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The major eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The gas-giant planets have some moons as large as Mercury and the dwarf planets. Pluto was once considered a planet, but in 2006, it was re-classified as a dwarf planet, along with the asteroid Ceres and three distant Pluto-like planets : Eris, Makemake, and Haumea. Other candidates for the status are Sedna, Quaoar, Orcus, and Varuna : Sedna - The discovery of Sedna was not entirely unexpected, in that new technology is helping astronomers to look deeper into the void beyond Pluto to search out dark objects, some of them clearly sizable. If Sedna turns out to be as large as Pluto, which is still possible, then it would properly be called a dwarf planet. Pluto itself may be simply a large, spherical asteroid, accompanied by its relatively large 'moon' Charon. At the moment, Sedna is thought to be smaller than Pluto, but bigger than Quaoar, so it is by no means certain what will be decided for it in time. Sedna is currently at its closest approach to the Sun, or 'perihelion'. Its orbit is elliptical, but falls well within the boundary of the inner Oort Cloud at its most distant point. So it behaves somewhat like a planetary comet. This finding might cause astronomers to rethink the position and composition of the comet-cloud. Quaoar , Orcus, and Varuna - "50000 Quaoar" and "90482 Orcus"" also seem to have moons and all three have orbits that bring them closer to the Sun than the farthest points of Pluto's orbit. Orcus is sometimes referred to as the "anti-Pluto" because orbital resonance with Neptune keeps it on the opposite side of the Sun from Pluto. "20000 Varuna" seems to be the smallest of the current dwarf candidates. Ceres is the smallest dwarf planet. Ceres and the other asteroids of the Main Belt are much smaller than the larger planetary moons. When first discovered in 1801 Ceres was classified as a planet, but was later re-categorized as an asteroid until the category of Dwarf Planet was created in 2006.

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14y ago
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14y ago

The Solar System[a] consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by gravity, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. Of the retinue of objects that orbit the Sun, most of the mass is contained within eight relatively solitary planets whose orbits are almost circular and lie within a nearly-flat disc called the ecliptic plane. The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, also called the terrestrial planets, are primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, also called the gas giants, are composed largely of hydrogen and helium and are far more massive than the terrestrials.

The Solar System is also home to two regions populated by smaller objects. The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is similar to the terrestrial planets as it is composed mainly of rock and metal. Beyond Neptune's orbit lie trans-Neptunian objects composed mostly of ices such as water, ammonia and methane. Within these regions, five individual objects, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris, are recognized to be large enough to have been rounded by their own gravity, and are thus termed dwarf planets. In addition to thousands of small bodies in those two regions, various other small body populations, such as comets, centaurs and interplanetary dust, freely travel between regions.

The solar wind, a flow of plasma from the Sun, creates a bubble in the interstellar medium known as the heliosphere, which extends out to the edge of the scattered disc. The hypothetical Oort cloud, which acts as the source for long-period comets, may also exist at a distance roughly a thousand times further than the heliosphere.

Six of the planets and three of the dwarf planets are orbited by natural satellites,[b] usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon. Each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles.

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13y ago

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises eight planets in our solar system (from closest to sun to furthest);

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

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11y ago

The planets of the Solar system are in two groups: the 4 planets closest to the Sun are the Terrestrial planets. "Terre" is one name for our earth. So that means that these are "Earth-like planets" - mostly a solid/liquid composition.

The 4 terrestrial planets, starting nearest the Sun, are Mercury (the smallest of all planets), Venus, Earth, and Mars. Beyond Mars is the asteroid belt - a bunch of rock up to 50 or 60 miles in diameter that also orbit the Sun.

There are 4 Jovian planets named for the Greek god, Jove (renamed Jupiter in Roman terms) They are all gas giants and are named Jupiter (largest in the Solar System), Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Uranus and Neptune are called the "Ice giants" because they are so cold.

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12y ago

mercury

venus

earth

mars

Jupiter

Saturn

uranus

neptune

Pluto is no longer considered to be a planet.

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14y ago

All the planets in our solar system are from the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

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11y ago

The planets in our solar system are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Dwarf planets include Ceres, Pluto, and Sedna.

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Q: What r the planets of the solar system?
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