Order Of the Planets From The Sun

Our Solar System has eight “official” planets which orbit the Sun. Here are the planets
listed in order of their distance from the Sun:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

The Planets in our Solar System:

Mercury:
Mercury is the closest planet to our Sun, at just 58 million km (36 million miles) or 0.39
Astronomical Unit (AU) out. But despite its reputation for being sun-baked and molten, it
is not the hottest planet in our Solar System

Mercury is also the smallest planet in our Solar System, and is also smaller than its largest
moon (Ganymede, which orbits Jupiter). And being equivalent in size to 0.38 Earths, it is
just slightly larger than the Earth’s own Moon. But this may have something to do with its
incredible density, being composed primarily of rock and iron ore. Here are the planetary
facts:

 Diameter: 4,879 km (3,032 miles)

 Mass: 3.3011 x 1023 kg (0.055 Earths)
 Length of Year (Orbit): 87.97 Earth days
 Length of Day: 59 Earth days.
 Mercury is a rocky planet, one of the four “terrestrial planets” in our Solar System.
Mercury has a solid, cratered surface, and looks much like Earth’s moon.
 If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 17 kg (38 pounds) on
Mercury.
 Mercury does not have any moons.
 Temperatures on Mercury range between -173 to 427 degrees Celcius (-279 to 801
degrees Fahrenheit)
 Just two spacecraft have visited Mercury: Mariner 10 in 1974-75 and MESSENGER,
which flew past Mercury three times before going into orbit around Mercury in
2011 and ended its mission by impacting the surface of Mercury on April 30, 2015.
MESSENGER has changed our understanding of this planet, and scientists are still
studying the data.
 Composition of the atmosphere: 42% oxygen, 29% sodium gas, 22% hydrogen, 6%
helium and 0.5% potassium
Venus:
Venus is the second closest planet to our Sun, orbiting at an average distance of 108
million km (67 million miles) or 0.72 AU. Venus is often called Earth’s “sister planet,” as it
is just a little smaller than Earth. Venus is 81.5% as massive as Earth, and has 90% of its
surface area and 86.6% of its volume. The surface gravity, which is 8.87 m/s², is equivalent
to 0.904 g – roughly 90% of the Earth standard.

And due to its thick atmosphere and proximity to the Sun, it is the Solar Systems hottest
planet, with temperatures reaching up to a scorching 735 K (462 °C). To put that in
perspective, that’s over four and a half times the amount of heat needed to evaporate
water, and about twice as much needed to turn tin into molten metal (231.9 °C)!

 Diameter: 7,521 miles (12,104 km)

 Mass: 4.867 x 1024 kg (0.815 Earth mass)
 Length of Year (Orbit): 225 days
 Length of day: 243 Earth days
 Surface temperature: 462 degrees C (864 degrees F)
 Venus’ thick and toxic atmosphere is made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2) and
nitrogen (N2), with clouds of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) droplets.
 Venus has no moons.
 Venus spins backwards (retrograde rotation), compared to the other planets. This
means that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east on Venus.
 If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 41 kg (91 pounds) on
Venus.
 Venus is also known and the “morning star” or “evening star” because it is often
brighter than any other object in the sky and is usually seen either at dawn or at
dusk. Since it is so bright, it has often been mistaken for a UFO!
 The composition of the atmosphere: 96.5% carbon dioxide and 3.5% hydrogen.

Earth:
Our home, and the only planet in our Solar System (that we know of) that actively
supports life. Our planet is the third from the our Sun, orbiting it at an average distance of
150 million km (93 million miles) from the Sun, or one AU. Given the fact that Earth is
where we originated, and has all the necessary prerequisites for supporting life, it should
come as no surprise that it is the metric on which all others planets are judged.

Whether it is gravity (g), distance (measured in AUs), diameter, mass, density or volume,
the units are either expressed in terms of Earth’s own values (with Earth having a value of
1) or in terms of equivalencies – i.e. 0.89 times the size of Earth. Here’s a rundown of the
kinds of

 Diameter: 12,760 km (7,926 miles)

  Mass: 5.97 x 1024 kg
 Length of Year (Orbit): 365 days
 Length of day: 24 hours (more precisely, 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds.)
 Surface temperature: Average is about 14 C, (57 F), with ranges from -88 to 58
(min/max) C (-126 to 136 F).
 Earth is another terrestrial planet with an ever-changing surface, and 70 percent of
the Earth’s surface is covered in oceans.
 Earth has one moon.
 Earth’s atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% various other gases.
 Earth is the only world known to harbor life.

Mars:
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun at a distance of about 228 million km (142 million
miles) or 1.52 AU. It is also known as “the Red Planet” because of its reddish hue, which is
due to the prevalence of iron oxide on its surface. In many ways, Mars is similar to Earth,
which can be seen from its similar rotational period and tilt, which in turn produce
seasonal cycles that are comparable to our own.

The same holds true for surface features. Like Earth, Mars has many familiar surface
features, which include volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps. But beyond these,
Mars and Earth have little in common. The Martian atmosphere is too thin and the planet
too far from our Sun to sustain warm temperatures, which average 210 K (-63 ºC) and
fluctuate considerably.

 Diameter: 6,787 km, (4,217 miles)

 Mass: 6.4171 x 1023 kg (0.107 Earths)
 Length of Year (Orbit): 687 Earth days.
 Length of day: 24 hours 37 minutes.
 Surface temperature: Average is about -55 C (-67 F), with ranges of -153 to +20 °C
(-225 to +70 °F)
 Mars is the fourth terrestrial planet in our Solar System. Its rocky surface has been
altered by volcanoes, impacts, and atmospheric effects such as dust storms.
 Mars has a thin atmosphere made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen
(N2) and argon (Ar).If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 17
kg (38 pounds) on Mars.
 Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.
 Mars is known as the Red Planet because iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize,
or rust, causing the soil to look red.
 Composition of the atmosphere: 95.3% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen and 1.6%
argon.
Jupiter:
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun, at a distance of about 778 million km (484 million
miles) or 5.2 AU. Jupiter is also the most massive planet in our Solar System, being 317
times the mass of Earth, and two and half times larger than all the other planets
combined. It is a gas giant, meaning that it is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium,
with swirling clouds and other trace gases.

Jupiter’s atmosphere is the most intense in the Solar System. In fact, the combination of
incredibly high pressure and coriolis forces produces the most violent storms ever
witnessed. Wind speeds of 100 m/s (360 km/h) are common and can reach as high as 620
km/h (385 mph). In addition, Jupiter experiences auroras that are both more intense than
Earth’s, and which never stop.

 Diameter: 428,400 km (88,730 miles)

 Mass: 1.8986 × 1027 kg (317.8 Earths)
 Length of Year (Orbit): 11.9 Earth years
 Length of day: 9.8 Earth hours
 Temperature: -148 C, (-234 F)
 Jupiter has 67 known moons, with an additional 17 moons awaiting confirmation
of their discovery – for a total of 67 moons. Jupiter is almost like a mini solar
system!
 Jupiter has a faint ring system, discovered in 1979 by the Voyager 1 mission.
 If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 115 kg (253) pounds on
Jupiter.
 Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm (bigger than Earth) that has been raging
for hundreds of years. However, it appears to be shrinking in recent years.
 Composition of the atmosphere: 75% hydrogen and 24% helium. In addition to
these elements, there is ammonia and methane.

Saturn:
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun at a distance of about 1.4 billion km (886 million
miles) or 9.5 AU. Like Jupiter, it is a gas giant, with layers of gaseous material surrounding
a solid core. Saturn is most famous and most easily recognized for its spectacular ring
system, which is made of seven rings with several gaps and divisions between them.

 Diameter: 120,500 km (74,900 miles)

 Mass: 5.6836 x 1026 kg (95.159 Earths)
 Length of Year (Orbit): 29.5 Earth years
 Length of day: 10.7 Earth hours
 Temperature: -178 C (-288 F)
 Saturn’s atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He).
 If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh about 48 kg (107
pounds) on Saturn
 Saturn has 53 known moons with an additional 9 moons awaiting confirmation.
  Composition of the atmosphere: 93.2% hydrogen and 6.7% helium. In addition to
these elements, acetylene, ammonia, ethane and methane are found in its
atmosphere.

Uranus:
Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun at a distance of about 2.9 billion km (1.8 billion
miles) or 19.19 AU. Though it is classified as a “gas giant”, it is often referred to as an “ice
giant” as well, owing to the presence of ammonia, methane, water and hydrocarbons in
ice form. The presence of methane ice is also what gives it its bluish appearance.

Uranus is also the coldest planet in our Solar System, making the term “ice” seem very
appropriate! What’s more, its system of moons experience a very odd seasonal cycle,
owing to the fact that they orbit Neptune’s equator, and Neptune orbits with its north
pole facing directly towards the Sun. This causes all of its moons to experience 42 year
periods of day and night.

 Diameter: 51,120 km (31,763 miles)

 Mass:
 Length of Year (Orbit): 84 Earth years
 Length of day: 18 Earth hours
 Temperature: -216 C (-357 F)
 Most of the planet’s mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of “icy” materials – water
(H2O), methane (CH4). and ammonia (NH3) – above a small rocky core.
 Uranus has an atmosphere which is mostly made up of hydrogen (H2) and helium
(He), with a small amount of methane (CH4). The methane gives Uranus a blue-
green tint.
 If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 41 kg (91 pounds) on
Uranus.
 Uranus has 27 moons.
 Uranus has faint rings; the inner rings are narrow and dark and the outer rings are
brightly colored.
 Composition of the atmosphere: 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.

Neptune:
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun, at a distance of about 4.5 billion
km (2.8 billion miles) or 30.07 AU. Like Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, it is technically a gas
giant, though it is more properly classified as an “ice giant” with Uranus.

Due to its extreme distance from our Sun, Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye,
and only one mission has ever flown close enough to get detailed images of it.
Nevertheless, what we know about it indicates that it is similar in many respects to
Uranus, consisting of gases, ices, methane ice (which gives its color), and has a series of
moons and faint rings.
 Diameter: 49,530 km (30,775 miles)
 Mass: 1.0243 x 1026 kg (17 Earths)
 Length of Year (Orbit): 165 Earth years
 Length of day: 16 Earth hours
 Temperature: -214 C (-353 F)
 Neptune is mostly made of a very thick, very hot combination of water (H2O),
ammonia (NH3), and methane (CH4) over a possible heavier, approximately Earth-
sized, solid core.
 Neptune’s atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2), helium (He) and
methane (CH4).
 Neptune has 13 confirmed moons and 1 more awaiting official confirmation.
 Neptune has six rings.
 If you weigh 45 kg (100 pounds) on Earth, you would weigh 52 kg (114 pounds) on
Neptune.
Neptune was the first planet to be predicted to exist by using math.
 Composition of the atmosphere: 80% hydrogen and 19% helium. In addition to
these elements, atmospheric methane is found in Neptune's atmosphere