The Inner Planets

Terrestrial High temperatures Closer to the Sun Closer to each other

Mercury Closest to the Sun Only 88 days to orbit Many craters Temperature extremes

400C during day, -180 at night

Basically no atmosphere

Named after the Roman messenger of the gods.

Mercury Second densest object

in the solar system. Mercury is not the

hottest planet even though it is the closest to the Sun

It rotates on its axis one and a half times for each orbit around the sun.

Venus Named after the Roman

Goddess of Love Earth’s sister planet Morning and evening star Thick atmosphere of CO2

and Sulfur Longer day than year Spins opposite than other

planets Over 500C all the time

Venus The atmosphere of

Venus contains a high percentage of carbon dioxide that holds heat in the planet's atmosphere.

The atmosphere of Venus is made of thick clouds of sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide, which makes it very hot.

Hottest planet in solar system

Earth Home sweet home Only planet with

sustained life Hydrosphere (water) Atmosphere made up

of N, O, CO2 Comfortable

temperature

Earth Earth has fewer craters than other terrestrial planets because of its atmosphere (upper) which destroys meteorites.

Its atmosphere is called a secondary atmosphere.

Mars

Named after the Roman god of war.

Frozen polar CO2 caps Smaller than Earth Slightly longer day and

year Very cold

Mars Thin atmosphere Largest mountain in

solar system Olympus Mons Mars has frozen polar

ice caps and is known as the most like Earth.

Asteroid Belt

Separates the inner and outer planets

Possibly an annihilated planet

Most asteroids hang out here

Outer Planets

Gas giants No solid surface, just thick atmosphere All very large Very far apart from each other All have rings

Jupiter

Named after the Roman king of the godsCould hold 1300 EarthsAlmost big enough to be a star12 EY = 1 Jovian year1 Jovian day = 12 EHHuge storms

Great red spot “hurricane” larger than Earth

Some moons may have water

Jupiter is largest planet in the solar system.

Jupiter can fit all of the other planets inside this gas giant and there would still be space left over.

Great Red Spot

Caused by winds spinning in opposite directions on the surface – essentially a permanent hurricane.

About 3 times the diameter of Earth.

Saturn Named after the

Roman god of the harvest

29 years to orbit Large rings made of ice

and dust 10 hour day Possibly still forming Tilts itself

Saturn Saturn is known for its’

rings and is the least dense planet. It would float in a swimming pool if we had one big enough to put this planet into.

Uranus

Named after the Roman god of the sky

Blue in color due to methane gas

84 years to orbit Rotates sideways Very cold

-250C

Uranus

Uranus also has rings, but lies on its side so the rings go around it vertically.

Neptune

Named after the Roman god of the sea

Methane atomosphere 164 years to orbit -250c temps 30 times farther from

the sun than Earth

Neptune

Neptune is blue because it is mostly made of a gas called methane

Neptune’s Blue Spot

A storm as large as Earth

Similar to Great Red Spot of Jupiter

PlutoPluto is not a planet, because of its size and irregular orbit.