Outer planets

The outer planets are those planets in the Solar System beyond the asteroid belt, and hence refers to the gas giants, which are in order of their distance from the Sun:

The outer planets all have ring systems, although all but Saturn's are faint when viewed from Earth.

Another aspect common to the gas giants is their many natural satellites (moons), two of which are larger than the planet Mercury (Jupiter's Ganymede and Saturn's Titan). That pair and Io, Callisto, Europa, and Triton, are larger than Pluto and Eris.

This region of space is also occupied by centaurs, various fields of trojans, and many comets.

Pluto was considered to be an outer planet from its discovery in 1930 until its reclassification as a dwarf planet in 2006 (see also: Kuiper belt).

In situ exploration by spacecraft includes Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Ulysses, Galileo, Cassini–Huygens, and New Horizons. Planned missions include Juno Jupiter Orbiter and possibly the Outer Planet Flagship Missions; there are various proposals too, such as Uranus orbiter and probe. Ongoing missions for the outer planets as of 2011 include Cassini probe, orbiting Saturn, New Horizons, headed for Pluto, and Juno, headed for Jupiter. Cassini and New Horizons also visited Jupiter with a flyby.

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