Download The Inner Planets

The Inner Planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
The Inner Planets

The four inner
planets are small
and have rocky
surfaces
Mercury
Planet closest to the sun
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Looks like the moon, with
many craters and flat plains
Mercury’s Atmosphere
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Extremely thin
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Gas is mostly sodium
Planet of Extremes

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Greatest temperature range
of all the planets

-183° C (-298° F) during the
night 427° C (800° F) during the
day
Venus

Venus’s Movement

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7.5 earth months to revolve around the
sun
Day is longer than it’s year (8 months)
Retrograde rotation (rotating backwards)
– Hypothesis that Venus was struck by a
very large object that changed it’s
rotation
Venus’s Atmosphere

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Pressure is 90 times greater than Earth’s
atmosphere
Mostly carbon dioxide
Sulfuric acid clouds
467° C (872° F) at surface (melts lead) –
caused by greenhouse effect (trapping of
heat by atmosphere)
Earth

Atmosphere
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Surface

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20% oxygen / 78%
nitrogen / 2% other
70% covered with
water
One moon
Mars


“The Red Planet”

Iron Dioxide (rust) on
surface
Atmosphere

Mostly carbon dioxide

1% of the pressure of
Earth’s atmosphere
Mars
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Seasons on Mars

Tilted axis, therefore
seasons
Exploring Mars

There is ice on the poles
(water and carbon dioxide)
The Moons of Mars

Phobos (Fear)
 Largest moon

Deimos (Panic)