Planets and the Earth’s Moon

Question: Which planet is named for an ancient messenger?

Answer: Mercury is named for the ancient Roman messenger of the gods. The smallest planet of the solar system also shares its name with a liquid metal.

Question: What is the hottest planet?

Answer: Venus is farther from the Sun than is Mercury, but it has greenhouse gases that keep it at 878 ºF (470 ºC)—hotter than glowing coals!

Question: What is the name for planets outside our solar system?

Answer: In the 1990s astronomers found the first evidence of planets outside our solar system. These planets are called extrasolar planets or exoplanets.

Question: Why is the Moon not considered a planet?

Answer: A moon is any natural satellite orbiting another body.

Question: Which of these is not a moon of Saturn?

Answer: Io is a moon, or satellite, of Jupiter. Saturn has at least 30 satellites. The largest of these is Titan.

Question: What is thought to cause those spots on Uranus?

Answer: The spots observed on Uranus are thought to be storms, but they are smaller and fewer than those seen on Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune.

Question: What is the sixth planet from the Sun?

Answer: Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. The average distance between the Sun and Saturn is about 0.87 billion miles (1.4 billion kilometers).

Question: How fast does the Moon revolves around Earth (in kilometers per second)?

Answer: The Moon revolves around Earth at 2,281.68 miles per hour (1.02 kilometers per second).

Question: Why are exoplanets thought to be the most likely host for extraterrestrial life?

Answer: Logically, scientists are looking for life in places that might be like Earth. Life on these recently discovered and unexplored distant planets has not yet been ruled out.

Question: At 1,000 kilometers an hour, how long would it take to go from Venus to the Sun?

Answer: If a spacecraft were to move at 621 miles per hour (1,000 kilometers per hour), it would take 12.3 years to travel from Venus to the Sun.