tooi wakusei wo mita.

Because 遠い is an i-adjective, and in Japanese, i-adjectives go directly before the noun they modify.

So:

• 遠い惑星 = a distant planet

This works a lot like English distant planet.

You do not need a word like of or that is here. Japanese simply puts the adjective before the noun.

Examples:

• 大きい犬 = a big dog
• 古い本 = an old book
• 遠い惑星 = a distant planet

Because 遠い is directly modifying 惑星.

When an i-adjective modifies a noun, it attaches straight to the noun with no particle in between:

• 遠い惑星
• 新しい車
• 面白い映画

A beginner might expect something between them, but Japanese does not need anything there.

を marks the direct object of the verb—the thing that was seen.

So in:

• 遠い惑星を見た

the object is 遠い惑星 = the distant planet / a distant planet

The verb is 見た = saw

So を tells you that the planet is what the speaker saw.

A rough structure is:

• [object] を [verb]
• 遠い惑星 を 見た
• (I) saw a distant planet

見た is the plain past form of 見る (to see).

• 見る = see / to see
• 見た = saw

So the sentence describes something that already happened.

Compare:

• 遠い惑星を見る。 = I see / will see a distant planet.
• 遠い惑星を見た。 = I saw a distant planet.

It comes from 見る.

This is an ichidan verb, so its past plain form is made like this:

• 見る
• remove る
• add た
• → 見た

So:

• 見る = to see
• 見た = saw

The subject is omitted.

Japanese often leaves out the subject when it is clear from context. So this sentence could mean:

• I saw a distant planet
• He saw a distant planet
• She saw a distant planet
• They saw a distant planet

depending on the situation.

In many beginner translations, it becomes I saw a distant planet, but the Japanese sentence itself does not explicitly say I.

If you wanted to state the subject, you could say:

• 私は遠い惑星を見た。 = I saw a distant planet.

Because Japanese does not always need to state the topic or subject explicitly.

This sentence is perfectly natural as a short, context-dependent statement:

• 遠い惑星を見た。

If the context already tells us who is acting, there is no need to add 私は or 彼が, etc.

Adding them changes the nuance slightly:

• 私は遠い惑星を見た。 = As for me, I saw a distant planet.
• 彼が遠い惑星を見た。 = He is the one who saw a distant planet.

Without them, the sentence is shorter and more neutral.

Not exactly.

• 遠い is the basic adjective form: far / distant
• 遠く is the adverbial form

Examples:

• 遠い惑星 = a distant planet
• 遠くを見る = to look far away / into the distance

So in your sentence, 遠い is correct because it modifies the noun 惑星.

Yes, 遠くの惑星 is also possible, but it is structured differently.

Compare:

• 遠い惑星 = a distant planet
• 遠くの惑星 = a planet far away / a planet in a distant place

Both can be natural, but 遠い惑星 is the more direct adjective + noun pattern.

A learner should know:

• 遠い directly modifies the noun
• 遠くの uses the adverbial form plus の to create a descriptive phrase

No, they are related but not the same.

• 惑星（わくせい） = planet
• 星（ほし） = star, heavenly body, or sometimes “celestial object” more generally in casual usage

So 遠い惑星 specifically means a distant planet, not just a faraway star.

It is pronounced とおい.

A common learner point:

• the おお here is a long o sound

So it sounds roughly like:

• tooi

Similarly:

• 遠く = とおく

The particle を is pronounced お in modern Japanese.

So although it is written を, you usually say it like o.

In this sentence:

• 遠い惑星を見た
• pronounced roughly: tooi wakusei o mita

This is very common and important to remember:

• written: を
• pronounced: お

You are right—normal Japanese writing usually does not use spaces.

So this would normally be written as:

• 遠い惑星を見た。

Spaces are often added in textbooks or beginner materials to make the structure easier to see.

The natural written sentence is:

• 遠い惑星を見た。

It is plain (casual/dictionary-style conversation form), not polite.

• 見た = plain past
• polite version: 見ました

So the polite version would be:

• 遠い惑星を見ました。

This does not change the basic meaning, only the level of politeness.

Yes.

Japanese does not have articles like a and the. So 遠い惑星 can mean:

• a distant planet
• the distant planet

The exact meaning depends on context.

For example:

• if you are mentioning it for the first time, English often uses a
• if both speaker and listener already know which planet, English may use the

Japanese leaves that unstated unless context makes it clear.

The basic order is:

• 遠い惑星 = distant planet
• を = object marker
• 見た = saw

So the full pattern is:

• object + を + verb

Japanese usually puts the verb at the end of the sentence.

That is why it looks different from English:

• English: I saw a distant planet
• Japanese: (I) a distant planet saw

Of course, the natural translation is still I saw a distant planet.