why are the inner and outer planets different?
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The Inner and Outer Planets in Our Solar System. ... The inner planets are closer to the Sun and are smaller and rockier. The outer planets are further away, larger and made up mostly of gas. The inner planets (in order of distance from the sun, closest to furthest) are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
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Differences between the Inner and Outer Planets. ... The four planets closest to the Sun are known as the Inner Planets, or the Terrestrial Planets. These planets are Mercury, Earth, Venus and Mars. The four planets furthest from the Sun are known as the Outer Planets, or the Gas Giants.
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For the outer planets they have further to go and a slower speed so their orbital periods are much longer than that of the earth. e.g. saturn is 9.5x further from the sun than the earth is, but its orbital period is 29.5x that of the earth. Planets shine in visible light only by reflected sunlight.
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Planets are typically brighter than stars. The reason for differing brightness is because starts reflect the light of the sun, which is close to the planets, while the stars emit their own light. Regarding shape, stars appear as a dot while planets appear spherical. Generally, stars are also bigger than planets.
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All of the inner planets are solid, dense, rocky planets. The inner planets either do not have moons or have just one (Earth) or two (Mars). None of the inner planets have rings. Compared to the outer planets, the inner planets have shorter orbits around the Sun, but all the inner planets spin more slowly.
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Sometimes, planets in our solar system are classified with their position relative to the asteroid belt, which lies approximately between Mars and Jupiter. With this scenario, "inner" planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. "Outer" planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
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In our solar system, nine planets circle around our Sun. ... The inner solar system contains Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These four planets are closest to the Sun. The outer solar system contains Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
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Astronomers call them the “terrestrial planets” because they have solid, rocky surfaces roughly similar to desert and mountainous areas on the earth. The inner planets are much smaller than Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and they all possess iron cores.
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The inner planets are closer to the Sun and are smaller and rockier. The outer planets are further away, larger and made up mostly of gas. ... After an asteroid belt comes the outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
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Because of their large mass and cooler temperature, they have a very different composition; they are mostly made of light elements with extended atmospheres in a gaseous form. Outer planets exist in much bigger systems than inner planets. All outer planets have ring systems and moons.
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The Inner and Outer Planets in Our Solar System. ... The inner planets (in order of distance from the sun, closest to furthest) are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. After an asteroid belt comes the outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
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The Inner and Outer planets have many things in common. They both orbit around a star. In this case the star they orbit is the Sun. All eight planets are round which make them similar.
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Summary. The four inner planets have slower orbits, slower spin, no rings, and they are made of rock and metal. The four outer planets have faster orbits and spins, a composition of gases and liquids, numerous moons, and rings. The outer planets are made of hydrogen and helium, so they are called gas giants.
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The four planets farthest from the Sun are the outer planets. ... Since the inner planets didn't have enough mass to hold on to these light gases, their hydrogen and helium floated away into space. The Sun and the massive outer planets had enough gravity to keep hydrogen and helium from drifting away.
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1) The “inner planets” (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) don't have rings and all of the “outer planets” (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) do. 2) The outer planets are much more massive than the inner planets. ... When they are in the gravity well of an outer planet, like Saturn, they start to orbit the planet.
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After Mars, there is an asteroid belt that separates the inner planets from the outer ones. The outer planets are called the jovian planets, meaning huge gas giant. These planets in order are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. ... Size is the most obvious difference between the inner and outer planets.
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As their name suggests, the main difference between a dwarf planet and a planet is size. Because they are smaller, dwarf planets lack the gravitational forces needed to pull in and accumulate all of the material found in their orbits. Each known dwarf planet in our solar system is actually smaller than Earth's Moon!