Neptune

Neptune - the furthest planet from the Sun

How Neptune got it's name:
At first, Neptune was only the god of water, but later on this was extended to include the sea when he became associated with the Greek god Poseidon.

How big is Neptune?
Neptune has a diameter of 49, 528 km and it is located 4, 497 million kilometres from the Sun.

Time on Neptune:

A day on Neptune lasts 18 hours Earth days and a year lasts 165 years. 

How many moons does it have?
Neptune has 13 moons that we know of. Because Neptune is so far away, it is difficult to see any of these worlds. There are probably many more moons orbiting this blue planet which we have not yet discovered. The first moon to be discovered was Triton. Triton was discovered by an amateur astronomer in England named William Lassell only 17 days after Neptune was discovered in 1846. The names of the other moons are: Despina, Galatea, Halimede, Laomedeia, Larissa, Naiad, Nereid, Neso, Proteus, Psamathe, Sao, and Thalassa.

Did you know!Neptune has six rings which circle the planet. These rings are believed to be fairly new. The rings are more irregular than the rings of other planets. There are areas of varying thickness throughout the rings.

Uranus

Uranus - the second furthest planet from the Sun

How Uranus got it's name:
In astronomy mythology, Uranus was the lord of the skies and husband of Earth. He was also the king of the gods until he was overthrown by his son Saturn.

How big is Uranus?
Uranus has a diameter of 51, 118 km and it is located 2, 870 million kilometres from the Sun.

Time on Uranus:

A day on Uranus lasts 17 hours Earth days and a year lasts 84 years. 

How many moons does it have?
Uranus has 27 moons. Five of these moons are large and the rest are smaller. The largest moon is Titania, followed by Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda. Some of the smaller moons are named: Belinda, Bianca, Caliban, Cordelia, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Ophelia, Portia, Puck, and Rosalind.

Did you know!
Uranus also has rings, though they don't stretch out as far as the rings of Saturn. The rings of Uranus are made up of black dust particles and large rocks.

Saturn

Saturn - the planet with rings

How Saturn got it's name:
Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture. He was called Cronus by the Greeks. He is the son of Uranus and the father of Jupiter. Saturn overthrew his father to become king of the gods, but was then overthrown himself by his son Jupiter.

How big is Saturn?Saturn has a diameter of 120, 540 km and it is located 1, 427 million kilometres from the Sun.

Time on Saturn:
A day on Saturn lasts 10 hours Earth days (the same as Jupiter) and a year lasts 30 years. 

How many moons does it have?
Saturn has 53 official moons and 9 provisional (unofficial) moons. The most well-known of Saturn's moons is probably Titan. It is the second largest moon in the Solar System next to Jupiter's Ganymede. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury. Some of the other moons are Atlas, Calypso, Dione, Enceladus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Janus, Mimas, Phoebe, and Tethys.

Did you know!
Saturn is the furthest planet from Earth that can be seen without the help of a telescope.

Jupiter

Jupiter - the biggest planet

How Jupiter got it's name:
Jupiter, known as Zeus in Greek mythology, over threw his father Saturn to become king of the gods. He then split the universe with his brothers Neptune and Pluto.

How big is Jupiter?
Jupiter has a diameter of 142, 984 km and it is located 778 million kilometres from the Sun.

Time on Jupiter:

A day on Jupiter lasts 10 hours Earth days and a year lasts 12 years. 

How many moons does it have?
Jupiter has 50 official moons and 12 provisional (unofficial) moons. The four largest and most well-known were discovered by Galileo in the year 1610. Their names are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Some of the other moons are Adrastea, Ananke, Carme, Elara, Himalia, Leda, Lysithea, Metis, Pasiphae, Sinope, and Thebe.

Did you know!
Did you know Jupiter has rings? They are faint and are only able to be viewed when Jupiter passes in front of the Sun. This is because the light from the Sun lights them up for us to see here on Earth. There are three rings in all. They are named Gossamer, Main and Halo.

Mars

Mars - the Red Planet

How Mars got it's name:Mars was the Roman god of war and agriculture. It may not seem like these two things go together, but they do. Mars protected those who fought for their communities, and stayed home to raise crops for food. In Greek, Mars was known as Ares.

How big is Mars?
Mars has a diameter of 6, 780 km and it is located 228 million kilometres from the Sun.

Time on Mars:

A day on Mars lasts 25 hours Earth days and a year lasts 686 days. 

How many moons does it have?
Mars has two moons, their names are Deimos and Phobos.

Did you know!
Mars has the Solar System's biggest volcano, Olympus Mons, which is nearly 3 times larger than Mount Everest.

Venus

Venus - the second closest planet to the Sun

How Venus got it's name:
In astronomy mythology, Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty. In Greek, her name was Aphrodite.

How big is Venus?
Venus has a diameter of 12, 100 km and it is located 108 million kilometres from the Sun.

Time on Venus:

Venus rotates very slowly so that a day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days and a year lasts 255 days. Venus also rotates in the opposite direction as almost all the other planets.

Instead of the Sun rising in the east and setting in the west, the Sun on Venus would appear to rise in the west and set in the east.

How many moons does it have?
Venus has no moons.

Did you know!
Because Venus is so close to the Earth, it appears as the brightest planet in the night sky.

Mercury

Mercury - the closest planet to the Sun

How mercury got it's name:
In astronomy mythology, Mercury was the Roman version of the Greek god Hermes. He was the messenger for the other gods, and for this reason Mercury is often depicted in pictures with winged sandals. In addition to delivering messages, he was also the protector of travellers and merchants.

How big is Mercury?
Mercury is just a little bit larger than Earth's moon.The diameter of Mercury is 4, 879 km.It is 58 million kilometres from the Sun

Time on Mercury:
One day on Mercury is about 176 Earth days long. But while Mercury's days are very long, its revolution around the Sun is rather fast. Mercury can complete one orbit around the Sun in only 88 Earth days. That's just about 3 months here on Earth.

How many moons does it have?
Mercury has no moons.

Did you know!
Mercury's orbit is not a perfect circle like most of the other planets. It's actually egg-shaped. At times, Mercury's orbit brings it closer to the Sun than other times, while all the other planets that have circular orbits are always the same distance from the Sun.