Planets

Phil starts the planet-by-planet tour of the solar system right here at home, Earth.

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It has a dynamic atmosphere with belts and zones, as well as an enormous red spot that’s actually a persistent hurricane.

Before moving on from Jupiter to Saturn, we’re going to linger for a moment on Jupiter’s moons. There are 67 known moons, 4 of which are the huge ones that we want to explore in greater detail.

The fourth planet from the sun and the outermost of the terrestrial planets, Mars has long been a popular spot for missions and imagination. Phil walks you through the planet's topography, core, and features.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. It has no atmosphere and is, as such, covered in craters. It's also incredibly hot but, surprisingly, has water ice hiding beneath its surface.

In this episode of Crash Course Astronomy, Phil takes you through the cause and name of the Moon's phases.

Saturn is the crown jewel of the solar system, beautiful and fascinating. It is a gas giant and has a broad set of rings made of ice particles.

Today we’re rounding out our planetary tour with ice giants Uranus and Neptune. Both have small rocky cores, thick mantles of ammonia, water, and methane, and atmospheres that make them look greenish and blue.

Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system and has the most volcanic activity in the solar system.

Learn a lot of information about planets and how our definition of what a planet is keeps evolving as we learn more.

Carl Sagan muses on our planet's appearance in a photograph taken by the Voyager 1 space probe.

This study jam is about our solar system, specifically the inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Check out the slide show and then take the quiz to test yourself.

Check out this slide show about the outer planets: Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and the plaetoid Pluto. Take the quiz to test yourself.