Pictures of the Planets in the Solar System | Universe Today

Written by Fraser Cain

Here are pictures of all the planets in the Solar System:

Here's a picture of Mercury, the 1st planet from the Sun. Mercury is also the smallest planet from the Sun; it's even smaller than some of the moons in the Solar System. Mercury takes only 88 days to complete an orbit around the Sun.

And this is a picture of Venus, the 2nd planet from the Sun. Venus is a virtual twin of Earth in terms of size, mass and surface gravity. But Venus has an atmosphere around 90 times thicker than Earth, with a temperature hot enough to boil lead down on its surface.

Planet Earth seen from Messenger. Image credit: NASA

This is the picture of Earth; our home and the 3rd planet from the Sun. Earth is the only planet in the Solar System known to contain life.

This is a picture of Mars, the 4th planet from the Sun. In many ways, Mars is the most Earthlike planet in the Solar System, with a similar axial tilt, seasons. But Mars is also much colder and supports a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide.

Jupiter seen from Cassini. Image credit: NASA

And here's a picture of Jupiter, the 5th planet and the largest in the Solar System. Jupiter is a gas giant with more than 60 moons of its own, including the largest moon in the Solar System.

Saturn image. Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI

This is a picture of Saturn, the 6th planet from the Sun, with its distinctive rings. Saturn also has more than 50 moons of its own, and an elaborate system of rings.

Uranus, seen by Voyager 2. Image credit: NASA/JPL

This is a picture of Uranus, the 7th planet from the Sun, and the first planet discovered in modern times. Uranus is tilted right over on its side, and has its own ring system.

Neptune

This is a picture of Neptune. Neptune is the 8th and final planet in the Solar System. It has only been visited by 1 spacecraft, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew past the planet in 1989.

We've written many articles about the planets for Universe Today. Here's an article about all the planets in the Solar System, and here's an article about how far the planets are from the Sun.

We've also recorded a series of episodes of Astronomy Cast about the planets. Start here, Episode 49: Mercury.

Filed under: Astronomy