
About the Planets - Science@NASA
May 28, 2025 · The first four planets from the Sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. These inner planets also are known as terrestrial planets because they have solid surfaces.
Chapter 1: The Solar System - NASA Science
Jan 16, 2025 · The terrestrial planets are the four innermost planets in the solar system. None of the terrestrial planets have rings, although Earth does have belts of trapped radiation, as discussed below.
Studying our solar system - Science@NASA
Dec 11, 2025 · The inner solar system planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars – are rocky and are thought to have formed from the accumulation of dust into small planetesimals, then into larger …
Solar System: Facts - NASA Science
Mar 12, 2025 · Our solar system includes the Sun, eight planets, five officially named dwarf planets, hundreds of moons, and thousands of asteroids and comets. Our solar system is located in the Milky …
Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System - Science@NASA
Apr 22, 2025 · The closest dwarf planet to the Sun, and the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system, Ceres orbits the Sun from an average distance of 257 million miles (413 million kilometers) Ceres is …
Solar System Exploration - Science@NASA
Dec 4, 2025 · Learn about the inner planets, the outer planets, and the dwarf planets. Our solar system has hundreds of moons, and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Many moons orbit planets, …
Moons: Facts - Science@NASA
May 7, 2025 · In the realm of the ice giants, Uranus's inner moons appear to be about half water ice and half rock. Miranda is the most unusual; its chopped-up appearance shows the scars of impacts of …
Mercury - Science@NASA
May 7, 2025 · Mercury Facts Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and the nearest to the Sun. Mercury is only slightly larger than Earth's Moon. It's the fastest planet, zipping around the Sun …
How Do Planets Form? - Science@NASA
Oct 29, 2024 · Planets that are rocky like Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars may take tens of millions of years to form after the birth of the star. The details of exactly where planets prefer to form in disks is …
Solar System Sizes - NASA Science
Oct 24, 2003 · This illustration shows the approximate sizes of the planets relative to each other. Outward from the Sun, the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and …