Planets
All the planets orbit the sun in the same direction and in almost the same plane. In other words, the solar system is flat.
Click on the planets in the image of the solar system and the planets above (not to scale) for more information on each.
Neptune
Description:
dark and cold with supersonic winds, it is 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth.
Discovered by:
Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Galle
Discovery date:
23 September 1846
Closest distance to sun:
2,771,162,074 miles
Furthest distance from sun:
2,819,185,846 miles
Uranus
Description:
with an equator at right angles to its orbit, methane tints the planet blue.
Discovered by:
William Herschel
Discovery date:
13 March 1781
Closest distance to sun:
1,699,449,110 miles
Furthest distance from sun:
1,868,039,489 miles
Saturn
Description:
thousands of spectacularly beautiful rings surround Saturn.
Discovered by:
Known by the Ancients
Discovery date:
Unknown
Closest distance to sun:
838,741,509 miles
Furthest distance from sun:
934,237,322 miles
Jupiter
Description:
the most massive gas giant with dozens of moons and an enormous magnetic field.
Discovered by:
Known by the Ancients
Discovery date:
Unknown
Closest distance to sun:
460,237,112 miles
Furthest distance from sun:
507,040,015 miles
Mars
Description:
a cold desert world half the diameter of Earth, there are seasons, ice caps, volcanoes and weather.
Discovered by:
Known by the Ancients
Discovery date:
Unknown
Closest distance to sun:
128,409,598 miles
Furthest distance from sun:
154,865,853 miles
Earth
Description:
an ocean planet with an abundance of water and life. Other planets may have ice, atmospheres, seasons and weather but only Earth has the correct mix of these to encourage life.
Discovered by:
Known by the Ancients
Discovery date:
Unknown
Closest distance to sun:
91,402,640 miles
Furthest distance from sun:
94,509,460 miles
Venus
Description:
hot and volcanic below a thick, toxic atmosphere.
Discovered by:
Known by the Ancients
Discovery date:
Unknown
Closest distance to sun:
66,782,596 miles
Furthest distance from sun:
67,693,905 miles
Mercury
Description:
slightly larger than the Earth's Moon, covered in craters with very little atmosphere; extremes of heat and cold.
Discovered by:
Known by the Ancients
Discovery date:
Unknown
Closest distance to sun:
28,583,702 miles
Furthest distance from sun:
43,382,549 miles
