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Our solar system consists of 8 planets, 2 dwarf planets (universally known), 575 natural satellites, 796354 known minor planets, and 4143 known comets.
All the components of the solar system revolve around the star, Sun. It is believed that the age of our solar system is 4.568 billion years. The 8 major planets are classified into Giant planets and terrestrial planets. The giant planets are made up of gas or ice. Terrestrial planets, on the other hand, are made up of rocks.
The list of the planets from hottest to coldest and their surface temperatures are in the below table.
Planet
Surface temperature
(in degree Celsius)
Venus
462
Mercury
-173 to 427
Earth
-88 to 58
Mars
– 87 to -5
Jupiter
-108
Saturn
-139
Uranus
-197
Neptune
-201
Venus
Structure: Terrestrial planet
Distance from Sun: 108.2 million kilometres
Equatorial diameter: 12,104 km
Polar diameter: 12,104 km
Equatorial circumference: 38,025 km
Orbit distance: 108,209,475 km
Mass: 4.87 × 10 to the power 24
Time for sunlight to reach the planet from sun: 6 minutes
Surface temperature: 462 degree Celsius
Revolution time: 225 Earth days
Atmosphere: Magnetosphere
Satellites: No satellites
Venus, the hottest planet of the solar system, is the second planet from the sun. Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to observe this planet through his telescope and record the findings. It is named after the Greek Goddess, Aphrodite and the Roman goddess, Venus as this planet is the brightest celestial body in the sky. It shines so brightly as it reflects nearly 70% of the sunlight that it absorbs. Venus has retrograde rotation, which means that it moves from east to west in the clockwise direction.A fact about Venus is that the day and night temperatures are the same.
Mercury
Structure: Terrestrial planet
Distance from Sun: 57.91 million kilometres
Equatorial diameter: 4,879 km
Polar diameter:4,879 km
Equatorial circumference: 15,329 km
Orbit distance: 57,909,227 km
Mass: 3.285 × 10 to the power 23
Time for sunlight to reach the planet from sun: 3.2 minutes
Surface temperature: -173 to 427 degree Celsius
Revolution time: 88 Earth days
Atmosphere: Thin exosphereand magnetosphere. The exosphere contains helium, oxygen, sodiumand potassium
Satellites: No satellites
Mercury, the planet that’s closest to the sun, can be seen from earth without the use of a telescope. The first person to observe this planet through a telescope was Galileo Galilei.Mercury travels at a speed of about 47 kilometres per second. The surface of this planet is very similar to the surface of Earth’s natural satellite, moon.
Earth
Structure: Terrestrial planet
Distance from Sun: 147 million km (1AU)
Equatorial diameter:12,756 km
Polar diameter:12,714 km
Equatorial circumference:40,030 km
Orbit distance: 149,598,262 km
Mass: 5,972,190,000,000,000 billion kg
Time for sunlight to reach the planet from sun: 7 minutes
Surface temperature: -88 to 58 degree Celsius
Revolution time: 365.26 Earth days
Atmosphere: Consists of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gases
Satellites: One (Moon)
Earth, the fifth largest planet in the solar system, is the third hottest planet. It is the only planet in the solar system where life has been observed. The name earth is derived from the Greek word “Gaia”, which means terra matter. It is also believed that the name is inspired by the Roman word for fertile soil – “Tellus.”
Mars
Structure: Terrestrial
Distance from Sun: 227.9 million km
Equatorial diameter:6,805 km
Polar diameter:6,755 km
Equatorial circumference:21,297 km
Orbit distance: 227,943,824 km
Mass: 6.42 x 10 to the power 23 kilograms
Time for sunlight to reach the planet from sun: 13 minutes
Surface temperature: – 87 to -5 degree Celsius
Revolution time:686.98 Earth days
Atmosphere:Consists of carbon dioxide, argon and nitrogen gases
Satellites: Two (Phobos & Deimos)
Mars, named after the Greek God of war, is believed to have had water once. A few astronomers believe that this planet has water even now. The planet has a dense core that is made up of iron, nickel and trace amounts of sulphur. Craters, plains and volcanoes have been observed on the planet surface.
Jupiter
Structure: Gas Giant
Distance from Sun: 5.2 AU (Astronomical Units)
Equatorial diameter:142,984 km
Polar diameter:133,709 km
Equatorial circumference:142,984 km
Orbit distance:778,340,821 km
Mass: 1,898,130,000,000,000,000 billion kg
Time for sunlight to reach the planet from sun: 43.2 minutes
Surface temperature: -108 degree Celsius
Revolution time: 4,332.82 Earth days
Atmosphere: Contains clouds of ammonia crystals and ammonium hydrosulphide
Satellites: 67 moons with four notable moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto)
Jupiter is the fifth hottest and the fifth planet from the sun. Though it is quite far from the central star, its day consist of just 10 hours. This means that one day on earth could be two and half days on Jupiter.
This planet’s magnetic field is 20 times stronger than the magnetic field of earth. The size of Jupiter is equal to that of 1,321 earths.
Also Read: Solar System For Kids- Planet and Facts about Solar System
Saturn
Structure: Giant gas
Distance from Sun: 9.6 AU
Equatorial diameter:120,536 km
Polar diameter:108,728 km
Equatorial circumference:365,882 km
Orbit distance:1,426,666,422 km
Mass: 568,319,000,000,000,000 billion kg
Time for sunlight to reach the planet from sun: 79.3 minutes
Surface temperature: -139 degree Celsius
Revolution time: 29.5 Earth years
Atmosphere: Contains ammonia, ammonia sulphide and water
Satellites: 62, with three notable moons (Titan, Rhea and Enceladus)
Saturn is also known as the ringed planet as it has more than 30 rings. You can see up to 3 rings in a normal telescope and up to 8 rings in a powerful telescope. This planet takes nearly 30 earth years to go round the sun. But it rotates around its axis in 10.6 hours. Saturn’s moon, the Titan is larger than Mercury. This planet weighs about 95 times the weight of earth.
Uranus
Structure: Ice giant
Distance from Sun: 19.2 AU
Equatorial diameter: 51,118 km
Polar diameter:49,946 km
Equatorial circumference:159,354 km
Orbit distance:2,870,658,186 km
Mass: 86,810,300,000,000,000 billion kg
Time for sunlight to reach the planet from sun: 159.6 minutes
Surface temperature: -197 degree Celsius
Revolution time: 84.02 Earth years
Atmosphere: Contains hydrogen and helium
Satellites: 13 moons, with 5 notable moons (Oberon, Titania, Miranda, Ariel and Umbriel)
The seventh planet of our solar system, Uranus was officially identified in the year 1781 by William Herschel. This planet is named after the Greek God, Ouranos. It rotates on its side, in an east-west direction, like Venus. This planet has 13 known rings and 27 observed natural satellites.
Neptune
Structure: Ice giant
Distance from Sun: 30 AU
Equatorial diameter:49,528 km
Polar diameter:48,682 km
Equatorial circumference:155,600 km
Orbit distance:4,498,396,441 km
Mass: 102,410,000,000,000,000 billion kg
Time for sunlight to reach the planet from sun: 4.1 hours
Surface temperature: -201 degree Celsius
Revolution time: 165 Earth years
Atmosphere: Contains methane, hydrogen, and helium
Satellites: 14 with 1 notable moon (Triton)
This massive ice giant planet has 14 known natural satellites and the fastest windspeeds of all the planets. The first record of this planet was made by the astronomers, Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier & Johann Galle on September 23, 1846. Its moon, Triton is the only natural satellite that has retrograde rotation.
The bright lights in the distant sky have always captured our interest and captivated our imaginations.
From ancient times, astronomers have been searching the endless expanse of the universe to find more about what’s in it and how it came to be formed.
Now, we are using sophisticated tools and technologies in our astral search. But then there is still a long way to go. The scientists believe that there could possibly be other such solar systems in the universe with its own set of planets and natural satellites. Do you think such a thing is possible? Is there life out there? Share your thoughts and ideas with us.
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