- Planets in our Solar System can be divided into two main groups, Terrestrial Planets and Gas Giants.
- The Terrestrial planets are smaller and made mostly of rock and metal.
- The Gas Giants are much larger and made mostly of hydrogen, helium and other gases. This means that they don’t have solid surface.
- Since 2006, Pluto is no longer considered a planet, but a Dwarf planet.
- Mercury’s craters are named after famous artists, musicians and authors.
- There have been more missions to Mars than any other planet.
- Jupiter has more than double the mass of all the other planets combined.
- Except for the Earth, the planets are named after gods from Roman and Greek mythology.
- Neptune has supersonic winds.
- One million Earths could fit inside the Sun – and the Sun is considered an average-size star.
- The Great Red Spot is a huge storm on Jupiter.
- Uranus’ moons are named after characters created by William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
- Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth.
- There are signs of liquid water on Mars.
- Venus rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets.
- Venus is often called the Earth’s sister planet.
- Water is common in the Solar System and we often find it. As of December 2015, the confirmed liquid water in the Solar System outside Earth is 25-50 times the volume of Earth's water
- Deep in the atmospheres of gaseous planets, diamonds are raining as a result of extreme pressure and temperature conditions.
- Saturn is less dense than water.