Name the largest planet in the solar system.

Answer:

Answer by Student

The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter .

Detailed Explanation by Teachoo

planets-distance-order-Sun.jpg

Let’s compare the sizes of the planets in the solar system. The size of a planet can be measured by its diameter, which is the distance across its widest part. The diameter of a planet can be expressed in kilometers (km) or in Earth units, where 1 Earth unit is equal to the diameter of Earth (12,756 km).

  • Mercury - Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 4,879 km, or 0.38 Earth units.
  • Venus - Venus is slightly smaller than Earth. Its diameter is about 12,104 km, or 0.95 Earth units.
  • Earth - Earth is the fifth largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 12,756 km, or 1 Earth unit.
  • Mars - Mars is about half the size of Earth. Its diameter is about 6,779 km, or 0.53 Earth units.
  • Jupiter - Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 142,984 km, or 11.21 Earth units. It is more than 10 times bigger than Earth and more than twice as big as all the other planets combined.
  • Saturn - Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 120,536 km, or 9.45 Earth units. It has a ring system that makes it look even bigger.
  • Uranus - Uranus is the third largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 51,118 km, or 4.01 Earth units. It rotates on its side and has a faint ring system.
  • Neptune - Neptune is the fourth largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 49,528 km, or 3.88 Earth units. It has a dark spot that is a storm similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.

Thus, we can see that Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system by far.

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Davneet Singh

Davneet Singh has done his B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He has been teaching from the past 14 years. He provides courses for Maths, Science, Social Science, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science at Teachoo.