inner and outer planets - mrs. eldridge 6b science€¦ · outer planets. spi 0607.6.2 explain how...

Inner and Outer Planets

SPI 0607.6.2Explain how the relative distance of objects

from the earth affects how they appear.

Inner Planets•Terrestrial planets are those that are closest to the Sun.

•Terrestrial planets are made mostly of rock and have similar characteristics to Earth.

Inner Planets•There are four terrestrial planets in our solar system.Mercury VenusEarth Mars

Inner Planets

Mercury •Closest to the sun•No moons•Extremely hottemperatures on one side and extremely coldtemperatures on the other.

Mercury •Now the smallestplanet in our solar system

•Physically, Mercury is similar in appearance to our moon as it is heavily cratered.

Mercury •Mercury has a rockybody like the Earth, but its atmosphere is very thin or weak.

•Brain Pop Mercury

Venus: “Earth’s Twin”

• Second planet from the sun

•Rotates in the opposite direction than earth

•Venus has no moons

•Is the hottestplanet

Venus: “Earth’s Twin”

•Has the mostdense atmosphere than any of the terrestrial planets

•Mainly consists of carbon dioxide but also some deadly acids

Venus: “Earth’s Twin”

•The carbon dioxide traps thermalenergy causing a greenhouse effect -causing the temperature to be so high

•Average temperature 464*C

Venus•Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon, and sometimes looks like a bright star in the morning or evening sky. We can't see the surface of the planet because it has a very thick atmosphere filled with clouds that strongly reflectsunlight. Brain Pop Venus

Earth•Earth is the “water planet,” which is the reason for the survival of life on this planet.

•Temperatures on Earth are warm enough to keep the water from freezing but cool enough to keep it from boiling away.

Earth•Earth has three layers:1. The crust is the outer layer of

the Earth.2. The mantle lies below the crust.

It contains denser rocks.3. The core, at the center,

contains the heaviest material (nickel and iron).

Brain Pop Earth

Mars•Mars is called the red planet.•The reddish color is caused by rust(iron oxide) in the soil.

•Most studied planet other than earth.

•Mars is a cold planet because of its thin atmosphere and distance from the sun.

Mars•The pressure is so low in the atmosphere that any liquid water would quickly boil away.

•The only water found on Mars is in the form of ice.

•Dry river beds on Mars indicates that there possibly was water in the past.

Mars•Mars now has two polar icecaps that contain frozen water and carbondioxide.

•Brain Pop Mars

Asteroid Belt•The Terrestrial Planets are separated from the Gas Giants by the asteroid belt.

•The asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroid BeltGas Giant•There are four Gas Giants (outer planets):

•Jupiter•Saturn•Uranus•Neptune

•Outer Planets

Jupiter•The first of the outerplanets.

•Is the largest planet!•Considered to be a gas giant made mostly of hydrogenand helium.

Jupiter

•Known for its giant red spot.•This spot has a diameter three timesthat of earth.

Jupiter•Jupiter has about 63moons and a ring system. The four of Jupiter’s natural satellites are Io, Europa, Ganymede, & Callisto.

•Io has active volcanoes, and Europa has the possibility of a water environment friendly to life.

Saturn•The second largest planet in the solar system.•Saturn gives off a lot of energy caused by helium raining out of the atmosphere and sinking to the core. So… Saturn is still forming!

Saturn•The composition of Saturn's atmosphere includes more sulfur. This adds to Saturn's overall yellow appearance.

•Although the gas giants have rings, Saturn’s rings are the largest.

Saturn•The rings consist of icy particlesthat range in size from a few centimeters to several meters across.

Uranus•Uranus has some of the brightest clouds in the outer solar system and 11 rings.

•No solid surface ; Uranus's interior is primarily made of methane ice.

Uranus•One especially unusual quality of Uranus is that it is tipped over on its side.

•The axis of rotation is tilted by almost 90° (look @ pg. 240).

Uranus•For part of a Uranus year, one pole points toward the sun while the other pole is in darkness.

Neptune•Warm gases rise and the cool gases sink, setting up the wind patterns in the atmosphere that create the belts of clouds.

•Neptune's winds are three times stronger than Jupiter's and nine times stronger than Earth's.

Neptune•Voyager 2 images also revealed that Neptune has a set of very narrow rings (six rings to be exact).

•This hurricane-like 'Great Dark Spot' was observed to be large enough to contain the entire Earth, spun counterclockwise, and moved westward at almost 750 miles per hour.

What about Pluto?On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formally downgraded Pluto from an official planet to a dwarf planet.One of the criteria for being an official planet is that a planet must have cleared other things out of the way in its orbital neighborhood. • Pluto does not meet this criteria.• Pluto orbits among the icy wrecks of the Kuiper Belt (a region of the Solar System beyond the planets) and Ceres.

What is the Kuiper Belt?The Kuiper Belt is a disc-shaped region of icy bodies - including dwarf planets such a Pluto -and comets beyond the orbit of Neptune. It extends from about 30 to 55 AU and is probably populated with hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 100 km (62 miles) across and an estimated trillion or more comets. The first Kuiper Belt Object was discovered in 1992.