Mercury: Mercury’s orbit takes the small planet as close as 47 million km (29 million miles) and as far 70 million km (43 million miles) from the sun. If one could stand on the surface of Mercury when it's at it's closest point to the sun, the sun would appear more than three times as large as it does when viewed on Earth. Temperatures on Mercury's surface can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) because the planet doesn’t have an atmosphere to retain the heat.
Mercury is so close to the sun, it is hard to observe from Earth except during dawn and twilight. Mercury makes an appearance 13 times each century, observers on Earth can watch Mercury pass across the face of the sun. It has a transit. These rare transits fall within several days of 8 May and 10 November. The first two transits of Mercury in the 21st century occurred May 7, 2003, and November 8, 2006. The next are May 9, 2016, and November 11, 2019.
Venus: Venus is similar to Earth, Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction as most planets. It's atmosphere traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in our solar system with temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Below the clouds reveal volcanoes and deformed mountains.
Earth: Earth is the third planet from the sun, and it is the fifth largest planet in our solar system. Is it a little bit bigger than Venus, Earth is one of the biggest terrestrial planets. Our home planet is the only planet in our solar system that has living things. Earth’s name is at least 1,000 years old. All of the planets, except for Earth, was named after Greek and Roman gods. The name Earth is a English and a German word. It means ground. Earth has raged for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Mars: Mars has light patches at the poles. Mars’s surface is hard to see from Earth, but it changes seasonally. There might be water on Mars. In 1965 the Mariner 4 flew past Mars and showed that the surface was treeless and had a lot of craters. This shocked people because they thought the dark and light patches were flora (plants). Mars is a complex planet that has many mysteries that haven’t been solved. The biggest mystery is if microbes were ever on Mars. Mars' temperature can drop -290 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius)
Jupiter: Jupiter is the biggest m planet in the solar system, it is the fifth planet from the sun. Jupiter's stripes and swirls are cold, it has windy clouds of ammonia and water. It's atmosphere is mostly helium and hydrogen, and it's Great Red Spot is a big storm bigger than Earth has raged for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Jupiter is surrounded by 53 moons, and 14 provisional ones, for a possibility of 67 moons. Scientist are interested in the Galilean satellites. The 4 biggest moons discovered by Galileo Galilei, in 1610, Europa, Callisto, and Io. Jupiter has three rings that are difficult to see.
Saturn: Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system. It has thousands of beautiful rings around it, it is a very unique planet. It is not the only planet with rings, it is made of rocks and ice. Saturn is a big ball of helium and hydrogen. Saturn is surrounded by 53 confirmed and 9 provisional moons. Saturn is home to many beautiful landscapes in our solar system. Saturn still has many mysteries that need to be solved. Saturn has been known since ancient times and named after a Roman god.
Uranus: Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun and the third biggest diameter in our solar system. Uranus is cold and very windy. The giant ice surrounded by 13 faint rings and 27 small moons as it rotates at 90 degrees. Uranus spins on it side like it's rolling towards the sun. Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel, he originally thought that is was a star. Two years later he discovered that is was a planet.
Neptune: Neptune is a giant ice planet. It was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations. 4.5 billion kilometers (2.8 billion miles) from the sun. Neptune orbits the sun every 165 years. It is a very cold planet. Neptune has 13 moons it's surface temperature is -235 celsius (-391 Fahrenheit). This deep freeze at Triton, Voyager 2 discovered geysers gushing ice materials upward more than 8 kilometers (5 miles). Triton's thin atmosphere, discovered by a Voyager, has been dedicated from Earth several times. Neptune is getting warmer, scientists don't know why though.
Dwarf Planets: Dwarf Planets are a lot like normal Planets. They both have enough mass and gravity to be round. They both circle around the Sun. Dwarf planet's path around the Sun is full of other objects like comets and asteroids. A regular planet has a clear path around the sun. Some of the major impacts with other objects in it's orbit happened billions of years ago. There isn’t much left in the way. There are dozens of dwarf planets in our solar system, they only found a handful. Some of the dwarf planets are Pluto, Eris, Ceres, Haumea, and Makemake. Those are only some of them though.
In 2016 there was a Gamma Burst. A Gamma Burst is when a Gamma Ray explodes in the black hole causing a star to go into the black hole. A Gamma Ray went into a black hole and exploded causing a star to go into the black hole.