Download Who am I? - Denton ISD

3-26-12
Our Solar
System
Notes
Astronomical Unit
• (AU)
• The average distance
between the Earth and
the sun
• 149,600,000 km
• Light travels 300,000
km per second
• Light takes 8.3 minutes
to reach Earth from the
Sun.
Rotation
• The spin of an object in
space.
• Earth rotates every 24
hours.
Orbit
The path an object
takes around the
Sun.
Revolution
The motion of traveling
around another object
in space.
• Earth revolves around
the Sun once a year
(365 days)
Who am I?
• Has inspired mythological
stories in cultures around
the world, including those of
the ancient Egyptians, the
Aztecs of Mexico, Native
American tribes of North
America and Canada, the
Chinese, and many others.
SUN
• Closest star to Earth
• A hot ball of burning gas
• Without the Sun’s intense
heat and energy there
would be no life on Earth.
• Has multiple layers
• The part of the Sun that we
can see is 11,000 degrees F
(6,100 degrees C).
• It gets hotter as you go
deeper.
So what exactly is a
planet?
A "planet" is a body that
A. is in orbit around the Sun
B. has mass; nearly round
shape
C. has cleared the
neighborhood around its
orbit
The Inner Planets
Who am I?
Hint: Not the moon
MERCURY
• Planet closest to Sun
• No moons
• Mercury completes a trip
around the Sun every 88
days
• Because it is so close to the Sun,
temperatures on its surface can
reach a scorching 467 degrees
Celsius
• because the planet has hardly
any atmosphere to keep it warm,
nighttime temperatures can drop
to a frigid -170 degrees Celsius
Who am I?
VENUS
•
closest to the Sun
• Covered by thick, quickly
spinning clouds that trap
surface heat.
• HOTTEST PLANET!
• No Moons
nd
2
Unknow
n
• Revolves around the Sun every 224 days
Who am I?
EARTH
• Only planet known to
support life
• 1 moon- Luna
• Air, water, land, and life
- including humans
Who am I?
MARS
•The RED planet
•small , rocky body
once thought to be
very Earth-like
• It has polar ice caps
that grow and shrink
with the change of
seasons
• 2 Moons- Phobos &
Deimos
Revolves around the Sun every
689 days
• Earth has plates that move and
slide past each other
• Martian tectonics seem to be
vertical, with hot lava pushing
upwards through the crust to the
surface. Periodically, great dust
storms engulf the entire planet
The Outer Planets
Who am I?
JUPITER
• Most massive planet in
our solar system
• Made of mostly
ammonia, hydrogen,
helium
• Takes 11 Earth years for Jupiter to
complete 1 revolution
• The Great Red Spot, a
giant spinning storm,
has been observed for
more than 300 years.
• 4 major moons- Io,
Europa, Ganymede,
Callisto
• HOW MANY MOONS TOTAL?
• 62 Moons total!!!
Who am I?
SATURN
• Made mostly of hydrogen
and helium and still
getting larger
• Saturn’s rings extend
thousands of kilometers
from the planet
•Saturn's rings are
made mostly of ice
and rock
•52 Moons
• Largest moon is Titan
Who am I?
URANUS
• Uranus was discovered
in 1781
• 84 Earth years to
complete one orbit
• Made mostly of
hydrogen and helium
• Gets blue-green color
from methane gas
Tipped on its side and
has seasons that last
over 20 years
• 27 Moons
• Most moons named after
Greek mythology, but these
moons named after William
Shakespeare characters
Who am I?
NEPTUNE
• Neptune orbits the Sun
once every 165 years
(2 BILLION MILES AWAY)
• It is invisible to the naked
eye because of its extreme
distance from Earth
Has a storm called the
“Great Dark Spot”, but the
storm is smaller than the
one on Jupiter.
•Blue color is the
result of methane
in the
atmosphere
•13 known moons
Pluto
• Downgraded to a dwarf
planet in 2006
• 3 moons – Hydra, Nix,
Charon
• No spacecraft have
visited Pluto
Who am I?
Romeo and Juliet
O, Swear not by the moon,
The inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
Satellite
• Natural or artificial bodies that
revolve around more massive
bodies such as planets.
• Mercury and Venus have no
natural satellites called moons.
What am I?
Comet
•Small body of ice,
rock, and cosmic
dust loosely packed
together
•Formed in outer
solar system
• When passing close
to the sun the ice
gets heated and
forms a long tail.
What am I?
Asteroid
• Small, rocky bodies that
revolve around the Sun.
• Range in size from a few
meters to more than 900
km in diameter
• They revolve in the
asteroid belt
between Mars and
Jupiter
What am I?
Meteor
• Much smaller than
asteroids
• Smaller, rocky bodies
that revolve around the
sun
• Probably pieces of
asteroids
• It is called a meteorite
when it hits Earth