According to current science, how many planets are there in our solar system?

Answer 1

Let's not get tangled up and enmeshed in the stale "Is Pluto a Planet?" debate. I outline below how many objects we now know there to be in the Solar System,

Stars: 1

Planets: 8
Moons of those planets: 162
(Mercury; 0, Venus: 0, Earth: 1, Mars: 2, Jupiter: 63, Saturn: 56, Uranus: 27, Neptune: 13)

Dwarf Planets: 3
Moons of those dwarf planets: 4 (Ceres: 0, Pluto; 3, Eris; 1)

Small Solar System Bodies: over 339,000
Including:
Kuiper Belt Objects: over 800
Other Trans-Neptunian Objects: Over 200
Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter: over 338,000
Moons of these Small Solar System Bodies: over 80

In antiquity before telescopes were developed, there were only 8 known objects in the Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, the Moon and the Earth,

So it remained for two thousand or more years then numbers started to mushroom from 1610 (when Galileo discovered 4 moons of Jupiter) up to the present day.

Answer 2

Well, the scientists would have you believe 8. This is because they 'downgraded' Pluto to a dwarf planet or something. Three main problems here. 1) why is a dwarf planet any less of a planet than a dwarf mongoose any less a mongoose or a dwarf any less a human? 2) less than 5% of worldwide astrologers actually voted to downgrade Pluto and 3) what gives humans the right to decide what is a planet when they can't even decide on a definition of a planet?
This was all brought about by the discovery recently of a number of new 'planets' such as Eris and Xena. Interestingly, astrologers still use the standard number of planets (so scorpios can rest easily - even if Mickey Mouse can't!) and are even seeing what effects the new planets have on horoscopes.

Answer 3

8 now that Pluto is classed as a dwarf planet. Maybe one day Pluto will be a planet again if scientists discover a solar system with only planets like Pluto orbiting the sun there.

Answer 4

8

Answer 5

According to NASA,there are eight planets in our solar system. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn , Uranus, and Neptune. Mercury is the closest to the Sun. Neptune is the fartheset. You can remember this eight planets with this acronym:
My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Me Nothing. It takes Earth one year to orbit around Sun; Mercury 88 days. Dwarf Pluto 248 days to make one trip around the Sun. Moons orbits the planets. Jupiter has the most number of moons, 83. Mercury and Venus don't have moons. Earth has one. It's the brightest object in our nightime sky. The Sun of course is the brightest in our daytime sky. It lights up the Moon, planets, comets and asteroids, too.
The Sun is considered to be a Star. In 2006, poor Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet.

Answer 6

8

Answer 7

The nine planets that orbit the sun are (in order from the sun): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet)
some people say that pluto doesnt count.

however there is also a planet which people call planet x which is beyond pluto.

so if pluto counts and so does plantet x then there are 10 planets.

10!

Answer 8

8.

It's not really about 'current science', it's about conventions that astronomers have agreed to use. The IAU have agreed that there are 9 classic planets, and a new category of Dwarf planets, which are similar to Planets but have not swept their orbit clear of other material. There are officially three dwarf planets, including Pluto, but there are many many more waiting to be officially named.

Answer 9

the international conference on planets & solar systems has officially stripped pluto off its status of a planet thereby leaving 8 planets in the solar system

Answer 10

8 , now poor old Pluto is just a "Rock"....But in my thinking a Planet should have a "Surface" ... A Hard Base , That way Jupiter would Not be classed as a planet Nor would Saturn as there are "Balls of gas"....There should be two classes.... "Hard and Gas ".... this would then define Each planet...