Planets in Our Solar System

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A quick tour and some fast fun facts about the eight planets in our solar system.

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Our Solar System and Planets
A planet is a large ball of rock or gas that revolves around a central star. The Earth, the planet we live on, is the only known planet to contain life. The central star that the Earth orbits is the Sun. In total, there are 8 planets orbiting the Sun.

These planets, their moons and other objects orbiting the Sun make up our solar system. In order of their distance from the Sun, the four closest planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These planets are called the inner planets. They are made up mostly of rock. Due to their close distance to the Sun, the inner planets are also much warmer than the planets further from the Sun.

The outer planets are the four furthest planets from the Sun – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These planets are much larger than the inner planets. They are not rocky like the inner planets. Instead, they are made up mostly of gases. They are often referred to gas giants.

Besides Mercury and Venus, all of the planets on the solar system have one or more moon. Our planet, Earth, has just one moon. Mars has two moons. The planet with the most moons is Jupiter. It has 79 moons. Its largest moon, Ganymede, is larger than the planet Mercury!

Earth is the only planet in the solar system known to contain life. Why is this so?

Fun Fact : Although Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system! This is because of the make up of its thick atmosphere. During the day, the temperature on its surface can reach more than 440 degrees Celsius.

Did you know?
Scientists once considered there to be nine planets in the solar system. This included a small icy planet beyond Neptune, called Pluto. In 2006, scientists decided that Pluto was too small to be considered a planet and classified it as a dwarf planet.