Download SUN AND PLANET FACTS

SUN AND PLANET FACTS
Sun --
* middle-sized yellow star
* formed from cloud of hydrogen gas and dust, 5 billion years ago
* holds 99.85% of the mass of our solar system
* 92% hydrogen and 8% helium
* Core is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit
* nuclear reactions of hydrogen atoms being forced together under
high temperature and pressure to form helium
* heat is from nuclear reactions
Terrestrial planets – dense planets
Mercury -- *
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orbit 88 Earth days, rotation 58 ½ Earth years
800° F on the Sun side to -297° F on the dark side
no atmosphere because so small
covered in craters, bombarded with asteroids and comets
gray
mostly iron and very dense
Venus --
* orbit 225 earth days, rotation 243 days; day is longer than its
year
* 908° F to 710° F
* thick carbon dioxide atmosphere keeps temperatures hotter than
Mercury, 90 times the atmospheric pressure of earth
* only planet to rotate clockwise
* many volcanoes
* yellowish – white
Earth --
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only planet we know has life
orbit 365 days, rotation 24 hours
-100° F to 120° F
atmosphere with oxygen
liquid water is abundant
bluish – green
Mars --
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Orbit 2 earth years, rotation 24 hours and 30 minutes
- 117° F to - 27° F
thin carbon dioxide atmosphere
red - orange color, covered in rust
polar ice caps, liquid water in the past
2 rovers on its surface
Main Asteroid Belt -- Rocky remnants from our early solar system, largest rock
is 620 miles across.
Gas Planets – Planets without any solid metals or rocks on the outer surface.
May not be able to walk on these planets. May have a rocky or icy center.
Jupiter --
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Saturn --
* second largest planet, gas with solid icy core
* least dense, made of hydrogen and helium
* winds 1100 mph
* largest and most beautiful rings; made of ice, dust and rocks, up
to 1000 rings in total
* rings are 150,000 miles wide but only half a mile thick
* pale yellow
* - 178° F
* orbits 30 years, rotates every 10 hours
* 53 moons
Uranus --
* gas planet with rocky, icy core
* faint rings
* light blue-green color due to methane gas atmosphere
* 84 years to orbit, rotates on its side every 17 hours. Side rotation
may be due to a large object smashing into it or a moon being
pulled out of it
* – 350° F
* 27 moons
Neptune -- *
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largest planet, made of gas with icy core
orbits 12 years, rotates every 9 hours
faint rings
atmosphere filled with storms and lightning
winds up to 250 mph
Giant Red Spot, massive storm raging for the last 300 years
orange, brown, red and white bands
– 145° F
50 moons
gas planet with rocky, icy core
faint rings,
Light blue color due to methane gas atmosphere
Cloud moving quickly across the planet
Fastest winds of 1250 mph
165 years to orbit, rotates every 16 hours
– 392° F
13 moons