Frank Sinatra crooned: "Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars." Well, the answer, Frank, is that Jupiter's spring is indistinguishable from the rest of the year, while the Martian spring is pretty dusty. On Venus, seasons are short, lasting just 55 to 58 days each. On Saturn, a season can last for seven years, but that's a mere blink of an eye compared to Neptune, where each season can last for 40 long years.

A planet's weather is affected by the tilt of its axis (which causes the seasons), the shape of its orbit around the sun, the presence or absence of a significant atmosphere, its average distance from the sun, and the length of its day.

As spring arrives in the northern hemisphere on Earth, IBTimesUK takes a quick trip around the solar system to see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars (and Saturn).