Planets 2

" A planet is a celestial body that revolves around a

central star and does not shine by its own light " (Grolier,

1992). The only planetary system that is known to man is our

solar system. It is made up of nine planets which range in size

and make-up. The nine major planets in our solar system are

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and

Pluto. There are also many other minor planets which are also in

our solar system, but they are unimportant compared to the nine

major planets. In this paper I will discuss the planets and how

Mercury which is the planet that is closest to the sun is

the first planet I will discuss. Mercury is the smallest of the

inner planets. It is speculated that the heat from the sun made

it impossible for the gases present to become part of the

planetary formation. The surface of Mercury is extremely hot.

It is approximately 470 degrees celsius on the surface and is

thought to be even hotter at the two " hot spots." These " hot

spots " are on opposite ends of the equator. It is the heat

a cold planet. It has an equatorial diameter of 120,660 Km which

distance from the sun " (Thompson/Turk, 542, 1993). Venus is

Mercury are compressional cliffs or faults, just the sort of

51,000 Km which is almost four times as much as Earth. The

impacted basins on the near side of the moon " (Morrison, 93,

and carbon. It is thought by scientists that there are three

The final planet, which is also the smallest, and the

only a few microns " (Grolier, 1992). That is why these rings

has a diameter of 49,500 Km and a mass 17.22 times that of the

every alternate perihelon passage the same face points directly

Some topics in this essay:
Neptune Pluto, Scientists Mars, Uranus Hunt/Moore, Venus Earth, Jupiter Saturn, Earth Jupiters, Earth's Saturn, Earth Venus, Mars Earth, System Planets, solar system, planets solar system, grolier 1992, planets solar, venus earth, rotation period, earth mars, equatorial diameter, jupiter saturn, 1993 venus, mercury venus earth, planet sun, planet solar system, venus earth mars, earth mars jupiter,