Technically the colors of the plants are different from each other. The colors of the planets are mixtures of different colors. Here is a list of planets with their colors:
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Mercury – Grey.
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Venus – Brown and grey.
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Earth – Blue, brown-green, and white.
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Mars – Red, brown, and tan.
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Jupiter – Brown, orange, and tan, with white cloud stripes.
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Saturn – Golden, brown, and blue-grey.
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Uranus – Blue-green.
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Neptune – Blue.
What Are The Colors of the Planets?
Whenever we look at the beautiful pictures of the solar system and the planets, we cannot actually observe the colors of the planets from there. It is majorly important to note that what we are looking at is not always accurate as I told you. Especially where their appearances are permanent, these representations can sometimes be edited or enhanced. This is a very common practice, where filters or color grading to enhance it is employed in order to make sure that the planets and their features are clear and discernible to observe them and their properties properly.
If we were to take pictures of them directly from space, minus the color enhancement and the saturation, image touch-ups and clean edits, and other methods designed to bring out their details to firmly observe them. The color of every planet in our Solar System is heavily dependent upon its contrast, composition, and location. If it is a terrestrial planet for example one composed of different minerals and silicate rocks then its appearance will likely be grey due to the major presence of rocks or take on the appearance of composed minerals. At the same time, the planet’s atmospheres play a large vital role in this phenomenon for instance how they reflect and absorb sunlight will determine which colors they present to an external observer.
The presence of a specific atmosphere on a planet can also determine whether or not there is vegetation or the temperature is warm or cold, flowing water on the planet’s surface or there is no water at all. If however, we are talking about gas or ice giants present on the planet, then the planet’s color will depend on what gases make it up, their absorption of light, and which ones are closer to the surface. All of this comes into play when observing the planets of our Solar System.
What are the conditions of the Planets?
All of the planets have totally different conditions in terms of everything. For example, the planets which are closer to the sun like mercury and venus have boiling hot temperatures, while on the other hand, the planets in the middle like Earth, Mars, Jupiter have a normal kind of temperature that is why Astronauts and Scientists are planning to start lives on Mars. The most far or the most distanced planets which are Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto has freezing cold temperatures.
Here are the complete details of the conditions of the Planets:
Mercury
Mercury is a difficult planet to get good images of because of its boiling temperature and many more other specific reasons, and for obvious reasons. Given its proximity and desire to the Sun, it is virtually impossible to take clear pictures using ground-based instruments here on Earth as it is not very stable to do so. As a result, the only decent photographs we have of this planet have been taken by spacecraft which is sent to space to click pictures of the planets, specifical missions like Mariner 10, and the more recent MESSENGER probe.
The surface of Mercury is very similar in appearance to our Moon that is grey, is pockmarked, and eventually has pores and rocky spaces to the surface. As a terrestrial planet, Mercury is also composed of mostly iron sulfate, nickel, and silicate rock which are very precious, which are differentiated between a metallic core and a rocky mantle and crust due to the distance.
Mercury is also possessed with an extremely thin atmosphere that is made up of hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, calcium, potassium, and other elements. This atmosphere is so weak and unstable that astronomers refer to it as an exosphere, one which neither absorbs nor reflects light. So when we look at Mercury, regardless of whether it is from the surface or space, we get a clear view of its hot surface. And what we have seen is a dark gray, rocky planet.
Temperature
Because it is so close to the Sun, any vacation on Mercury would be ruined by extreme temperatures. During the daytime, the Sun would appear three times larger and more than 10 times brighter than it does here on Earth. All of that sunlight can push temperatures as high as 800℉. That’s even hotter than the oven can get in your kitchen at home. Then at night, because there is no atmosphere to trap the daytime heat, temperatures can drop as low as -300℉.
Venus
The color of Venus, on the other hand, depends very much precisely on the position of the observer. While Venus is also a terrestrial planet, it has an extremely dense type of atmosphere of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and sulfur dioxide. This means that from orbit, one sees little more than dense clouds of sulfuric acid and not its surface features. This lends the planet a yellowish appearance when seen from space, due to the cloud’s absorption of blue light.
There are images of Venus that are very old and are very dense than the new ones. These include NASA’s Vega 1 and 2 missions during the 1980s, followed by the Galileo (1990), Magellan (1994), and the NASA/ESA Cassini–Huygens mission in the 1990s. Since that time, the MESSENGER probe flew by Venus in 2006 on its way to Mercury, while the ESA’s Venus Express entered orbit around Venus in April of 2006.
The view from the ground is certainly a very different story. As a terrestrial planet with no vegetation or no natural existence of water or any other element, Venus’ surface also certainly looks very rugged and rocky. The first images of the surface of Venus were provided by the Soviet-era Venera probes, but the true color was difficult to discern and identify since Venus’ atmosphere filters out blue light. However, the surface composition (which is known to be rich in igneous and precisely basalt) would likely result in a white and greyish mixed appearance. In this respect, Venus’ surface more likely looks like Mercury’s and Earth’s Moon.
Temperature
You might think that because Mercury is so close to the Sun, it would hold the record for the hottest planet in the solar system. But that title actually belongs to Venus. Venus is covered by a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulfuric acid. Together, these act like a greenhouse, trapping heat and warming the planet. Venus can reach a scorching-hot average temperature of 847℉! If Venus ever had any oceans, they dried up long ago.
Earth
The color of Earth is initially the one we are intimately familiar with, thanks to decades of aerial, orbital, and space-based photography. As a terrestrial planet with a thick nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, Earth’s appearance comes down to the light-scattering effect of our planet’s atmosphere and our oceans, which causes blue light to scatter more than other colors because of the shortness of its wavelength. The presence of water absorbs light from the red end of the spectrum, similarly presenting a blue appearance to space.
This leads to our planet having its “Blue Marble” appearance, following by the white clouds which cover almost all of the skies. The surface features, depending on what one is looking at, can range from green (where sufficient vegetation and forests are to be found) to yellowish and brown (in the case of deserts and mountainous regions where the temperature is hotter than the normal temperature places) to white again (where clouds and large ice formations are emphasized due to the low temperature which even gets to the minus degrees).
The Earth is the natural home for all of the species in this world, even they are living organisms or are nonliving things. Earth is fulfilled with all of the natural power and all of the scientific elements which other planets do not have like oxygen, water, many types of minerals. Earth is the third planet in the whole series. The temperature of the Earth is normal as it rotates and the climate changes for every single part of the planet or every single country in simple language. There is a high amount of minerals in a dense proportion on Earth and in its core surfaces.
Temperature
GISS measures the change in global surface temperatures relative to average temperatures from 1951 to 1980. GISS data show global average temperatures in 2017 rose 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) above 1951-1980 mean. According to GISS, the global mean surface air temperature for that period was estimated to be 57 F (14 C). That would put the planet’s average surface temperature in 2017 at 58.62 F (14.9 C).
Mars
Mars is widely known as the Red Planet for a reason. Referring to its thin atmosphere and close proximity to Earth, it enables Human Beings to get closer and a wide view of it. And in the past few decades, due to the development of space travel and exploration, our knowledge of the planet has increased from simpler to advanced, and now people have broad mindsets to think and examine the planets even more further. From this, we have learned that Mars is similar to Earth in multiple compositions ways, which includes similarities in composition and the existence of different patterns of weather over there.
Essentially, the majority of Mars is a rare type of color, which is a mixture of reddish-brown, which represents a presence of iron oxide on its surface. This color is also quite clear only possible by the nature of the atmosphere being thin enough to be in a certain type of condition. Nevertheless, the occasional cloud can also be seen from the orbit of Earth. The planet also has its compartments of white patches around the poles, due to the presence of polar ice caps around it. Actually, there is not much more to learn about this huge planet, Mars.
Temperature
Daytime temperatures on Mars can be close to winter temperatures on Earth, reaching as high as 32℉. But Mars’ thin atmosphere cannot hold onto heat from the Sun. So at night, temperatures can be more like -200℉. The many orbiters and rovers that have been studying Mars have found that there might have once been a lot of water on the Red Planet. But what’s left is not enough to feed a water cycle like the one we have on Earth. So, Mars is mostly desert. And on Mars, the desert comes with giant dust storms that can cover the planet in dust for weeks. Smaller wind patterns also kick up “dust devils,” like desert tornados.
Jupiter
Jupiter is one of the most famous planets especially for its banded appearance, consisting of orange and brown intermixed with bands or lines of white marble-like surface. This is due to its composition and the weather patterns that are common to the planet. As a giant gas producer, the outer layer of Jupiter is made up of swirling clouds filled with hydrogenic gases, including helium and other trace elements that move at speeds of up to 100 m/s (360 km/h).
At the same time, the color patterns which consist of orange and white are due to the filling up of compounds like magma that change color when they are exposed to ultraviolet rays from the Sun. These beautiful naturally colored compounds are known as chromophores, and which are likely made up of elements and minerals like sulfur, phosphorus, or hydrocarbons are formed when rising and upward convection cells form crystallizing ammonia that masks out these lower clouds from view.
The most detailed image taken of Jupiter was constructed from images taken by the narrow-angle camera onboard NASA’s Cassini-Huygens spacecraft which was sent to space especially for the task to click photos of Jupiter, which allowed for a special color mosaic to be created. These images were taken on December 29th, 2000, during its closest approach with the appearance to the giant planet at a distance of approximately 10 million kilometers (6.2 million miles).
Temperature
You couldn’t really spend time on Jupiter’s surface to experience the weather there. Jupiter is a gas giant meaning it doesn’t have a solid surface to stand on. That aside, we can still look at its weather. Jupiter is a stormy planet that is probably best known for its Great Red Spot. The spot is actually a giant, wild storm that has been raging for more than 300 years. But the Great Red Spot is certainly not Jupiter’s only storm. The entire planet is covered in bands of swirling clouds high in the atmosphere that are likely made mostly of ammonia.
Saturn
Much like Jupiter, Saturn has a banded appearance that is due to the peculiar nature of its composition and the cold temperature due to the long distance between the planet and the Sun. However, due to Saturn’s lower density, its bands are much visible and are fainter when close to the equator. Uncertainly, the bands of Saturn are mostly close to the equator that is why its color is fainter. Like Jupiter, the planet is predominantly composed of gases and minerals like hydrogen and helium gas with trace amounts of volatiles (such as ammonia) which surround a rocky core.
The presence of hydrogen gas results in the color grading and mixing up of clouds to red. However, these are obscured by clouds of a certain amount of ammonia, which are closer to the outer edge of the atmosphere and cover the entire planet. The exposure of this ammonia to the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation causes it to appear white. Combined with its deeper red clouds, this results in the planet having a pale gold color.
Saturn’s finer cloud patterns were not observed, but only until the flybys of the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft during the 1980s. Since then, Earth-based telescopic technology has improved to the point where regular observations can be made. The greatest images to date were taken by the ESA’s Cassini-Huygens spacecraft as it conducted multiple flybys of Saturn between 2004 and 2013.
Temperature
By the time you reach gas giant Saturn and its beautiful rings, you are really far from the Sun – about 900 million miles. That’s almost twice as far out as Jupiter. That distance comes with a freezing average temperature of about -285F. The most familiar weather in the solar system is actually Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Scientists believe that Titan experiences seasons has clouds that rain and has an atmosphere made largely of nitrogen, just like ours. Unfortunately, rather than a water cycle, Titan cycles a chemical called methane. The rain that falls from the clouds is methane, and it falls into lakes, rivers, and seas of methane. And Titan is far too cold for human tourists.
Uranus
As a gas/ice giant, Due to the exposure of the gases and the freezing cold temperature, Uranus is composed largely of molecular hydrogen and helium, along with ammonia, water, hydrogen sulfide, and trace amounts of hydrocarbons. The presence of methane in the gases and their combinations is what gives Uranus its aquamarine or cyan coloring which is very beautiful to watch, and it is due to its prominent absorption bands in the visible and near-infrared spectrum.
To date, the only detailed photos we have of Uranus were provided by the Voyager 2 interplanetary probe, which conducted a flyby of the system in 1986. Its closest approach occurred on January 24th, 1986, when the probe came within 81,500 kilometers of the cloud tops, before continuing its journey to Neptune.
Temperature
Uranus is known as an ice giant, and it lives up to that name. Its temperature is about -360℉. Uranus is also tilted on its axis by 98 degrees. Scientists believe that it was knocked on its side by a large object long ago. Since Uranus is so far away, it takes about 84 Earth years to make a single orbit. And each of its seasons is 21 Earth years long. Uranus’ tilt causes some unusual seasonal changes as it orbits the Sun. In summer and winter, large parts of the planet see nothing but daytime or nighttime for the whole season – 21 years. In spring and fall, Uranus goes through a full day-to-night cycle every 17 hours. Uranus sometimes has huge storms, and this unusual seasonal cycle might play a part in them.
Neptune
Neptune is pretty similar in appearance to Uranus, which is due to its similar composition. Composed mainly of gases like hydrogen and helium, this cold gas/ice giant also has traces of compounds like hydrocarbons, possibly nitrogen, and “ices” such as water, ammonia, and methane. However, Neptune’s higher proportion of methane and ammonia is the main thing in it, along with its greater distance from the Sun (which results in less illumination) is what leads to Neptune’s darker blue color with a freezing cold temperature
Compared to Uranus’ relatively featureless and bold appearance, Neptune’s atmosphere has active and visible weather patterns and most of them are the cold ones. The most famous among these patterns is the Great Dark Spot, an anticyclonic storm that is similar in appearance to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot but is smaller in density and size. Like the other dark spots on Neptune, this particular area is a darker shade of blue in comparison to its surroundings.
Relatively to many other planets including Uranus, Neptune has only been photographed up-close on one occasion. Again, this was by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which made its closest approach to the planet on August 25th, 1989. Although the photographs it took were color-enhanced, they somehow struggled and managed to capture Neptune’s deeper blueish color.
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Temperature
Neptune is way out there an average of 2.8 billion miles from the Sun. That means the ice giant is seriously cold. The average temperature on Neptune is about -360℉. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Uranus is about the same temperature. The reason why the two planets are the same temperature at such different distances from the Sun is still a mystery. Neptune has a thick atmosphere and is covered by constantly changing clouds that whip around the planet. The wind is the name of the game on Neptune. Wind speeds there have been measured at near 1,200 miles per hour, making them the fastest in the solar system!
Why do Planets have different Colors?
Actually, Planets have consists of different types of minerals and rocks, from which they adapt a specific shape and a color. For example, Saturn is made up of many gases and minerals like Hydrogen. Another one is Mercury has a dark gray, rocky surface that is covered with a thick layer of dust. The surface of Mercury is thought to be made up of igneous silicate rocks and dust. Venus is entirely covered with a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere and sulphuric acidic clouds and an acidic nature that give it a light yellowish appearance. Earth consists of all the natural minerals and all the natural elements, it is showing its water, clouds, and green lands.
Mars is just covered with a fine dust which always contains iron oxide (rust). Mars is given its color by the process of covering fine dust. Jupiter is a huge gas planet that consists of the outer atmosphere of hydrogen and helium gases with a few amounts of water droplets, ice crystals, ammonia crystals, and other natural elements. Clouds of these elements create shades of white, orange, brown, and red. Saturn is also a giant gas planet with a huge outer atmosphere that is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium.
Saturn is also a giant gas planet with an outer atmosphere that also contains mostly hydrogen and helium. Its atmosphere has traced ammonia, phosphine, water vapor, and hydrocarbons giving it a yellowish-brown color. Uranus is a small and cold gas planet that has a lot of methane gas mixed in with its mainly hydrogen and helium atmosphere. This methane gas gives Uranus a greenish-blue color Neptune also has some methane gas in its mainly hydrogen and helium atmosphere because of the freezing cold temperature over there, giving it a bluish color.
The Planetary Week and Metals
The days of the week, mostly in the Indo-European languages, have their names associated with the planets: Mon-day (day of the Moon), through Sun-day (day of the Sun). Even though this “astrological” legacy may be firmly justified in our custody and in our sense, these attributions have no strict astrological value since they are just names on planets, and since they just formed through a simple arithmetic process without any physical foundation. The planetary week, attested as early as the 2nd century BCE, is apparent of Mesopotamian or Syrian origin. The Greeks including the Egyptians, in contradistinction to the Semitic peoples, are not confirmed of the seven days in a week.
A direct application of the planetary week appears in the following phenomenon of “pseudo-astrological” of the planetary hours or chronocratories, and most probably of Egyptian origin. Each of the 168 hours of the week is separately held usually to be governed by one of the most important Septenary planets, the planets ruling are succeeding the hours following one another but the but they are also decreasing their sidereal[revolutions, which allows the first hour of each day to be governed by the planet of that day in the order of the planetary week.
So the first hour (that of the rising of the Sun) of the Saturday is ruled by Saturn by the pronunciation, the second one by Jupiter, the third one is ruled by Mars, and so on to the seventh, ruled by the Moon. The eighth, as well as the fifteenth and the twenty-first, are once again ruled by Saturn because of some firm reasons, the twenty-third is also ruled by Jupiter, and the twenty-fourth is again by Mars, which leads to the first hour of Sunday, ruled by the Sun, just as the first hour of Monday is ruled by the Moon, and so on to the first hour of Friday, ruled by Venus.
Another artificial application of the planetary week is found in the system of faces, or you can also say Zodiacal decans which are ruled by the planets. Each of the 36 decans is held to be governed by a particular planet of the Septenary according to the same decreasing order of their sidereal revolutions, beginning this time with Mars, ruler of the first decan of Aries, then moving to Mercury, ruler of the first decan of Taurus, then to Jupiter for the first decan of Gemini, and ultimately to Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars for the first, second and third decans of Pisces. In this manner, the planets governing the first decans of the Zodiacal signs succeed one another in the order of the planetary week, from Mars in Aries to Moon in Libra, then again from Mars in Scorpio to Saturn in Pisces.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do planets have color?
Yes, planets do have colors of the material and the minerals they are made up of. Their surfaces and their atmosphere varies on the reflection of the sunlight. Just like Mercury, it has a dark gray, rocky surface with pores that are covered with a thick layer of dust.
What is the hottest planet?
Venus is the hottest planet. Its proximity to the sun and the dense area of it makes it the hottest planet in the solar system. The average temperatures of planets in our solar system are totally opposite to each other, day and night, Mercury - 800°F (430°C) during the day, -290°F (-180°C) at night. Venus - 880°F (471°C)
What is the brown planet?
Essentially, Mars owes the brownish-red color due to the contraption of heat and the presence of iron oxide on its surface and in the deep core. This color is also quite clear thanks to the rather thin nature of the atmosphere.
What is the actual color of the sun?
The color of the Sun in reality is White. The Sun acts like all the colors of the rainbow and sometimes mixes them up with the contraption, but in physics, this combination is called White. That is why we can see so many different colors in the natural world under the illumination of sunlight.
What color is the planet, Mercury?
Mercury consists of light-colored rocks, that is why the color of the mercury is simple light-grey. There is a northern horizon of Mercury as seen in many pictures by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its third flyby.
Why is Mars so red?
It is mainly because a lot of rocks on Mars are completely full of iron, and whenever they’re exposed to the great outdoors, they ‘oxidize’ and turn reddish, it is turned the same way as a bike is in a backyard which is getting rusty.
Is Venus hot or cold?
The average temperature on Venus is 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius). This shows that the temperature of Venus changes slightly every time after traveling through the atmosphere multiple times. The lead would melt on the surface of Venus, where the temperature is around 872 F (467 C).
What Colour is Pluto?
As per the scientist’s perspective, the magnitude of Pluto is an average of 15.1, brightening to 13.65 at perihelion. In other simpler words, we can say that this planet has a wide range of colors including pale sections of off-white and light blue, to streaks of yellow and subtle orange, to large patches of deep red.
What color is the planet Jupiter?
The color of Jupiter is finely defined as Yellow or maybe yellowish-orange. There is no negative effect in any of these colors hence both are positive. Its color has a warming effect and energizes the nervous system
Why is Pluto red?
Pluto gets a rusty and a red type of themed color tholins (tar) or soot-like particles which are formed by the breaking apart of the gases, nitrogen, and methane. They break apart in ultraviolet lights recombine in new, complex macromolecules, created high in the planet’s upper atmosphere
Conclusion
All of the planets in the solar system have different types of colors with a clear existence. Each of the plant’s colors depends on the minerals and the types of rock present on its surface. Just like Mars, it is so red because of the concentration of iron oxide in its materials and its physical formation. In most of the planets, there is a high concentration of gases like hydrogen and helium which also affects the factors and rates of changing colors of the planet. The more the gases, the darker the color will be.
Here is the list of the colors of the Planet:
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Venus – Brown and grey.
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Earth – Blue, brown-green, and white.
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Mars – Red, brown, and tan.
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Jupiter – Brown, orange, and tan, with white cloud stripes.
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Saturn – Golden, brown, and blue-grey.
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Uranus – Blue-green.
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Neptune – Blue.
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