Facts about the Solar System Planets

Jupiter

1. Jupiter is the fifth plant from the Sun 2. Jupiter has a huge storm called The Red Spot that is Iso large three Earths could fit inside it. 3. Jupiter is the biggest planet in the Solar System.

Mars

1. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun 2. Pieces of Mars have been found on Earth, which allowed scientists to study them. 3. Mars has the tallest mountain in the Solar System - it is 21km high and 600km in diameter. It is called Olympus Moons.

Earth

1. Earth is the third planet from the Sun. 2. The Earth is the only planet in our solar system that wasn't named after a Greek or Roman deity. 3. The Earth was formed about 4.54 billion years ago and is the only planet known to contain life.

Mercury

1. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. 2. It is also the smallest of the eight planets in our solar system. 3. A year on Mercury takes 88 Earth days.

Neptune

1. Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun making it the most distant in the solar system. 2. Neptune has 14 moons. 3. Neptune spins on its axis very rapidly. (18 hours per rotation)

Saturn

1. Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and is the second largest planet in our solar system. 2. It is the most distant planet that can be seen with the naked eye. 3. It is known for its amazing rings.

Sun

1. The Sun is an almost perfect sphere - here is only a 10 kilometre difference in its polar diameter compared to its equatorial diameter. 2. The Sun is all the colours mixed together, this appears white to our eyes. 3. The Sun is a 4.6 billion years old main-sequence G2V star (or Yellow Dwarf).

Uranus

1. Uranus has two sets of very thin dark coloured rings. 2. Uranus hits the coldest temperatures of any planet.(-224°C minimum) 3. Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun.

Venus

1. Venus is the second planet from the Sun 2. Venus is nearly as big as the Earth with a diameter of 12,104 km. 3. A year on Venus takes 225 Earth days.