|
PLANETS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM India is a very small part of earth which is a very small part of
the universe.
We live in a very small part of the universe, what we call
home. |
|
THE
PLANETS
MERCURY
IS the closest planet to the Sun. Mercury is named for the Roman
messenger god because it quickly appears and disappears from the
morning and evening skies. Many astronomers have never seen Mercury
because it's only visible a few days out of the year, and does not
rise very far above the horizon.
|
|
VENUS
is named after a goddess of beauty, the reality of this planet is
far from its name. Venus is a very unpleasant place, with winds that
blow constantly at hundreds of miles per hour and extremely high
temperatures. This planet is an example of a runaway greenhouse
effect on a planetary scale. |
|
EARTH
is in the planetary neighborhood, and as the saying goes,
there's no place like home. Our planet is unique in the solar
system, and not just because we live here. Did you know that Earth
is only planet in the solar system that can have eclipses of the
Sun? |
|
MARS,
Always known as the Red Planet,has probably been the source of more science fiction (good and bad)
than any other planet. Mars is much smaller than Earth, but recent
research shows that it once had flowing rivers. Mars also has a
canyon that stretches over 2000 miles. |
|
JUPITER
The ruler of the night skies,is by far the largest planet in our solar system. Jupiter is so
large that over 1300 Earths would fit inside it! It also makes up
its own miniature solar system with its family of at least sixteen
Moons! |
|
SATURN The Ringed Planet,
is probably the most visually stunning planet in our planetary
neighborhood. Saturn's giant rings are actually made of of thousands
of small particles of dust and ice. The divisions in the rings we
see from Earth are caused by some of Saturn's smaller moons. |
|
URANUS One of the mysterious gas giants,
has rings like Saturn, but they are very faint and weren't
discovered until the planet was visited by the Voyager spacecraft.
The planet is also the only one in our solar system that lays on
it's side instead of standing straight up. |
|
NEPTUNE
was the last stop that the ground breaking Voyager spacecraft made
on its journey through the solar system. The amazing mission had one
more surprise for us, though, as it found "geysers" on
Triton, one of Neptune's moons. |
|
PLUTO The most distant planet in our solar system,is so far away that the Sun is not much bigger or brighter than most
of the other stars in its sky. Pluto also has a moon, Charon, that
is nearly as big as the planet itself. |