Science 6: Unit 2, lesson 4, 5, 6
Unit 2 lesson 4 :
Terrestrial Planets
1. terrestrial planet
2. astronomical unit
3. Marnier 10 space craft
4. Mercury’s characteristics
5. Venus’ characteristics
6. retrograde rotation
7. Magellan space craft
8. Earth’s characteristics
9. tectonic plates
10. moon’s characteristics
11. Mar’s characteristics
12. Olympus Mons
13. Valles Marineris
Unit 2 lesson 5 :
Giant Planets
1. gas giant planets
2. Jupiter
3. Great Red Spot
4. Galilean Moons
5. Io
6. Ganymede
7. Saturn
8. planetary rings
9. Titan
10. Uranus
11. Neptune
12. Great Dark Spot
13. Triton
Unit 2 lesson 6 :
the Smaller Bodies
1. dwarf planets
2. Pluto & Charon
3. Ceres
4. Eris
5. Kuiper Belt Objects
6. comet
7. comet’s nucleus
8. 2 comet tails
9. comet’s coma
10. Oort Cloud
11. asteroids
12. meteoroid
13. meteors
14 meteorites
Mercury: THE SMALLEST TERRESTRIAL PLANET
 TERRESTRIAL PLANETS: THE SMALLER, DENSE, ROCKY PLANETS CLOSEST TO THE SUN
 MERCURY’S CHARACTERISTICS
 CLOSEST TO SUN, 0.4 AU FROM THE SUN
 AU (ASTRONOMICAL UNIT), THE AVERAGE DISTANCE BETWEEN EARTH AND SUN
 CLOSE DISTANCE TO EXPOSES MERCURY TO INTENSE RADIATION
 MOON-LIKE, HEAVILY CRATERED SURFACE OR VOLCANIC ROCK
 VERY LARGE, DENSE, PARTIALLY MOLTEN IRON CORE
 SHORTEST YEAR ( TIME FOR ONE REVOLUTION AROUND SUN)
 ALMOST 60 EARTH DAYS IN ONE MERCURY DAY ( ONE ROTATION / SPIN ON ITS AXIS)
 LONG DAY, CLOSE DISTANCE CAUSES EXTREME DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE RANGE
 TEMPERATURE RANGE: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW TEMPERATURES
 NO SIGNIFICANT ATMOSPHERE, NO MOONS
 VISITED AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARNIER 10 1N 1974
Venus: THE EARTH’S TWIN IN SIZE, GRAVITY
 VENUS’S CHARACTERISTICS
 ONLY PLANET TO HAVE RETROGRADE ROTATION (SPINS BACKWARDS)
 CAUSES IT DAY (ROTATION) TO BE LONGER THAN ITS YEAR (REVOLUTION)
 HAS LONGEST DAY OF ANY PLANET
 HAS 1000’S OF VOLCANOES, CRATERS
 HAS CARBON DIOXIDE ATMOSPHERE 90 TIMES THICKER THAN EARTH’S
 CO2 A GREENHOUSE GAS, ATMOSPHERE TRAPS HEAT
 GREENHOUSE EFFECT: SUNLIGHT STRIKES SURFACE, HEAT TRAPPED
 ATMOSPHERE ACTS LIKE A BLANKET, HEAT BUILDS UP
 AVERAGE PLANETARY TEMPERATURE ABOUT 460®
 VISITED BY NASA’S MAGELLAN SPACECRAFT IN 1990
Earth: THE LARGEST TERRESTRIAL PLANET
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ONLY PLANET WITH ECOSYSTEMS, KNOWN LIFE (5 MILLION TO 30 TYPES (SPECIES)
ATMOSPHERE CONTAINS 78% NITROGEN AND 21% OXYGEN NEED FOR LIFE
ABUNDANT WATER, MODERATE TEMPERATURES
ACTIVE SURFACE MADE OF HUGE SOLID PLATES (TECTONIC PLATES)
 MOTION DRIVEN BY MANTLE’S HEAT
 CAUSES CHANGES IN OCEANS, CONTINENTS, MOUNTAIN RANGES AND EARTHQUAKES
 EARTH’S MOON: ABOUT 25% OF EARTH’S DIAMETER
 HEAVILY CRATERED SURFACE WITH HIGHLANDS, LAVA PLAINS
 ABOUT 1/6TH OF EARTH’S GRAVITY
 ONE SIDE OF MOON ALWAYS FACES EARTH CAUSES A TEMPERATURE RANGE OF 300® C
 ONE ROTATION AND ONE REVOLUTION AROUND EARTH THE SAME: 27 1/3 RD DAYS
 6 LUNAR LANDINGS WITH 12 ASTRONAUTS FROM 1969 TO 1972
Mars: THE RED PLANET
 MOST EXPLORED OF ALL PLANETS OUTSIDE OF EARTH
 MAR’S COMPOSITION
 SURFACE MOSTLY REDDISH (RUST) VOLCANIC ROCK
 HAS LARGEST KNOWN VOLCANO, OLYMPUS MONS, AT 27 KM
 HAS LARGEST CANYON, VALLES MARINERIS, AT 4,00 KM LONG AND 500 KM WIDE
 THIN (1/100TH OF EARTH’S) CO2 ATMOSPHERE WITH HIGH WINDS
 HAS SEASONAL ICE CAPS (ONE WATER, ONE FROZEN CO2)
 HAS EVIDENCE OF LIQUID WATER IN ITS DISTANT PAST
 HAS 2 TINY ASTEROID-LIKE MOONS (PHOBOS, DEIMOS)
 MOST RECENT PROBES INCLUDE THE SPIRIT, OPPORTUNITY, AND NOW THE CURIOSITY
LESSON 5 -GAS GIANTS: HAVE DEEP, DENSE GAS ATMOSPHERES, EARTH-SIZED CORE
JUPITER’S CHARACTERISTICS
 LARGEST PLANET, 5TH FROM SUN , 5 + AU, 900 TIMES LARGER THAN EARTH, MOST GRAVITY
 COLD, DENSE ATMOSPHERE, MOSTLY HYDROGEN-HELIUM
 CHARACTERIZED BY GREAT RED SPOT 3, TIMES EARTH’S SIZE, 350 YEARS OLD
 HAS HUGE COLORED WIND BELTS WITH EXTREMELY HIGH WIND SPEEDS
 HAS MOST MOONS (60 +), FOUR OF THE LARGEST MOONS, THIN RING SYSTEM
 4 GALILEAN MOONS ARE VISIBLE THROUGH A SMALL TELESCOPE
 IO: MOST VOLCANICALLY ACTIVE MOON DUE TO JUPITER’S GRAVITY
 GANYMEDE: AMONG ONE OF 2 LARGEST MOONS, LARGER THAN MERCURY
 CALISTO, EUROPA THE OTHER GALILEAN MOONS
 YEAR ABOUT 12 EARTH YEARS, DAY ABOUT 10 HOURS
 VISITED AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY PIONEER SPACE CRAFT, THEN VOYAGERS 1 & 2
SATURN’S CHARACTERISTICS
 2nd LARGEST, 6TH FROM SUN, ALMOST 10 AU FROM SUN, HAS HUGE PLANETARY RING SYSTEM
 PLANETARY RING SYSTEM: VERY WIDE BUT VERY THIN, TRILLIONS OF TINY ICY BODIES
 HAS OVER 60 MOONS, TITAN THE LARGEST
 TITAN: AMONG LARGEST MOONS, ONLY MOON WITH ATMOSPHERE (NITROGEN)
 HAS METHANE CLOUDS, LAKES AND PONDS
 TITAN VISITED BY HUYGENS SPACECRAFT
 MOST OF SATURN’S MOONS ARE SMALL AND ASTEROID-LIKE
 YEAR ABOUT 30 EARTH YEARS, DAY OVER 10 HOURS
 VISITED BY PIONEER, VOYAGERS AND CASSINI SPACECRAFT
URANUS AND NEPTUNE: THE 7TH AND 8TH PLANETS
 URANUS: HAS HYDROGEN-HELIUM-METHANE ATMOSPHERE, LACKS VISIBLE FEATURES
 3RD LARGEST, ABOUT 19 AU, HAS A THIN RING SYSTEM
 ROTATIONAL AXIS TILTED ALMOST 100 ®
 HAS 5 LARGER, OVER 20 SMALLER MOONS
 REVOLUTION: 27 YEARS, ROTATION OVER 17 HOURS
 VISITED BY VOYAGER 2
 NEPTUNE: SMALLER TWIN TO URANUS, SMALLEST GIANT, OUTERMOST PLANET
 ALMOST FEATURE-LESS ATMOSPHERE OF HYDROGEN-HELIUM-METHANE
 VOYAGER 2 PHOTOGRAPHER DARK STORM (GREAT DARK SPOT) THAT HAS NOW VANISHED
 HAS OVER A DOZEN MOONS, THE LARGEST ONE IS TRITON
 TRITON ONE OF 2 LARGEST MOONS IN SOLAR SYSTEM
 ORBITS IN OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO OTHER MOONS
 IS SLOWLY SPIRALING INTO NEPTUNE
 NEPTUNE HAS A VERY THIN RING SYSTEM
LESSON 6 – SMALLER BODIES- DWARFS PLANETS, COMETS, METEOROIDS, ASTEROIDS
 DWARF PLANETS: SMALLER BODIES THAT SHARE ORBITS AROUND SUN WITH OTHER BODIES
 CERES: TEXAS-SIZED, FOUND IN ASTEROID BELT
 PLUTO: ICY BODY USUALLY OUTSIDE NEPTUNE’S ORBIT
 ONCE CONSIDERED 9TH PLANET, HAS A LARGE MOON NAMED CHARON, 2 SMALLER ONES
 BELIEVED TO BE A KUIPER-BELT OBJECT
 KUIPER BELT OBJECTS MOSTLY ICE, FIRST DISCOVERED IN 1992
 INCLUDE MANY LARGE BODIES, SOME LARGER THAN PLUTO
 SOURCE OF SOME COMETS
 COMETS: ICE, ROCK AND DUST BODIES WITH NARROW ORBITS AROUND SUN
 SOME ARE KUIPER BODIES PULLED INTO ORBIT AROUND SUN (SHORT TERM COMETS)
 MANY COME FROM THE MORE DISTANT OORT CLOUD (LONG TERM PLANETS)
 HUGE CIRCULAR CLOUD OF ICE BODIES
 EXTENDS ALMOST A LIGHT YEAR FROM THE SUN
 STRUCTURE: HEAD, NUCLEUS, COMA, 2 TAILS
 HEAD OF COMET: THE NUCLEUS AND COMA
 NUCLEUS: THE SOLID ROCK-DUST-ICE PART OF THE COMET
 COMA: GASES FORMED AROUND NUCLEUS AS COMET APPROACHES THE SUN
 COMET TAILS
 GAS TAIL: MADE OF GASES AS COMET NEARS SUN
 CAN BE MILLIONS OF KILOMETERS LONG
 ALWAYS POINTS AWAY FROM SUN
 DUST TAIL: SHORTER, DARKER TAIL ALWAYS BEHIND COMET
 ASTEROIDS: SMALL, ROCKY BODIES, MOSTLY BETWEEN THE ORBITS OF MARS AND JUPITER
 TROJAN ASTEROIDS FOUND NEAR ORBITS JUPITER, NEPTUNE AND THE KUIPER OBJECTS
 THOSE CLOSE TO EARTH ORBIT CALLED “NEAR EARTH ASTEROIDS- EX. EROS)
 MOSTLY MADE OF ROCK, MINERALS
 METEOROID: A SAND TO BOULDER SIZED ROCKY OBJECT IN SPACE
 METEORS: STREAK OF LIGHT FORMED BY METEOROIDS BURNING UP IN ATMOSPHERE
 METEORITES: METEOROIDS THAT IMPACT EARTH – 3 TYPES
 STONY METEORITES: MOST COMMON, MADE OF LIGHTER ROCK-LIKE MATERIALS
 IRON METEORITES: LESS COMMON, MADE OF IRON AND IRON - NICKEL
 STONY-IRON METEORITES: A MIX OF STONY AND IRON/NICKEL MATERIALS