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The Planets
An overview of the
Solar System
The Sun
• The sun is the
biggest, brightest, and
hottest object in the
solar system.
• The sun is an
ordinary star.
• The sun is made of
about 70% hydrogen
and 28% helium.
Mercury
• Mercury is solid and
is covered with
craters.
• Mercury has almost
no atmosphere.
• Mercury is the eighth
largest planet.
Venus
• Venus is the sixth
largest planet. It’s
about three-fourths
the size of earth.
• The surface is rocky
and very hot. The
atmosphere
completely hides the
surface and traps the
heat.
Earth
• Earth is the fifth largest planet and the third from
the sun.
• Liquid covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface.
• The Earth has one moon.
Mars
• Mars is the fourth
planet from the sun.
• Mars has a thin
atmosphere that
contains mostly
carbon dioxide.
• Mars has two small
moons.
Jupiter’s Red Spot
• The Great Red Spot,
a huge storm of
swirling gas that has
lasted for hundreds of
years.
• Jupiter does not have
a solid surface. The
planet is a ball of
liquid surrounded by
gas.
Moons of Jupiter
Jupiter has four large Galilean moons,
twelve smaller named moons and twentythree more recently discovered but not
named moons.
Saturn
• Saturn is the second largest planet and the sixth
from the sun.
• Saturn is made of materials that are lighter than
water. If you could fit Saturn in a lake, it would
float!
Rings of Saturn
• Saturn’s rings are not
solid; they are
composed of small
countless particles.
• The rings are very
thin. Though they’re
250,000km or more in
diameter, they’re less
than one kilometer
thick.
Uranus
• Uranus is the third
largest planet and the
seventh from the sun.
• Uranus is one of the
giant gas planets.
• Uranus is blue-green
because of the
methane in its
atmosphere.
Neptune
• Neptune is the fourth
largest planet and the
eight from the sun.
• Because of the orbits,
from 1979 to 1999,
Neptune was the
ninth planet.
• Like Uranus, the
methane gives
Neptune its color.
Pluto
• Pluto is the smallest
planet and usually the
farthest from the sun.
• Pluto is the only
planet that has not
been visited by a
spacecraft.
Asteroid Belt
• Between Mars and Jupiter
• Between 700,000 and 1.7 million asteroids
Kuiper Belt
• Outside Neptune
• At least 70,000 objects
• Short-period comets
– Less than 200 year orbit
Oort Cloud
• Far beyond the orbit of Pluto
• Long-period comets
– More than 200 year orbit