Nine planets of the solar system and their characteristics and their distances from the sun

 The Solar system consists of the sun and the nine planets. The sun is at the center of the solar system and all other planets revolved around it in their elliptical orbit.

The nine planets are:

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

THE SUN

The sun is the largest star in the solar system and has a surface temperature of well over 6,000°C with an interior temperature of over 20,000,000°C. The sun is of importance to man because it produces light which can be conserved as heat energy or radiant energy. Therefore, without solar radiation from the sun called insolation all forms of life on the earth surface would not have been possible.

In size, the sun is about 300,000 times as big as the earth. The stars which appear when viewed from the earth actually exist in groups or clusters which are better referred to as galaxies or nebulas.

With the exception of the sun, mercury, venus, and pluto, all other planets have attendant bodies referred to as satellites.

A satellite: This is an attendant body or smaller body which revolves around other planets such as jupiter, saturn, uranus, neptune, mars and earth. The only attendant body present on the earth is known as the moon. 

These satellites are natural satellites and should not be confused with artificial satellite which is a man-made satellite : a machine that is launched into space and orbit around a body in space.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NINE PLANETS AND THEIR DISTANCES FROM THE SUN 

MERCURY 

This is the smallest and hottest of all the planets as well as the closest planet to the sun. It takes 88 days for the mercury to go round the sun. Being very close to the sun, the gravitational pull of the sun is very strong.

It has the shortest orbit around the sun and it's distance is 57,600,000km. Mercury has no satellite of its own.

VENUS 

The Venus is the second planet that is closest to the sun and the closest to the Earth. Although, Venus contains no living things but it is similar to the Earth in terms of size, weight and density, hence, it is termed as "Earth twins".

It has no natural satellite but it takes 225 days to complete its revolution around the sun. It's distance from the sun is about 107,200,000km.

EARTH 

Spacemen have often described the Earth as a "beautiful jewel" when seen from space. Earth is the only planet which supports the existence of plants and animals. 

It takes the earth about 365 and half days to complete its orbit.

The distance between the sun and the earth is about 148,800,000km. 

It has one natural satellite called the moon which revolves eastwards around the earth once in every 27 days. The distance of the earth from the moon is 384,629km.

MARS

Astronomers think there may be the possibility of some tiny plants living on Mars. Pictures taken from space by spacecrafts have shown pictures which give indication of possible plant life on mars.

 It has two natural satellites which are known as "phobos" and "deimos" meaning fear and dread.

Mars' distance from the sun is about 227,200,000km and it takes 687 days to complete its orbit.

JUPITER 

The Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and its surface contains hydrogen and methane gases with light and dark bands. 

The atmosphere around Jupiter is said to be characterized by violent thunderstorm many times stronger than those experienced on the earth.

Jupiter has thirteen natural satellites and its distance from the sun is 772,800,000km. It takes Jupiter 11.9 years to complete its orbit around the sun.

SATURN 

Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. It takes about thirty years to make one trip around the sun, compared with one year for the Earth.

Saturn has three rings and ten natural satellites. The distance of saturn from the sun is about 1,417,600,000km.

URANUS 

Uranus is about fifty times the size of the earth. Its orbit, unlike other planets around the sun is in a clockwise direction from east to west.

 This planet has five natural satellites around it and its distance from the sun is 2,854,400,000km hence takes about 84 years to complete its orbit.

NEPTUNE 

The Neptune as a planet is cold with two natural satellites. 

It takes Neptune about 164.8 years to complete its orbit. The distance of Neptune from the sun is 4,468,800,000km.

PLUTO 

Pluto as planet was discovered in 1930. It is the last planet known to exist in the solar system. Very little is known about Pluto because of its remote location from the earth.

This planet is the coldest and the farthest from the sun. It has the longest orbit round the sun, hence it takes about 247.7 years to complete its orbit. 

The distance of Pluto from the sun is about 5,850,000,000km.