The following images show five planets in our solar system. Rank these planets from left to right based on their average surface (or cloud-top) temperature, from highest to lowest. (Not to scale.)
Highest -- Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune -- Lowest
Notice that, for these five planets, temperature correlates with distance from the Sun: the closer to the Sun, the hotter the planet. Remember, however, that this is not always the case, because a planet’s temperature also depends on its reflectivity and on the strength of its greenhouse effect (if any). For example, the greenhouse effect gives Venus a higher average temperature than Mercury, even though Venus is nearly twice as far from the Sun.
