Download Celestial Body Shape Diameter Composition

The Sun
• Our Solar System’s Star
• Current Age- 5 Billions years old
• Life Time Expectancy- 10 Billions years
• 99.8 % of our solar systems total mass.
• 108 Earth fit across the diameter
Mercury
•
•
•
•
1st Planet 58,000,000km
Rotation 59 Earth days
Revolution 88 Earth Days
Solid, rocky, surface.
–
–
-173C to 427C
Very cratered
• Very thin atmosphere- Sodium and other Elements.
• No Moon
• Factoids: Very hard to get a good view, has an
extreme temperature range.
Venus
• 2nd Planet 108,000,000km
• Rotation Period- 243 Earth Days
– Retrograde rotation- rotates east to west.
• Revolution Period- 225 Earth Days
• A solid, rocky, cratered surface with
volcanoes.
– 460ºC hot enough to melt lead.
– Greenhouse effect- traps heat in the
atmosphere, due to Carbon Dioxide.
• Very thick atmosphere, cloud covered.
• No Moon
Earth
•
•
•
•
3rd Planet 150,000,000 km
Rotation 24 Earth hours
Revolution 365.25 Earth Days
Solid, rocky, surface, 71% liquid water
–
-88°C to 58°C
• Atmosphere- nitrogen and oxygen
• One natural satellite - Moon
• Factoids: living beings and all that is needed
to sustain life
Mars
•
•
•
•
4th Planet 228,000,000km
Rotation 1.03 Earth Days
Revolution- 687 Earth Days
Solid, rocky, surface. (the red planet)
–
–
–
–
-87°C to -5°C
Once believed there were canals.
Has ice caps (made of frozen carbon dioxide and
water.)
Has seasons. (dust storms)
• Very thin atmosphere- mostly carbon dioxide
• 2 Moons-Phobos and Deimos
Asteroid Belt
•
•
•
•
•
Between Mars and Jupiter.
Over 10,000
Too small and numerous to be planets.
Ceres is a dwarf planet
An asteroid might have made the
dinosaurs extinct.
Jupiter
•
•
•
•
5th Planet 778,000,000km
Rotation .41 Earth Days
Revolution 12 Earth Years
Gas giant, No Solid Surface
- gravity keeps gases in
– 1.8987 x 1027 kg
– 300 times more massive than Earth
– solid core of rock and ice
• Very dense atmosphere- hydrogen and helium
– Great Red Spot (giant hurricane – fit 3 Earths)
• Moons: 62 (Io, Ganymede, Calisto, Europa)
Saturn
•
•
•
•
6th Planet 1,427,000,000km
Rotation .43 Earth Days
Revolution 29 Earth Years
Gas giant, No Solid Surface
–
–
–
5.6851 x 1026 kg
solid core of rock and ice
less dense than water
• Very dense atmosphere- hydrogen and helium
• 1000’s of rings (made of rock and ice)
• Moons: 60 (Titan)
Uranus
•
•
•
•
7th Planet 2,871,000,000km
Rotation .72 Earth Days
Revolution 84 Earth Years
Gas giant, No Solid Surface
–
–
–
8.6849 x 1025 kg
solid core of rock and ice
rotates on its side
• Very dense atmosphere- traces of methane
• Thin rings (made of rock and ice)
• Moons: 27
Neptune
•
•
•
•
8th Planet 4,479,000,000km (30 Earth’s)
Rotation .67 Earth Days
Revolution 165 Earth Years
Gas giant (gravity keeps gases in)
–
–
–
1.0244 x 1026 kg
solid core of rock and ice
found by a mathematician
• Very dense atmosphere- traces of methane
– The Great Dark Spot (Didn’t last long)
• Thin rings (made of rock and ice)
• Moons: 13 (Triton)
Which of the following statements correctly
describes the planets of our solar system?
A. Saturn is the farthest planet from the sun.
B. Mercury takes the shortest amount of
time to revolve around the sun.
C. Venus is the 5th planet from the sun.
D. Mars takes less time to revolve around the
sun than the Earth.
Which of the following statements
correctly describes the Planets of our
solar system?
A. The outer planets have rocky surfaces with
cores of gas.
B. The rocky surface of Venus is covered with
ice.
C. The inner 4 planets have rocky surfaces
while the outer planets are gaseous.
D. Jupiter is the smallest of the Outer
Planets.
Comet
•
•
•
•
•
“Dirty snowballs”
Spherical chunks of ice, rock and dust
Tens of thousands of Kilometers across
Very long and elliptical orbits
Sun melts the ice into gas and forms a
tail.
• Solar wind pushes tail away from the
sun.
• Halley’s comet- Every 76 Years (2062)
Parts of a Comet
1.Coma- gas and
dust from the inner
layer.
2.Nucleus- Central
part of a comet.
3.Tail- gas and
dust, pushed away
from the sun due
to solar wind.
Asteroids & Meteoroids
• Asteroids and meteoroids are
irregularly-shaped chunks of rock in
space.
• Asteroids are usually around a kilometer
in size.
• Meteoroids are smaller than asteroids.
• Meteoroids usually form from a comet
or asteroid.
Meteor
• Meteors are small meteoroids enter the
Earth’s atmosphere and burn up
entirely.
• Meteoroids burn due to the friction
with the atmosphere.
• Meteors appear as a streak of light.
• Meteors are referred to as Shooting
Stars.
Meteorites
• Meteoroids that are too big to burn up
completely as the pass through the
atmosphere.
• Meteorites survive entry and hit the
Earth’s surface.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME CELESTIAL BODIES
Celestial Body
Shape
Diameter
Composition
1
Spherical
12,000 Km
Rock, Dust, & Ice
2
Irregular
1 Km
Rock and Metal
3
Spherical
1 Million Km
Glowing Gas
Celestial body # 1 is most likely which
of the following?
A. a star
B. an asteroid
C. a comet
D. a planet