THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Section One:Our Planets, Our Solar System

The Planets, From Closest To the Sun

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus NeptuneCiting - http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/act09_planet_list.html

Our Sun In the center of our solar system Provides light, heat, and energy Gaseous The suns diameter is about 432,000

miles Over 1 billion stars in the galaxy Has a temperature of about 10,000

degrees Fahrenheit

Our Sun The sun is magnetic Born about 4.6 billion years ago 99.8% of the mass in our solar system The average density is 90 lbs./ square

foot

Citing - http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/sun_worldbook.html#backToTop

The Planets, Mercury Diameter of 3032 miles across the

equator It is the fastest planet to move around

the sun in its orbit Has the slowest rotation except for

Venus Travels about 30 miles per secondCiting - http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/mercury_worldbook.html

The Planets, Venus Similar to Earth in size When Venus is at its nearest point to

Earth, it can be seen all day Venus has the most circular orbit around

our sun 55 degrees F on the surface, but up to

870 degrees F of the actual planet The mass is about 4/5th of Earth’sCiting - http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/venus_worldbook.html

Venus’ Surface

The Planets, Earth Has life Ranked 5th in size About 93 million miles from the sun Earth takes 365 days 6 hours 9 minutes

9.54 seconds to circle the sun once The distance around Earth's orbit is 584

million milesCiting - http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/earth_worldbook.html

The Planets, Mars The fourth planet from the sun About 4.6 billion years ago Nicknamed from the ancient god of war Water once flowed on the surface of

Mars Water may still live in cracks under the

surface Vast amounts of ice under the surface

The Planets, Jupiter About 11 times bigger than Earth Usually brighter than most stars and planets,

except Venus Named after the king of Roman gods A giant ball of gas and liquid with little, or no,

solid surface Travels in an elliptical orbit Completes one orbit every 4,333 days (12

Earth Years) Large mass but very low density

Callisto and Ganymede are moons of Jupiter

The Planets, Saturn Has 7 flat rings around it Diameter is almost 10 times that of

Earth’s Named it the Roman god of agriculture It takes almost 30 years to orbit the sun Lower density than any other planet Has 25 satellites and numerous other

smaller ones that orbit around with the rings of Saturn

The Planets, Uranus 7th planet from the sun Takes light 2 hours and 40 minutes to

travel to Uranus British astronomer William Herschel

discovered it in 1781 Rotates on a horizontal axis Has 21 known satellites Strong magnetic field 1,784,860,000 miles from the sun

The Planets, Neptune Clouds surround the planet Every 248 years Pluto moves inside

Neptune's orbit for about a 20-year period

The diameter at the equator is four times bigger than Earth’s

1 Day – 16 hours and 7 minutes Made up of hydrogen, helium, water,

and silicates

What About Pluto?!?!?! Considered a Dwarf Planet Last planet in our Solar System About 3,647,240,000 miles from the sun Comes inside Neptune’s orbit about for

20 Earth Years every 248 Earth Years Astronomers know little because it is so

far away from Earth and the sun Thin atmosphere

Picture of Pluto from the Hubble Telescope