| ID | Planet | Distance from Sun (mi) | Diameter (mi) | Mythology | Year Discovered | Who Discovered | Position Among Planets | Surface Temp-High | Surface Temp-Low | Number of Moons | Atmosphere? | Surface Material | Rings? | Length of a Day (Earth Days) | Length of a Year (Earth Days) | Interesting Facts |
| 1 | Mercury | 36,000,000 | 3031 | God of travel and thievery. | 3000 BC | Sumerians | 1 | 800 | -300 | 0 | TRUE | Solid | FALSE | 176 days | 88 | Mercury has no plate techtonics, is older than the moon, has a very thin atmosphere, has a heavily cratered surface, is visible with the naked eye, but is so close to the sun it is hard to detect. |
| 2 | Venus | 67,000,000 | 12000 | Goddess of love and beauty. | Prehistoric Times | Unknown | 2 | 900 | 900 | 0 | TRUE | Solid | FALSE | 243 days | 225 | Venus was the brightest planets known to ancient people, the dense atmosphere produces a greenhouse effect which makes the temperature higher than Mercury - even though Mercury is closer to the sun! There are volcanoes, but no evidence of plate tectonics. This planet is often called the "Morning star" because it is so bright as to be mistaken for a star. |
| 3 | Earth | 93,000,000 | 7900 | Name comes from Old Engilish & Germanic. | n/a | n/a | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | TRUE | Solid and liquid | FALSE | 1 | 365 | Surface is 3/4 water, the crust consists of separate floating plates; the presence of Oxygen is due completely to the presence of plant life; |
| 4 | Moon | 93,000,000 | Luna, goddess of love. | Prehistoric Times | n/a | n/a | 100 | -72 | 0 | FALSE | Solid | FALSE | The far side of the Moon was not seen by man until 1959; most rocks on the Moon are older than the oldest rocks on the Earth. | |||
| 5 | Mars | 141,000,000 | 6794 | God of war. | Prehistoric Times | n/a | 4 | 80 | -220 | 2 | TRUE | Solid | FALSE | 24 hrs, 37 min | 687 | |
| 6 | Jupiter | 480,000,000 | 88000 | King of the Gods and ruler of Mt. Olympus | Prehistoric times | n/a | 5 | 0 | -280 | 16 | TRUE | Gas Planet, slush or slurry | TRUE | 10 hours | In 1610, 4 moons of Jupiter were discovered. It was the first time anything was discovered that obviously did not revolve around the Earth. The famous great red spot was discovered in the 1600's also. Scientists are puzzled why the spot, which is a great storm, can last so long. In 1995, a comet called Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter in a very dramatic show. This is the largest planet. | |
| 7 | Saturn | 900,000,000 | 71000 | The god of agriculture. | Prehistoric times | n/a | 6 | 0 | -300 | 20 | TRUE | Gas Planet, slush or slurry | TRUE | 10 hours | Saturn was first seen in a telescops in 1610 by Galileo. Because our view of the rings change as Saturn revolves around the sun, Galileo wasn't sure what he was looking at. | |
| 8 | Uranus | 1,784,983,000 | 32000 | The ancient god of the heavens | 1781 | Sir William Herschel | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | TRUE | slushy outer layer of hydrogen and helium | TRUE | 16.8 hours | 84 | Because Uranus has a tilt of 98 degrees, it's seasonal differences are extreme. When the sun rises at the north pole, it stays daylight for 42 years, which means 42 years of darkness for the south pole. |
| 9 | Neptune | 2,800,000,000 | 306000 | God of the oceans | 1846 | Adams and Le Verrier | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | TRUE | Frozen gas and ice | TRUE | 16.1 hours | 164 years | An Englishman and Frenchman discovered Neptune on the same day, but not together. The two countries then argued over which country had the right to name the new planet. Later observations proved that both men had made a mistake in their projections of the orbit, and if they had observed Neptune at any other time, they probably wouldn't have discovered it until much later! |
| 10 | Pluto | 3,600,000,000 | The god of the underworld. | 1930 | Clyde Tombaugh | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | FALSE | FALSE | 248 |