Brand

Planets

The planets orbit around the Sun. Our home planet, the Earth, is just one of the many bodies that orbit the Sun in our solar system.

The planets have been observed since ancient times and were originally know as "the Wanderers" because their position relative to the stars is always changing.

Planets are often grouped into two types, the terrestrial planets and the gas giant planets.

Terrestrial planets are the small rocky planets of the inner solar system. These include Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

The gas giant planets are the larger planets that orbit further from the Sun. These are composed primarily of Hydrogen. They include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

There are many other bodies that also orbit the Sun, including asteroids, comets and a variety of "dwarf planets." Among the dwarf planets is the small world known as Pluto which is thought to be made up of rock and ice.

To see when the planets will be visible, please visit our Planet Rise Time page.

To view the positions of the planets, please visit our Planet Position page.


Mythology of the Planets


Planet Greek Roman Babylonian Day of Week Symbol
Sun Helios Apollo Shamash Sunday Sun Icon
Mercury Hermes Mercury Nabu Wednesday Mercury Icon
Venus Aphrodite Venus Ishtar Friday Venus Icon
Earth Gaia Fauna Ki none Earth Icon
Moon Artemis Diana Sin Monday Moon Icon
Mars Ares Mars Nergal Tuesday Mars Icon
Jupiter Zeus Jupiter Marduk Thursday Jupiter Icon
Saturn Kronos Saturn Ninurta Saturday Saturn Icon
Uranus Uranos Caelus n/a none Uranus Icon
Neptune Poseidon Neptune n/a none Neptune Icon
Pluto Hades Pluto n/a none Pluto Icon