The largest planets in the solar system

To determine how large a particular planet is, you need to consider criteria such as its mass and diameter. The largest planet of the solar system is 300 times larger than the Earth, and its diameter exceeds the earth's eleven times. The most important planets of the Solar System are called , and what they are known for, we will tell in our rating.

9. Pluto

Pluto is the second largest pygmyplanet in the solar system after Ceres. Even when he was among the full-fledged planets, he was by far not the largest of them, since his mass is equal to 1/6 of the mass of the moon. Pluto has a diameter of 2370 km and consists of stone and ice. Not surprisingly, its surface is rather cold - minus 230 ° C.

8. Mercury

A tiny world with a mass almost twenty times smaller than the mass of the Earth, and a diameter of 2 ½ smaller than the earth's. In fact, Mercury is closer in size to the Moon than to the Earth and today is considered the smallest of the planets in the Solar System. Mercury has a rocky surface, dotted with craters. Recently, the spacecraft Messenger confirmed that in the deep craters on the side of Mercury, which is always shrouded in shade, is ice water.

7. Mars

Mars is about half the size of the Earth and has a diameter of 6,792 km. However, its mass is only a tenth of the earth's. This not too large planet of the Solar System, the fourth near the Sun, has a slope of the axis of rotation of 25.1 degrees. Due to this, the seasons change on it, as on Earth. A day( salt) on Mars are equal to 24 hours and 40 minutes. In the southern hemisphere, the summer is hot, and the winter is cold, and there are no such sharp contrasts in the north, there is summer and winter soft. We can say, ideal conditions for the construction of a greenhouse and the cultivation of potatoes.

6. Venus

The sixth place in the ranking of the largest and smallest planets is the celestial body, named after the goddess of beauty. It is so close to the Sun that the first appears in the evening and the last disappears in the morning. Therefore, Venus has long been known as the "evening star" and "morning star".It has a diameter of 12,100 km, which is almost comparable to the size of the Earth( 1,000 km less), and 80% of the Earth's mass.

The surface of Venus mainly consists of large plains of volcanic origin, the rest - from giant mountains. The atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide, with thick clouds of sulfur dioxide. This atmosphere has the strongest greenhouse effect known in the solar system, and the temperature on Venus is kept at around 460 degrees.

5. Earth

The third planet in proximity to the Sun. Earth is the only planet in the solar system on which there is life. It has an inclination of the axis of 23.4 degrees, its diameter is 12,742 km, and the mass is 5.972 septillion kg.

The age of our planet is very respectable - 4.54 billion years. And most of this time it is accompanied by a natural satellite - the Moon. It is believed that the Moon was formed when a celestial body of large size, namely Mars, acted on the Earth, causing the release of a sufficient amount of material so that the Moon could form. The moon had a stabilizing effect on the tilt of the Earth's axis and is a source of tides and ebbs of the oceans.

4. Neptune

The gas giant planet of the solar system is the eighth in the vicinity of the Sun's celestial body. The diameter of Neptune is 49,000 km, and the mass is 17 times greater than the earth's. He has powerful cloud stripes( they, together with storms and cyclones, photographed "Voyager 2").The speed of the wind on Neptune reaches 600 m / s. Because of its great distance from the Sun, the planet is one of the coldest, the temperature in the upper atmosphere reaches minus 220 degrees Celsius.

3. Uranium

The third line of the list of the largest planets of the Solar System is the seventh close to the Sun, the third largest and the fourth heaviest of the worlds. The diameter of Uranus( 50,000 km) is four times the Earth's, and its mass is 14 times the mass of our planet.

Uranus has 27 known moons with dimensions ranging from more than 1500 km to less than 20 km in diameter. The satellites of the planet consist of ice, rocks and other microelements. Uranus itself has a rock core surrounded by a cover of water, ammonia and methane. The atmosphere consists of hydrogen, helium and methane with the upper layer of clouds.

2. Saturn

The second of the largest planets in the solar system is known for its ring system. It was first noticed by Galileo Galilei in 1610.Galileo believed that Saturn is accompanied by two other planets that are on either side of it. In 1655, Christian Huygens, with the help of an improved telescope, was able to discern Saturn in sufficient detail to assume that rings surround him. They extend from 7000 km to 120 000 km above the surface of Saturn, which itself has a radius of 9 times greater than the Earth( 57,000 km) and a mass 95 times larger than the Earth.

1. Jupiter

The first number is the winner of the planetary heavyweight hit parade, Jupiter is the largest planet, bearing the name of the Roman king of the gods. One of the five planets visible to the naked eye. It is so massive that it would contain the rest of the worlds of the solar system, minus the sun. The total diameter of Jupiter is 142,984 km. Given its size, Jupiter rotates very fast, making one turn every 10 hours. At its equator there is a fairly large centrifugal force, because of which the planet has a pronounced hump. That is, the diameter of the equator of Jupiter is 9000 km larger than the diameter measured at the poles. As expected, the king Jupiter has many satellites( more than 60), but most of them are rather small( less than 10 km in diameter).The four largest moons, discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei, are named after the favorites of Zeus, the Greek counterpart of Jupiter.