Our Solar System
The Solar System
Our solar system consists of
eight plants. They are, in order,
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune. All eight of the planets
rotate around a star that we call
the sun.
Mercury
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Closest planet to the
Sun
Similar in appearance
to the sun
Second smallest
planet, 1/3 the size of
Earth
It takes 88 days for
Mercury to orbit
Mercury
Has thousands of craters (why it’s similar
looking to the moon)
 Mean temperature of the surface of
Mercury is 353.9 degrees F but the dark
side can reach a low of -297 degrees f
 Has an intense amount of sunlight because
of its position near the Sun
 The planet is too small for gravity to hold
any substantial atmosphere
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Venus
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Second closest planet
to the Sun
Similar to Earth’s size
and is often called
Earth’s “sister planet”
Consists mostly of
carbon dioxide
Seen as being volcanic
and is believed to still
have active volcanoes
Venus
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Because of the greenhouse effect that
occurs on Venus, it causes the surface
temp. to rise making it hotter than
Mercury though it is farther away.
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Completes an orbit around the sun every
224.7 days
Earth
Our Home
 Earth
3rd
is the
Planet from the
sun
 It is the 5th
largest planet in
our solar system
The Earth is about
40,000 km around
at the equator and
is 4.57 billion year
old.
 The earth is the
only plant in our
solar system to
support human life
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The Earth is home to
over 6.5 billion people!
It takes the earth 23
hours, 56 minutes and
4.091 seconds to rotate
once on its axis.
The rotation on the axis
goes in a
counterclockwise
direction.
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Earth orbits around the
Sun every 365.25 days
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The atposhphere
around the earth is
made up of 78%
nitrogen and 21%
oxygen
MARS
“The Red Planet”
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Mars is the 4th
planet from the
sun
Mars has the
highest mountain
in the solar
system, Olympus
Mons, and the
largest canyon in
the solar system,
Valles Marineris
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Mars has two
moons, Phobos
and Deimos
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Besides the
Earth, Mars is the
most likely to be
able to support
life.
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The atmosphere on Mars consists of 95%
carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and
contains traces of oxygen and water
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Mars in 6,804.9 km around at the equator.
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It takes Mars 687 Earth days to travel once aroud
the sun.
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Mars' average distance from the Sun is roughly
230 million km
JUPITER
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Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the
largest within the solar system. It has a diameter
over 11 times the diameter of the Earth
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If you traveled to Jupiter on vacation you would be
very heavy. If you weigh 70 pounds on the Earth, on
Jupiter you would weigh 185 pounds.
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Jupiter is a ringed world, surrounded by many
moons, some of which are the most interesting
objects in the solar system.
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Jupiter has a diameter of 140,000 km, and if it were
10 times larger, it too would be a star.
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Jupiter is mostly made of helium and hydrogen in
both liquid and gaseous states.
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It takes the giant planet 11.8 earth years to go once
around the Sun.
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Jupiter spins really fast. It only takes 10 hours to go
from night to day on Jupiter. For that reason its
middle has been stretched out. Rather than round it
is short and fat.
JUPITER'S ATMOSPHERE
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Jupiter’s atmosphere is composed of 90%
hydrogen and 10% helium
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Jupiter radiates more energy into space than
it receives from the Sun, allowing the planet
to be hot inside.
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The largest swirling area of gas is called the
Great Red Spot. Scientists believe this is a
large hurricane like storm which has lasted for
hundreds of years.
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This giant planet has no solid surface. Under
it's atmosphere is a large liquid ocean of
hydrogen and water.
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Pictures taken by space probes have shown
that there is thin rings around Jupiter.
JUPITER’S MOONS
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Jupiter has at least 60 moons
revolving around it, more than any
other planet in our solar system.
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The planet Jupiter's four largest
moons Io, Europa, Ganymede,
and Callisto, are called the
Galilean satellites, after Italian
astronomer Galileo, who observed
them in 1610.
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Saturn is the sixth planet from the
Sun and is the second largest in the
solar system.
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It takes 29.5 Earth years to revolve
about the Sun.
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Saturn’s atmosphere is primarily
composed of hydrogen with small
amounts of helium and methane.
Saturn is the only planet less dense
than water.
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Saturn looks like a yellow star in
space. When viewed through a
telescope, it is seen as a golden
sphere, crossed by a series of lightly
colored bands parallel to the
equator.
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Saturn's day is about 10 and one half
hours. It has a diameter around
75,000 miles, its volume is more than
700 times the volume of the earth
and its mass is about 95 times that
of the earth.
SATURN
SATURN’S RING
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Saturn's ring system makes the
planet one of the most beautiful
objects in the solar system. It
consists mostly of ice particles with
a smaller amount of rocky debris
and dust.
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The rings are split into a number of
different parts, which include the
bright A and B rings and a fainter C
ring.
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Space probes have shown that the
main rings are really made up of a
large number of narrow ringlets. It is
thought that the rings may have
been formed from larger moons that
were shattered by impacts of
comets and meteoroids.
SATURN’S MOONS
Titan
Saturn has 30 known moons.
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Many of Saturn's moons orbit around the edge of
the planets rings. They help to keep the rings in
place and are called Shepherd moons.
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Although most of Saturn's moons are small, a few
such as Titan are very large.
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Titan is Saturn’s largest orbiting moon and the
second largest moon in the Solar System. It is
bigger in diameter then the planet Mercury.
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Titan has a thick mostly nitrogen atmosphere and
with its heavy clouds obscures the moon's
surface. The surface temperature on Titan is
about -178°C which is equivalent to -289°F.
Uranus
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Seventh planet from the Sun.
Third largest in the solar system.
Equatorial diameter = 51,800 km
Orbital Period = 84.01 years.
Distance from Sun = 2/87 billion km.
Rotates on Axis once every 17 hours 14 minutes.
Distinguished by the fact that it’s tipped on it’s
side.
Uranus
At least 22 moons, largest two are Titania
and Oberon.
 Atmosphere is composed of 83%
hydrogen, 15% helium, 2% methane and
small amounts of acetylene and other
hydrocarbons.
 Uranus has a blue-green color.
 Uranus has a complicated ring system.
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Neptune
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Named for the Greek God of the
sea, Poseidon.
Eighth planet from the Sun.
4th largest in diameter – 49,532 km. at the
equator
Mass = 1.0247e26 kg.
If Neptune were hollow, it would hold 60 Earths.
Has blue cloud color, and large, dark spots
covering it. The largest of these spots is Great
Dark Spot. It’s about the size of Earth.
Neptune is made of 85% Hydrogen, 13% Helium
and 2% Methane.
Neptune
Orbit = 4,504,000,000 km from Sun.
 Neptune has a set of four rings which are
narrow and faint. Rings are made up of
dust particles.
 Neptune has 13 moons.
 Orbital Period = 164.79 years
 Neptune has the strongest winds of any
planet. Near the Great Dark Spot, they
blow up to 2,000 km an hour.
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Academic Content Standards
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The Ohio Academic Content Standards for
Science are made up of six standards
Earth and Space Sciences
 Life Sciences
 Physical Sciences
 Science and Technology
 Scientific Inquiry
 Scientific Ways of Knowing
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Work Cited
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http://www.mcwdn.org/SPACE/Saturn.html
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http://www.kidsastronomy.com/
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http://www.allaboutspace.com/subjects/ast
ronomy/planets/saturn/saturnmoons.shtml
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(planet)
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"Mercury." Wikipedia. 27 Nov. 2006. 28 Nov.
2006
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)>
.
Arnett, Bill. "Mercury: the Winged Messanger." 3
Jan. 2005. 28 Nov. 2006
<http://www.nineplanets.org/mercury.html>.
"Venus." Wikipedia. 27 Nov. 2006. 28 Nov. 2006
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet)>
.
Hamilton, Calvin J. “Uranus.” 1997-2003. 28 Nov.
2006
<http://www.solarviews.com/eng/uranus.html>.
Arnett, Bill. “Neptune.” 2 Sept. 2004. 28 Nov.
2006.
<http://www.nineplanets.org/neptune.html>.
Jeopardy!!
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The class will be split into two different groups
groups will take turns picking a category and
point value.
if they answer the question correctly then the
team is awarded the points on the card.
If the group is unable to correctly answer the
question the other team has a chance to “steal”
the question and the point.
The team with the most points after all the
questions have been read is the winner.