The Solar System

Arcangeles, AlyssaCamota, Trixy

Padillo, Shaira RoseZaño, Brent Tyron

Gonzales, Rosanna

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Introduction to Solar System• The Sun• The Planets (Mercury,

Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,

Uranus, Neptune)• The Moon• Dwarf Planets• Asteroids• Comets• Meteorites

THE SOLAR SYSTEM Solar System is the collection of planets, satellites, asteroids, comets, and cosmic dust particles that are mostly in elliptical, coplanar orbits around the sun.

The total mass of the Solar System is around 450 times the mass of the Earth and about 1/750 of the mass of the Sun.

Consist of the Sun and the Planets that move around the sun in oval paths called orbits. A planet is a vast ball of rock or gas that travels in orbit around a star. There are other objects in our Solar System, too, such as a dwarf planet (and their moons), an asteroid belt, many comets and meteors, plus gas and microscopic dust.

The four planets closest to the Sun- MERCURY, VENUS, EARTH, AND MARS are alike in many ways. These inner planets are all small, rocky worlds.

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

The Solar System is 4.6 billion years old

Did You Know?

The SunOur Sun is not unique in the universe. It is a common middle-sized yellow star which scientists have named Sol, after the ancient Roman name.

This is why our system of planets is called the Solar System. There are trillions of other stars in the universe just like it. Many of these stars have their own systems of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.

The Sun was born in a vast cloud of gas and dust around 5 billion years ago. Indeed, these vast nebulae are the birth places of all stars. Over a period of many millions of years, this gas and dust began to fall into a common center under the force of its own gravity.

The Mercury

The planet Mercury is the closest of the planets to the Sun. Because this planet lies so close to the Sun, and as a result somewhat near to Earth, it is visible to observers on Earth in the late evening or early morning sky. Because of this, Mercury has become a part of the mythology and legend of almost every culture throughout the history of the Earth. Mercury has no moons.

Morning Star

Mercury's orbit is not a perfect circle like most of the other planets. It's actually egg-shaped. At times, Mercury's orbit brings it closer to the Sun than other times, while all the other planets that have circular orbits are always the same distance from the Sun.

The Mercury

Characteristics of Mercury

• Mercury is Heavy

• Mercury Has Wrinkles

• Mercury is Scarred• Mercury Has No

Atmosphere

• Temperature Extremes

• Time on Mercury

Did You Know?

The Venus

The planet Venus has long been one of the most misunderstood of all the inner planets. Like the Earth, Venus has an atmosphere. However, Venus' atmosphere is far thicker than that of the Earth, making it difficult for modern science to penetrate. Interestingly, scientists have recently been able to peek through the thick clouds and get a few glimpses of the surface. There are numerous volcanoes and many mountains that appear misshapen.

Covered by Thick Cloud

The Venus

Characteristics of Venus

• Venus has no moons

• The Earth Has a Sister

• Venus is Dry

Because Venus is so close to the Earth, it appears as the brightest planet in the night sky.

Did You Know?

The Earth

Our planet is  an oasis of life in an otherwise desolate universe.  The Earth's temperature, weather, atmosphere and many other factors are just right to keep us alive.

Blue planet

The Earth is the biggest of all the terrestrial planets. A terrestrial planet is a dense planet found in the inner Solar System. The diameter of Earth is 7,926 miles. The circumference measured around the equator is 24,901 miles. 

Scientists use the Earth to study all the other planets. Since no human has ever visited another planet, we have to use what we know about the Earth, and try to guess what the other planets must be like. This is called Comparative Planetology.

Did You Know?

The Mars

Red planet

Mars excites scientists because its mild temperament is more like the Earth's than any of the other planets. Evidence suggests that Mars once had rivers, streams, lakes, and even an ocean. As Mars' atmosphere slowly depleted into outer space, the surface water began to permanently evaporate. Today the only water on Mars in either frozen in the polar caps or underground.

Mars referred to as the "Red Planet." This is because the surface of Mars is red. If you stood on the surface of Mars, you would see red dirt and rocks everywhere.

Mars has higher mountains, and deeper canyons than any other planet. The largest canyon on Mars would stretch from New York City to Los Angeles on the Earth. That makes the Grand Canyon look tiny. It also has the Solar System's biggest volcano, Olympus Mons, which is nearly 3 times larger than Mount Everest.

Did You Know?

Mars has two moons, their names are Deimos and Phobos.  To learn about these worlds

The Jupiter

Giant planetJupiter is by far the largest planet in our Solar System. The Earth could fit inside Jupiter more than 1000 times.

Jupiter is a very stormy planet. There are storms found throughout the atmosphere, and most of the storms seem to never end. The many different cloud formations and storms in the atmosphere also make Jupiter a very colorful planet.

Jupiter's great red spot, visible in the picture above to the right, is where a giant storm has been raging for at least 300 years. This red spot is also called "The Eye of Jupiter" because of its shape. This storm's super hurricane winds blow across an area larger than the Earth.

Jupiter is considered a gas giant because it does not have a solid surface. Under its atmosphere is a large liquid ocean of hydrogen and water. 

Jupiter has 50 official moons and 12 provisional (unofficial) moons. The four largest and most well-known were discovered by Galileo in the year 1610. 

They are faint and are only able to be viewed when Jupiter passes in front of the Sun. This is because the light from the Sun lights them up for us to see here on Earth. There are three rings in all.

Did you know Jupiter has rings?

You can see four of Jupiter's moons With a pair of binoculars at night. Also, Jupiter spins really fast; it only takes 10 hours to go from night to day on Jupiter. For this reason, its middle has been stretched out. Rather than round it is short and fat. Kind of like when someone spins pizza dough really fast to stretch it out. This planet shape is called an oblate spheroid.

Did You Know?If you traveled to Jupiter on vacation, you would be very heavy. If you weigh 70 pounds (32 kg) on Earth, on Jupiter you would weigh 185 pounds (84 kg). This is because Jupiter is such a large planet and so has more gravity.

The Saturn

• Saturn is similar to Jupiter, but it is much smaller. It is the second largest planet in our Solar System and it is a gas giant like Jupiter. Under the clouds of methane, hydrogen and helium, the sky gradually turns into liquid until it becomes a giant ocean of liquid chemicals.

Ringed planet

• Because Saturn is such a lightweight planet and it spins so fast, Saturn is not perfectly round like most of the other planets. Like Jupiter, Saturn is wider in the middle and more narrow near its top and bottom.

•  The rings are not solid but rather are made up of particles of ice, dust and rocks. The rings are held in place around Saturn by the moons that also orbit this large planet. The gravity of these moons also cause the gaps that are seen in between the rings.

• Saturn has 53 official moons and 9 provisional (unofficial) moons. The most well-known of Saturn's moons is probably Titan.

Did You Know?Saturn is the furthest planet from Earth that can be seen without the help of a telescope.

The Uranus

Cold planet

• Uranus is an extremely cold planet. It has been called the "ice giant." It is believed that Uranus is made up of rock and ice and has a large rocky core. Because of the tremendous planetary pressure of Uranus, there could possibly be trillions of large diamonds in or on the surface of this planet.

• Scientists also believe that on the surface of Uranus there may be a huge ocean. And, interestingly, it is thought that the temperature of this ocean may be extremely hot, maybe even as hot as 5000 degrees Fahrenheit (2760 Celsius).

• Uranus is almost identical to the planet Neptune.

• Uranus also has rings, though they don't stretch out as far as the rings of Saturn. The rings of Uranus are made up of black dust particles and large rocks.

• Uranus has 27 moons. Five of these moons are large and the rest are smaller. The largest moon is Titania, followed by Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda. Some of the smaller moons are named: Belinda, Bianca, Caliban, Cordelia, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Ophelia, Portia, Puck, and Rosalind.

Did You Know?Since Uranus spins on its side, its rings rotate up and over the planet instead of around the middle like the rings of Saturn and Neptune.

The Neptune

Neptune is the smallest of the four gas giants in our Solar System. Much like Saturn and Uranus, Neptune's atmosphere contains hydrogen, helium and methane.

In Neptune's atmosphere, there is a large white cloud that moves around rather quickly. The "scooting" of this cloud around the atmosphere has led it to be named "Scooter."Neptune is a very windy place. No other planet in the Solar System has winds that are as strong as Neptune's.

The winds near the Great Dark Spot were believed to have reached nearly 1,200 miles per hour (approx. 1931 km per hour). Perhaps this extremely windy atmosphere contributes to the appearance and disappearance of the great dark spots.

Neptune has six rings which circle the planet. These rings are believed to be fairly new. The rings are more irregular than the rings of other planets. There are areas of varying thickness throughout the rings.

Neptune has 13 moons that we know of. Because Neptune is so far away, it is difficult to see any of these worlds. There are probably many more moons orbiting this blue planet which we have not yet discovered. Perhaps you will be the astronomer who discovers some of these worlds.

Did You Know?Neptune's circular orbit is offset from the Sun. At times, Neptune's orbit takes it further from the Sun than any other planet in the Solar System. In 2011, Neptune will complete its first orbit around the Sun since it was discovered in 1846.

To qualify as a planet, an object needs to orbit the Sun, have enough mass to pull itself into a spherical shape, and have cleared out its orbit of other material. It’s this third requirement that Pluto hasn’t fulfilled; it’s just a fraction of the mass in its orbit, while the other planets are millions of times more massive than everything else in their orbits.

Why is Pluto not a planet?

Because….

The MoonOur moon makes Earth a more livable planet by

moderating our home planet's wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate, and creating a tidal rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years. The moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth and the debris formed into the most prominent feature in our night sky.

The moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth and the debris formed into the most prominent feature in our night sky.

The moon is a rocky, solid-surface body, with much of its surface cratered and pitted from impacts. The moon has a very thin and tenuous (weak) atmosphere, called an exosphere

The moon's weak atmosphere and its lack of liquid water cannot support life as we know it.

Dwarf planets are round and orbit the Sun just like the eight major planets. But unlike planets, dwarf planets are not able to clear their orbital path so there are no similar objects at roughly the same distance from the Sun. A dwarf planet is much smaller than a planet (smaller even than Earth's moon), but it is not a moon. Pluto is the best known of the dwarf planets.

It includes Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Haumea and Makemake. Dwarf planets are objects that orbit the Sun and have enough mass to form a sphere, but they share their orbit with other objects. And as telescopes improve, more dwarf planets will be discovered. There might eventually be more dwarf planets than planets. 

Dwarf Planets

• http://www.kidsastronomy.com/venus.htm• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy

/tutor/solarsystem/1/• http://www.universetoday.com/15959/interesting-facts-

about-the-solar-system/• http://space-facts.com/dwarf-planets/• http://

solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Dwarf

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