Discovering the Universe
A Multimedia Project by Dennis Culver
Table of Contents
Credits
Table of Contents
Planets
Stars
Moons
Galaxies
Other
Planets
Mercury
Venus
Saturn
Earth
Uranus
Mars
Neptune
Comparison Graph
Jupiter
Pluto
Mercury
• Mercury is the first
planet from the Sun
• 36 million miles from
the Sun
• The daytime
temperature can get
up to 800°F and
-300°F at night
• Takes 88 days to go
around the Sun
• Surface is rocky and
covered in craters
Back to Planets Menu
Venus
• Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
• 67 million miles from the
Sun
• Daytime temperatures
can reach 900°F
• Has strongly acidic rain
• Venus spins in the
opposite direction of Earth
• A day is longer than a
year on Venus
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Earth
• Earth is the third
planet from the sun
• About 93 million miles
from the Sun
• Only planet with liquid
water
• Takes 365 days to
revolve around sun
• Only planet that has
life forms
Back to Planets Menu
Mars
• The fourth planet from
the Sun
• 142 million miles from
the Sun
• Known as the Red
Planet
• Takes 687 days to go
around the sun
• The surface is very
dusty and contains
iron
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Jupiter
• The fifth planet from
the Sun
• 483 million miles from
the Sun
• The biggest planet in
our solar system
• Made mostly of gas
• Famous for its “Red
Spot,” which is
actually a storm
• Over 1,000 Earths
could fit inside it
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Saturn
• The sixth planet from
the Sun
• 887 million miles from
the Sun
• Has many visible rings
made of dust and
rock
• Nine times wider than
Earth
• Made mostly of gas
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Uranus
• The seventh planet
from the Sun
• 1,784 million miles
from the Sun
• Has vertical rings
• Spins on it’s side
• Made mostly of
gas
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Neptune
• The eighth planet
from the Sun
• 2,800 million miles
from the Sun
• Many storms on the
surface
• Made mostly of gas
• Has the fastest winds
of any planet in our
solar system, reaching
1,200 miles per hour
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Pluto
• The ninth planet from
the Sun
• 2,750-4,583 million
miles from the Sun
• Smallest planet in our
solar system
• Very cold surface
• Some say it is too
small to be a planet
Back to Planets Menu
Comparison Graph
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Distance (In millions
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Distance from the Sun
Planet
Back to Planets Menu
Stars
Yellow Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Giant
Blue Giant
Super Giant
White Dwarf
Brown Dwarf
Neutron Star
Yellow Dwarf Star
• The sun is a yellow
dwarf
• Younger type of star
• One million Earths
could fit into a star this
size
• Extremely small
compared to other
stars
Back to Stars Menu
Red Dwarf Star
• Most common
type of star
• Small
• Very faint
• Cool surface
temperature
compared to
other stars
Back to Stars Menu
Red Giant Star
• Stars of this type
are very old
• 20 times bigger
than the sun
• Usually orange in
color
• Much brighter
than our sun
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Blue Giant Star
• A very huge star
• Very hot
• Burns helium, the type
of gas in balloons
• Extremely bright
• Much of the light
energy they give off
cannot be seen by
our eyes
Back to Stars Menu
Super Giant Star
• Largest known
type of star
• Some could be as
large as our entire
solar system
• Very rare
• Eventually
become black
holes
Back to Stars Menu
White Dwarf Star
• Small and hot
• The remains of a
red giant star
• About the size of
Earth, but much
heavier
• Very compacted
star
Back to Stars Menu
Brown Dwarf Star
• Not very bright
• Too small to
create much
energy
• Not very hot
• A smaller type of
star
Back to Stars Menu
Neutron Star
• Very compact stars
• About 12 miles wide
• Has same amount of
mass as the sun
• Are created after a
supernova occurs
• Can cause objects
called pulsars
Back to Stars Menu
Spiral
Galaxies
Active
Elliptical
Irregular
Cluster
Lenticular
Spiral Galaxies
• Our galaxy is a
spiral galaxy
• A third of all
galaxies are spiral
• Has two or more
curved arms
made of stars
• Contains billions of
stars
Back to Galaxies Menu
Elliptical Galaxies
• Shaped like an
oval or circle
• Contain old red
stars
• Stars are not as
closely packed as
other galaxies
• Many different
sizes
Back to Galaxies Menu
Irregular Galaxies
• No real shape
• Stars and other
objects are scattered
• The smallest type of
galaxy
• Caused by other
nearby objects
disturbing the gravity
or by colliding
galaxies
• Young galaxies
Back to Galaxies Menu
Lenticular Galaxies
• Shaped like a lens
• Have little material
inside them
• Contain older stars
• Similar to spiral
galaxies, except
no arms
Back to Galaxies Menu
Active Galaxies
• Called active
because they give
off large amounts
of energy
• Could have black
holes at their
centers
• Can give off radio,
x-ray, and other
waves
Back to Galaxies Menu
Cluster Galaxies
• Contains many
galaxies grouped
together
• Can contain
thousands of
galaxies
• Filled with large
clouds of hot gas
• Gives off x-rays
Back to Galaxies Menu
Moons
Earth’s Moon
Mar’s Moons Jupiter’s Moons Pluto’s Moon
Saturn’s Moons Uranus’ Moons
Neptune’s Moons
Comparison Graph
Earth’s Moon
• Earth’s only moon
• Revolves around
the Earth
• Causes tides with
Earth’s oceans
• Has several phases
• Covered in craters
Back to Moons Menu
Mar’s Moons
Phobos
Deimos
Back to Moons Menu
Jupiter’s Moons
•Adrastea
•Lida
•Amathea
•Himalia
•Callisto
•Lysithea
•Europa
•Elara
•Io
•Ananke
•Many more
Europa
Callisto
Ganymede
Io
•Ganymede •Carme
•Metis
•Pasiphae
•Thebe
•Sinope
Back to Moons Menu
Saturn’s Moons
•Atlas
•Janus
•Rhea
•Calypso
•Mimas
•Talesto
•Dione
•Pan
•Enceladus
•Pandora
Titan
•Epimetheus •Phobe
•Helene
•Prometheus
•Hyperion
•Titan
•Iapetus
•Tethys
Rhea
Back to Moons Menu
Uranus’ Moons
•Ariel
•Miranda
•Belinda
•Oberon
•Bianca
•Portia
•Caliban
•Puck
•Cordelia
•Rosalind
•Cressida
•Sycorax
•Ophelia
Ariel
•Desdemona •Titania
•Juliet
•Umbriel
Miranda
Back to Moons Menu
Neptune’s Moons
•Despina
•Triton
•Galatea
•Larissa
•Naiad
•Nereid
•Proteus
•Thalassa
Triton
Back to Moons Menu
Pluto’s Moon
Charon
Back to Moons Menu
Comparison Graph
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Number of Moons
Number of Moons for Each Planet
Planet
Back to Moons Menu
Other
Black Holes
Comets
Supernovas
Nebulae
Asteroids
Black Holes
• Created when a star
dies
• Has very strong gravity
• Sucks in objects and
materials from space
• Not completely
understood
• To see a video model of
a black hole in action,
click here (QuickTime
needed)
Back to Other Menu
Supernovas
• Occurs when a star
runs out of fuel and
dies
• Huge explosion
• Rare in our galaxy
• Huge amount of
energy released
• To see a video model
of a supernova, click
here
Back to Other Menu
Asteroids
• Big pieces of rock
with minerals
• Form a belt
between Mars
and Jupiter
• Many different
sizes and shapes
• Thousands in our
solar system
Back to Other Menu
Comets
• Made of dirty ice
and dust
• Well known comet
is Haley’s comet
• Are far away from
the Sun most of
the time
• Comets can have
more than one tail
Back to Other Menu
Nebulae
• Large clouds of
dust and gas
• Caused by dying
stars, what is left
over
• Gives off light
energy
• Can form many
different shapes
Back to Other Menu
Credits
Pictures from:
Sun-http://www.kansaswindpower.net/Sun%20latest_eit_304_full-6-24.gif
Mercury-http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/images/fullsize/mercury.jpg
Venus-http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/venus.jpg
Earth-http://www.astro.washington.edu/weblinks/Earth/earth.gif
Mars-http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/world/images/mars.jpg
Jupiter-http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/images/fullsize/jupiter.jpg
Saturn-http://nexus.polaris.net/services/image-archive/space/saturn/saturn.jpg
Uranus-http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/images/fullsize/uranus.jpg
Neptune-http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/images/fullsize/neptune.jpg
Pluto-http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/images/fullsize/pluto.jpg
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Pictures from:
Credits
Planetshttp://gw.marketingden.com/planets/images/fullsize/pluto.jpg
Moon-http://www.astrosurf.com/re/moon-03.jpg
Galaxy(title page)http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/images/d6/m31x.jpg
Stars-http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/alpo/images/stars.jpg
Black holehttp://www.ohiou.edu/researchnews/info/gallery/images/miscell
aneous/BLACKHOLE.jpg
Supernova-http://nexus.polaris.net/services/imagearchive/space/interstellar/supernova.jpg
Universe(title page)-http://www.twosteptidewater.com/photoalbum/universe.jpg
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Pictures from:
Credits
Red giant-http://www.sciam.com/media/inline/00016086-7CBA1C72-9EB7809EC588F2D7_arch1.gif
Supergianthttp://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0012/supergiantsim_fr
eytag.jpg
White dwarf-http://library.thinkquest.org/12523/media/Star_WD.gif
Brown dwarf-http://aspire.cosmicray.org/labs/star_life/images/browndwarf.jpg
Neutron star-http://zhengjian.org/news_images/2002-11-24neutronstar2.jpg
Spiral galaxyhttp://www.spacetoday.org/images/DeepSpace/Telescopes/Gr
eatObservatories/SIRTF/M81spiralgalaxySpitzer.jpg
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Pictures from:
Credits
Elliptical galaxyhttp://www.geocities.com/newastronomy/Chapter13_files/image004.jpg
Active galaxyhttp://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2000/37/images/a/formats/web.jpg
Irregular galaxy-http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jmi/images/ngc6822.jpg
Lenticular galaxy-http://mt.sopris.net/mpc/biol/v/lenticular.galaxy.jpg
Cluster galaxy-http://www.exn.ca/news/images/1998/01/12/19980112galaxycluster.gif
Black hole-http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/screen/heic0409a.jpg
Asteroid-http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/hires/gal_0202562000.gif
Comet-http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/news/comet/Ikeya-Zhang.jpg
Nebulahttp://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/02/01/hubble.ant.nebula/lar
ge.ant.nebula.jpg
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Pictures from:
Credits
Phobos-http://www.sai.msu.su/ng/solar/mars/mar_sat/fobos/phobos.jpg
Deimos-http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/images/fullsize/deimos.jpg
Callisto-http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0201/callisto3_gal_big.jpg
Europa-http://www.morgenster.org/foto/europa.jpg
Ganymedehttp://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/barnes/ast110/gwas/ganymede.jpg
Io-http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/outerp/io-enh.gif
Titan-http://evula.org/solarsystem/Resources/Titan.gif
Rhea-http://www.planetary.org/saturn/images/sc5km_rhea.jpg
Ariel-http://www.lowell.edu/online_newsletter/spring_03/ariel.jpg
Mirandahttp://www.nasm.si.edu/research/ceps/etp/uranus/uranimg/URAN_P295
24.jpg
Triton-http://www.wcsscience.com/neptune/triton.JPG
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Credits
Information from:
•http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/b/bl/blue_gian
t.htm
•http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/stars/start
ypes.shtml
•Supernova video-http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html
•Black Hole videohttp://www.spaceref.com/tools/vi.html?id=139&cat=blackholes&img
s=movie
•Miles, Lisa and Smith, Alastair. The Usborne Internet Linked Book of
Astronomy and Space. Usborne Publishing Ltd. : London, 2001.
•Ridpath, Ian. Astronomy: How We View Our Solar System and The
Universe Beyond. W.H. Smith Publishers: New York, 1991.
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