Saturn uranus neptune jupiter. Mercury venus earth an mars. Earth l Earth facts, pictures and information. Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest: Planet Profile orbit: 149,600,000 km (1.00 AU) from Sundiameter: 12,756.3 kmmass: 5.972e24 kg History of Earth Earth is the only planet whose English name does not derive from Greek/Roman mythology. It was not until the time of Copernicus (the sixteenth century) that it was understood that the Earth is just another planet. Earth, of course, can be studied without the aid of spacecraft. The Earth is divided into several layers which have distinct chemical and seismic properties (depths in km): 0- 40 Crust 40- 400 Upper mantle 400- 650 Transition region 650-2700 Lower mantle 2700-2890 D'' layer 2890-5150 Outer core 5150-6378 Inner core The crust varies considerably in thickness, it is thinner under the oceans, thicker under the continents.
Most of the mass of the Earth is in the mantle, most of the rest in the core; the part we inhabit is a tiny fraction of the whole (values below x10^24 kilograms): Earth's Satellite Open Issues. Mars l Mars facts, pictures and information. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the seventh largest: Planet Profile orbit: 227,940,000 km (1.52 AU) from Sundiameter: 6,794 kmmass: 6.4219e23 kg History of Mars Mars (Greek: Ares) is the god of War. The planet probably got this name due to its red color; Mars is sometimes referred to as the Red Planet.
(An interesting side note: the Roman god Mars was a god of agriculture before becoming associated with the Greek Ares; those in favor of colonizing and terraforming Mars may prefer this symbolism.) Mars has been known since prehistoric times. The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Mars' orbit is significantly elliptical. Though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth. Mars has some of the most highly varied and interesting terrain of any of the terrestrial planets, some of it quite spectacular: Olympus Mons: the largest mountain in the Solar System rising 24 km (78,000 ft.) above the surrounding plain. Venus l Venus facts, pictures and information. Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the sixth largest. Venus' orbit is the most nearly circular of that of any planet, with an eccentricity of less than 1%. orbit: 108,200,000 km (0.72 AU) from Sundiameter: 12,103.6 kmmass: 4.869e24 kg History of Venus Venus (Greek: Aphrodite; Babylonian: Ishtar) is the goddess of love and beauty.
Venus has been known since prehistoric times. Since Venus is an inferior planet, it shows phases when viewed with a telescope from the perspective of Earth. The first spacecraft to visit Venus was Mariner 2 in 1962. Produced detailed maps of Venus' surface using radar. Venus' rotation is somewhat unusual in that it is both very slow (243 Earth days per Venus day, slightly longer than Venus' year) and retrograde. Venus is sometimes regarded as Earth's sister planet. Venus is only slightly smaller than Earth (95% of Earth's diameter, 80% of Earth's mass). Venus probably once had large amounts of water like Earth but it all boiled away. More about Venus. Mercury l Mercury facts, pictures and information. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Mercury is slightly smaller in diameter than the moons Ganymede and Titan but more than twice as massive. orbit: 57,910,000 km (0.38 AU) from Sundiameter: 4,880 kmmass: 3.30e23 kg History of Mercury In Roman mythology Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and thievery, the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the Gods.
The planet probably received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky. Mercury has been known since at least the time of the Sumerians (3rd millennium BC). Since it is closer to the Sun than the Earth, the illumination of Mercury's disk varies when viewed with a telescope from our perspective. Mercury has been now been visited by two spacecraft, Mariner 10 and MESSENGER. The mission has provided support for the hypothesis that water ice and other volatiles do exist in the polar regions in permanent shadow. The hypothesis is supported by three independent lines of evidence: 1.
More about Mercury. Jupiter.