What is the order of the planets?

Beginning with the planet closest to the Sun and moving outward, the order of the planets is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Before its reclassification as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, Pluto was considered the ninth and most distant planet.

While the four inner planets are relatively close to the Sun, the distances increase dramatically with the outer planets. If the Sun were the size of a basketball, the average distance of Mars from the Sun would be 130 feet, while the average distance of Jupiter would be 445 feet, and the average distance of Neptune would be 2,580 feet, or about half a mile away.