![]() Jupiter: The largest planet in our solar system A number of asteroids have orbits that take them closer into the solar system that sometimes lead them to collide with Earth or the other inner planets. The dwarf planet Ceres, about 590 miles (950 km) in diameter, resides here. Asteroids are minor planets, and according to NASA there are approximately between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids (opens in new tab) in the main asteroid belt larger than 0.6 miles (1 km) in diameter and millions more smaller asteroids. Related: How long does it take to get to Mars? The asteroid beltīetween Mars and Jupiter lies the asteroid belt. Hope that signs of this past life - and the possibility of even current lifeforms - may exist on the Red Planet has driven numerous Mars missions and the Red Planet is now one of the most explored planets in the solar system. Scientists also think ancient Mars would have had the conditions to support life like bacteria and other microbes. ![]() ![]() Day: Just more than one Earth day (24 hours, 37 minutes) ![]() Discovery: Known to the ancient Greeks and visible to the naked eye Still, the demotion of Pluto remains controversial. The problem with Pluto, aside from its small size and offbeat orbit, is that it doesn't clear its neighborhood of debris - it shares its space with lots of other objects in the Kuiper Belt. Pluto was among the bodies that didn't make the cut and was re-classified as a dwarf planet. The IAU defines (opens in new tab) a true planet as a body that circles the sun without being some other object's satellite is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it begins to undergo nuclear fusion, like a star) and has "cleared its neighborhood" of most other orbiting bodies.īut that restrictive definition helped isolate what should and should not be considered a planet - a problem that arose as astronomers discovered more and more planet-like objects in the solar system. National Library of Medicine (opens in new tab). For perspective, methane crystallizes at minus 296 Fahrenheit (minus 183 degrees Celsius), according to the U.S. This is because Uranus and Neptune have more atmospheric water and other ice-forming molecules, such as methane, hydrogen sulfide and phosphene, that crystallize into clouds in the planets' frigid conditions, according to the Planetary Society (opens in new tab). Jupiter and Saturn are sometimes called the gas giants, whereas the more distant Uranus and Neptune have been nicknamed the ice giants. If you were to order the planets by size from smallest to largest they would be Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. ![]() They're also mostly made of gases like hydrogen, helium and ammonia rather than of rocky surfaces, although astronomers believe some or all of them may have solid cores. The four large outer worlds - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - are sometimes called the Jovian or "Jupiter-like" planets because of their enormous size relative to the terrestrial planets. Pluto also has a rocky, albeit frozen, surface but has never been grouped with the four terrestrials. The inner four planets closest to the sun - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars - are often called the " terrestrial planets" because their surfaces are rocky. Related: 15 stunning places on Earth that look like they're from another planet Types of planets in the solar system The alleged "Planet Nine," also called "Planet X," is believed to be about 10 times the mass of Earth and 5,000 times the mass of Pluto. Pluto is truly way out there and on a wildly tilted, elliptical orbit (two of the several reasons it was demoted).Īstronomers, however, are still hunting for another possible planet in our solar system, a true ninth planet, after mathematical evidence of its existence was revealed on Jan. If you insist on including Pluto, it would come after Neptune on the list. ![]()
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