The Sun

The Sun provides a vital ingredient for most of life on Earth. Without the energy through sunlight, vegetation cannot grow, without vegetation animals do not have a source of nourishment. The Sun is 4.6 billion years old and has a surface temperature of 5,500 degrees celsius. The Sun is known as a main sequence star and this is a sphere composed primarily of two gases hydrogen and helium.

Mercury

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and is also the smallest of the eight planets. Mercury completes three rotations of its axis and it's orbit is inclined by 7 degrees to the plane of earth's orbit. It is named from the Roman god Mercury, the messenger to the gods. Mercury has a surface area of 28.88 million mi 2.

Venus

Venus is the second planet from the sun. It orbits every 224.7 earth days and has the longest rotation period of any planet in the solar system. It rotates in the opposite direction to most of the other planets. It's surface area is 177.7 million mi squared. The planet is named Venus after the roman goddess of love and beauty and is the second largest terrestrial planet. Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system with an average surface temperature of 462 degrees celsius.

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the sun and is the densest planet in the solar system. It is the only astronomical object known to hold life. For 2000 years ancient astronomers believed that Earth was static and has other celestial bodies traveling in circular orbits around it. Earth has a very powerful magnetic field that protects the planet from the effects of solar winds. The Earth has an Ozone layer which protects it from harmful solar radiation. It has one of the most circular orbits of all the eight planets

Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in the solar system. It is a giant planet with a mass one-thousandth of the sun but two and a half time the size of all the other planets combined. It is named after the roman king of gods. Jupiter has 67 confirmed moons orbiting the planet. They are separated into three groups known as Inner moons, Galilean moons and Outer moons. Jupiter has the shortest day of the eight planets, turning on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes.

Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest in the solar system. Its radius is 9 times the size of Earth's. It's nickname is "The Ringed Planet" and the rings around the planet are mostly made from chunks of ice and carbonaceous rocks. Saturn gives off more energy than it receives from the sun. Saturn is the least dense planet in the solar system and is made mostly of hydrogen and has a density which is less than water.

Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun and has the third largest planetary radius and fourth largest planetary mass in the solar system. It is named after the father of the roman god Saturn. William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781. Herschel first believed that Uranus was a comet at first but several years later it was confirmed as a planet making Uranus the first planet named in modern discovery. Uranus is often referred to as the "ice giant" while it has a hydrogen and helium upper layer.

Neptune

Neptune is the farthest known planet from the sun in the solar system. Due to its blue coloration, Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea. It takes Neptune 164.8 earth years to orbit the sun. On July 11th 2011, Neptune complete its first full orbit since its discovery in 1846. It has the second largest gravity of any planet.

Pluto

Pluto is the second closest dwarf planet to the sun. From 1930 when it was discovered up until 2006, it was considered the ninth planet of the solar system. Pluto is smaller than many moons.

Ceres

Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to the sun and the only one located in the inner solar system and is the smallest of the known dwarf planets. Ceres was the first object to be considered an asteroid in the solar system. Ceres accounts for approximately one third of the mass of the entire asteroid belt.