Mercury takes 59 days to
make a rotation but only 88 days to circle the Sun. That
means that there are fewer than 2 days in a
year!
Many astronomers believe
that Mercury might be the core of what was once a much larger
planet -- it appears to be a huge ball of iron covered by a thin
layer of rock.
Venus is the brightest planet in our sky and
can sometimes be seen with the naked eye if you know where to
look. It is the solar system's brightest planet -- yellow
clouds of sulfuric acid reflect the sun's
light.
Earth has more exposed water than land.
Three quarters of the Earth is covered by
water! The earth
has one moon.
Mars is the home of
"Olympus Mons", the largest volcano found in the solar
system. It stands about 27 kilometers high with a crater 81
kilometers
wide.
Jupiter is the largest planet
in the solar system, but it spins very quickly on its axis. A
day on Jupiter lasts only 9 hours and 55 minutes. Ack, I get
dizzy just thinking about
it!
Jupiter is so big that you
could fit all the other planets in the solar system inside
it.
Saturn is the second biggest
planet, but it’s also the lightest planet. If there was a
bathtub big enough to hold Saturn, it would float in the
water!
The rings that surrounds
Saturn could be the remnants of a moon that was shattered by
Saturn's gravity. Saturn's rings are as wide as 22 planet
earths all in a row but are only 30 feet
thick!
Uranus’ axis is at a 97 degree
angle, meaning that it orbits lying on its side! Talk about a
lazy planet.
Uranus has the second most
complex set of rings in our solar
system
(Saturn has the most defined
rings).
Neptune was discovered in
1846. In 2011 it finally made it's first lap around the sun
since we discovered it -- because one Neptune year lasts 165 Earth
years!
Like Jupiter, Neptune has a
dark spot caused by a storm. Neptune's spot is smaller than
Jupiter's -- it is only about the size of the planet
earth.
Yuri Gagarin was the
first person in space.
Neil Armstrong was the
first man walking on the Moon.