• Mercury– The planet closest to the sun can reach temperatures of 427 degrees Celsius, but also a chilly low of -173 degrees at night.
• Venus– Farther from the sun, but hotter than Mercury, Venus’s surface has an average temperature of 468 degrees; hot enough to melt lead.
• Earth– Our rotation is slowing, but don’t panic. The decrease is only about 17 milliseconds per 100 years, so we won’t have 25-hour days for 140 million years.
• Mars– Looking for a rock from Mars? You can find them here on Earth. Meteorites from the red planet have been discovered in the Sahara and in Antarctica.
• Jupiter– This gas giant has a magnetic field so powerful it draws space debris into its orbit, thus protecting the inner planets.
• Saturn– Saturn is famous for its ring, but they aren’t unique. Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus also possess rings, but they’re harder to see from Earth.
• Neptune– Winds on Neptune can reach a speed of 2414km per hour or more.
• Uranus– All planets rotate, but only Uranus does so on its side. Scientists speculate that a collision with another large object may have caused its tilt.
• Pluto– It was once a planet in our solar system. In 2006 the definition of a planet changed so because its size and location in space, Pluto is now called a dwarf planet.
