Do you ever wonder what are the planet sizes? This blog can help you with that curiosity!

Explore the Planets in Order of Sizes

Planets in our Solar System vary by size. You might have looked up in the sky and found small planets. If you are interested in planets, know there are plenty of planets to choose from in the Solar System. You can have it from the massive hulk of Jupiter, the ringed image of Saturn, and the temperatures on Venus. 

You would see that each planet is unique, with its own story and environment, and even its size. Yes, the amazing size of each planet makes everyone so curious. While we think that Earth is a large planet, the truth is, it’s just so small because of the massive gas giants that lurk at the outer edges of the Solar System. 

In this article, we will explore the planet sizes with context on how each planet got that way.  

1st Planet: Mercury 

There are many ways to measure how big a planet is. Mercury is known as the smallest planet in the Solar System. It’s about 38% of the Earth’s size and about 2,440 km. This tiny world is almost 20 times less massive than the Earth. 

Its diameter is about two and a half times smaller. Mercury is just so close to the size of the Moon than of the Earth. And in case you are wondering, Mercury, is still larger than Pluto, the dwarf planet. The equatorial diameter of Pluto is just about 2,302 km, about half the width of Mercury. 

2nd Planet: Mars 

Mars is known as the second smallest planet in the Solar System. It’s also known as the 4th planet from the Sun, with a radius of about 3,390 km. Mars is a dusty and cold desert, a planet with a very thin atmosphere. 

Having a 144.8 million km² surface area, the atmosphere of Mars is thinner than the Earth’s. Its atmosphere contains about 95% carbon dioxide and about 1% oxygen lesser.

3rd Planet: Venus 

Known as the second planet from the Sun, Venus is sometimes called the “twin” or “sister” of the Earth. It’s almost as large as it and comes with similar compositions. With about a 6,051.8 km radius, as the interior planet to Earth, Venus appears to be the sky of the Earth. It’s never far from the Sun, or either as the evening or morning star.

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4th Planet: Earth

You know about the Earth, as it’s where humankind lives. Known as the 3rd planet from the Sun, the Earth is the only place in the universe where life originated and found habitability. 

Earth’s radius is 6,371 km, known as the ellipsoid having a circumference of 40,000 km. Earth is the densest among all planets, and compared to other rocky planets, the Earth is the most massive and largest. Furthermore, Earth is about 8 light-minutes away from the Sun. It also takes a year or about 365.25 days for one revolution to complete.

5th Planet: Neptune

Cold, dark, and whipped by the supersonic winds, Neptune’s giant ice planet is known for being the 8th planet from the Sun and the most distant planet in the solar system. Neptune is known to be the farthest planet in the Solar System. 

With its radius of 24,622 km, Neptune is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System if you base it on diameter. It’s also the densest among the giant planets and the 3rd biggest planet. It’s also about 17 times the Earth’s mass and is quite more massive than Uranus. 

6th Planet: Uranus 

Known as the 7th planet from the Sun, it’s the third-largest diameter in the solar system. In fact, Uranus was the first ever planet found with the telescope’s aid. It was discovered in the year 1781 by William Herschel, an astronomer. And even if he originally thought it was just a star or a comet.

Its radius is about 25,362 km, making it the 3rd-largest planetary radius and the 4th largest in the Solar System based on the planetary mass. Furthermore, Uranus is named after Greek mythology and is the father of Cronus. 

7th Planet: Saturn

Aside from the rings that we’ve known about planet Saturn, it’s also the 6th planet from the Sun and also the 2nd largest in the Solar System, and the 7th planet based on planet sizes from small to enormous. 

Its 58,232 km radius makes Saturn a gas giant, making it an average radius of about 9 and a half times Earth’s. Also, it’s only about 1/8 the Earth’s average density. However, it’s more than ninety-five times more massive.

8th Planet: Jupiter

Lastly, Jupiter as the enormous planet in the Solar System. It’s the 5th planet from the Sun. With its radius of 69,911 km, Jupiter was known for being a gas giant planet that comes with a mass of more than 2 and about a half times of all other planets in our Solar System when combined. It’s quite less than one-thousandth of the Sun’s mass. 

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Frequently Asked Questions 

Conclusion

Now that you know the order of planets in size, you have also known each detail as you explore the radius, the planet’s distance from the Sun, its characteristics, and even its atmosphere and orbit period. It’s also very important to note that the planets remain to take their place and will continue in the future too.