Download The Solar System

The Sun
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The Sun is the center of
the solar system.
It is a star ( a hot ball of
glowing gases.) It is our
closest star.
The sun is big enough to
hold over one million
Earths. Even so, the sun
is an average-sized star.
The Sun is 870,000
miles across.
The Sun ‘s gravity helps
hold the objects in the
solar system in place.
Click on the SUN
to learn more.
Mercury
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If you were to step onto the surface of Mercury you would
think that you were on the moon.
Meteorites continually bombard the surface of Mercury.
The sky is always black because there is no atmosphere to
cause light from scattering.
Venus
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Venus is sometimes
called Earth's sister
planet. In some ways
they are very similar.
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Venus is only slightly
smaller than Earth and
both have few craters
indicating relatively young
surfaces.
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This dense atmosphere
produces a run-away
greenhouse effect that
raises Venus' surface
temperature by about 400
degrees.
Earth
•Earth is our home. Earth is the third planet from the
Sun and the fifth largest:
• Seventy-one percent of the Earth's surface is covered
with water. Earth is the only planet on which water can
exist in liquid form on the surface .
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the
seventh largest. Though Mars is much smaller
than Earth, its surface area is about the same as
the land surface area of Earth.
Mars
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The first spacecraft to
visit Mars was Mariner 4
in 1965. Several others
followed including Mars 2,
the first spacecraft to land
on Mars and the two
Viking Landers in 1976.
Mars Pathfinder landed
successfully on Mars on
July 4,1997 .
Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest.
Jupiter is more than twice as massive as all the other planets
combined (318 times Earth).
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter
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The Great Red Spot
is a hurricane like
storm that was first
observed more than
300 years ago. The
Spot is an oval about
12,000 by 25,000 km,
big enough to hold
two Earths.
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second
largest. Two prominent rings (A and B) and one faint ring
(C) can be seen from the Earth. The rings are made of
small ice and rock particles. They range in size from a
centimeter to several meters.
Uranus
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Uranus is the seventh
planet from the Sun
and the third largest.
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Like the other gas
planets, Uranus has
bands of clouds that
blow around rapidly.
Neptune
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Neptune is the eighth
planet from the Sun
and the fourth largest
(by diameter).
The surface is made
of frozen gases.
Pluto
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Pluto is made of ice.
It has a moon almost
as big as it is.
Pluto is the farthest
planet from the Sun
(usually) and by far
the smallest
Orbit
Orbit
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The orbit is the path an object
The orbit
is the
path another object in
takes
around
an object takes
space.
around another object
in space.
Revolution
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Revolution is the movement of one object
around another object. Earth makes one
revolution around the sun every 365 ¼ days.
One revolution takes one year.
Rotation
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Rotation is the
spinning of an object
on its axis.
Axis
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The imaginary line
that goes through the
North Pole and the
South Pole.
Solar Eclipse
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A solar eclipse
happens when the
moon’s shadow falls
on Earth. This
happens when the
moon moves between
the Earth and the
Sun. During a total
solar eclipse, the
moon blocks out the
sun.
Lunar Eclipse
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This is called a lunar
eclipse. A lunar
eclipse happens
when Earth’s shadow
falls on the moon. A
total lunar eclipse
causes all of the
moon’s face to look
dark red.