largest planet by diameter, yet fourth most massive.
Facts about Uranus
- William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781. The planet is too dim to have been seen by ancient
civilizations. Herschel himself believed that Uranus was a comet at first, but several years later it was
confirmed as a planet making Uranus the first planet discovered in modern history. The original
name proposed by Herschel was Georgian Sidus after King George III but the scientific community
didnt take to it. Instead, Uranus was proposed and accepted by astronomer Johann Bode and it
comes from ancient Greek god Ouranos.
- Uranus rotates on its axis once every 17 hours and 14 minutes. Like Venus, it turns in a retrograde
direction which is opposite to the direction Earth and the other six planets turn.
- It takes Uranus 84 Earth days to orbit the Sun. Its axis is at 98 degrees, which means it almost lies
sideways as it orbits the Sun. This means that the north and south poles of Uranus lie near where the
equator is on Earth. During parts of its orbit one or other of the poles directly face the Sun which
means the planet gets around 42 years of direct sunlight followed by 42 years of darkness.
- A collision may have caused the unusual tilt of Uranus. The theory is that an Earth-sized planet may
have collided with Uranus which forced its axis to drastically shift.
- Uranus wind speeds can reach up to 900 km per hour. This is roughly 560 miles per hour.
- The mass of Uranus is about 14.5 times the mass of Earth, making it the lightest of the four gas
giants of the outer solar system.
- Uranus is often referred to as the ice giant. While it has a hydrogen and helium upper layer like
the other gas giants, Uranus also has an icy mantle which surrounds its rock and iron core. The upper
atmosphere of water, ammonia and methane ice crystals gives Uranus its distinctive pale blue color.
- Uranus is the second least dense planet in the solar system, after Saturn.
- The Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have flown by Uranus. This happened in 1986 and it flew
past the planet at a distance of around 81,500 km. This mission returned the very first close-up
images of the planet, its ring system and its orbiting moons.
- Uranus has 13 presently known rings. All except two Uranian are extremely narrow they are
usually a few kilometres wide. It is believed that the rings are probably quite young. The matter
within the rings is thought to be parts of a moon or moons that were shattered by high speed
impacts with an object such as a comet or asteroid
- The chemical element Uranium, discovered in 1789, was named after the newly discovered planet
Uranus.
- Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system. The minimum surface temperature on Uranus is 224C making it the coldest of the eight planets. Its upper atmosphere is covered with a haze made
mostly of methane which hides the storms taking place in its cloud decks.
- The Uranian moons are named for characters created by Alexander Pope and William Shakespeare.
For example, Oberan, Titania and Miranda. All these worlds are frozen with dark surfaces and some
are a mixture of ice and rock. Of the Uranian moons, the most interesting is Miranda which has ice
canyons, terraces and many strange looking surface area.
More information and facts about Uranus
Uranus has the distinction of being the first planet discovered in modern history. Actually, its
discovery as a planet almost did not happen. In 1781, the astronomer William Herschel was charting
the stars found in the Gemini constellation when he observed a disk-like object. His initial conclusion
was that he had discovered a comet and reported his findings as such to the Royal Society of
England. However, Herschel was puzzled when he calculated the objects orbit. Instead of the more
elliptical path occurring with comets, he found that it was much more circular. This observation,
which was confirmed by other astronomers at the time, led Herschel to conclude that he had, in fact,
discovered a new planet. Shortly thereafter, it was widely accepted that Herschel had discovered an
unknown planet.
As a result of his discovery, Herschel was given the privilege of naming the new planet. The name he
chose was Georgium Sidus, which is latin for Georgian Planet. He opted for this name to honor then
king of England, George III. This name, however, was not widely accepted, and as a result others
began to suggest names. The name Uranus was put forth in the tradition of naming planets after
deities in Roman mythology. Over time the scientific community accepted this as the planets name.
At present, the only planetary mission to visit Uranus is Voyager 2. This lone encounter, which
occurred in 1986, provided a large amount of data and discoveries. The spacecraft took thousands of
pictures of Uranus and its moons and rings. Although the images of the planet showed little other
than the uniform blue-green color seen from Earth-based telescopes, other images revealed the
presence of ten previously unknown moons and two new rings. At this time, no future missions are
scheduled for Uranus.
Atmosphere
Due to its stark blue appearance, the Uranian atmospheric patterns have been much more difficult to
observe than, say, those of Jupiter or even Saturn. Fortunately, the Hubble Space Telescope has
provided much more insight into the structural nature of Uranus atmosphere. Through more
advanced imaging technologies than Earth-based telescopes or Voyager 2, Hubble has shown that
there are latitudinal bands much like those found on the other gas giants. Additionally, the winds
associated with these bands can blow in excess of 576 km/hr.
The reason behind the monotonous atmospheric appearance is the composition of the top-most
layer of the atmosphere. The visible cloud layers are composed primarily of methane, which absorbs
those visible wavelengths corresponding to the color red. Thus, the reflected wavelengths are those
of blue and green.
Beneath this outer methane layer, the atmosphere is composed of roughly 83% hydrogen (H2) and
15% helium with trace amounts of methane and acetylene. This composition is similar to that of the
other gas giants. Uranus atmosphere is drastically different in another regard, though. Whereas
Jupiter and Saturns atmospheres are primarily gaseous, Uranus contains much more ice. This
indicates that the Uranian atmosphere is extremely cold. In fact, at approximately -224 C, its
atmosphere is the coldest found in the Solar System. What is even more interesting is data indicates
that this extreme temperature is constant globally, occurring even on the side that is not sunlit.
Interior
Uranus interior is thought to consist of two layers: a core and mantle. Current models suggest that
the core is primarily composed of rock and ice and is approximately .55 times the mass of the Earth.
The planets mantle is believed to be 8.01 x 1024 kg, or about 13.4 times the mass of the Earth.
Furthermore, the mantle is composed of water, ammonia and other volatile elements. What
distinguishes Uranus mantle from those of Jupiter and Saturn is that it is icy, though not in the
traditional sense. Instead, the ice is very hot and thick. The mantle is 5,111 km thick.
What is most surprising about Uranus interior and one of the most distinguishing features with
respect to the other gas giants is that it does not emit more energy than it receives from the Sun.
Considering that even Neptune, which is very similar in size to Uranus, produces approximately 2.6
times the amount of heat that it receives from the Sun, scientists are very intrigued by the low heat
that Uranus generates. There are two popular theories for this phenomenon. The first says that
Uranus was struck by a large body, dispersing into space most of the heat that planets normally
retain from their formations. The second theory claims that there is some barrier preventing the
internal heat from making its way to the planets surface.
Orbit & Rotation
When Uranus was discovered it expanded the radius of the known Solar System by almost a factor of
two. What this means is that, on average, Uranus orbit is about 2.87 x 109 km. The consequence of
such an enormous distance is that it takes sunlight around two hours and forty minutes to reach
Uranus& that is almost twenty times as long as it takes sunlight to reach the Earth! This huge
distance also means that a year on Uranus lasts almost 84 Earth years!
At 0.0473, Uranus orbital eccentricity is just slightly less than that of Jupiters .0484, making it the
fourth most circular orbit of all the planets. The result of Uranus fairly small orbital eccentricity is
that the difference between its perihelion of 2.74 x 109 km and aphelion of 3.01 x 109 km is just 2.71
x 108 km.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Uranus is how odd its rotation is compared to all of the
other planets. The axis of rotation for every planet other than Uranus is roughly perpendicular with
their orbital plane. However, Uranus axis is tilted almost 98, which effectively means that Uranus
rotates on its side. The result of this is that Uranus north pole points at the Sun for half of its year,
while the south pole points at the Sun the other half of its year! In other words, it is daytime on one
Uranian hemispheres, while it is night time on the other for 42 Earth years at a time. Furthermore,
due to this extreme rotation, Uranus does not have days like on other planets&that is, the Sun
doesnt rise and set like on other planets.
The cause for this highly unusual axial tilt is theorized to be the effect of a large body striking Uranus
with such force that it essentially knocked the planet over on its side.
Rings
Although Saturns rings have been well known for some time, it wasnt until 1977 that the planetary
rings surrounding Uranus were discovered. The reason behind this is twofold: their distance from the
Earth and their low reflectivity of light. Nonetheless, the Voyager 2 spacecraft identified two more on
its fly-by mission in 1986, followed by the Hubble Space Telescope discovery of two additional rings
in 2005. The total number of known rings currently sits at thirteen, the largest and brightest of which
is the epsilon ring.
Uranus rings differ from those found around Saturn in both the size of its particles and the particles
composition. First, the particles making up Saturns rings are small, with few larger than several
meters in diameter, whereas Uranus rings contain many bodies up to twenty meters in diameter.
Second, the particles of Saturns rings are largely composed of ice. Uranus, however, are composed
of both ice and considerable dust and debris.
Uranus Profile
Mass:86,810,300,000,000,000 billion kg (14.536 x Earth)

Known Moons:27
Notable Moons:Oberon, Titania, Miranda, Ariel & Umbriel
Known Rings:13
First Record:March 13th 1781
Recorded By:William Herschel
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and last of the known planets. While it is the third largest
planet with respect to mass, it is only the fourth largest in terms of diameter. Due to its blue
coloration, Neptune was named after the Roman god of the Sea.
Facts about Neptune
- It takes Neptune 164.8 Earth years to orbit the Sun. On 11 July 2011, Neptune completed its first
full orbit since its discovery in 1846.
- Neptune was discovered by Jean Joseph Le Verrier. The planet was not known to ancient
civilizations because it is not visible to the naked eye. The planet was initially called Le Verrier after
its discoverer. This name, however, quickly was abandoned and the name Neptune was chosen
instead.
- Neptune is the Roman God of the Sea. In Greek, Neptune is called Poseidon.
- Neptune has the second largest gravity of any planet in the solar system second only to Jupiter.
- The orbit path of Neptune is approximately 30 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. This means it
is around 30 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
- The largest Neptunian moon, Triton, was discovered just 17 days after Neptune itself was
discovered.
- Neptune has a storm similar the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. It is commonly known as the Great Dark
Spot and is roughly the size of Earth.
- Neptune also has a second storm called the Small Dark Spot. This storm is around the same size as
Earths moon.
- Neptune spins very quickly on its axis. The planets equatorial clouds take 18 hours to complete one
rotation. The reason this happens is that Neptune does not have a solid body.
- Only one spacecraft, the Voyager 2, has flown past Neptune. It happened in 1989 and captured the
first close-up images of the Neptunian system. It took 246 minutes four hours and six minutes for
signals from Voyager 2 to reach back to Earth.
- The climate on Neptune is extremely active. In its upper atmosphere, large storms sweep across it
and high-speed solar winds track around the planet at up to 1,340 km per second. The largest storm
was the Great Dark Spot in 1989 which lasted for around five years.
- Like the other outer planets, Neptune possesses a ring system, though its rings are very faint. They
are most likely made up of ice particles and grains of dust with a carbon-based substance coating
them.
- Neptune has 14 known moons. The largest of these moons is Titan a frozen world which spits out
particles of nitrogen ice and dust from below its surface. It is believed that Titan was caught by the
immense gravitational pull of Neptune and is regarded as one of the coldest worlds in our solar
system.
- Neptune has an average surface temperature of -214C approximately -353F.
More information and facts about Neptune
When scientific discoveries are made there is often a debate (sometimes heated) as to who deserves
credit. The discovery of Neptune is one such example. Shortly after the discovery of the planet
Uranus in 1781, scientists noticed that its orbit had significant fluctuations that were not expected.
To solve this mystery, they proposed the existence of another planet whose gravitational field would
account for such orbital variances.
In 1845, the English astronomer John Couch Adams completed his calculations as to the position of
this unknown planet. Although he submitted his findings to the Royal Society (the leading English
scientific organization), his work was met with little interest. However, a year later the French
astronomer Jean Joseph Le Verrier made known his calculations that were strikingly similar to those
of Adams. As a result of the two mens independent estimates being so close, the scientific
community took notice and began its search for the planet in the region of the sky Adams and Le
Verrier had predicted. On September 23, 1846, the German astronomer Johann Gall observed the
new planet near to where Adams calculations had forecasted and even closer to those of Le Verrier.
Le Verrier was initially given credit for the discovery. As a result, an international dispute arose, with
one faction championing Adams and the other Le Verrier. This conflict, however, was not shared
between the two men themselves. Eventually, the campaign for each side cooled, and both men
were given credit.
Until the Voyager 2 spacecraft fly-by in 1989, little was known about Neptune. This mission provided
new information about Neptunes rings, number of moons, atmosphere and rotation. Additionally,
Voyager 2 discovered significant features of the moon Triton. There are no official planetary missions
scheduled to Neptune in the near future.
Atmosphere
Neptunes upper atmosphere is composed of 80% hydrogen (H2), 19% helium and trace amounts of
methane. Similar to Uranus, the blue coloration of Neptune is due in part to its atmospheric
methane, which absorbs light having a wavelength corresponding to red. Unlike Uranus, Neptune is a
deeper blue, and, therefore, some other atmospheric component must be present in the Neptunian
atmosphere that is not found in Uranus atmosphere.
Two significant weather patterns have been observed on Neptune. The first, seen during the Voyager
2 fly-by mission, are the Dark Spots. These are storms comparable to the Great Red Spot found on
Jupiter. However, a difference between these storms is their duration. Whereas the Great Red Spot
has lasted for centuries, the Dark Spots are much more shortly lived as is evident by their
disappearance when Neptune was viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope just four years after the
Voyager 2 fly-by.
The second of the two weather patterns observed by Voyager 2 is the swiftly moving white storm
system, nicknamed Scooter. This type of storm system, which is much smaller than the Dark Spots,
also appears to be short-lived.
As with the other gas giants, Neptunes atmosphere is divided into latitudinal bands. The wind speed
achieved in some of these bands is almost 600 m/s, the fastest known in the Solar System.
Interior
The interior of Neptune, similar to that of Uranus, is made of two layers: a core and mantle. The core
is rocky and estimated to be 1.2 times as massive as the Earth. The mantle is an extremely hot and
dense liquid composed of water, ammonia and methane. The mantle is between ten to fifteen times
the mass of the Earth.
Although Neptune and Uranus share similar interiors, they are, however, quite distinct in one way.
Whereas Uranus emits only about the same amount of heat that it receives from the Sun, Neptune
emits nearly 2.61 times the amount of the sunlight it receives. To place this in perspective, the two
planets surface temperatures are approximately equal, yet Neptune receives only 40% of the
sunlight that Uranus does. Additionally, this large internal heat is also what powers the extreme
winds found in the upper atmosphere.
Orbit & Rotation
With the discovery of Neptune, the size of the known Solar System increased by a factor of two. With
an average orbital distance of 4.50 x 109 km, it takes sunlight almost four hours and forty minutes to
reach Neptune. Moreover, this distance also means that a Neptunian year lasts about 165 Earth
years!
Neptunes orbital eccentricity of .0097 is second smallest behind that of Venus. This small
eccentricity means that the orbit of Neptune is very close to being circular. Another way of looking at
this is to compare Neptunes perihelion of 4.46 x 109 km and its aphelion of 4.54 x 109 km and notice
that this is a difference of less than two percent.
Like Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune rotates very quickly as compared to the terrestrial planets. With a
rotational period of a little over 16 hours, Neptune has the third shortest day in the Solar System.
The axial tilt of Neptune is 28.3, which is relatively close to the Earths 23.5. What is amazing is that,
even at such a far distance from the Sun, Neptune still experiences seasons (though more subtly)
similar to those on Earth as a result of its axial tilt.
Rings
Currently, Neptune is known to have thirteen moons. Of these thirteen only one is large and
spherical in shape. This moon, Triton, is believed to have originally been a dwarf planet captured by
Neptunes gravitational field, and, thus, not a natural satellite of the planet. Evidence for this theory
comes from Tritons retrograde orbit of Neptune; that is, Triton orbits in the opposite direction that
Neptune rotates. With a recorded surface temperature of -235 C, Triton is the coldest known object
in the Solar System.
Neptune has three major rings&#8212Adams, Le Verrier and Galle. This ring system is much fainter
than that of the other gas giants. In fact, some of the rings are so dim that it was believed at one time
that they were incomplete. However, images from the Voyager 2 fly-bys show extremely faint rings.
Neptune Profile
Mass:102,410,000,000,000,000 billion kg (17.15x Earth)

Known Moons:14
Notable Moons:Triton
Known Rings:5
First Record:September 23rd 1846Recorded By:
Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier & Johann Gall

Facts About Planets (Compiled by Andrews)

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Mercury

Facts about Mercury

More information and facts about Mercury

Orbit & Rotation

Mass: 330,104,000,000,000 billion kg (0.055 x Earth)

Notable Moons: None

Facts about Venus

More information and Facts about Venus

Orbit & Rotation

Facts about Mars

More information and facts about Mars

Orbit & Rotation

Mass:641,693,000,000,000 billion kg (0.107 x Earth)

Facts about Jupiter

More information and facts about Jupiter

Orbit & Rotation

Mass:1,898,130,000,000,000,000 billion kg (317.83 x Earth)

Facts about Saturn

More information and facts about Saturn

Orbit & Rotation

Mass:568,319,000,000,000,000 billion kg (95.16 x Earth)

Facts about Uranus

More information and facts about Uranus

Orbit & Rotation

Mass:86,810,300,000,000,000 billion kg (14.536 x Earth)

Facts about Neptune

More information and facts about Neptune

Orbit & Rotation

Mass:102,410,000,000,000,000 billion kg (17.15x Earth)

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