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Current Planets Viewed from Earth

SOLAR SYSTEM

A CROSS SECTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Our Solar System is so vast and comprised of so many objects—some "relatively" near one another, yet most separated by great distances—that depicting large parts of it to scale is difficult.  So you will have to look closely just above and to the left.  Able to show only one side of the Solar System out to Neptune, this cut-away displays the 8 major planets' perihelia and aphelia distances  (i.e. when they are closest to and farthest from the Sun), and their orbital inclinations relative to the Ecliptic—all to scale.  Also indicated are regions where  Smaller Worlds  populate the Solar System: the Asteroid Belt, the expan- sive realm of the Centaurs, and the edge of the Kuiper Belt, which stretches from the orbit of Neptune to over 50 au from the Sun!  (Note: when you hover above to reveal the "relative" sizes of the planets, their scale is hugely enlarged compared to that of the cross section!)

APPARENT SIZE OF THE SUN
FROM THE MAJOR PLANETS

Below and at left, slide the blue pointer left and right "or" click along the Astronomical Unit (au) scale (which also

shows light-time) to  inspect the Sun's relative apparent size from from Mercury all the way out to Neptune!  Most browsers (though not Safari) also permit you to use your keyboard Arrow Keys to "fine-tune" your slider position.  Clearly the Sun, which simultaneously scorches Mercury and bakes Venus, is not nearly so prominent in the frigid skies of the Solar System's distant outer planets!

This page opens with the Sun (above) seen from Earth.  The perihelia and aphelia of the major planets are shown in the adjacent cross section of the Solar System.  Note that Venus's and Earth's orbits are so circluar that their extremes of distance are less than one pixel apart at this scale!  At the Inner Planets in particular you will have to look closely—or zoom your browser—to pinpoint your distance!  Mercury is especially seared by the Sun, and much more at its perihelion than its aphelion!  Mars is close enough to the Sun that  the Martian seasons are affected by the planet's orbital eccentricity!  Uranus has the greatest difference between its nearest and farthest distances from the Sun!  Yet the planet's orbit is so large that  the Sun does not look much different from Uranus's perihelion to its aphelion!  What other intriguing facts will you discover from planet to planet—and in between?

As you examine all this, you should also check out the  Relative Intensity of Sunlight at the Planets.  Since the human eye can adapt so well to varying light levels, you may be surprised by what "daylight looks like" as you venture further out in the Solar System.

CURRENT SOLAR SYSTEM VIEWS

Large Solar System Views:   Inner Planets   All Planets

Current Views from Earth:   Sun   Moon   Planets

Current Sky    Current Ecliptic

SOLAR SYSTEM IN INTERACTIVE 3-D

These tools all open showing current Solar System con- ditions.   Their views can be rotated and zoomed in 3-D!

These open with the Vernal (March) Equinox () in the "3 o'clock" direction:

NASA/JPL Orrery      The Sky-Live      jsOrrery

This one opens with the Vernal (March) Equinox
() in the "9 o'clock" direction:

Solar System Scope

YOUR WEIGHT ON OTHER WORLDS

Notes:
1.)  Set Weight on Earth to 1 (one) to find each world's
      surface gravity compared to Earth's.
2.)  Weight varies with latitude due to  a world's rotation
      and oblateness.  Haumea, rotating once about every
      four hours, provides an extreme example of this.
3.)  Weight can also vary due to altitude, irregular shape
      and non-uniform concentrations of mass.

YOUR AGE IN THE YEARS
OF OTHER WORLDS

This is how many times each world has
circled the Sun since you were born!

Note:  set Age in Earth Years to 1 (one) to find how many of each world's years are in each Earth year.

CURRENT SUN, MOON AND MAJOR PLANET
VIEWS AND CONDITIONS FROM EARTH

Distances, Apparent Sizes, Phases, Moon Locations
                     Sun     Moon     Mercury     Venus     Mars
                     Jupiter     Saturn     Uranus     Neptune

Locations in the Constellations
Sun     Moon     Mercury     Venus     Mars
Jupiter     Saturn     Uranus     Neptune

Current Year's Elongations

Major Sky Objects 2021-2030
Greatest:  Mercury      Venus 

THE DSN:  Our Link to Spacecraft
throughout the Solar System!

Who's "Chatting" Right Now?

DSN Antennas in 3-D:
70-meter      35-meter 

EXCELLENT NASA SOLAR SYSTEM PAGES

NASA'S "Solar System Exploration" Site

NASA'S "Solar System Treks"

NASA'S "Life and Death of a Planetary System"

How Did the Solar System Come to Be?

Our Solar System's Location
in the Milky Way Galaxy

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Dominant Body:    the Sun (Sol, our nearest star)
Major Planets:    8

• Names:    Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
• Uranus and Neptune
• Relative Sizes and Rotations of the Sun and Planets
• Axial Tilts of the Planets 
• Where the Poles of the Sun & Planets Point 
• NASA Planet Compare
• NASA Planetary Fact Sheets:
      Ratio to Earth Values    U.S. Units    Metric
• Planet Average Surface Temperatures 
• Here's a link to another cool Chrome Experiment 3-D
      visualization:  PlanetMaker.
•  
• Common Characteristics:
• All major planets orbit the Sun in the same direction,
      i.e. eastward when viewed from above Solar system
• All orbit in nearly the same plane
• All but Venus and Uranus spin in the same direction
•  
• Planet Classifications:
• Inner Planets:   Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars
• Outer Planets:   Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune
•  

• Terrestrial (Earth-like) Planets:
•    Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars
•    Hi-Res NASA Image of Structures
•    Wikipedia Terrestrial Planets page

• Jovian (Jupiter-like) Planets (aka Gas Giants):
•    Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune
•    Hi-Res NASA Image of Structures 
•    Magnetic Fields Compared to Earth's
•  

• "Inferior" Planets  (orbits smaller than Earth's, so
        they exhibit full cycles of  Phases):
•    Mercury & Venus
• "Reference" Planet:    Earth
• "Superior" Planets (orbits larger than Earth's):
•    Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune
•  
• Solar System Barycenter   Gravity Simulator    
•    Wikipedia's Barycenter page
• Planet Orbits:    Inner Planets     Inner & Outer Planets
• RASC's Planetary Orbits page   Excellent!
• Planet Orbital Poles 
      North Ecliptic Pole
      South Ecliptic Pole



• Because of the vast and disparate scales involved, for convenience Solar System maps generally must show the planets "out of scale" compared to each other as well as to their orbits.  Actually, each plan- et's orbit is IMMENSE compared to the planet itself!  Expressed in terms of its own diameter, here is each planet's approximate mean distance from the Sun.
•         Mercury:   11,900
•         Venus:   8,900
•         Earth:   11,700
•         Mars:   33,600
•         Jupiter:   5,400
•         Saturn:   11,900
•         Uranus:   56,200
•         Neptune:   90,800
• Said another way: this how many of each planet you'd have to "line up side-by-side" to reach from the Sun out to the planet's orbit!  So even if mighty Jupiter was represented as a single pixel on your screen, showing its orbital distance in the same scale would place the Sun far off-screen!

• Moons:
• Mercury:    0
•     Note: Mercury is too near the Sun to hold on to
      moons for very long.  The Sun's gravity "captures"
      moons too far from Mercury, while the planet's grav-
      ity draws moons too near it within its  Roche Limit.
• Venus:    0
•     Note: while it is harder for planets closer to the Sun
      to do so, Venus is theoretically at an adequate dis-
      tance to hold on to moons.  Why it has none is one
      of the planet's great mysteries.
• Earth:    1   view Moon page
• Mars:    2   view system
• Jupiter:    79 (more suspected)   view major
• Saturn:    82 (more suspected)   view major
•       (29 waiting to be confirmed)
• Uranus:    27 (more suspected)   view major
• Neptune:    14 (more suspected)   view major
• Compare Major Moons
• Compare Solar System's Most Active Moons 
•  

OTHER COMPONENTS AND THE
EXTENT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

The realm of the Sun is dizzingly more vast and complex than was once suspected.  Stretching far beyond the orbit of Neptune, our Solar System is composed of much more than just our parent star and 8 major planets.  In addition, millions of  Smaller Worlds  populate two major bands—the Asteroid and Kuiper Belts—between which is the region of the Centaurs!  Far beyond the Kuiper Belt, billions (perhaps trillions) of worldlets may exist in that "great repository of comet nuclei," the Oort Cloud!

Dwarf Planets:    5 (hundreds suspected)
    Names: (in order from the Sun)
        Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris

Asteroids:    500,000+ (millions suspected)
    Names of Largest:
        Pallas, Vesta, Hygiea, Interamnia
    Types:    C, S, M

Here's a link to a Chrome Experiment 3-D animation beautifully depicting the swarms of worldlets in the  Asteroid Belt

Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO's):    1,000+ (millions susp.)
    Names of Some of the Largest:
        Quaoar, Makemake, Haumea, Sedna, Orcus, Varuna

Comets:    4,000+ (billions suspected)
    Names of Some Notables:
        Halley, Hale-Bopp, Swift-Tuttle, Shoemaker-Levy 9

WHAT IS A PLANET?
video credit: NASA

As a science progresses, new discoveries often require refinements in its systems of classification.  Such was the case for astronomy and its classification of Pluto.  This NASA video provides a good explanation of why this venerable wanderer at the edge of the "classical" Solar System was "demoted" to "dwarf planet" status.

This NASA page  also provides an excellent discussion of the question.

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM'S HABITABLE ZONE

Because life as we know it requires liquid water to exist, our Solar System's "habitable zone" is the region around the Sun where an Earth-sized planet could be expected to maintain liquid water on its surface.  The habitable zone has also been popularly called the "Goldilocks zone", i.e. where it is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water, but rather is "just right".

SOME OTHER COOL SOLAR SYSTEM PAGES

From NASA and JPL, here's a nice graphical synopsis of many firsts in humankind's exploration of the Solar System:  Dare Mighty Things.

Trek through NASA's and JPL's own 3-D simulation of our Solar System.  Exciting missions and adventures.  (Requires Unity.)  Eyes on the Solar System!

Here's a link to a nice NASA page:  Chronology of Lunar and Planetary Exploration.  Lots of good background info here!