【太阳系小常识】八大行星的前世今生

水星：Mercury

Mercury, first planet in distance from the Sun in the solar system. The smallest of the rocky or terrestrial planets that include Venus, Earth, and Mars, Mercury has a global magnetic field, but only a trace of an atmosphere and no moons of its own. It is the second hottest planet after Venus. Mercury circles the Sun every 88 Earth days at an average distance of 58 million km (36 million mi) and takes 59 days to turns on its axis. It retains an ancient cratered surface that has changed little since the formation of the solar system, making the planet of special interest to planetary scientists. Mercury was named for the fleet-footed messenger of the gods in Roman mythology.

水星（Mercury），中国古代称为辰星。是太阳系中的类地行星，其主要由石质和铁质构成，密度较高。自转周期很长为58.65天，自转方向和公转方向相同。水星在88个地球日里就能绕太阳一周，平均速度47.89千米，是太阳系中运动最快的行星。无卫星环绕。它是八大行星中是最小的行星，也是离太阳最近的行星。

金星：Venus

Venus, second planet in distance from the Sun, but the hottest planet in the solar system (hotter than Mercury). Its hellish surface has broiling temperatures that make rocks glow red under a crushing atmosphere that shrouds the planet in thick layers of clouds. Venus is nearly the same size as Earth, but takes 243 days to rotate on its axis in the opposite direction. It also lacks a magnetic field and a moon. Why conditions on Venus and Earth are so different remains a major puzzle for planetary scientists. Venus circles the Sun at a distance of 108 million km (67 million mi) in a little over seven months (about 225 days). The planet was named for Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty.

金星（Venus）是太阳系中八大行星之一，按离太阳由近及远的次序是第二颗。它是离地球最近的行星。中国古代称之为长庚、启明、太白或太白金星。公转周期是224.71地球日。夜空中亮度仅次于月球，排第二，金星要在日出稍前或者日落稍后才能达到亮度最大。它有时黎明前出现在东方天空，被称为“启明”；有时黄昏后出现在西方天空，被称为“长庚”。

地球：Earth

Earth, third planet in distance from the Sun in the solar system, the only planet known to harbor life, and the “home” of human beings. From space Earth resembles a big blue marble with swirling white clouds floating above blue oceans. About 71 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by water, which is essential to life. The rest is land, mostly in the form of continents that rise above the oceans. Earth’s surface is surrounded by a layer of gases known as the atmosphere, which extends upward from the surface, slowly thinning out into space. Below the surface is a hot interior of rocky material and two core layers composed of the metals nickel and iron in solid and liquid form.

地球是上百万种生物的家园， 包括人类。地球是目前人类所知宇宙中唯一存在生命的天体。地球诞生于45.4亿年前， 而生命诞生于地球诞生后的10亿年内。

火星：Mars

Mars, fourth planet in distance from the Sun in the solar system. Mars is of special scientific interest because of its similarities to Earth. It has an atmosphere with seasons and changing weather, and its surface shows evidence of ancient water and volcanoes. The length of its day and the tilt of its axis are similar to those of Earth. Mars takes about two years to circle the Sun at an average distance of 228 million km (141.7 million mi). The possibility of life on Mars, now or in the distant past, is one of the major questions in astronomy. More space probes have been sent to Mars than to any other planet. Mars is named for the Roman god of war. It is sometimes called the red planet because it appears fiery red in Earth’s night sky, the result of rusty, iron-oxide mineral dust that covers its surface.

火星（Mars）是太阳系由内往外数的第四颗行星，属于类地行星，直径为地球的一半，自转轴倾角、自转周期相近，公转一周则花两倍时间。在西方称为战神玛尔斯，中国则称为“荧惑”。橘红色外表是因为地表的赤铁矿（氧化铁）。火星基本上是沙漠行星，地表沙丘、砾石遍布，没有稳定的液态水体。二氧化碳为主的大气既稀薄又寒冷，沙尘悬浮其中，每年常有尘暴发生。火星两极皆有水冰与干冰组成的极冠，会随着季节消长。

木星：Jupiter

Jupiter, fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the solar system. The fourth brightest object in Earth’s sky, after the Sun, the Moon, and Venus, Jupiter is more than three times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star. Due to its prominence in the sky, the Romans named the planet for their chief god, Jupiter. Jupiter orbits the Sun at an average distance of 778 million km (484 million mi), which is about five times the distance from Earth to the Sun. Jupiter’s year, or the time it takes to complete an orbit about the Sun, is 11.9 Earth years, and its day, or the time it takes to rotate on its axis, is about 9.9 hours, less than half an Earth day.

木星（Jupiter），为太阳系八大行星之一，距太阳（由近及远）顺序为第五，亦为太阳系体积最大、自转最快的行星。木星主要由氢和氦组成，中心温度估计高达30,500℃。古代中国称之岁星，取其绕行天球一周为12年，与地支相同之故。西方语言一般称之朱比特，源自罗马神话中的众神之王、相当于希腊神话中的宙斯。

天王星：Saturn

Saturn, sixth planet in order of distance from the Sun, and the second largest in our solar system. Saturn’s most distinctive feature is a giant system of rings that surrounds the planet at its equator, stretching over twice the width of the planet itself. The first person to see the rings was the Italian scientist Galileo in 1610, using one of the earliest telescopes. Space probes have greatly increased our knowledge of Saturn, its rings, and its many moons. Flybys by the Pioneer and the Voyager probes led to the Cassini orbiter that began studying Saturn in detail in 2004. As seen from Earth, Saturn appears as a yellowish object—one of the brightest in the night sky. The planet is named for Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. Saturn takes about 29.5 years to orbit the Sun at an average distance of 1,435 billion km (891.5 million mi), or about 9.59 astronomical unit (AU). An AU is equal to the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, or 150 million km (93 million mi). Saturn rotates on its axis in about 10.5 hours and is tilted at about 27°, giving the planet distinct seasons.

土星（Saturn）古称镇星或填星，是太阳系八大行星之一。赤道直径约120660公里（为地球的9.46倍），两极直径大约108000公里，扁率很大，是最扁平的行星，也是太阳系第二大行星。它与邻居木星十分相像，表面也是液态氢和氦的海洋，上方同样覆盖着厚厚的云层。土星上狂风肆虐，沿东西方向的风速可超过每小时1600公里，是木星的4倍。土星上空的云层就是这些狂风造成的，云层中含有大量的结晶氨。

海王星：Uranus

Uranus, seventh planet in distance from the Sun, third largest planet in diameter, and fourth largest in mass in the solar system. Unlike other major planets, Uranus is tipped sideways on its axis of rotation. It experiences extreme seasons, and its 13 rings and 27 known moons revolve around its equator nearly vertically to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. Because of its great size and mass, scientists classify Uranus as one of the giant or Jovian (Jupiter-like) planets—along with Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. Like more distant Neptune, Uranus is also classified as an ice giant planet, mainly made of the ice-forming molecules water, ammonia, and methane as a liquid mixture above what is thought to be a rocky core. Its atmosphere is mainly hydrogen and helium, along with methane gas that gives the planet a blue-green color.

天王星（Uranus）是太阳向外的第七颗行星，在太阳系的体积是第三大（比海王星大），质量排名第四（比海王星轻）。他的名称来自古希腊神话中的天空之神乌拉诺斯，是克洛诺斯（农神）的父亲，宙斯（朱比特）的祖父。天王星是第一颗在现代发现的行星，虽然它的光度与五颗传统行星一样，亮度是肉眼可见的，但由于较为黯淡而未被古代的观测者发现。威廉·赫歇耳爵士在1781年3月13日宣布他的发现，在太阳系的现代史上首度扩展了已知的界限。这也是第一颗使用望远镜发现的行星。

冥王星：Neptune

Neptune, eighth planet in distance from the Sun, fourth largest planet in diameter, and third largest in mass in the solar system. Neptune’s gravity has a major influence on the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy bodies in the outer solar system that is a source of comets and includes the dwarf planet Pluto, formerly counted as the ninth planet. Because of its great size and mass, scientists classify Neptune as one of the giant or Jovian (Jupiter-like) planets—along with Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. Like Uranus, Neptune is also classified as an ice giant planet, mainly made of the ice-forming molecules water, ammonia, and methane as a liquid mixture above what is thought to be a rocky core. Its atmosphere is mainly hydrogen and helium, along with methane gas that gives the planet a blue-green color.