Planets

• Jupiter


  • Supreme god of the roman pantheon (shining father)
  • God of light and sky
  • Biggest Planet
  • Covered with swirling cloud stripes
  • Great red spot (big storm)
  • 95 moons. Ganymede (largest moon in the solar system). Europa may have an ocean of water beneath its icy crust. Lo has active volcano
  • Has rings
  • Rotation: 9 hours and 50 minutes
  • Revolution: 11.86 years
• Jupiter has been known since ancient times because it can easily be seen with just our eyes. No special equipment is needed.
• Jupiter has been visited or passed by several spacecraft, orbiters and probes, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Cassini, New Horizons, and Juno
• Jupiter has auroras, just like Earth! Not only are the auroras huge in size, they are also hundreds of times more energetic than auroras on Earth. And, unlike those on Earth, they never cease.
• Saturn


  • Roman god of agriculture
  • The most beautiful planet
  • 142 moons. Titan (largest moon) the only moon in the solar system that has cloudy atmosphere
  • With rings
  • Has a huge storm and jet stream that blows more than 1,600 km/h (900mph)
  • Mostly ball of hydrogen and helium
  • Rotation: 10 hours 40 minutes and 24 seconds
  • Revolution: 29.5 years
• Saturn has been known since ancient times because it can be seen without advanced telescopes.
• Four robotic spacecraft have visited Saturn, including Pioneer 11, Cassini, and Voyager 1 and 2
• Uranus


  • Greek god of the sky Ouranos
  • Made of water, methane and ammonia fluids
  • With 13 rings
  • The third largest planet in our solar system
  • It appears to spin sideways
  • 28 moons Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon (5 major moons)
  • Atmosphere if made of hydrogen and helium and methane
  • Methane making it blue color
  • Rotation: 16.8 hours
  • Revolution: 84 years
• Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel in Great Britain
• Uranus has only been visited by Voyager 2.
• Neptune


  • Roman god of the sea
  • Dark, cold and very windy (has the strongest winds of any planet in the solar system
  • Atmosphere if made of hydrogen and helium and methane
  • 16 moons. Triton (largest moon) has ice volcanoes that shoot materials up to 8 km (5mi) into the air
  • Methane making it blue color
  • 6 rings
  • Rotation: 16 hours
  • Revolution: 165 years
• Neptune was discovered in 1846 by Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams, and Johann Galle.
• Only Voyager 2 has visited Neptune.
• Terrestrial planets


  Rocky planets
• Mercury


  Messenger to the gods
• Mercury missions


  1. Pioneer Venus 2

  2. Magellan
• Mercury


  • Smallest planet, only slightly larger than Earth's Moon
  • Closest planet to the Sun
  • No natural satellite and rings
  • With craters
  • Thin atmosphere
  • Rotation: 59 days
  • Revolution: 88 days
• Mercury has been known since ancient times because it can be seen without advanced telescopes
• Because it is so close to the Sun, Mercury is hard to study from Earth
• Mercury missions


  1. Mariner 10

  2. MESSENGER
• MESSENGER mapped Mercury by taking pictures of the planet's surface, including some areas that had not been seen before
• Venus


  • Roman goddess of love and beauty
  • Morning or evening star
  • The hottest planet
  • Earth's twin planet
  • No satellite and rings
  • Sixth largest planet
  • Has volcanoes, mountains, craters
  • Thick atmosphere (full of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide)
  • Opposite rotation from east to west called retrograde
  • Rotation: 243 days
  • Revolution: 224.7 days
• Venus has been known since ancient times because it can be seen easily without a telescope
• Earth


  • The living planet
  • Blue planet
  • Ocean planet (70% water)
  • Atmosphere need of nitrogen and plenty of oxygen
  • Atmosphere has an ozone layer
  • Lies in Goldilocks Zone
  • Rotation: 23 hours and 56 minutes
  • Revolution: 365 days
• Mars


  • Roman god of War
  • Red planet
  • White polar cap
  • Iron oxide making it red color
  • Two moons: Phobos and Deimos
  • With seasons (summer and winter)
  • Has volcanoes, canyons, and weather
  • Thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon
  • People would not be able to breathe the air on Mars
  • Rotation: 24 hours and 37 minutes
  • Revolution: 687 days
• Mars has been known since ancient times because it can be seen without advanced telescopes
• There was a flying helicopter on Mars called Ingenuity
• Several missions have orbited, landed on, or roved around on Mars: InSight, MAVEN, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and many more
• Mars is the only planet we have sent rovers to