Vidnyanvahini
 

सामान्य विज्ञान (General)

Planets in our solar system

1 Apr. 2021

Sequence of Planets from the Sun

Relative sizes of the planets

Characteristics of the Planets in our Solar System

Dear students,
Before you read the table given on next page, you may need an explanation of the term 'Apparent size from earth' given in the 7th column of the table. In this column you will find that apparent sizes are written in arc seconds.

What is arc second? 1arc degree= 60 arc minutes, 1 arc minute= 60 arc seconds.

When we see a planet from the Earth, the angle subtended by the planet's diameter (angular diameter) to our eye is expressed in arc second.

Thus the value of arc seconds depends on the diameter of an object and the object's distance from the Earth.

An example, the Sun and the Moon appear to be of the same size in Earth’s sky. That is because the Sun’s diameter is about 400 times greater than that of the Moon, but the sun is also about 400 times farther away.

The total eclips of the Sun occurs because of the same apparent sizes of the Sun and the Moon as seen from earth.

The Planets in Our Solar System

**

Planet (or Dwarf Planet)
Distance from the Sun
(Astronomical Units
miles
km)
Period of Revolution Around the Sun
(1 planetary year)
Period of Rotation
(1 planetary day)
Mass
(kg)
Diameter
(miles
km)
Apparent size
from Earth
Temperature
(K
Range or Average)
Number of Moons
Mercury 0.39 AU, 36 million miles
57.9 million km
87.96 Earth days 58.7 Earth days 3.3 x 1023 3,031 miles
4,878 km
5-13 arc seconds 100-700 K
mean=452 K
0
Venus 0.723 AU
67.2 million miles
108.2 million km
224.68 Earth days 243 Earth days 4.87 x 1024 7,521 miles
12,104 km
10-64 arc seconds 726 K 0
Earth 1 AU
93 million miles
149.6 million km
365.26 days 24 hours 5.98 x 1024 7,926 miles
12,756 km
Not Applicable 260-310 K 1
Mars 1.524 AU
141.6 million miles
227.9 million km
686.98 Earth days 24.6 Earth hours
=1.026 Earth days
6.42 x 1023 4,222 miles
6,787 km
4-25 arc seconds 150-310 K 2
Jupiter 5.203 AU
483.6 million miles
778.3 million km
11.862 Earth years 9.84 Earth hours 1.90 x 1027 88,729 miles
142,796 km
31-48 arc seconds 120 K
(cloud tops)
67 (18 named plus many smaller ones)
Saturn 9.539 AU
886.7 million miles
1,427.0 million km
29.456 Earth years 10.2 Earth hours 5.69 x 1026 74,600 miles
120,660 km
15-21 arc seconds
excluding rings
88 K 62 (30 unnamed)
Uranus 19.18 AU
1,784.0 million miles
2,871.0 million km
84.07 Earth years 17.9 Earth hours 8.68 x 1025 32,600 miles
51,118 km
3-4 arc seconds 59 K 27 (6 unnamed)
Neptune 30.06 AU
2,794.4 million miles
4,497.1 million km
164.81 Earth years 19.1 Earth hours 1.02 x 1026 30,200 miles
48,600 km
2.5 arc seconds 48 K 13
Pluto (a dwarf planet) 39.53 AU
3,674.5 million miles
5,913 million km
247.7 years 6.39 Earth days 1.29 x 1022 1,413 miles
2,274 km
0.04 arc seconds 37 K 4

Download article (PDF)
** Content courtesy www.enchantedlearning.com
 


Send us your feedback

* Your name

* Your email

* Your location

A brief message


All diagrams, pictures, tables etc. are from websites on Internet. We are thankful to all these sources.
Vidnyanvahini is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and this entire write up is for students, teachers and general public, free of charge.
IT IS NOT FOR ANY COMMERCIAL USE.