A | B |
Mercury | named after the messenger of the gods |
Mercury | closest planet to the sun |
Mercury | eighth-largest planet |
Venus | named after the godess of love & beauty |
Venus | hottest planet |
Venus | brightest planet (when viewed from Earth) |
Venus | second planet from the sun |
Venus | often called Earth's sister planet |
Earth | most dense planet |
Earth | third planet from the sun |
Earth | only planet with abundant life |
Earth | only planet not named after a mythological character |
Mars | named after the god of war |
Mars | destination of the 1997 Pathfinder mission |
Mars | home of the solar system's tallest mountain (Olympus Mons) |
Mars | after Earth, the planet most likely to support life |
Mars | fourth planet from the sun |
Mars | often called the red planet |
Mars | is orbited by moons Phobos and Deimos |
Jupiter | largest planet |
Jupiter | fifth planet from the sun |
Jupiter | named after the king of the gods |
Jupiter | its most striking feature is the Great Red Spot |
Jupiter | two of its moons are Io and Europa |
Saturn | sixth planet from the sun |
Saturn | second-largest planet |
Saturn | named after the Roman god of agriculture |
Saturn | least dense planet |
Saturn | destination of the Cassini mission (arrives in 2004) |
Saturn | has moons Titan and Iapetus |
Saturn | has more moons than any other planet |
Uranus | seventh planet from the sun |
Uranus | largest moon is Titania |
Uranus | Discovered by William Herschel in 1781 |
Neptune | largest moon is Triton |
Neptune | eighth planet from the sun (usually) |
Neptune | named after the god of the sea |
Pluto | farthest planet from the sun |
Pluto | smallest planet |
Pluto | its single moon is named Charon |
Pluto | named after the god of the underworld |
Pluto | the most recently discovered planet (1930) |