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Planets
6th grade Science
The Inner Planets
terrestrial planets- small, dense,
and rocky, like earth.
Mercury
• closest to sun
• one day on mercury is like 59 earth days.
– It spins slower on its axis than earth.
• the spin of an object in space is called a
rotation.
• one year is 88 earth days
– revolution- the motion of a body as it orbits
another
Venus
• very similar to earth
– same size, mass, and density
• the sun rises in the west and sets in the
east
– Venus's rotation is opposite of ours.
• has the hottest surface temperature of
any planet.
– the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps
thermal energy from sunlight…. greenhouse
effect.
Earth
(if you are confused)
This is where we live

Mars
• most studied planet, besides earth
• Viking 1, Viking 2, and Pathfinder
– spacecrafts launched and landed on mars
• cold planet (13°c - 77° C)
• there is evidence of water on mars in the
past, but now there is only ice.
• volcanoes- Tharsis and Olympus Mons
The Outer Planets
Gas planets- don’t have any known
solid surfaces
Jupiter
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largest planet
made of hydrogen and helium
Great Red Spot- a long-lasting storm
five NASA missions
– Voyager 1, Voyager 2- sent back images of a
faint line around the planet.
Saturn
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second largest planet
rings of rock and ice
is made of hydrogen and helium
scientist believe Saturn is still forming!
all gas giants have rings, but Saturn's are
the largest.
Uranus
• is made of hydrogen, and methane gas.
• featureless- no strong characteristics
• tipped on its side.
– Scientist believe that a large object hit
Uranus and it tipped the planet over.
Neptune
• has belts of clouds
• has a dark spot like Jupiter
Pluto
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smallest planet
furthest
large moon, Charon
made of rock and ice
only planet that has not been visited by
NASA