The planets in our solar system are heated by the sun. Here on Earth, we are about 100 million miles away from the sun — a distance that provides the perfect temperature for life.
Planets are made when smaller chunks of rock smash together, building the full planet piece by piece over many millions of years. Every time these rocks smash together, the planet gains a little more heat. If you clap your hands together for a long time they will start to feel hot — the same thing happens with planets.
Instead, we have to work out how cold they are by measuring their temperature from here on Earth. We do this by studying the light from the planet, which can tell us the types of atoms and molecules which make up the planet's atmosphere. This information lets us know exactly what the temperature of the planet is: the atoms and molecules act as a kind of temperature"fingerprint" for the planet.
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