THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Courtney Feliciani
STARS 2009
All information collected from www.wikipedia.org
What is the Solar System?
• Made up of the sun, the planets, the moons,
asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, and
meteoroids.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SUN
• The central star of the Solar System.
• Its mass is over 300,000 x that of Earth.
• Releases energy that radiates through the
Solar System.
ROTATION
• When an object spins on its axis.
• Example: an Earth day is the time it takes for
the Earth to finish one rotation on its axis.
Image from
physicalgeography.net
REVOLUTION
• When an object completes an orbit.
• The planets revolve around the sun, and the
moon revolves around Earth.
• One revolution of the Earth around the sun is
one year.
Image from education.arm.gov
PLANETS
• Rounded bodies that orbit a star.
• Have their own orbit.
• Dwarf planets revolve around a star, but do
not have their own orbit.
MERCURY
• Named for the
Roman god Mercury,
the messenger god,
and the god of trade.
• 1 day on Mercury is
176 Earth days.
• 1 year on Mercury is
88 Earth days.
• Looks like the moon.
VENUS
• Named after the Roman
goddess of love.
• 1 day on Venus is 243
Earth days.
• 1 year on Venus is 225
Earth days.
• The temperature of Venus
is the same during the day
and night.
EARTH
• The largest of the first 4 planets, the
‘terrestrial planets’.
• Has 1 moon.
MARS
• Named after the Roman god of war.
• 1 day on Mars is 40 minutes longer than a day
on Earth.
• 1 year on Mars is 687 Earth days.
• There is water on Mars. The poles are covered
in ice.
JUPITER
• Named after the Roman
king of the gods.
• 1 day on Jupiter is about
10 hours.
• 1 year on Jupiter is
almost 12 Earth years.
• The surface is gas.
• The Great Red Spot is a
storm 3 times the size
of the Earth.
SATURN
• Named after the god Saturnus,
who was the god of
agriculture.
• 1 day on Saturn is about 10
hours, and 1 year is almost 30
Earth years.
• Saturn is flattened, meaning
that it has a bulge around the
equator.
URANUS
•
•
•
•
Named after the Greek god of the sky.
1 day on Uranus is 17 hours.
1 year on Uranus is 84 Earth years.
Uranus has 13 rings, some blue and some red.
NEPTUNE
• Named after the Roman god of the sea.
• 1 day is 16 hours, and 1 year is 165 Earth
years.
• On July 12, 2011, Neptune will complete its
first orbit since it was discovered.
DWARF PLANETS
• The dwarf planets are Pluto, Ceres,
Makemake, Haumea, and Eris.
• No space probes have been to any of these
planets.
THE MOON
• Orbits around the Earth
every 27 days.
• The same side of the
moon always faces the
sun.
• Ocean tides are caused
by the gravity of the
moon acting on the
water.
ASTEROID BELT
• In between Mars and Jupiter
• Asteroids are rocks that orbit the sun.
• Total mass of the belt is thought to be 1/1000
the mass of Earth.
THE KUIPER BELT
• Located past Neptune, and is composed
mainly of ice
• Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake are all located
in the Kuiper belt.