Download Planets and Moons - Fraser Heights Chess Club

THE SOLAR
SYSTEM
OVERVIEW
The Solar System consists of
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The Sun is the star of the system
Eight planets, circling around the Sun
Moons
Asteroids
Meteorites
Comets
OUR PLACE IN THE GALAXY
• Our Solar System is
located about 2/3
of the way out from
the galaxy’s center.
•The Sun is the only
star in the SOLAR
SYSTEM, but it is one
of over 100 billion
stars in our galaxy,
the Milky Way.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE PLANETS
 The path each planet travels around the
Sun is called orbit.
 The planets are kept in their orbits due to the
pulling force of the Sun’s gravity.
 The time a planet makes one trip around
the Sun is called a Year.
 Each planet spins around itself and around
the Sun. The face of the planet towards the
Sun, receives the light, the other is in the dark
The planets have Night and Day.
THE MOONS
• Moons are ‘natural satellites’
• Moons orbit around a planet
• The moon stays in its orbit due to
the gravitational pull of the
planet
• Our moon has a circular orbit
• We see the moon because it
reflects the Sun’s light
ASTEROIDS, METEORITE AND COMETS
• Asteroids - minor planets found in their
thousands between Mars and Jupiter
• Meteorites - probably fragments of asteroids
that broke up
• Comets - These are lumps of ‘dirty ice’ a few km
across that travel close and far around the Sun.
As they near the Sun they warm up. This causes
a tail of dust and cloud.
THE SUN
 The sun is a big ball of
hot gases, mainly
hydrogen and helium.
 The gases are
converted into energy
in the Sun's center and
is released into the
Solar System as heat
and light.
THE SUNSPOTS
 Sunspots are darker, cooler areas on the
surface of the Sun.
MERCURY
• The smallest planet, closest to the
Sun
• Dry and rocky, very hot days and
very cold nights
• Rotates slowly – the day 176 Earth
days, the night 176 Earth nights
• One Mercury-year is a quarter
Earth-year
• Mercury is very difficult to be
spotted with the naked eye
• Mercury has no moons
• Mercury has no atmosphere
• Named after the God of Speed
MERCURY CROSSING THE SUN
VENUS
• Venus is the second nearest to the
Sun
• Is a medium sized planet, almost
the same size as Earth.
• Thick atmosphere of carbon
dioxide traps the Sun‘s heat inside.
• The rain is sulphuric acid and the
presure on the surface 90 times
than on Earth.
• Venus is very well visible to the
naked eye, always close to the
sun before sunrise or after sunset
• Venus has no moons
EARTH
• Our planet, the only planet were
life, as we know it, is possible.
• Medium sized planet, a bit
larger than Venus, third from the
Sun.
• Has atmosphere, and deep
underground is magma - melted
rock. Has active volcanos and is
covered 75% with water
• The Earth has one natural
satelite – the Moon
EARTHRISE FROM APOLLO 8
MARS
• It is a small size planet, half as large
as Earth, the fourth from the Sun.
• Mars is well visible to the naked
eye, redish because of the rusted
iron in the soil.
• Mars has canyons, volcanos, dust
storms, fog, polar caps and craters.
• The carbon dioxide atmosphere is
too thin to keep the heat in, which
makes it really cold on the surface.
• Mars has two small, potato
shaped, moons Phobos and
Deimos
PHOBOS AND DEIMOS
• Phobos and Deimos are
Mars‘s companions.
Phobos means “fear“,
Deimos means “panic“.
Mars itself has been
named for the Roman
God of War.
• They are quite small
(<15km) and look like
two potatoes.
THE JOVIAN PLANETS
JUPITER
Is the largest planet of the
Solar System, a huge ball of
gases.
It almost became a star but
it didn‘t get hot enough.
Jupiter is well visible to the
naked eye
The Great Red Spot on its
surface is a giant storm as
wide as three Earths
It has small ring around
Jupiter has 63 moons!
JUPITER‘S GALILEAN MOONS
• Io, Europa, Ganymede
and Callisto are the
biggest moons of
Jupiter. They can be
seen with small
telescopes or even
with binoculars.
SATURN
• It is the second-largest planet of
the Solar System, only a bit
smaller than Jupiter and very
similar.
• Saturn‘s atmoshpere is made of
hydrogen
• Saturn is well visible to the naked
eye and the famous rings can
be seen with small telescopes
• Saturn has at least 34 moons!
The most famous moon is Titan.
URANUS – THE OUTER PLANETS
• It is huge, cold, blue-green
planet of hydrogene and
helium.gas, surounded by
many black rings and icy
moons.
• Because it spins tilted on the
orbit, the nights may last more
than 40 years.
• It is quite far away but still can
be spotted with small
telescopes
• Like Saturn, Uranus has a
system of rings
NEPTUNE
• it is medium sized planet of
the Solar System, only a
little bit smaller than
Uranus
• it is quite far away but still
can be spotted with small
telescopes
• Neptune has four rings
and at least 13 moons
PLUTO THE DWARF PLANET
A dwarf planet orbits the sun
just like other planets, but it is
smaller. A dwarf planet is so
small it cannot clear other
objects out of its path.
Pluto is in a region called the
Kuiper (KY-per) Belt. Thousands
of small, icy objects like Pluto
are in the Kuiper Belt.
• Pluto is very cold, made out of rock and ice and has
five moons. Its largest moon is named Charon. Charon
is about half the size of Pluto.
• In 2015, the Pluto is due to be visited by a spacecraft
for the first time - the New Horizons probe.
THE DWARF PLANETS
SPEED IN UNIVERSE
 The speed of light is the fastest speed that
could EVER be achieved.
 The speed of light is 300,000 km per SECOND!!
 Light takes 2 seconds to reach the Earth from
the Moon
 Light takes it 8 minutes to reach the Earth from
the Sun
SPEED FACTS
If you were in a spaceship that travelled at
the speed of light and you started a journey
from the Sun it would take:

3 minutes to reach Mercury,

5 minutes to reach Venus,

8 minutes to reach the Earth,

51/2 hours to reach Pluto,
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4 years to reach the next star,

5000 years to reach the edge of the galaxy,
SPEED FACTS
 Real rockets don’t travel at the speed of
light, they travel MUCH slower.
 The Apollo missions took 4 days to reach
the Moon - at the speed of light it would
have taken 2 seconds!!
 These rockets were travelling roughly
200,000 times slower than light.
 At this speed it would take 125 YEARS to
get to Pluto!
MASS AND WEIGHT
 Mass is the amount of matter in an object and
is measured in kilograms.
 Mass has the same value anywhere in the
Universe, including outer space.
 Weight is a force and is caused by the pull of
gravity acting on a mass. Like other forces,
weight is measured in newtons and has both
magnitude and direction.
 Weight has different values depending on
where the object is in the Universe.
SAME MASS DIFFERENT WEIGHT
Gravity is the force that attracts
objects with mass towards each
other.
The bigger the mass of the
object, the stronger the force of
gravity.
For example, an apple will have
the same mass on Earth as on
the Moon, but its weight will be
different.
The Earth has a bigger mass than
the Moon and so exerts a
stronger gravitational pull on the
apple.
THE SKY TONIGHT
• The Red Planet puts on its best show in more than six years in April.
TOTAL MOON ECLIPSE
APRIL 15TH
• 15 April - Total lunar eclipse, visible for observers in North
and Central America and western South America. The total
eclipse begins at 7:07 UT, peaks at 7:46 UT, and ends at 8:25
UT. This is the first total lunar eclipse visible in North America
since 2011.
During a lunar eclipse, the full Moon passes into Earth’s shadow and appears
to grow dark over several hours. Some sunlight refracts and reddens as it
passes through the Earth’s atmosphere and casts a copper-color onto the
Moon’s visible surface.
Weather permitting,
this event is visible
without optics,
although the view is
enhanced with
binoculars or small
scope at low
magnification.
RESOURCES
www.worldofteaching.com
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/
http://www.astronomy.com/observing/sky-events/2014/04/explore-mars-this-month
http://oneminuteastronomer.com/sky-this-month/#sthash.ZtiWvx0y.dpuf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOF0bRBFJ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_lL6I3OaA