Download The Solar System

The Solar System
6th Grade Science
2011
The Solar System
 What
do you know about the solar
system?
What is a planet?

The definition of planet set in 2006 by the
International Astronomical Union (IAU)
states that in the Solar System a planet is
a celestial body that:
is in orbit around the Sun,
 has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic
equilibrium (a nearly round shape), and
 has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its
orbit.

General Characteristics of the
Solar System
 Terrestrial
planets- small, composed of
rock and metallic elements (metals)
 Jovian planetslarge,
composed of
gases and
frozen
compounds
4 Terrestrial Planets
The Inner Planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
 Rocky and metallic
 Small
 No rings
Very few moons

Mercury
1st planet
 58.6 earth days to rotate once
 88 earth days to revolve once
 No moons
 No rings
 No
atmosphere

Venus
2nd planet
 243 earth days to rotate once
 224.7 earth days to revolve once
 No moons, rings
 Atmosphere is mostly CO2

Earth
3rd planet
 24 hours to rotate
 365 days to revolve
 1 moon
 No rings

Mars
4th planet
 24.6 hours to rotate
 687 days to revolve
 2 moons
 No rings, atmosphere

The Asteroid Belt


Separates Inner and Outer planets
Asteroids are primordial objects left over from the
formation of the Solar System. While some have
suggested that they are the remains of a
protoplanet that was destroyed in a massive
collision long ago, the prevailing view is that
asteroids are leftover rocky matter that never
successfully coalesced into a planet.
4 Jovian Planets
The Outer Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
 Gases & frozen gases
 Very large
 All have rings
 Many moons

Jupiter
5th planet (1st outer planet)
 9.84 hours to rotate
 4,333 days to revolve


(12 earth years)
63 moons
 Rings
 Largest
planet

Saturn
6th planet
 10.2 hours to rotate
 10, 759 days to revolve (29 earth years)
 33 moons
 Rings

Uranus
7th planet
 17.9 hours to rotate
 30,688 days to revolve


(84 earth years)
27 moons
 Rings
 Tilted on its side

Neptune
8th planet
 19 hours to rotate
 60,181 days to revolve
(164.8 earth years)
 13 moons
 Rings
 Methane atmosphere
gives it bluish color

The Nine Planets








Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Is Pluto a Planet?

Dwarf planet

From its time of discovery in 1930 to 2006 it was considered to be the
ninth planet in the solar system, but because additional objects have
been discovered including Eris which is 27% more massive, the IAU
reclassified Pluto and the other objects as dwarf planets. The New
Horizons spacecraft was launched on January 16, 2006 and will make
its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015. This mission will provide
an increased amount of information about this peculiar dwarf planet.
Pluto
Dwarf planet
 6 days, 9 hours to rotate
 90,470 days to revolve (247.7 earth years)

Dwarf Planets
Scaling the Solar System


not to scale
have to fit in picture
Scale model of Planets
compared to Sun
0.04in.
Mercury
Venus
Earth
12.01in.
0.10in.
0.12in
Mars
0.06in.
1.20in.
Jupiter
1.00in.
Saturn
0.40in.
Uranus
0.39in.
Neptune
0.02in.
Pluto
Distance
-not to scale
-drawn to fit picture
The moon is 30 Earth’s away
Distance
Because space is so vast, astronomers
have a created different unit for
measuring the distances in space
known as an astronomical unit.
This is the distance from the Sun to
the Earth.

Earth is 93million miles from Sun
(150million km)

1 AU (astronomical unit)
http://www.northern-stars.com/solar_system_distance_scal.htm
AU’s









Mercury .38
Venus- .72
Earth- 1.0
Mars- 1.5
Jupiter- 5.2
Saturn- 9.5
Uranus- 19.2
Neptune- 30.0
Pluto- 39.4

Scale solar system
1AU= 1m
(earth 1m away from
sun)

Rotation & Revolution
General Characteristics of the
Solar System
Planetary orbits and rotation
planet and satellite orbits are in a common
plane
 nearly all planet and satellite orbital and
rotation motions are in the same direction

Planet and satellite orbits are in a common
plane
common plane
Nearly all planet and satellite orbital and rotation motions are in the same direction