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How Do We Group the Planets?

The eight planets in the solar system are classified in one of two ways. One way is to group them based on whether they are "inner" or "outer" planets, with the dividing line being the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Additionally, a planet can be classified based on whether it is a "gas giant" (a planet which is primarily made of gas and is relatively larger than non-gas giants) or a rocky planet (like Earth). All the outer planets are gas giants and all the inner planets are rocky planets. There are also dwarf planets, which do not belong to either classification.

Instructions

- 1
  Group the planets based on their composition (rocky planets vs. gas giants). The gas giants are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; the rocky planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
- 2
  Classify the planets based on their distance from the sun, in comparison to the asteroid belt. The inner planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars; the outer planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
- 3
  Differentiate planets from dwarf planets. Dwarf planets are small objects beyond Neptune that are similar in structure to the eight planets, but are not large enough to be classified as planets. Three recognized dwarf planets are Pluto, Eris and Ceres.

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