© Shell Education #50160—Leveled Texts for Science: Earth & Space Science 101 The Outer Planets There are a many planets that orbit our sun. Some planets are like our own planet. Some are not like Earth. The planets of the outer solar system are strange. They are not like Earth at all! Jupiter Jupiter is the largest planet. You could put all the other planets together. It would still be bigger. It is one of four gas giants. They are planets made of gas. Jupiter has at least 63 moons. It has three rings, too. It has a huge storm in its clouds. It is called the Great Red Spot. The storm is at least 300 years old! Saturn Saturn is a very pretty planet. It has many rings. These rings are made of ice and rock. They are held in orbit around the planet. Their own speed pulls them out. Saturn’s gravity pulls them in. They stay where they are. Saturn is the second largest of the outer planets. It is also made of gas. It has at least 59 moons. The most famous one is Titan. It is the only moon with air we know of. Uranus Uranus was found with a telescope. It was the first planet found this way. It looks like a blue green disk. It lies on its side. Some astronomers think a huge object may have crashed into it. It knocked Uranus on its side. Voyager 2 is the only space probe to fly past the planet. It helped find most of its 27 known moons. Uranus has at least 11 rings.