Download The Inner Planets of Our Solar System

Warm-Up 4/30
Throwback Thursday
• How does each rock form?
– Sedimentary
– Metamorphic
– Igneous
Get out your Load the Shuttle questions if you
did not turn in yesterday.
Celestial Objects in our
Solar System
Celestial- positioned in or relating to
the sky, or outer space as observed in
astronomy
Essential Vocabulary
Rotation – the time it takes to spin on
its axis
This makes one DAY
Revolution – the time it takes to orbit
the sun once
This makes one YEAR
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visual
izations/es0408/es0408page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization
The Inner Planets
• Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
• Known as terrestrial planets because
they are made of rock
The Outer Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune
Gas Giants – composed
mostly of Hydrogen and
Helium
The Sun
A ball of glowing gas!
Largest thing in our
solar system
– 99.8% of the mass
of the solar system
The Moon
Our moon is named Luna
The moon is a natural
satellite.
– A satellite is anything that
orbits something else.
Galilean Moons
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The largest of the
63 moons of Jupiter
Discovered by Galileo
Galilei on Jan. 7, 1610
Galilean Moons
Among the most massive rocky objects in the
Solar System, with a radius larger than Mercury
or any of the dwarf planets.
Galilean Moons
Io the most geologically active object in the Solar System
Europa has a layer of ice
Ganymede largest natural satellite in the Solar System
and has a salt water ocean and oxygen in it’s
atmosphere. Larger than Mercury.
Callisto may have possibly a subsurface ocean of liquid water
Meteoroids
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Meteoroids are rocky
fragments of comets,
planets, moons, or
asteroids.
Travel through space
without an orbit.
Meteors
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Meteors that have
entered an atmosphere
Friction with the
molecules in the
atmosphere cause it to
burn
Commonly called
“shooting stars”
Meteorites

Any part of a meteoroid
that survives passage
through the atmosphere
and lands on the surface a
planet or moon.
Largest meteorite found on Earth
Hoba, Namibia
Comets
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Mixture of ices (both water and frozen
gases) dust, and rocks
Have an elliptical orbit around the sun
Asteroids
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Left over materials from
the formation of the Solar
System
Composed of rock or
metal
Smaller than a planet but
larger than a meteor
Asteroid Belt

Most asteroids
are located in
the asteroid belt
between Mars
and Jupiter
Video
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Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors