THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Courtney FelicianiSTARS 2009

All information collected from www.wikipedia.org

What is the Solar System?

• Made up of the sun, the planets, the moons, asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, and meteoroids.

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

THE SUN

• The central star of the Solar System.• Its mass is over 300,000 x that of Earth.• Releases energy that radiates through the

Solar System.

ROTATION

• When an object spins on its axis.• Example: an Earth day is the time it takes for

the Earth to finish one rotation on its axis.

Image from physicalgeography.net

REVOLUTION

• When an object completes an orbit.• The planets revolve around the sun, and the

moon revolves around Earth.• One revolution of the Earth around the sun is

one year.

Image from education.arm.gov

PLANETS

• Rounded bodies that orbit a star.• Have their own orbit.• Dwarf planets revolve around a star, but do

not have their own orbit.

MERCURY• Named for the Roman

god Mercury, the messenger god, and the god of trade.

• 1 day on Mercury is 176 Earth days.

• 1 year on Mercury is 88 Earth days.

• Looks like the moon.

VENUS

• Named after the Roman goddess of love.

• 1 day on Venus is 243 Earth days.

• 1 year on Venus is 225 Earth days.

• The temperature of Venus is the same during the day and night.

EARTH

• The largest of the first 4 planets, the ‘terrestrial planets’.

• Has 1 moon.

MARS

• Named after the Roman god of war.• 1 day on Mars is 40 minutes longer than a day on

Earth.• 1 year on Mars is 687 Earth days.• There is water on Mars. The poles are covered in

ice.

JUPITER• Named after the Roman

king of the gods.• 1 day on Jupiter is about

10 hours.• 1 year on Jupiter is almost

12 Earth years.• The surface is gas.• The Great Red Spot is a

storm 3 times the size of the Earth.

SATURN• Named after the god Saturnus,

who was the god of agriculture.• 1 day on Saturn is about 10 hours,

and 1 year is almost 30 Earth years.

• Saturn is flattened, meaning that it has a bulge around the equator.

URANUS

• Named after the Greek god of the sky.• 1 day on Uranus is 17 hours.• 1 year on Uranus is 84 Earth years.• Uranus has 13 rings, some blue and some red.

NEPTUNE

• Named after the Roman god of the sea.• 1 day is 16 hours, and 1 year is 165 Earth

years.• On July 12, 2011, Neptune will complete its

first orbit since it was discovered.

DWARF PLANETS

• The dwarf planets are Pluto, Ceres, Makemake, Haumea, and Eris.

• No space probes have been to any of these planets.

THE MOON

• Orbits around the Earth every 27 days.

• The same side of the moon always faces the sun.

• Ocean tides are caused by the gravity of the moon acting on the water.

ASTEROID BELT

• In between Mars and Jupiter• Asteroids are rocks that orbit the sun.• Total mass of the belt is thought to be 1/1000

the mass of Earth.

THE KUIPER BELT

• Located past Neptune, and is composed mainly of ice

• Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake are all located in the Kuiper belt.