INNER AND OUTER PLANETS

Mercury and Venus are situated between the Earth and the Sun and are called the minor, interior or inferior planets; Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are situated far away from the Earth. Their orbits are outside the Earth’s orbit. They are called outer, or superior planets are different from the inner and outer solar system explained earlier. It should be clearly understood that Venus and Mercury are called as inferior planets because of their smaller distance from the Sun than the outer planets and not for any other reason. Similarly the outer planets are said to be superior only because of their large distances from the Sun.