Dieses Portal bietet Basiswissen zum Thema Astronomie und zeigt aktuelle Forschungsarbeiten und -kooperationen in der Schweiz auf.

Image: ESO

Planets

Aufnahmen des Weltraumteleskops Hubble aus dem Jahr 2021 (von links nach rechts): Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus und Neptun. Die Planeten sind nicht massstabsgetreu abgebildet.
Image: NASA, ESA, A. Simon, M.H. Wong and the OPAL team

The earth and seven other planets together orbit the sun. From the center outwards they are called: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Until 2006 Pluto was a ninth planet, but he was then downgraded to a dwarf planet.

The inner four planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are terrestrial planets. They are made of solid, rocky material and their portion of gas (the atmosphere) is very small compared to their total mass. In contrast, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are largely gaseous. It is assumed that they posses a small solid core. Due to their big sizes they are also called gas giants.

Every single one of these planets represents its own fascinating world which can be explored by space probes and, in the case of the earth, even by foot.