The farthest planet, Neptune, is 30 AU or 4.5 billion km / 2.8 billion mi away from the Sun, and if you want to know how far Pluto is, its 39.5 AU or 5.9 billion km / 3.7 billion mi away from the Sun. Mercury is only 0.4 AU or 58 million km / 36 million mi away from our Sun, while our Earth is at 1.00 AU or 150 million km / 93 million mi away. The smallest planet in our Solar System is Mercury, which is only one third the size of Earth, while the biggest planet in the Solar System is Jupiter, which is 11 times bigger than our Earth, and more than 1,300 could fit inside it if it were hollow. The closest planet to the Sun is Mercury, followed by Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the dwarf planet Pluto. The Solar Systemīut let us get back to the known planets of our Solar System. This may indeed be a planet, but further evidence is needed to support this. In 2015, Caltech astronomers showed that something massive out there disrupts the orbits of at least several other objects located in the Kuiper Belt. Some mathematical evidence leads many to believe that this elusive planet indeed exists. Planet X would complete one orbit around the Sun once every 10.000 or 20.000 years. This hypothetical planet might be the size of Neptune, and it would have a highly elongated orbit, even more so than Pluto. Many believe a mysterious tenth (if considering Pluto) or ninth planet is orbiting in our Solar System, commonly referred to as Planet X. As such, it is quite a matter of preference for how many planets are in our Solar System.Įven if Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet, it still is remarkable, in the sense that small planets are quite a rarity when it comes to stellar systems. Many, even from high positions at NASA, still consider Pluto, the ninth planet of our Solar System. This happened after astronomers settled upon what would define a planet, and Pluto seemed to lack criteria. Pluto was considered the ninth planet of our Solar System until 2006, when it was declassified to a dwarf planet. These are the eight planets of our Solar System however, there is a ninth, or at least, there used to be a ninth planet, namely Pluto. The eight planets in our Solar System, in order from the Sun, are the four terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, followed by the two gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, and the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. Our planetary system is called the Solar System, referencing the name of our Sun, and it hosts eight planets. A star that hosts planets orbiting around it is called a planetary system, or a stellar system, if more than two stars are present.
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