Download Gaseous Planets (Furthest from the Sun)

PLANETS AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Terrestrial Planets (Closest to the Sun)
1. Mercury: Closest to the sun
2. Venus: Spins opposite way than other planets
3. Earth: Only planet with life
4. Mars: Smaller than Earth, home to largest mountain in our solar system
Type of surface: Rocky
Size: Smaller
Rings: ☐YES
NO
Gaseous Planets (Furthest from the Sun)
5. Jupiter: Huge storms
6. Saturn: Large rings made of ice and dust
7. Uranus: Rotates sideways
8. Neptune: Methane atmosphere
Type of surface: Not solid, just thick atmosphere
Size: Larger
Rings: YES
☐NO
*Some planets have a unique surface characteristic, for example color or an atmospheric storm.
*Movement of planets is based on revolution around the Sun and rotation on the planet’s axis.
Moons
• Orbit (go around) planets
• NOT all planets have moons.
• Most moons are rocky and covered with craters (big holes)
• Movement is caused by the planet they orbit.
Asteroids
• Mostly rocky and orbit in the Asteroid Belt (between Mars and Jupiter)
• Many different sizes and shapes
• Movement caused by their orbit around the Sun.
• Some asteroids not in the asteroid belt can cross Earth’s orbit;
Scientists monitor the positions of these asteroids.
Why??
Comets
• Comets have
1. Main body or head (ices of water, methane and ammonia and dust)
2. Tail that gets larger as the comet orbits closer to the Sun
-Tail always points away from the Sun.
*Comets have unique long, narrow elliptical orbit.
Meteoroids
• Chunks of rock that move around in the solar system.
• Called different things based on their location and movement:
Called a Meteor – if it burns up in a planet’s atmosphere
Called a Meteorite – if it strikes the surface of a planet or moon