THE PLANETS Presented by:

Chelsea Brittingham

MERCURY

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and is also the smallest of the eight planets in our solar system.

Every seven years or so, Mercury can be seen from Earth passing across the face of the Sun.

It is named for the Roman god Mercury, the messenger to the gods – most likely related to the orbiting speed of the planet.

VENUS

Venus is the third brightest object in Earth's sky after the Sun and Moon.

Referred to as the sister planet to Earth, because their size and mass are so similar.

Due to the slow rotation on its axis, it takes 243 Earth-days to complete one rotation.

EARTH

Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets.

Earth is the only planet not named for a mythological god or goddess.

This effect on the Moon means it is tidally locked to Earth – its rotation period is the same as its orbit time so it always presents the same face to Earth.

Earth’s atmosphere is composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and trace amounts of other gases including argon and carbon dixoide.

MARS

Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet because of the brownish-red color of its surface.

The tallest mountain known in the solar system is on Mars. Olympus Mons is a 21 km high and 600 km diameter shield volcano that was formed billions of years ago. Scientists have found a lot of recent evidence of volcanic lava which suggests Olympus Mons may still be active.

It takes Mars 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun with its orbit radius of 227,840,000 km.

ASTROID BELT

The asteroid belt is roughly located between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter, and this region is where the vast majority of asteroids.

Around half of the mass of the entire asteroid belt is comprised of the asteroids Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and Hygiea.

Because the asteroid belt is between the Mars and Jupiter orbits, it is around 2.2 to 3.2 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun.

JUPITER

Jupiter has a mass of 1.90 x 1027 kg and a mean diameter of 139,822 km, Jupiter is easily the largest and most massive planet in the Solar System.

Jupiter has 67 confirmed moons orbiting the planet. They are separted into three categories, inner moons, Galilean moons, and outer moons.

Jupiter has the shortest day of the eight planets. Jupiter rotates very quickly, turning on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes.

SATURN

Saturn is one of five planets able to be seen with the naked eye.

The most common nickname for Saturn is “The Ringed Planet”, a nickname arising from the large, beautiful and extensive ring system that encircles the planet.

Saturn is the least dense planet in the solar system. It is made mostly of hydrogen and has a density which is less than water – which technically means that Saturn would float.

Saturn has 150 moons and smaller moonlets.

URANUS

It takes Uranus 84 Earth days to orbit the Sun.

Uranus is often referred to as the “ice giant”. While it has a hydrogen and helium upper layer like the other gas giants, Uranus also has an icy mantle which surrounds its rock and iron core.

The Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have flown by Uranus. This happened in 1986 and it flew past the planet at a distance of around 81,500 km. This mission returned the very first close-up images of the planet, its ring system and its orbiting moons.

NEPTUNE

Due to its blue coloration, Neptune was named after the Roman god of the Sea.

Neptune also has a second storm called the Small Dark Spot. This storm is around the same size as Earth’s moon.

Neptune has an average surface temperature of -214°C – approximately -353°F.

The climate on Neptune is extremely active. In its upper atmosphere, large storms sweep across it and high-speed solar winds track around the planet at up to 1,340 km per second.

REFERENCE

Information: theplanets.org/

Pictures: theplanets.org/