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WHAT MAKES UP OUR SOLAR SYSTEM?
WHERE IS OUR SOLAR SYSTEM LOCATED?
• In the Milky Way Galaxy about 2/3 of the way
down on one of the arms
• 1 star-Our Sun
WHAT WERE THE EARLIER VIEWS OF
THE SOLAR SYSTEM?
• Geocentric vs.
Heliocentric
GEOCENTRIC
• “Earth Centered Model”
• Aristotle & Ptolemy believed that Earth was
the center of the system of the planets
• They thought everything revolved around
us!
HELIOCENTRIC
• “Sun-Centered System”
• Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the idea of
that the sun was the center of the system
• Galileo (100 years later) agreed with
Copernicus’ idea
• Discovered Venus went through phases
like our moon
• Discovered Jupiter’s moons revolved
around it & not the Earth
WHAT KEEPS THE PLANETS IN
MOTION?
• Gravity: attractive force between
two objects
• Inertia: tendency of an object to in
motion/at rest to remain in
motion/at rest until acted upon by
an outside force
• Discovered by Issac Newton
WHAT IS AN ELLIPSE?
• Ellipse: elongated circle or oval shaped
• Johannes Kepler discovered that the planets
had elliptical orbits not round!
WHAT IS A ROTATION & ORBITAL PERIOD?
• Rotation period describes the time it takes
the planet to spin around 1 time on its axis
• Orbital period describes the time it takes
the planet to revolve around the Sun 1 time
INNER PLANETS
• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
WHAT DO ALL OF THESE PLANETS HAVE IN
COMMON?
Small
Rocky
Orbit paths are close together
MERCURY
• 1st planet
• 36 million miles from the Sun
• 58 days rotation period
• 88 days orbital period
MERCURY FUN FACTS
• Looks like “Our Moon”
• No atmosphere
• Extreme temperatures
• 700°F(Day) & -300°F(Night)
MERCURY SUPER FACT
• Fastest orbiting planet at 29 miles per second
VENUS
• 2nd planet
• 67 million miles from the Sun
• 243 days rotation period
• 224 days orbital period
VENUS FUN FACTS
• Called “Earth’s Twin” or our sister planet
• Thick CO2 cloud covers the planet
• Hottest Planet at 900°F
VENUS SUPER FACT
• Has Retrograde Rotation-spins backwards
on its axis
EARTH
• 3rd Planet
• 98 million miles from the Sun
• 24 hours rotation period
• 365 days orbital period
EARTH FUN FACTS
• Ongoing plate tectonics
• Oxygen rich atmosphere
• Oceans of water
• 1 moon
EARTH SUPER FACT
• Variety of living things
MARS
• 4th planet
• 142 million miles from the Sun
• 24 hours rotational period
• 687 days orbital period
MARS FUN FACTS
• Called the “Red Planet” due to the iron in
its surface
• Polar ice caps
• 2 moons - Phobos & Deimos
MARS SUPER FACT
• Surface is marked with its own “grand
canyon”
• Largest volcano in the solar system”Olympus Mons” towering at 17 miles
above the surface
OUTER PLANETS
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune
• Pluto ?
WHAT DO THE “FIRST FOUR”
OUTER PLANETS HAVE IN
COMMON?
• Large
• Have Rings
• Gaseous-75% Hydrogen & 24%
Helium
WHAT ABOUT PLUTO?
• Pluto is much more like the 4 inner planets
• Some speculate that it may have been one of
Neptune’s moon at one time – now a dwarf
planet
JUPITER
• 5th planet
• 484 million miles from the Sun
• 10 hours rotational period
• 11 years orbital period
JUPITER FUN FACTS
• Largest Planet
• Dark narrow rings
• 63 moons
• 4 largest moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto
JUPITER SUPER FACT
• “Great Red Spot” that is an ongoing storm much
like a hurricane
SATURN
• 6th planet
• 888 million miles from the Sun
• 10 hours rotational period
• 30 years orbital period
SATURN FUN FACTS
• Called the “Ringed Planet”
• Rings measure 600,000 miles from edge to
edge
• Rings are made from ice & rocks
• 60 moons
• Titan is the largest-larger than Mercury
SATURN SUPER FACT
It floats! It’s density is actually lower than
water! If we could place Saturn in water…it
would float!
URANUS
• 7th planet
• 1.8 billion miles from the Sun
• 17 hours rotation period
• 84 years orbital period
URANUS FUN FACTS
• Blue in color…due to the methane in the
atmosphere
• 20+ moons
• Has Rings
URANUS SUPER FACT
Rotates from top to bottom…on its side!
NEPTUNE
• 8th planet
• 2.8 billion miles from the Sun
• 18 hours rotational period
• 165 years orbital period
NEPTUNE FUN FACTS
• “Blue Planet” due to the methane in the
atmosphere
• 13 moons
• Largest moon-Triton
NEPTUNE SUPER FACT
“Great Dark Spot”…ongoing storm
PLUTO
• Recently demoted to “Dwarf Planet” status
• 2.9 billion-4.6 billion miles from the Sun
• 6 days rotational period
• 248 years orbital period
PLUTO FUN FACTS
• Made of rock & ice
• Thin methane atmosphere
• 1 moon-Charon
PLUTO SUPER FACT
It has an unusual orbit…it sometimes crosses
Neptune’s orbit
WHAT OTHER OBJECTS ARE
FLOATING AROUND THE SOLAR
SYSTEM?
• Comets
• Asteroids
• Meteoroids
COMET FUN FACTS
• “Dirty Snowball”
• Made of dust & ice…as it passes the Sun, the ice
turns into gas
• Have long, narrow, elliptical orbits
• Rarely pass by Earth
• Can only be seen briefly
COMET SUPER FACT
• Halley’s Comet
• Discovered by Edmond Halley in 1705
• Orbits Earth every 76 years
• 1986 was the last time it appeared in the sky
ASTEROID FUN FACTS
• Small objects that orbit the Sun between Mars &
Jupiter
• Over 10,000 have been discovered
• Some are over 250km across
ASTEROID SUPER FACT
Asteroid Belt
METEOROID
Chunks of rock & dust that comes
from a comet or asteroid
WHAT ARE METEORS & METEORITES?
• Meteor: is a meteoroid that burns up in
Earth’s atmosphere producing a streak of
light
• Meteorite: is a large meteoroid that did not
burn in Earth’s atmosphere & hit the
surface