UP ABOVE
Showing the brilliance of the night sky in an ever-expanding universe.
Select a date to see NASAs picture of the day
S U N
Planet Type: Yellow dwarf star
Year Length: N/A
Distance From Sun: N/A
Planet Radius: 1,516 mi
Number Of Moons: N/A
Predominant Elements: Hydrogen, Helium
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 5,778.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): 9,941 °F
-
Click For More Info
The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the mass in the solar system. It has a mass of around 330,000 times that of Earth. It is three quarters hydrogen and most of its remaining mass is helium.
M E R C U R Y
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Year Length: 88 earth days
Distance From Sun: ~28,697,000 mi
Planet Radius: 1,516 mi
Predominant Elements: Oxygen, Sodium, Hydrogen
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 100.15 to 700.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): -279.4 to 800 °F
-
Click For More Info
Mercury is hot, but not too hot for ice The closest planet to the Sun does indeed have ice on its surface. That sounds surprising at first glance, but the ice is found in permanently shadowed craters — those that never receive any sunlight. It is thought that perhaps comets delivered this ice to Mercury in the first place. In fact, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft not only found ice at the north pole, but it also found organics, which are the building blocks for life. Mercury is way too hot and airless for life as we know it, but it shows how these elements are distributed across the Solar System.
V E N U S
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Year Length: 225 earth days
Distance From Sun: ~66,985,000 mi
Planet Radius: 3760 mi
Predominant Elements: Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 738.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): 869 °F
-
Click For More Info
Venus doesn’t have any moons, and we aren’t sure why. Both Mercury and Venus have no moons, which can be considered a surprise given there are dozens of other ones around the Solar System. Saturn has over 60, for example. And some moons are little more than captured asteroids, which may have been what happened with Mars’ two moons, for example. So what makes these planets different? No one is really sure why Venus doesn’t, but there is at least one stream of research that suggests it could have had one in the past.
E A R T H
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Year Length: 365
Distance From Sun: ~92,900,000 mi
Planet Radius: 3,959 mi
Predominant Elements: Oxygen, Nitrogen
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 184.15 to 331.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): -128.2 to 136.4 °F
-
Click For More Info
The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing. This deceleration is happening almost imperceptibly, at approximately 17 milliseconds per hundred years, although the rate at which it occurs is not perfectly uniform. This has the effect of lengthening our days, but it happens so slowly that it could be as much as 140 million years before the length of a day will have increased to 25 hours.
M A R S
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Year Length: 687 earth days
Distance From Sun: ~141,600,000 mi
Planet Raidus: 2,106 mi
Predominant Elements: Carbon dioxide
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 150.15 to 309.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): -189.4 to 96.8 °F
-
Click For More Info
Mars had a thicker atmosphere in the past. What a bunch of contrasts in the inner Solar System: practically atmosphere-less Mercury, a runaway hothouse greenhouse effect happening in Venus’ thick atmosphere, temperate conditions on much of Earth and then a thin atmosphere on Mars. But look at the planet and you can see gullies carved in the past from probable water. Water requires more atmosphere, so Mars had more in the past. Where did it go? Some scientists believe it’s because the Sun’s energy pushed the lighter molecules out of Mars’ atmosphere over millions of years, decreasing the thickness over time.
J U P I T E R
Planet Type: Gas giant
Year Length: 4,333 earth days
Distance From Sun: ~484,432,000 mi
Planet Radius: 88,846 mi
Predominant Elements: Helium, liquid Hydrogen
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 120.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): -234.4 °F
-
Click For More Info
Jupiter is a great comet catcher. The most massive planet in the Solar System probably had a huge influence on its history. At 318 times the mass of Earth, you can imagine that any passing asteroid or comet going near Jupiter has a big chance of being caught or diverted. Maybe Jupiter was partly to blame for the great bombardment of small bodies that peppered our young Solar System early in its history, causing scars you can still see on the Moon today. And in 1994, astronomers worldwide were treated to a rare sight: a comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, breaking up under Jupiter’s gravity and slamming into the atmosphere.
S A T U R N
Planet Type: Gas giant
Year Length: 10,759 earth days
Distance From Sun: ~932,322,000 mi
Planet Radius: 58,232 km
Predominant Elements: Helium, liquid Nitrogen
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 89.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): -299.2 °F
-
Click For More Info
No one knows how old Saturn’s rings are There’s a field of ice and rock debris circling Saturn that from afar, appear as rings. Early telescope observations of the planet in the 1600s caused some confusion: does that planet have ears, or moons, or what? With better resolution, however, it soon became clear that there was a chain of small bodies encircling the gas giant. It’s possible that a single moon tore apart under Saturn’s strong gravity and produced the rings. Or, maybe they’ve been around (pun intended) for the last few billion years, unable to coalesce into a larger body but resistant enough to gravity not to break up.
U R A N U S
Planet Type: Ice giant
Year Length: 30,687 earth days
Distance From Sun: ~1,878,775,000
Planet Radius: 15,759.2 mi
Predominant Elements: Hydrogen, Helium
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 89.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): -299.2 °F
-
Click For More Info
Uranus is more stormy than we thought. When Voyager 2 flew by the planet in the 1980s, scientists saw a mostly featureless blue ball and some assumed there wasn’t much activity going on on Uranus. We’ve had a better look at the data since then that does show some interesting movement in the southern hemisphere. Additionally, the planet drew closer to the Sun in 2007, and in more recent years telescope probing has shown some storms going on. What is causing all this activity is difficult to say unless we were to send another probe that way. And unfortunately, there are no missions yet that are slated for sure to zoom out to that part of the Solar System.
N E P T U N E
Planet Type: Ice giant
Year Length: 60,190 earth days
Distance From Sun: ~2,782,369,000
Planet Radius: 15299.4 mi
Predominant Elements: Hydrogen, Helium
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 50.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): -369.4 °F
-
Click For More Info
Neptune has supersonic winds. While on Earth we are concerned about hurricanes, the strength of these storms is nowhere near what you would find on Neptune. At its highest altitudes, according to NASA, winds blow at more than 1,100 miles per hour (1,770 kilometers per hour). To put that in context, that’s faster than the speed of sound on Earth, at sea level. Why Neptune is so blustery is a mystery, especially considering the Sun’s heat is so little at its distance.
P L U T O
Planet Type: Dwarf planet
Year Length: 90,530 earth days
Distance From Sun: ~3,158,608,000 mi
Planet Radius: 715 mi
Predominant Elements: Nitrogen, Carbon dioxide
Average Temperature (Kelvin): 63.15 to 38.15 °K
Average Temperature (Fahrenheit): -346 to 455 °F
-
Click For More Info
Pluto sometimes has an atmosphere. When Pluto elliptical orbit takes it closer to the Sun, its surface ice thaws and forms a thin atmosphere primarily of nitrogen which slowly escapes the planet. It also has a methane haze that overs about 161 kilometres above the surface. The methane is dissociated by sunlight into hydrocarbons that fall to the surface and coat the ice with a dark covering. When Pluto travels away from the Sun the atmosphere then freezes back to its solid state.