The planets

Eight worlds, eight stories—sizes, skies, and years told in compact, factual snapshots. Use the arrows above to spin through each globe, or open a planet for the full write-up. Dwarf planets and moons have their own deep catalogs beyond this overview.

Globe textures: Venus–Neptune and most rocky worlds via Solar System Scope (see their license); Mercury (2048px derivative, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0); Mars from Stellarium (textures/mars.png, GPL-2.0+). Earth uses the same three.js day map + cloud layering style as the rest of this section.

Mercury

0.39 AU

Terrestrial planet

The smallest planet and the one closest to the Sun, Mercury is a cratered world with extreme temperature swings between its sunlit and night sides.

Venus

0.72 AU

Terrestrial planet

Venus is Earth-sized but wrapped in thick clouds and a crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere—surface conditions are hotter than an oven.

Earth

1.00 AU

Terrestrial planet

Our home: liquid water oceans, a protective magnetic field, and an atmosphere rich in nitrogen and oxygen make Earth uniquely welcoming—for now—to life as we know it.

Mars

1.52 AU

Terrestrial planet

The Red Planet preserves ancient river valleys and polar ice caps. Robotic explorers study its geology and search for signs of past habitability.

Jupiter

5.20 AU

Gas giant

Jupiter dominates the solar system’s mass after the Sun. Its banded clouds hide deep storms—including the long-lived Great Red Spot.

Saturn

9.54 AU

Gas giant

Famous for its icy ring system, Saturn is a world of low density—less dense than water if you could find a bathtub big enough.

Uranus

19.2 AU

Ice giant

Uranus is tipped on its side, likely due to an ancient giant impact. Methane in its atmosphere gives it a calm cyan appearance.

Neptune

30.1 AU

Ice giant

Neptune’s deep blue comes from methane absorption. Winds there are among the fastest measured in the solar system.