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Mercury |
| The closest planet to the Sun at just 57 million kilometres. It is only visible in the sky just before sunrise and just after sunset. |
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Venus |
| Often called Earth's sister Venus is the closest planet to Earth. After the sun and the moon it is the brightest object in the sky, caused by a combination of its proximity and the highly reflective clouds that shroud Venus. |
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Earth |
| Home. Arguably the most dynamic place in the Solar System with a unique combination of tectonic activity, a rapidly changing atmosphere and life. |
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Mars |
| In 1877 Schiaparelli discovered "canali", or channels, on the surface of Mars. Since then the Red planet has become the focus of a search for other forms of life in the Solar System. |
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Jupiter |
| The largest planet in the Solar System and the nearest of the four gas gaints. There are at least 16 moons in orbit around Jupiter including the 4 Galilean moons, easily visible in a small telescope. |
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Saturn |
| The second largest planet and famous for its bright rings. Saturn also has many moons the largest of which, Titan, could possibly one day support life. Another interesting fact about Saturn is that its density is so low it would float on water. |
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Uranus |
| Discovered by William Herschel in 1781 Uranus is the last of the planets visible to the naked eye. Our only close up view of it has come from the Voyager 2 mission in 1986. It revealed a largely featureless ball of hydrogen gas. |
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Neptune |
| Another giant planet discovered by Galle in 1846
after mathematial calculations by Adams and Le
Verrier predicted its location. Like Urnaus it is a deep blue colour due to the absorption of red light by methane in the upper atmosphere.
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Pluto |
| The most distant planet of the Solar System. It was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 after Percival Lowell had predicted its position. Somewhat surprisingly this tiny distant world also has a moon - Charon. |
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