A reference guide to every world orbiting our Sun — from sun-scorched Mercury to frigid Neptune.
| Planet | Type | Diameter (km) | Day Length | Moons | Notable for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Rocky | 4,879 | 59 Earth days | 0 | Closest to the Sun; extreme temperature swings |
| Venus | Rocky | 12,104 | 243 Earth days | 0 | Hottest surface; retrograde rotation |
| Earth | Rocky | 12,742 | 24 hours | 1 | Only known planet with life |
| Mars | Rocky | 6,779 | 24 h 37 min | 2 | Tallest volcano; largest canyon |
| Jupiter | Gas Giant | 139,820 | 9 h 56 min | 95 | Great Red Spot; most massive planet |
| Saturn | Gas Giant | 116,460 | 10 h 42 min | 146 | Iconic ring system |
| Uranus | Ice Giant | 50,724 | 17 h 14 min | 28 | Rotates on its side (98° axial tilt) |
| Neptune | Ice Giant | 49,244 | 16 h 6 min | 16 | Fastest winds in the solar system |
Olympus Mons rises 21 km above the Martian surface — nearly three times the height of Everest. The Valles Marineris canyon system stretches over 4,000 km. Mars has seasons, polar ice caps, and dust storms that can engulf the entire planet for months.
More than 1,300 Earths would fit inside Jupiter. Its Great Red Spot is an anticyclonic storm that has raged for at least 350 years. Europa, one of its 95 moons, likely harbors a liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust.
Saturn's rings are made mostly of ice and rock, spanning 282,000 km but only about 10 m to 1 km thick. Its moon Titan has a thick nitrogen atmosphere and liquid methane lakes — the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere.
Neptune's winds reach 2,100 km/h — the fastest recorded in the solar system. It takes 165 Earth years to complete one orbit. Its largest moon Triton orbits backwards and is thought to be a captured Kuiper Belt object.