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Relative masses of the Solar planets. Jupiter at 71% of the total and Saturn at 21% dominate the system. Relative masses of the solid bodies of the Solar System. Earth at 48% and Venus at 39% dominate. Bodies less massive than Pluto are not visible at this scale. Relative masses of the rounded moons of the Solar System.
Mercury is one of four terrestrial planets in the Solar System, which means it is a rocky body like Earth. It is the smallest planet in the Solar System, with an equatorial radius of 2,439.7 kilometres (1,516.0 mi). [4] Mercury is also smaller—albeit more massive—than the largest natural satellites in the Solar System, Ganymede and Titan.
For almost 50 years, Pluto was thought to be larger than Mercury, [6] [7] but with the discovery in 1978 of Pluto's moon Charon, it became possible to measure Pluto's mass accurately and to determine that it was much smaller than initial estimates. [8] It was roughly one-twentieth the mass of Mercury, which made Pluto by far the smallest planet.
The number of dwarf planets in the Solar System is unknown. Estimates have run as high as 200 in the Kuiper belt [1] and over 10,000 in the region beyond. [2] However, consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many large trans-Neptunian objects, as well as spectroscopic analysis of their surfaces, suggests that the number of dwarf planets may be much lower, perhaps only nine among ...
It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most- massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is made primarily of ice and rock and is much smaller than the inner planets.
All planets listed are smaller than Earth and Venus, ... Pluto: 0.1863 Shown for comparison: Moon: ... Mercury: 0.3826 Shown for comparison:
The mass of Eris can be calculated with much greater precision. Based on the accepted value for Dysnomia's period at the time—15.774 days [23] [67] —Eris is 27% more massive than Pluto. Using the 2011 occultation results, Eris has a density of 2.52 ± 0.07 g/cm 3, [g] substantially denser than Pluto, and thus must be composed largely of ...
All nine are similar to terrestrial planets in having a solid surface, but they are made of ice and rock rather than rock and metal. Moreover, all of them are smaller than Mercury, with Pluto being the largest known dwarf planet and Eris being the most massive. [34] [35]