Download The Planets of Our Solar System

The Planets of Our Solar
System
Aim: What are some of the
characteristics of the planets of our solar
system?
I. Inner (Terrestrial) Planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
A. Mercury
1. Closest to the sun
2. Orbits the sun in 88 days
3. Completes one rotation in 59 days
1. Temperature of 400oC
in day and -200oC at
night
2. Has many craters like
the moon
3. Very eccentric orbit
B. Venus – very similar to the Earth in
diameter, mass, and gravity.
1. Rotates east to west (only planet that
rotates in this direction)
2. Atmosphere of mostly CO2
3. Greenhouse Effect - CO2 keeps heat
from escaping
4. Surface temperature reaches a high of
460oC
5. Has winds that travel up to 300 km/hr
C. Mars (Has 2 moons)
1. 687 days to orbit Sun
2. It has half the diameter and gravity of
the Earth
3. It has a similar tilt as the Earth, thus . . .?
It has 4 seasons like the earth!!
4. It has a high temperature of 27oC and a
low temperature of -125oC.
5. It has a thin atmosphere of mostly CO2
4. Has frozen polar ice
caps of CO2 and some
water
5. Olympus Mons – large
shield volcano. 600 km
across and 25 km high.
Outer (Jovian) Planets – Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
II.
A.. Very large planets. Uranus is the
smallest of these planets, but is still 15x
larger than Earth!
B. Gas Planets
C. Composed mainly of Hydrogen (H) and
Helium (He).
D. 3 layered structures
1. Rocky core
2. Liquid mantle (liquid
hydrogen)
3. Gaseous outer layer
E. All have Ring systems
1. Individual particles that orbit planets
2. Closer to planet than the moons
3. Centered over the equator of the planet
Jupiter’s Ring
F. Jupiter
1. Orbits the sun in 12 years and completes one
rotation in 9.8 hours
2. Has twice the total mass of all other planets ‘
masses combined
3. Composed of 90% hydrogen and 10% helium
surrounding small iron, rock, and water core.
4. Dark and light bands are wind streams
5. “Great Red Spot” – storm that is larger than
the Earth across.
6. Has at least 16 moons. Largest ones that were
discovered by Galileo. Named Io, Europa,
Ganymede, and Callisto.
Red Spot
G. Saturn
1. Orbits the sun in 30 years and completes one
rotation in 10.2 hours
2. Wind speed at the equator reaches 1800 km/hr.
3. Very low density (0.7 g/cm3). Can float in water!
4. Spectacular ring system is composed primarily of
water and ice.
5. At least 18 moons. Titan is largest moon.
H. Uranus
1. Takes 84 years to orbit sun once and rotates once in
17.3 hours.
2. Avg. surface temp. is –200oC
3. It’s axis is completely tipped over with it’s south
pole pointing towards the sun.
4. Its atmosphere is made up of hydrogen and
methane. The methane gives it its blue color.
5. Rock, iron core surrounded by water and hydrogen
gas.
URANUS
I. Neptune
1. Orbits the sun in 165 years and
rotates on its axis in 16 hours.
2. Outermost of large planets that
has 6 moons
3. “Great Dark Spot” – large storm
similar to Jupiter’s. 30,000 km
across.
4. Wind speeds of up to 1300
miles/hr.
5. 8 moons
Neptune
J. Pluto
1. Very elliptical orbit and may
even pass Neptune in its orbit
2. Orbits the sun in over 200
years and rotates once every 6
days.
3. Has one moon (Charon)
4. Made up of water, rock, and
ice.
5. Temperature of about –387oC
6. Thin methane atmosphere
Pluto
Costa's Homepage
Earth’s revolution around sun http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visuali
zations/es0408/es0408page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization