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The Solar System
Our Home Family of Planets
This is our home. At the center, we have one star, and no companion star. We have 8 planets orbiting our sun. Our Solar system also has 5 dwarf planets and 11 candidates under investigation. Our home system also has countless asteroids and meteoroids, and an unknown quantity of comets.
The Planets
| Planet Name |
Distance |
Year |
Radius |
Mass |
Volume |
Moons |
Gravity |
Temp. |
| Mercury |
0.387 |
0.241 |
0.383 |
0.0553 |
0.0562 |
0 |
0.378 |
420 |
| Venus |
0.723 |
0.615 |
0.949 |
0.815 |
0.857 |
0 |
0.905 |
460 |
| Earth |
1.000 |
1.000 |
1.000 |
1.000 |
1.000 |
1 |
1.000 |
14 |
| Mars |
1.524 |
1.881 |
0.532 |
0.107 |
0.151 |
2 |
0.379 |
-46 |
| Jupiter |
5.204 |
11.862 |
11.209 |
317.83 |
1321.33 |
63 |
2.53 |
-108 |
| Saturn |
9.582 |
29.457 |
9.449 |
95.159 |
763.59 |
60 |
1.065 |
-139 |
| Uranus |
19.201 |
84.011 |
4.007 |
14.536 |
63.08 |
27 |
0.905 |
-224 |
| Neptune |
30.047 |
164.79 |
3.883 |
17.147 |
57.74 |
13 |
1.14 |
-218 |
TABLE NOTES:
Distance from the sun (average) – astronomical units (1 AU = Earth's distance from the sun = 149.6 × 106 km)
Year – Earth years = 365.256 Earth days
Radius (equatorial) – Earths – 1 Earth = 6,378.1 km = 3,964 miles
Mass – Earths – 1 Earth = 5.9736 × 1024 kg
Volume – Earths – 1 Earth = 108.321 × 1010 km3
Moons – both major and minor as of 2009:0115
Gravity (surface or at 1 bar atmospheric pressure for gas giants) – Earths – 1 Earth = 9.798 m/s2
Temperature (average) – °C (to convert to Fahrenheit multiply by 5/9, then add 32)
<<Return to the Solar System Planets page
References:
Astronomy Data Book, by J.H. Robinson & J. Muirden – John Wiley & Sons, New York
A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, by D.H. Menzel – 1964, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
"Planetary Fact Sheets," http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetfact.html, retrieved 2009:0116
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