Download THE SOLAR SYSTEM

THE SOLAR
SYSTEM
The Solar System consists of:





Planets
Moons
Asteroids
Comets
Star
PLANETS
A planet is a large, round
heavenly body that orbits
a star and shines with light
reflected from the star. We
know of eight planets that
orbit the sun in our solar
system. Since 1992,
astronomers have also
discovered many planets
orbiting other stars.
World book
What are the eight planets?
HINT: My Very Educated Mother Just Sent Us Nectarines
Outer
Planets
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Inner Planets
Inner Planets



Inner/Before the asteroid belt: Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Mars
Inner Planets are small and rocky. They are
warmer than the outer planets and they do not have
rings.
Earth is the only planet that can sustain life. It is
able to do this because it has an atmosphere,
water, and it is a good distance from the sun.
NEXT…
Asteroid Belt

Asteroids are small rocky objects that orbit
the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
Outer Planets
Outer: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune
 These planets consist mainly of gas, have
multiple rings and moons.

MERCURY
The smallest planet in the solar
system, after Pluto, and the one
nearest to the sun. Its orbit about
the sun takes 88 days to complete,
at a mean distance of almost
36,000,000 miles. Mercury goes
around the sun about four times
while the earth is going around
once.
VENUS
Venus is the sixth
largest planet in the
solar system and the
second in distance
from the sun. Venus is
the brightest planet in
the solar system and
the one that comes
closest to the earth.
EARTH




Age: At least 4 1/2 billion years
Mass:
6,600,000,000,000,000,000,000
(6.6 sextillion) tons (6.0 sextillion
metric tons).
Surface features:
Highest land—Mount Everest,
29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above
sea level.
Lowest land—shore of Dead
Sea, about 1,310 feet (399
meters) below sea).
Temperature: Highest, 136 °F
(58 °C) at Al Aziziyah, Libya.
Lowest, -128.6 °F (-89.6 °C) at
Vostok Station in Antarctica.
Average surface temperature, 59
°F (15 °C).
MARS
The Mars Odyssey probe,
shown in this illustration
orbiting Mars, found
evidence of water ice
beneath the surface of
Mars in 2002. The probe,
launched in 2001, also
analyzed the chemical
composition of the
planet's surface.
What is this planet called?
Jupiter
Jupiter






Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.
Its diameter is 88,846 miles (142,984 kilometers),
more than 11 times that of Earth, and about onetenth that of the sun.
It would take more than 1,000 Earths to fill up the
volume of the giant planet.
It is usually the second brightest planet—after
Venus.
Jupiter is made up of swirling gases.
The huge red spot on Jupiter is a storm that has
been raging for hundreds of years.
SAT
URN
•Sixth planet from the sun
•Made up of swirling
gases
•Has the largest system of
rings that are made of tiny
bits of ice and rock
URANUS
•Seventh planet from the sun
•Looks green because of the
green gas in its atmosphere
•Also has rings, but fewer
than Saturn
NEPTU
NE


Is made of frozen gas,
rock, and water
In it’s outermost ring
(39,000 miles from the
planet) material
mysteriously clumps
into 3 bright, dense
arcs.
What About Pluto?
Is Pluto a Planet?
•For an object to be a planet, it
needs to meet these three
requirements defined by the
International Astronomical Union
1. It needs to be in orbit around the
Sun.
2. It needs to have enough gravity
to pull itself into a spherical shape.
3. It needs to have "cleared the
neighborhood" of its orbit.
Cleared It’s Orbit




What does "cleared its neighborhood" mean?
As planets form, they become the dominant
gravitational body in their orbit in the Solar
System.
As they interact with other, smaller objects, they
either consume them, or sling them away with
their gravity.
Other planets have captured the objects orbiting
them.
Does Pluto Qualify?
1. Does Pluto orbit around the
sun?
YES
2. Does it have enough gravity to
pull itself into a spherical shape?
YES
3. Has Pluto "cleared the
neighborhood" of its orbit?
NO
–
Pluto





Here's the rule breaker. Pluto is
not a planet because it has not
captured the objects in its orbit.
Any object that doesn't meet this
3rd criteria is considered a dwarf
planet.
And so, Pluto is a dwarf planet.
There are still many objects with
similar size and mass to Pluto
jostling around in its orbit (some
are even bigger than Pluto).
Until Pluto crashes into many of
them and gains mass, it will
remain a dwarf planet.
Ceres and Eris suffer
from the same
problem they are just
an icy masses called
‘dwarf planets’.
Kuiper (KY per) Belt
In 1992, astronomers started to discover
smaller objects beyond Pluto.
 This area is now called the Kuiper Belt.
 These objects are large than asteroids and
comets but smaller than real planets.
 Pluto and the larger ones have been
renamed “Dwarf Planets”.

Kupier Belt
Comets

Comets are small,
orbiting bodies
made of dust, ice,
and frozen gases.
Meteors

Meteors are chunks
of matter that enter
Earth’s Atmosphere
Galaxies
A group of between 1 million and 1 trillion
stars
 Our sun and solar system are part of the
Milky Way Galaxy.

Constellations
A group of stars that ancient people
thought formed a picture in the sky.
 Named for animals, heroes, or other
characters in ancient tales

Moon
The moon rotates on its
axis and revolves around
the earth.
 When the moon looks
like a full circle it is called
a full moon. This
happens once every 29
1/2 days
