The Planets In Our Solar System

Today we will explore the planets in our  solar system. Thank you for watching, sit back and enjoy. We will start off with the planet closest to  the sun, Mercury.

Mercury is a terrestrial or rocky planet that orbits just under 58  million km from the sun, or 36 million miles. It is the smallest planet in the solar system  with a diameter of just 4,879 km. That's 3031mi.

It is only slightly larger than earths moon,  and the two actually look quite similar. Despite Mercury’s small size, it is the  second most dense planet in the solar system. Mercury completes a full orbit around the sun  in just 88 days, yet one full day cycle on lasts around 58 days here on earth.

The temperatures on  the surface can vary from a whopping 430 degrees Celsius, that's 800 degrees Fahrenheit in the day,  but with the lack of atmosphere to retain heat, the temperature can plummet to -180 degrees  Celsius or -290 Fahrenheit in the night. The gravity on mercury is roughly  38% of the gravity here on earth, so if you weighed 220lbs on Earth,  you would only weigh 84lbs on Mercury. As you can see from it’s craters, mercury has  been bartered by various impacts over the years.

Beyond mercury lies Venus. Venus is also a terrestrial or rocky type  planet and it orbits just over 107 million km or 67 million miles from the sun. It has a  diameter of 12,103 km or 7520 mi.

Even though Venus is not the closest planet to the sun, it is  the surly the hottest with a surface temperatures that reach nearly 465 degrees Celsius, or  900 degrees Fahrenheit. These temperatures are caused by its thick atmosphere of carbon  dioxide with clouds of sulphuric acid. Venus covered in a thick layer of clouds which would  filter the sunlight and make the surface appear orange.

The surface is also covered in thousands  of volcanoes, and even Mountians and valleys. There is a mountain on Venus called Maxwell Montes  that is similar to the size of Mount Everest. Venus completes a rotation around the sun in 225  days and due to its slow rotation a single day on Venus lasts nearly 243 days here on earth which  oddly enough is longer than a full year on Venus.

The gravity on Venus is about 90% of earths  gravity so someone who weighs 220lbs on Earth would weigh about 198lbs on Venus. Interestingly  enough, it is thought that Venus was once a very different planet potentially even covered  in oceans of liquid water, but a runaway greenhouse effect occurred drastically  changing the conditions on the surface. It gives us a reminder here on Earth  what can occur when this happens.

Up next is a planet we are all  familiar with, our home planet, Earth. The earth is another terrestrial planet  which orbits the sun at a comfortable 149. 6 million kilometers or 92.

9 million miles. Our  distance from the sun is a large part of what allows the vast diversity of life we see on  earth to thrive as well as our atmosphere. The Earth is the most dense planet in the solar  system and it measures in at 12,742 km across, or 7917 miles.

The temperatures can vary depending on  the time of year and your location on the planet. The highest air temperature ever recorded on  earth was 56. 7 degrees Celsius or 134.

1 degrees Fahrenheit. Rather fittingly, this temperature  was recorded in the Death Valley desert in furnace creek ranch, California in the United States.  This temperature was recorded in July of 1913.

The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was  -89 degrees Celsius or -128 degrees Fahrenheit which was recorded at a Soviet weather  station in Antarctica in July of 1983. The earth completes a trip around the sun  once every 365 days it’s days last 24 hours. The surface has some amazing diversity  with vast frozen sections, molten sections, lush greenery, expansive wetlands, and brutally dry areas.

All of  which make up our one and only home. I just hope we humans can adapt and better  understand how we can preserve and live off the lands in ways that will sustain life as we  know it rather than destroying and depleting it. Next up is the planet commonly  known as the red planet, Mars.

Mars is a terrestrial planet that  orbits the sun at an average distance of 228 million kilometers, or 142 million miles and it  completes a trip around the sun in 687 earth days. One day on mars lasts 24. 6 hours, very similar to  that of the earth.

The diameter of Mars is 6779 km or 4212 mi making it roughly half the size of  earth. The surface is cold and dusty with an average temperature of -60 degrees Celsius or -80  degrees Fahrenheit, although the temperature vary greatly depending on location and time of year.  Temperatures have reached 20 degrees Celsius or 70 degrees Fahrenheit near the equator.

The gravity  on Mars is much lower than than that of the earth, it is 62% lower, so if you weighed 220lbs on  earth, you would weigh just 83lbs on mars. Mars is a very interesting planet  sharing many similarities with the earth, do you think humans will ever colonize the planet  Mars? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

The fifth planet from the sun is also the largest,  the mighty Jupiter. Jupiter is a gas giant with a diameter of 139,820km or 86,880mi making it  about 11x larger than earth. Jupiter orbits at an average distance of 778 million kilometers  or 484 million miles from the sun, and it orbits the sun only once every 12 years, yet a single day  lasts just 10 hours on Earth.

Being a gas giant, Jupiter doesn’t have a firm surface, but  it has an ocean swirling within of liquid metallic hydrogen deep beneath, and it lies  deep beneath the clouds. This metallic ocean is possible due to the immense atmospheric pressure  which keeps the hydrogen in a liquid state. The temperature within the clouds of  Jupiter is roughly -145 degrees Celsius or -234 degrees Fahrenheit, but as you venture  closer to the core temperatures may hit 24,000 degrees Celsius or 43,000 degrees Fahrenheit  which is hotter than the surface of the sun.

If a person who weighed 100lbs could stand  at the top of Jupiter’s clouds, they would feel like they weigh 240lbs with a gravity  2. 4 times stronger than that of the Earth. But if the fell into the clouds  of Jupiter, you would be crushed and vaporized by the immense pressure near the  core.

Jupiter is a very windy and stormy place, The most famous storm being the Great  Red Spot which is a hurricane like storm that is at lest 2 times larger than the entire  Earth, and has been raging for hundreds of years. The winds of this storm can  reach 423 km/h or 270 mph. Jupiter is an immense and deadly place for us  humans, but it is quite stunning none the less.

Next up is one of the most beautiful planets  in the solar system thanks to its mighty rings, Saturn. Saturn is a gas giant planet with a  diameter of 116,460 km or 72,364 mi and it orbits at a distance of 1. 4 billion kilometers or 886  million miles from the sun, and it takes Saturn roughly 29 years to orbit the sun.

Yet one  day lasts just under 11 hours here on Earth. Saturn has 3 layers of clouds and the  conditions change as you venture through them. The upper layers are made up of ammonia ice  and has temperatures that range from -173 to -113 degrees Celsius or -280 to -270 degrees  Fahrenheit.

The next layer contains frozen water at a temperature varying from -88 to -3 degrees  Celsius or -127 to -26 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures in the lower layers can reach  57 degrees Celsius or 134 degrees Fahrenheit. The gravity on Saturn is just 1.

8  times stronger than that of the earth, meaning if you weigh 100lbs on earth  you would weigh 108lbs on Saturn. The atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen  and helium, but there could also be a solid core somewhere deep within the mighty planet. Saturn is  a breathtaking planet that is awe inspiring to see even through a basic telescope.

I would highly  recommend it if you ever get the chance. Next is the planet Uranus. Uranus is an  ice giant which orbits 2.

9 billion km or 1. 8 billion mi from the sun. It has  a diameter of 50,724 km or 31,518 mi.

It takes this ice giant 84 years to orbit the sun  and has a day which lasts 17 hours here on Earth. Despite its frigid temperatures, The  majority of its mass comes from a hot dense fluid of icy materials such as water,  methane, and ammonia, meaning you would sink if you tried to land on the surface. The average  temperature is about -213 degrees Celsius or -353 degrees Fahrenheit, but as you get  closer to the planets rocky core, temperatures can reach 4,727 degrees Celsius or 8,540  Fahrenheit.

The gravity on Uranus is about 86% of the earths gravity, so a person weighing 100  pounds in earth would weigh 86 pounds in Uranus. The atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen and  helium with a small amount of methane with traces of water and ammonia, and it is the presence of  methane which gives the planet its blueish color. Lastly we arrive at the furthest  confirmed planet from the sun, Neptune.

Neptune is also an ice giant which orbits the  sun at a distance of about 4. 5 billion kilometers or 2. 8 billion miles.

It takes a whopping 165  Earth years for it to complete a single orbit of the sun and a day lasts 16 Earth hours. Neptune is  also the coldest planet in the solar system with temperatures that range from -218 to -200 degrees  Celsius, or -360 to -328 degrees Fahrenheit. Neptune is very similar to its near twin  planer Uranus with a surfaces of hot, dense fluid made up from icy water, methane, and  ammonia with an atmosphere of mostly hydrogen, and helium, as well as methane.

Neptune  has a diameter of 49,244 km or 30,598 mi. And the surface gravity of Neptune is close to  the earths being just 1. 14 times stronger.

Is so if you weighed 100 lbs on earth, you  would weigh around 114 lbs on Neptune. Intense storms rage for weeks at a time  on Neptune’s surface, with fast moving dark vortex clouds. These storms  can grow as large as planet earth.

Our solar system gives us an interesting  look at the potential for what lies elsewhere in other solar systems, and beyond. It is a  great way for us to see our place as well, it gives a sense of appreciation just knowing  the conditions on planet earth can even support life at all when we see the hellish conditions  elsewhere in the solar system. That’s not to say there isn’t life elsewhere in the solar system,  its just yet to be discovered.

But if it were discovered, it would be monumental and it would  be unlike any other life form we have ever seen. I want to thank you very much for watching. Feel free to share your thoughts on  the solar system and today’s video in the comments.

Also feel free to leave a  thumbs up to help support the channel, and subscribe if you’d like to see more videos like  this in the future. Thanks again, and be well.