The largest planet in the solar system is. The largest and smallest planet in the solar system
Today, scientists know only one large solar system in which our planet is located. It was formed 4.6 billion years ago. Stellar clouds of matter began to thicken in the Galaxy. Because of this, a large amount of thermal energy gradually began to be generated. During education high temperature and density, began to form nuclear reactions, which provoked the formation of various gases and helium. These flows triggered the formation of the star we now call the Sun. The process of its creation took about several tens of millions of years.
Due to the high temperature, star dust accumulated in dense compounds, forming individual planets with its structure. Since the formation of all planets and satellites solar system, no significant changes were observed.
Heliocentric theory of world construction
In the second century AD, a scientist from Alexandria put forward a hypothesis about the location of our planet. It was from this that all scientists started, until the end of the fifteenth century. According to his theory, our planet was at the very center of the universe, and all other planets, including the Sun, could only rotate around its axis. But only thanks painstaking work Nicolaus Copernicus, this hypothesis was a disastrous failure. His observations were published only after his death, so the astronomer never received world recognition. His observations were able to prove the fact that the Sun is the center of the system, and all other planets can revolve around it along a given trajectory.
Number of planets in the solar system
Everyone knows that at the moment there are eight planets in the solar system. But until recently, it was believed that Pluto, which was discovered in early 1930, was also part of the solar system. But after much observation and research, it turned out that the planet farthest from the Sun does not rotate along a given trajectory at all. She is constantly in one position and does not move at all. Only with the advent of 2006, at the International Assembly in Prague, was it possible to prove that the dwarf planet is not part of the solar system at all.
The principle of the largest solar system
It is worth noting that the solar system is part of the milky way, which is located in our Galaxy. It is located on its outskirts, and is located at a distance of thirty thousand light years from its central point. The solar system includes the Sun itself, as well as numerous planets, satellites and asteroids that constantly move along a given trajectory.
Planet placement
All planets are divided into two different types. These are the inner and outer planets. The first type includes the four planets that are closest to the surface of the Sun. This:
Mercury;
Their sizes in relation to other planets are not so large, and the surface is covered with a rocky hard crust.
The second type includes giant planets:
These are those planets that mainly consist of a cluster various gases. They are located almost in the same plane. From the North Pole, you can clearly see that the planets move around the Sun in a direction that is opposite to the clockwise movement.
But be that as it may, there are always unexplored areas of space in the universe that can hide huge secrets. Perhaps in a few decades, scientists will be able to reach the most hidden corners.
To determine how big a planet is, you need to take into account criteria such as its mass and diameter. The largest planet in the solar system by 300 times more than Earth , and its diameter is eleven times greater than that of the earth. For a list of the largest planets in the Solar System, their names, sizes, photos and what they are known for, read our rating.
Diameter, mass, length of day and orbital radius are given relative to the Earth.
| Planet | Diameter | Weight | Orbital radius, a. e. | Orbital period, Earth years | Day | Density, kg/m³ | Satellites |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.382 | 0.055 | 0.38 | 0.241 | 58.6 | 5427 | 0 | |
| 0.949 | 0.815 | 0.72 | 0.615 | 243 | 5243 | 0 | |
| Earth | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5515 | 1 |
| 0.53 | 0.107 | 1.52 | 1.88 | 1.03 | 3933 | 2 | |
| 11.2 | 318 | 5.2 | 11.86 | 0.414 | 1326 | 69 | |
| 9.41 | 95 | 9.54 | 29.46 | 0.426 | 687 | 62 | |
| 3.98 | 14.6 | 19.22 | 84.01 | 0.718 | 1270 | 27 | |
| 3.81 | 17.2 | 30.06 | 164.79 | 0.671 | 1638 | 14 | |
| 0.186 | 0.0022 | 39.2 | 248.09 | 6.387 | 1860 | 5 |
9. Pluto, diameter ~2370 km
Pluto is the second largest dwarf planet in the solar system after Ceres. Even when it was one of the full-fledged planets, it was far from the largest of them, since its mass is equal to 1/6 of the mass of the Moon. Pluto has a diameter of 2,370 km and is composed of rock and ice. It is not surprising that it is quite cold on its surface - minus 230 ° C
8. Mercury ∼ 4,879 km
A tiny world with a mass almost twenty times less than the mass of Earth, and a diameter 2 ½ less than Earth's. In fact, Mercury is closer in size to the Moon than to the Earth and is currently considered the smallest planet in the solar system. Mercury has a rocky surface dotted with craters. The Messenger spacecraft recently confirmed that deep craters on the shadowy side of Mercury contain icy water.
7. Mars ∼ 6,792 km
Mars is about twice smaller than Earth and has a diameter of 6.792 km. However, its mass is only a tenth of the earth's. This not very large planet in the solar system, the fourth closest to the Sun, has an inclination of its rotation axis of 25.1 degrees. Thanks to this, the seasons change on it, just like on Earth. A day (sol) on Mars is equal to 24 hours and 40 minutes. In the southern hemisphere, summers are hot and winters are cold, but in the northern hemisphere there are no such sharp contrasts, where both summer and winter are mild. You could say ideal conditions for building a greenhouse and growing potatoes.
6. Venus ∼ 12,100 km
In sixth place in the ranking of the largest and smallest planets is heavenly body, named after the goddess of beauty. It is so close to the Sun that it appears first in evening time and the last one to disappear in the morning. Therefore, Venus has long been known as the “evening star” and the “morning star.” It has a diameter of 12,100 km, almost comparable to the size of the Earth (1000 km less), and 80% of the Earth's mass.
The surface of Venus mainly consists of large plains of volcanic origin, the rest is made up of giant mountains. The atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide, with thick clouds of sulfur dioxide. This atmosphere has the strongest greenhouse effect known in the solar system, and the temperature on Venus hovers around 460 degrees.
5. Earth ~ 12,742 km
The third planet closest to the Sun. Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has life. It has an axis tilt of 23.4 degrees, its diameter is 12,742 km, and its mass is 5.972 septillion kg.
The age of our planet is very respectable - 4.54 billion years. And most of this time it is accompanied by its natural satellite - the Moon. It is believed that the Moon was formed when the celestial body big size, namely Mars, impacted the Earth, causing the release of enough material that the Moon could form. The Moon has a stabilizing effect on the tilt of the Earth's axis and is the source of the tides of the oceans.
“It is rather inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is obvious that it is an Ocean” - Arthur C. Clarke.
4. Neptune ∼ 49,000 km
Gas giant planet The solar system is the eighth celestial body closest to the Sun. Neptune's diameter is 49,000 km, and its mass is 17 times that of Earth. It has powerful cloud bands (which, along with storms and cyclones, were photographed by Voyager 2). Wind speeds on Neptune reach 600 m/s. Due to its great distance from the Sun, the planet is one of the coldest, with temperatures in the upper atmosphere reaching minus 220 degrees Celsius.
3. Uranium ∼ 50,000 km
On the third line of the list of the largest planets in the solar system is the seventh closest to the Sun, the third largest and fourth heaviest of the worlds. The diameter of Uranus (50,000 km) is four times that of Earth, and its mass is 14 times that of our planet.
Uranus has 27 known moons, with sizes ranging from more than 1,500 km to less than 20 km in diameter. The planet's satellites consist of ice, rocks and other trace elements. Uranus itself has a rocky core surrounded by a blanket of water, ammonia and methane. The atmosphere consists of hydrogen, helium and methane with top layer clouds
2. Saturn ∼ 116,400 km
The second largest planet in the solar system is known for its ring system. It was first noticed by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Galileo believed that Saturn was accompanied by two other planets that were on either side of it. In 1655, Christian Huygens, using an improved telescope, was able to see Saturn in sufficient detail to suggest that it had rings around it. They extend from 7,000 km to 120,000 km above the surface of Saturn, which itself has a radius 9 times that of Earth (57,000 km) and a mass 95 times that of Earth.
1. Jupiter ∼ 142,974 km
The first number is the winner of the planetary heavy hit parade, Jupiter, the largest planet, bearing the name of the Roman king of the gods. One of the five planets visible to the naked eye. It is so massive that it would contain the rest of the worlds of the solar system, minus the sun. The total diameter of Jupiter is 142.984 km. Given its size, Jupiter rotates very quickly, making one rotation every 10 hours. At its equator there is a fairly large centrifugal force, due to which the planet has a pronounced hump. That is, the diameter of Jupiter's equator is 9000 km larger than the diameter measured at the poles. As befits a king, Jupiter has many satellites (more than 60), but most of them are quite small (less than 10 km in diameter). The four largest moons, discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei, are named after the favorites of Zeus, the Greek equivalent of Jupiter.
What is known about Jupiter
Before the invention of the telescope, the planets were viewed as objects wandering across the sky. Therefore, the word “planet” is translated from Greek as “wanderer.” Our solar system has 8 known planets, although 9 celestial objects were originally recognized as planets. In the 1990s, Pluto was demoted from true planet status to dwarf planet status. A The largest planet in the solar system is called Jupiter.
The radius of the planet is 69,911 km. That is, all the most major planets The solar system could fit inside Jupiter (see photo). And if we take only our Earth, then 1300 such planets will fit inside Jupiter’s body.
It is the fifth planet from the Sun. It is named after the Roman god.
Jupiter's atmosphere is made up of gases, mainly helium and hydrogen, which is why it is also called the gas giant of the solar system. The surface of Jupiter consists of an ocean of liquid hydrogen.
Jupiter has the strongest magnetosphere of all the other planets, 20 thousand times stronger than Earth's magnetosphere.
The largest planet in the solar system rotates around its axis faster than all its “neighbors”. One full revolution takes just under 10 hours (the Earth takes 24 hours). Because of this rapid rotation, Jupiter is convex at the equator and “flattened” at the poles. The planet is 7 percent wider at the equator than at the poles.
The largest celestial body in the solar system revolves around the Sun once every 11.86 Earth years.
Jupiter broadcasts radio waves so strong that they can be detected from Earth. They come in two forms:
- strong bursts that occur when Io, the nearest big moons Jupiter, passes through certain regions of the planet's magnetic field;
- continuous radiation from the surface and high-energy particles of Jupiter in its radiation belts. These radio waves could help scientists explore the oceans on the space giant's satellites.
The most unusual feature of Jupiter
Undoubtedly main feature Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a giant hurricane that has raged for more than 300 years.
- The diameter of the Great Red Spot is three times the diameter of the Earth, and its edge rotates around the center and counterclockwise at a tremendous speed (360 km per hour).
- The color of the storm, which typically ranges from brick red to light brown, may be due to the presence of small amounts of sulfur and phosphorus.
- The spot either increases or decreases over time. A hundred years ago, education was twice as large as it is now and significantly brighter.
There are many other spots on Jupiter, but for some reason they exist only in the Southern Hemisphere for a long time.
Rings of Jupiter
Unlike Saturn's rings, which are clearly visible from Earth even through small telescopes, Jupiter's rings are very difficult to see. Their existence became known thanks to data from Voyager 1 (a NASA spacecraft) in 1979, but their origin was a mystery. Data from the Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, later confirmed that these rings were created by meteoroid impacts on small nearby moons of the huge planet itself.
Jupiter's ring system includes:
- halo - inner layer of small particles;
- the main ring is brighter than the other two;
- outer “web” ring.
The main ring is flattened, its thickness is about 30 km, and its width is 6400 km. The halo extends halfway from the main ring down to the Jovian cloud tops and expands as it interacts with magnetic field planets. The third ring is known as the gossamer ring because of its transparency.
Meteorites striking the surface of Jupiter's small inner moons kick up dust, which then enters orbit around Jupiter, forming rings.
Jupiter has 53 confirmed moons orbiting it and another 14 unconfirmed moons.
Jupiter's four largest moons - called the Galilean moons - are Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. The honor of their discovery belongs to Galileo Galilei, and this was in 1610. They are named in honor of those close to Zeus (whose Roman counterpart is Jupiter).
Volcanoes rage on Io; there is a subglacial ocean on Europa and perhaps there is life in it; Ganymede is the largest of the moons in the solar system, and has its own magnetosphere; and Callisto has the lowest reflectivity of the four Galilean moons. There is a version that the surface of this moon consists of dark, colorless rock.
Video: Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system
We hope that we have given a complete answer to the question of which planet in the solar system is the largest!
A planet is a cosmic object that revolves around the Sun and forms the Solar System with the other planets. The term "planet" comes from the Greek word for "wanderer." Before the creation of telescopes, planets, like stars, were viewed as objects moving across the sky. Technological advances have helped scientists greatly increase their knowledge of the planets, thanks to spacecraft as well as improved observations from Earth. Our solar system contains eight known planets, although there were originally nine after Pluto was discovered in the 1930s. However, in 2006, astronomers adopted an official definition of the term “planet” that Pluto did not meet and was downgraded to dwarf planet status.
Largest planets in the solar system:
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest among all the eight planets orbiting the Sun. Its radius is 69,911 km. Jupiter is so gigantic that the other seven planets could fit inside it. This is the fifth planet from the Sun, named after the king of the Roman gods. The planet's atmosphere consists of gases, mainly hydrogen and helium. The surface of Jupiter is an ocean of liquid hydrogen.
Jupiter has white, yellow, thick red and brown clouds. These clouds are moving on high speeds in the opposite direction when the planet rotates on its axis. The famous vortex - the Great Red Spot, moves parallel to the plane of the planet's equator at high speed, and is larger than the Earth.
Jupiter has the strongest magnetosphere compared to other planets, almost 20,000 times larger than Earth's. The planet rotates around its axis in just 10 hours. Jupiter has three faint rings made up of dust particles that are the remains of comets and asteroids. The planet completely completes its orbit around the Sun once every 11.86 Earth years.
Saturn
The planet Saturn has a radius of 58,282 (excluding rings) km and is the second largest among the planets of the Solar System. It is the sixth planet and is easily visible to the naked eye from Earth. The discovery of Saturn is not credited to any one person. It was named after the ancient Roman god Saturn. The planet rotates around its axis in 10 hours and 34 minutes, and around the Sun in 29.4 Earth years. Saturn's atmosphere has three layers: the first layer consists mostly of ammonia ice, the second includes water ice, and a mixture of hydrogen and sulfur makes up most of the third layer.
Saturn is predominantly composed of hydrogen. It has thin and wide rings formed from ice particles and small particles of carbonaceous dust. These particles are believed to be remnants of asteroids, moons and comets destroyed near Saturn. The planet is located 1,424,600,000 km from the Sun. Saturn has 62 known moons and is the most oblate planet in the Solar System, largely due to its low density and rapid rotation rate.
Uranus
The discovery of the existence of the planet Uranus is attributed to the British astronomer William Herschel. This was an unprecedented discovery made on March 13, 1781. Uranus is in seventh position relative to distance from the Sun, preceding Neptune, and is also third in size with an average radius of 25,362 km. The name of the planet comes from the name of the ancient Greek deity of the sky - Ouranos. It takes Uranus 17 hours 14 minutes to complete a revolution around its axis, and about 84 hours to complete its orbit around the Sun. earthly years. Uranus and Venus are the only planets of the eight known to move clockwise as they orbit the Sun. 80% of the planet consists of ice. Uranus has a pale blue color due to the presence of water, ammonia and methane ice in its outer atmosphere. Below the upper atmosphere there is a layer of hydrogen and helium. The planet contains a core of iron and magnesium silicate.
Neptune
Of all the known planets, Neptune is the most distant from the Sun. It was discovered on September 23, 1846 by Johann Gall. The discovery was facilitated by preliminary information from the French astronomer Urban Le Verrier and another independent British astronomer, John Cooch Adams. Neptune makes a complete revolution around the Sun once every 164.79 Earth years, has 14 satellites and five faint rings.
Neptune is a gas planet composed primarily of hydrogen, helium and methane. Methane in the atmosphere absorbs red light in significant quantities, so Neptune has Blue colour. The name of the planet comes from Roman mythology, where Neptune was the god of the seas. The core is mainly composed of rock. The planet is experiencing a massive storm called the Big One. dark spot. The climate on Neptune is very active with strong storms and winds swirling around the planet at high speeds. Only one spaceship Called Voyager 2, it approached Neptune in 1989.
Other planets and Pluto
The others in size are in the following order: Earth with a radius of 6,371 km, Venus with a radius of 6,052 km, Mars with a radius of 3,390 km and Mercury with a radius of 2,440 km. It is noteworthy that the list does not include Pluto, which recently ceased to be considered the ninth planet. A new definition of the term "planet" adopted by astronomers in 2006 led to the reclassification of Pluto into the group of dwarf planets.
Table ranking the sizes of planets in the solar system in decreasing order
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
In the unexplored expanses of space, there are many mysterious astronomical objects - including planets so large that in comparison with them, the largest planets in the solar system seem like grains of sand in endless space. In our own galaxy Milky Way the largest planet is Jupiter.
Planet Jupiter as seen from space (computer simulation based on real photographs of Jupiter taken by the Cassini spacecraft (NASA))
In ancient Roman mythology, Jupiter was the god of the sky, the father of all gods. The planet named after ancient god, in the same way can be considered the “father” of all other planets: the radius of Jupiter is more than 11 times greater than the radius of the Earth and is equal to 71.4 thousand kilometers.
The mass of Jupiter is 1.8986 * 10 27 kg, the planet is almost 318 times heavier than the Earth. The size of the planet is so large that it changes the orbit and direction of movement of small space objects - Jupiter can, for example, direct comets or a stream of asteroids into inner part Solar system.
The Great Red Spot, a giant anticyclone hurricane, has been observed on the surface of Jupiter for more than 350 years. Hurricane dimensions - more sizes all over the Earth! Hurricane photo taken from space Hubble telescope.
But Jupiter cannot be called the largest planet in space - at a distance of about a thousand light years from Earth, in the distant Scorpius Galaxy, there is the exoplanet WASP-17b, the radius of which is almost twice that of Jupiter. Information about which are the largest planets in space is constantly updated - not so long ago, in 2009, WASP-12b, with a radius of 1.83 Jupiter radii, was considered the largest planet.
In the photo: on the left is Jupiter, on the right is WASP-17b, the largest planet known to date
In second place in the list of the largest planets in the solar system is Saturn, whose size is 945% of the size of planet Earth, and its radius is 58,232 km.
In this rare photograph, filmed on July 19, 2013, the Cassini spacecraft (NASA) simultaneously “captured” the rings of Saturn, our planet Earth and the Moon.
The length of a day on Saturn is 10.7 hours, and one year according to the planet’s time is 29 Earth years (it is during this period that Saturn makes a full revolution around the Sun).
One of the first live photographs of Saturn and its moon, Titan, taken on September 1, 1979 by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
The planet Saturn is a gas giant, it has no solid surface, and the atmosphere consists mainly of hydrogen and helium. Naturally, life cannot exist on this planet.
Storm at Saturn's north pole (photo from NASA's Cassini spacecraft)
Saturn is known not so much for being one of the largest planets in the solar system, but for having a unique system of seven rings. These rings were first noted by Galileo Galilei, observing the planet through a telescope in the 17th century.
The rings of Saturn (photo taken by the Cassini spacecraft on March 4, 2013). The bright white dot in the photo is the planet Venus.
The third largest planet in the solar system is completed by the planet Uranus, whose radius is 25,362 kilometers and its dimensions are 400% of the size of the Earth.
The clearest and most detailed “live” photo of Uranus, taken by the Keck II telescope in Hawaii.
The only spacecraft to ever orbit Uranus is Voyager 2, launched into space in August 1977. NASA's network of satellites is still receiving information from the spacecraft, which has been in space for 37 years and several months.
Photo of Uranus taken by Voyager 2, which reached the planet in January 1986
A day on Uranus lasts approximately 17 hours, and the planet completes a full revolution around the Sun in 84 Earth years—that’s how long one year lasts in Uranus time. Uranus is an ice giant with an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium (with a small admixture of methane).
The “layered” atmosphere of Uranus, formed by a mixture of gases. The photo was taken by the Hubble telescope with infrared filters.
There are 27 moons in the Uranus system, which are named after the heroes of the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
Uranus and its largest moons (photo by Voyager 2 spacecraft)
The photo below shows the planets of the solar system compared by size. From left to right, from top to bottom, the planets are arranged from largest to smallest: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury.
The photo below shows eight planets and a dwarf planet in the solar system on an approximate scale. Pluto is the dwarf planet on the far right. At the left at the end is the Sun. From left to right are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Space is fraught with many mysteries. With the naked eye, we can only see a tiny fraction of celestial objects, large and small. In addition to the Earth, other large cosmic bodies also revolve around the Sun. Some of them are much larger in size than our home planet. What are they, the largest planets in the solar system?
Diameter: 2,326 km
Opens a list of the largest planets in the Solar System. It is the second largest cosmic object after Pluto and the furthest dwarf planet from the Sun. Previously, Eris was called Xena. For some time it claimed to be the tenth planet in the solar system, but in 2006, along with Pluto, it was classified as a dwarf planet. For a long time It was believed that Eris was larger in size than Pluto, but latest research, taken by the New Horizons spacecraft, proved that Pluto is still slightly larger than Eris.
The surface of this dwarf planet, like that of Pluto, consists of rocks, ice and methane snow.
Diameter: 2,326 km.
Diameter: 2,326 km
Until recently, it was one of the nine planets of the solar system. In 2006, after much debate, by decision of the International Astronomical Union, it was deprived of its status as an ordinary planet. Pluto is now considered the largest dwarf planet. It is one of the largest Kuiper Belt objects. Composed of ice and rock, Pluto is relatively small. For comparison: its volume is three times less than the volume of the Moon. The surface of this dwarf planet is an icy desert covered with many craters. Pluto has five moons: Kerberos, Styx, Hydra, Charon and Nix.
In 2006, automatic space station New Horizons, which aims to study Pluto and Charon. The device safely reached the planet's orbit and transmitted to Earth the collected data and photographs of Pluto and all its satellites.
Diameter: 2,372 km.
Diameter: 4879 km
It occupies eighth place in the ranking of the largest planets in the solar system. It is interesting because it is closest to the Sun, so the Mercury year lasts only 88 Earth days. At the same time, the length of a day on Mercury is 176 Earth days, and all due to the slow rotation of the planet around its axis.
The proximity to the Sun leads to the fact that on the side of the planet facing the sun the temperature reaches 349.9 °C.
The surface of Mercury is bleak - it is a lifeless desert, covered with craters of all sizes. The planet has no satellites.
Diameter: 4879 km.
Diameter: 6780 km
In 7th place in the list of the largest planets in the solar system is. This is one of the planets most studied by people - spacecraft from Earth visited it more than 30 times. Mars is very interesting. The largest peak in the solar system is located here - Mount Olympus, whose height reaches 27 km. Mars has changing seasons, just like Earth, polar caps of frozen carbon dioxide and ice. A day here lasts 24 hours 40 minutes. Mars is one of the most suitable planets for colonization in the future.
Satellites of Mars: Deimos and Phobos.
Diameter: 6780 km.
Diameter: 12103 km
Continues the list of the largest planets in the Solar System. Named after the Roman goddess of love, Venus, the second planet from the Sun has several other poetic names: Evening Star and Morning Star. Venus is not much smaller than Earth. Although it belongs to the Earth-like planets, its conditions differ from those on Earth. The atmosphere on the planet consists mainly of carbon dioxide, and its surface is hidden by huge clouds of sulfuric acid. It is assumed that Venus is still experiencing active volcanic activity. The surface temperature is 460 °C.
Diameter: 12103 km.
Diameter: 12742 km
In 5th place on the list of the largest planets in the solar system is. This is one of the most unique planets in the observable universe, on which appeared intelligent life. Most of the planet (about 70%) is covered with water. Due to its location and slight tilt of the axis of rotation, the planet created optimal conditions for the origin of life.
The Earth has one satellite - the Moon.
Diameter: 12742 km.
Diameter: 49224 km
One of the largest and most distant planets from the Sun in the Solar System. This is a huge gas giant, whose mass is 17 times that of Earth. The planet's atmosphere consists of helium and hydrogen. Neptune's core is solid, made of rocks and ice. The planet is interesting because incredible winds are constantly raging on its surface, the speed of which can reach 2100 km/h. Invisible to the naked eye, Neptune was discovered thanks to mathematical calculations.
Neptune is the third most massive planet in the solar system. The spacecraft visited it only once. It was Voyager 2, which flew close to the planet in 1989. It made it possible to obtain images of the most powerful cyclones and storms raging on the planet.
Neptune is surrounded by the most number of satellites - it has 14.
Diameter: 49224 km.
Diameter: 50724 km
The gas giant is a very interesting research object. It was visited only once by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which transmitted images of Uranus to Earth. In the future, a full-scale study of the planet and its satellites is planned.
Uranus has a ring system and 27 moons ranging in size from 20 to 1500 km.
Diameter: 50724 km.
Diameter: 116464 km
It takes second place in the list of the largest planets in the solar system. Like Uranus and Neptune, it consists of a mixture of various gases that transform at depth into liquid state. The mass of this gas giant is 95 times the mass of the Earth. Saturn is famous primarily for its rings and huge number of satellites. Today there are 62 of them. Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, is larger than Mercury. Saturn is one of the most studied giant planets. It was visited by the Pioneer, Voyager and Cassini spacecraft.
Diameter: 116464 km.
Diameter: 139822 km
The gas giant, named after the supreme Roman deity, ranks first on the list of the largest planets in the Solar System. Its atmosphere consists of hydrogen, ammonia and methane. The mass of the giant is 2.5 times greater than the mass of all other planets in the solar system. Enormous storms and storms rage on the surface of Jupiter. One of them, the Great Red Spot, has been observed by scientists for several centuries. Jupiter has about 69 moons. The largest of them are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Diameter: 139822 km.
