A Brief Tour of

the Solar System

Fun facts about our planets!

Alyson Twist – Professor Rice – Educational Technology – Fall 2014

OBJECTIVES TO BE LEARNED

To gain a general knowledge of our solar system

Be able to learn all the planets in our solar system

To recognize the position of the Earth in relation to the

sun and other planets

To understand the basic concept of our solar system

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto?

The Solar System

The Sun

The Sun

• The Sun is by far

the largest object

in the solar system.

• It contains more

the 99.8% of the

mass of the solar

system.

• The sun sits at the

center of our solar

system

• It acts as a huge

magnet that the

planets orbit

around

Mercury

• It only takes Mercury 88 days to orbit the sun.

• However, ONE DAY on Mercury is

equivalent to 176 DAYS on Earth!

• Mercury is the planet closest to the sun

• Though it is the closest, it is only the SECOND

hottest planet – Venus is hotter!

Venus

• One day on Venus lasts longer than a year on

Venus

• Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system,

coming in at 462° C (864° F!)

• Venus rotates counter-clockwise and does

not tilt on its axis, therefore it has no

seasonal changes!

Venus’ diameter is only 396 miles short of Earth’s!

Earth

• The Earth was once considered to be the center of

the universe.

• Earth is the only planet not named after a god

• Earth has only one moon

• Earth’s powerful magnetic field

protects it from damaging solar

winds

• Earth is the third planet from the sun and the

only known planet in the universe to inhabit life

forms

Mars• The sun appears half the size on

Mars as it does on Earth

• Mars has 2 moons

• A year on Mars only lasts 340 days

• Mars has seasons just like Earth!

• It is home to the largest mountain

in our solar system, Olympus

MonsMars is so little next to Earth!

Jupiter

• It takes Jupiter 11.8 earth years to

rotate around the sun

• One day on Jupiter only lasts 9 hours!

The great red spot

is actually a HUGE

STORM on Jupiter!

Saturn

• Saturn’s rings are mostly made up of chunks of ice

and dust

• Saturn can be seen through binoculars or a small

telescope! It is the 5th brightest object in the sky!

• It takes 29.4 Earth years for Saturn to orbit the

sun.

• Saturn has over 150 moons and moonlets!

Uranus

• Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun

• Uranus is the coldest planet

• Uranus has TWO sets of rings!

• It has 27 moons, most of which are

named after Shakespeare characters

Neptune

• Neptune has 14 moons

• It takes 164.8 Earth years to revolve

around the sun

• Neptune has a very thin collection of

rings

• Its atmosphere is made up of

hydrogen, helium and some

methane

Pluto

• Pluto’s unusual orbit around the sun causes

some scientist’s to question whether Pluto is

really a planet

• Because of this Pluto is now labeled a

“dwarf planet”

• It takes approximately 248 years for Pluto to

orbit the sun

• Pluto was only discovered in 1930.

POP QUIZ!

Earth is the _____ planet away from the sun:

A. 2nd

B. 4th

C. 7th

D. 3rd

POP QUIZ!

Awesome job!

Next question…

POP QUIZ!

Which planet is almost the same size as Earth?

A. JupiterB. SaturnC. VenusD. Mars

POP QUIZ!

Awesome job!

Next question…

POP QUIZ!

Jupiter is the largest planet:

True

False

GREAT JOB, CLASS!

REFERENCES http://www.planetsforkids.org

http://space-facts.com

Images:

http://www.hdwallpapersdepotpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Sun-hd-wallpapers2.jpg

http://web-images.chacha.com/images/facts-about-the-planets-in-our-solar-system127892530-jun-28-2012-600x600.jpg

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/venus/mgn_maat_mons.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Venus_globe.jpg

http://www.allwelike.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/NASA-Earth.jpg

http://www.focusur.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mars-mission-nasa-2030-marcher-sur-mars.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kVMUBeLxwuM/UsBEK3_ig9I/AAAAAAAA7_w/_4kOKEuMy6g/s1600/IMG_0366.PNG

http://www.ultimateuniverse.net/images/saturn1.jpg

REFERENCESImages continued:

http://38.media.tumblr.com/4775654b53fff24e5e62a5fa1e354ad3/tumblr_muhhby8t9T1qgmu5uo2_1280.jpg

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/rps/gallery/images/PIA01492.jpg

http://d75822.medialib.glogster.com/media/16/16df855ced4651340a887d985aa31921c36ae9beb41bedc77c698a7eaa4b073a/pluto.gif

http://preview.turbosquid.com/Preview/2010/12/05__02_14_00/1.jpg6df650a6-bff9-4bb9-af87-fc005f992933Larger.jpg

http://www.oursolarsystem.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Solar-system-blue.jpg

http://space-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/venus-size.png

http://space-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/mars-size.png

http://guysfromandromeda.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Galaxy-background.jpg