Planet Facts

5 Facts
Mercury:
1. The closest planet to the sun.
2. The sun appears 2 and a half times larger in Mercury's sky compared to the Earth's.
3. If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would only weigh 37 pounds on Mercury.
4. Mercury's sky is black and the stars probably can be seen during the day.
5. Mercury is the most iron rich planet in the Solar System with an iron core like Earth.
Venus:
1. Venus used to have bodies of water similar to Earth but they dried up in 300 million years when the sun got hotter.
2. It takes 243 days for Venus to make a rotation and it takes 224 days for Venus to orbit around the sun.
3. Venus rotates so slowly that it orbits the sun faster than it can make one whole rotation on its axis. In other words, Venus has a longer day than year.
4. Venus is known as Earths' twin sister because of its similar size and proximity to each other.
5. Venus is the most widely explored planet aside from our own Earth.

Earth:
1. The Earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. It travels through space at 660,000 miles per hour.
2. The oldest rocks in the world, the so-called St. Peter and St. Paul stones in the Atlantic Ocean, are 4 billion years old.
3. The Earth weighs 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons.
4. The earth rotates on its axis more slowly in March than in September.
5. If the Earth were compressed to a sphere with a 2-inch diameter, its surface would be as smooth as a billiard ball's
Mars:
1. Mars is red because it is rusty. There is a lot of iron in the soil, and the air on Mars has made it turn red-just like rusty iron on Earth.
2. One of Mars' moons, Phobos, is moving closer and closer to Mars. Scientists think that one day it will crash into Mars.
3. Mars has the tallest Volcano in the Solar System named Olympus Mons and it is 15 miles high which is three times the height of Mount Everest.
4. Like Earth, the poles of Mars are covered in ice. The ice becomes thicker in the winter.
5. At its brightest, Mars...