If you would like to learn more about the planets in our solar system you have landed on the right planet. Here you will find amazing facts and figures explaining more about what we know about the closest planets to our home planet Earth and the centre of our solar system the Sun. As well as other exciting space oddities such as black holes, meteorites and more.
Thanks to advancements in technology in the last 100 years we can now look deeper into the Kosmos and explore planets and stars in more detail than ever before. NASA has even sent Rovers to far-off planets to explore their surface and probes that have left our solar system and are now hundreds of thousands of miles from our home planet.
The length of a day differs on other planets
One fun fact you may not be aware of is that the length of one day on Earth is different to that on other planets.
- On Mercury a day lasts about 59 Earth days.
- On Venus a day lasts about 117 Earth days and Venus spins backwards.
- On Earth a day lasts 24 hours.
- On Mars a day lasts a little over 24 hours.
- On Jupiter a day lasts less than 10 hours.
- On Saturn a day lasts about 10.5 hours.
- On Uranus a day lasts about 17 hours (it also spins backward).
- On Neptune a day lasts a little over 16 hours.
On what planet does it rain diamonds?
If you have ever looked up at the sky at night and wondered what it would be like to walk on another planet or fly through the stars to visit distant galaxies. You are joining the scientists and astronomers who have studied the stars for hundreds of years.
Our solar system has 8 planets
There are 8 planets that orbit or move around our Sun and they are called : Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These 8 planets can then be separated into two planetary categories, Terrestrial Planets and Gas Giants.
Our solar system is huge
The Sun isn’t the only thing in our solar system, of course. There are also planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and more. Our solar system is huge! And there’s still so much to learn about it. For example, scientists are still trying to figure out how the planets formed. So there’s definitely a lot to explore when it comes to our solar system.
Our Sun is actually a star
There are a lot of things to learn about our solar system. For example, did you know that the sun is actually a star? And that it’s the closest star to Earth? The sun is huge! It’s about 333,000 times the size of Earth. And it’s so bright that it’s hard to look at it with your bare eyes.
Gas Giant Planets
The four Gas Giants can be spilt again into a sub category called Ice Giants which consists of Uranus and Neptune due to their makeup being made up of large quantities of ice and rock.
Terrestrial Planets
The Terrestrial Planets consist of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, and the Gas Giants which do not have solid surfaces are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The 4 Gas Giants can be spilt again into a sub category called Ice Giant which consists of Uranus and Neptune due to their makeup being made up of large quantities of ice and rock. In your journey through the Solar System you will learn fantastic facts and figures about all the planets, with help from our team of Robonauts.
Our solar system
Learn about our Solar System with our friendly Robonauts, who will help you explore the planets in our Solar System with exciting games and activities you can carry out with your class..