Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Mercury is the first planet from the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System. In English, it is named after the ancient Roman god Mercurius , god of commerce and communication, and the messenger of the gods. Mercury is classified as a terrestrial planet, with roughly the same surface gravity as Mars.
Mercury – smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Its orbital period (about 88 Earth days) is less than any other planet in the Solar System. Seen from Earth, it appears to move around its orbit in about 116 days.
The outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, compared to the inner planets Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury at the bottom right The four outer planets, called giant planets or Jovian planets, collectively make up 99% of the mass orbiting the Sun. [ h ] All four giant planets have multiple moons and a ring system, although only Saturn's ...
Mercury most commonly refers to: Mercury (planet), the closest planet to the Sun; Mercury (element), a chemical element; Mercury (mythology), a Roman deity;
The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the term: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis , which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to ...
An animation explaining why the planet Mercury may appear to move "backwards", or retrograde across Earth's sky. Apparent retrograde motion is the apparent motion of a planet in a direction opposite to that of other bodies within its system, as observed from a particular vantage point.
The planets as known during classical antiquity: the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Earth analog: A planet or even a superhabitable planet with conditions to be compared with those found on Earth. Hypothetical planet: A planet or similar body whose existence is not proven, but is believed by some to exist.
The inner terrestrial planets consist of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The outer giant planets are the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and the ice giants (Uranus and Neptune). [111] The planets were formed 4.6 billion years ago in the protoplanetary disk that surrounded the early Sun. Through a process that included gravitational attraction ...