Planets

The Sun and its eight planets

Each has its own page: a fall from orbit down to the ground, or as near to a ground as that world has, with the story of what you pass on the way. Every photograph here is real, taken by a spacecraft or by astronauts.

Our star
The Sun
The star that holds everything else in place.
Width
1,392,700 km
Surface
about 5,500 °C
One turn
25 to 35 days
Light to the Earth
8 min 20 s
Drift a few thousand kilometres over the boiling surface, towards a sunspot.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
The Sun in extreme ultraviolet light by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. The colour is chosen: the light is invisible to the eye. Credit: NASA/SDO.
Rocky planet
Mercury
Small, fast and cooked on one side.
Width
4,879 km
From the Sun
0.387 au
Year
88 days
Day
176 days
Moons
0
Stand on a crater rim near the north pole, the Sun low on the horizon.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
Mercury, a globe made from thousands of pictures taken by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, 2011. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Rocky planet
Venus
Earth's twin in size, and a furnace in every other way.
Width
12,104 km
From the Sun
0.723 au
Year
225 days
Day
117 days
Moons
0
Sink through the acid cloud to the orange ground the Venera landers saw.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
Venus by NASA’s Mariner 10 in February 1974, built from pictures taken through orange and ultraviolet filters. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Rocky planet
The Earth
The only place we know of with life.
Width
12,742 km
From the Sun
1 au
Year
365 days
Day
24 hours
Moons
1
Come down through the cloud to open sea off O‘ahu.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
The whole Earth, photographed by the crew of Apollo 17 on 7 December 1972. Credit: NASA.
Rocky planet
Mars
A cold desert that used to have water.
Width
6,779 km
From the Sun
1.52 au
Year
687 days
Day
24.7 hours
Moons
2
Land in Gale crater, under Mount Sharp, where Curiosity is working.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
Mars, pieced together from about 1,000 pictures by NASA’s Viking 1 orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS.
Gas giant
Jupiter
More massive than all the other planets put together.
Width
139,822 km
From the Sun
5.2 au
Year
11.9 years
Day
9.93 hours
Moons
95
Skim the cloud tops beside the Great Red Spot, with Io overhead.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
Jupiter by the Hubble Space Telescope on 27 June 2019. Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) and M. H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), CC BY 4.0.
Gas giant
Saturn
The ringed planet, light enough to float on water.
Width
116,464 km
From the Sun
9.54 au
Year
29.4 years
Day
10.7 hours
Moons
274
Hang in the haze at 40° north, under the arch of the rings.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
Saturn in natural colour, made from 126 pictures by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in October 2004. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.
Ice giant
Uranus
The planet that rolls on its side.
Width
50,724 km
From the Sun
19.2 au
Year
84 years
Day
17.2 hours
Moons
28
Midnight at 45° north. The Sun is still up, and five moons sit in a row.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
Uranus by NASA’s Voyager 2 in January 1986. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Ice giant
Neptune
The farthest planet, found by maths before sight.
Width
49,244 km
From the Sun
30.1 au
Year
165 years
Day
16.1 hours
Moons
16
Ride above the blue at 29° north, where white streaks cast their shadows.
Fall to the surface See it in 3D
Neptune by NASA’s Voyager 2 in August 1989, from pictures taken through green and orange filters, with the Great Dark Spot. Credit: NASA/JPL.

And the rest

The dwarf planets, the moons, the asteroids and the comets are all in the 3D view and on the charts of the atlas. Distances are averages, in astronomical units: 1 au is the Earth’s distance from the Sun, about 150 million km. Figures are from NASA’s planetary fact sheets and JPL; the full list is on the sources page.