Planets


 * The sequence of planets in our solar system: **

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

These can be split into the four rocky inner planets (Rocky Neighbours), and the four gaseous outer planets, or gas giants (The Gas Planets). In addition there are current three (@ Feb 2012) dwarf planets (Dwarf Planets) recognised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

See also: Our Solar System for in introduction to the planets and more information on the IAU definitions of a planet and dwarf planet. For some thoughts on the relative distances and sized see Fun Facts.


 * Extra solar planets**

At the time of writing (@Feb 2012) there were 693 planets identified outside of our solar system, orbiting 552 stars [|NASA exoplanet archive].