Today’s Objectives

• 1. Collect HW

• 2. Question of the Day

• 3. Inner Planets Activity

• 3. Discussion on Observing the Solar System Part 2

• 4. The Universe: The Inner Planets

Question of the Day 4/28/10

• If the sun makes up 99.8% of the solar system and the more massive an object is the more gravity it has, why aren’t Mercury and Venus pulled into the sun?

• The Law of Universal Gravitation states that all objects in the universe have a gravitational attraction towards each other. Therefore, the other planets’ gravity would be acting on Mercury and Venus in the opposite direction to prevent them from being pulled into the sun.

• Get HW out but do not turn it in. On your paper, write down as many facts about the planets as you can.

• Today’s Schedule

• 1. Go over HW

• 2. The Planets

• 3. Planet Packet Activity

What do you know about the planets?

Olympus Mons• Olympus Mons is the largest Volcanic mountain in

the Solar System. It is 600 km across and 27 km high! And you thought Mount Everest was tall!

Saturn• That Saturn has such a low density that it would

float if put in water!

Space Volcanoes

• That some volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io eject material at speeds of up to 1km/second! This is about 20 times faster than the volcanoes here on Earth!

The Great Red Spot

• The Great Red Spot. This is a huge, high storm that has been swirling around Jupiter for hundreds of years. It’s easily visible from telescopes here on Earth, and even in larger backyard telescopes.

Poor Pluto

• Pluto which is a dwarf planet takes 248 years to orbit the sun.

Planets Packet

• Objective: To discover new information about the planets using books and the internet.

• Packet is due on Friday, Dec. 10.

• Solar System, Solar System Information, Facts, News, Photos -- National Geographic

• The Solar System - Astronomy For Kids - KidsAstronomy.com

The Inner Planets• 4 Planets closest to the sun.

• Terrestrial planets- Small, dense, and have rocky surfaces like Earth

The Inner Planets

Mercury

• Planet closest to the sun.

• About the size of our moon.

• Heavily cratered surface.

• Virtually no atmosphere

• 430 degrees C at day, -170 degrees C at night

The Inner PlanetsVenus

The inner planets, Mercury and Venus • “Earth’s Twin” size and mass are similar

• A day is longer than a year

• Sun rises in the west & sets in the east.

• Atmospheric pressure is 90 times greater than Earth’s

• Hottest planet- 460 degrees C. Melt lead

The Inner PlanetsEarth

• Only planet to have liquid water at the surface.

• Only planet to have an atmosphere rich in oxygen.

• Only planet that life has been discovered on.

The Inner PlanetsMars

• Polar Ice Cap

• “red planet” made up of iron rich rocks

• Atmosphere = 95% carbon dioxide

• -140 degrees C to 20 degrees C.• Scientists think liquid water once flowed over the

surface The universe: (S1): 2- Mars, the red planet

The Outer Planets• The 4 planets farthest from the sun.

• Much larger more massive than the inner planets.

• They do not have solid surfaces “Gas Giants”

The Outer Planets• All gas giants have moons.

• All gas giants have rings.

• If they are made of gas why doesn’t the gas drift into space?

Jupiter

• The largest and most

massive planet.

• Great Red Spot-

Storm larger than the

entire Earth.

• Dozens of moons.•

The universe: (S1): 4- Jupiter, the giant planet

Saturn• Second largest planet.

• Gives off more energy than it receives from the sun.

• Avg. density is less than water.

• Ice and rock make up Saturn’s rings.

Uranus (Yoor uh nus)

• 1. Methane gas in the

atmosphere

• 2. 90 degree tilt caused

by massive collision.

• 3. At least 25 moons

Neptune

• Cold, blue planet

• Slowly shrinking

• Clouds and storms that come and go

• outer planets - Google Video

• The universe: (S1): 11- The outer planets

Pluto the Outcast

• Only outer “planet” to have a solid surface.

• Smallest Planet (Smaller than our moon)

• Pluto’s moon, Charon, is about half the size of Pluto.

• Its lack of size have led many scientists to question if it should really be considered a planet.

Planet Acronym

• M V E M J S U N P

y e x o u e s I i

r c t s n n z

y e h t t e z

l e a

l r s

e

n

tHulu - The Universe: Mercury and Venus - The Inner Planets - Watch the full episode now.

The Inner Planets

• inner planets - Google Video

Today’s Objectives 4/30/10

• 1. Question of the Day

• 2. Solar System Activity

• 3. Continue Research on Projects

Question of the Day

• Observe the image below. What happened to Pluto in 1989?

• Pluto and Neptune’s orbit crossed paths and Neptune became the furthest planet from the sun.

Solar System Activity• Solar System Activity WS

1. Identify each planet. Describe the planet’s size, rotation, revolution, number of moons, and atmosphere.

2. Accurately color the planets and the sun. Add any characteristics to a planet such as moons or rings.

3. Answer the questions on the back of the sheet and fill in the charts.

• Solar System Activity PPT

• 1. Create a 9 slide PPT presentation. Start with the planet closest to the Sun. On each slide you need a picture of the planet. Describe the planet’s size, rotation, revolution, distance from the sun, number of moons, and atmosphere.

• 2. Create an additional 4 slides in which you answer the questions on the back of the WS.

Earth• Earth is the 3rd planet from

the sun and the 5th largest planet. A rotation takes 24 hours and a revolution is 365 days. Earth has 1 moon and the atmosphere is 79% Nitrogen and 20% Oxygen. Its avg. distance from the sun is 93 million miles

Outer Planets Activity• 1. You will work in a group of 3 people.• 2. Assignments: writer, internet researcher, book

researcher.• 3. There are 6 stations. One for each outer planet

and one for the moons of the outer planet.• 4. Your group will start at one station and will have

1-2 min. to list 3 facts about that planet.• 5. After the time is up all groups will rotate to the

next station.• 6. A point will be awarded for each correct fact that

your group writes.