The Solar System By Rusty Sturken Duluth Middle

The Solar System By Rusty Sturken Duluth Middle School See body of Powerpoint for image sources

Relative Sizes of the Planets, plus Pluto Saturn Jupiter Uranus Neptune Not pictured The dwarf planet Eris Mars Earth Venus Mercury Not pictured, the dwarf planet Ceres 2 Image from http: //www. nineplanets. org/gif/Nine. Planets. jpg

Clean picture comparing relative sizes 3 Image from http: //www. nineplanets. org/gif/Nine. Planets. jpg

Another perspective Renamed Eris 4 Image from http: //media. skyandtelescope. com/images/Twelve. Planets_l. jpg

The Inner Planets • • Mercury Venus Earth Mars 5

Characteristics of the Inner Planets • They are 4 planets closest to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Located inside Asteroid Belt • Very similar to each other, they are small and have rocky surfaces. They are dense. Do NOT have rings • Often called “terrestrial planets” because they resemble Earth, “terra-” means “Earth” 6

Mercury • Size- about 38% of Earth’s diameter it is 4878 km • Distance from sun- about 39% of Earth’s distance it is 58, 000 km • Surface- thin, hard rocky surface covered with many plains and craters • Atmosphere- very thin, some sodium and other gases 7

Mercury(cont’d) • Ability to support life- none, there is NOT any sign of life on Mercury, lack of water and oxygen along with hot temperatures make life unlikely • Moons- none • Rotation- 59 Earth days • Revolution-. 24 Earth years • Daytime(sunlit side) temperature 430ºC Nighttime(shaded side) temperature -190ºC 8

Mercury Image on right from http: //pds. jpl. nasa. gov/planets/images/browse/mercury 1. jpg Image on left from http: //astrogeology. usgs. gov/Projects/Browse. The. Solar. System/gifs/mercury 2. gif 9

Venus • Size- slightly smaller than Earth 95% of Earth’s diameter, it is 12, 104 km • Distance from sun- about 2/3 of Earth’s, it is 108, 000 km from sun • Surface- covered with rock similar to some parts of Earth, has volcanoes with lava flows and strange domes 10

Venus (cont’d) • Atmosphere- Very thick and cloudy, mostly carbon dioxide, clouds partly sulfuric acid • Atmospheric pressure is 90 times heavier than Earth’s and would crush a human 11

Venus (cont’d) • Atmosphere continued- Mostly carbon dioxide so greenhouse effect is strong • Has clouds of sulfuric acid • Ability to support life- Life does NOT appear to exist on Venus, lack of water along with harsh temperatures and atmosphere make life on Venus unlikely 12

Venus (cont’d) • Sometimes called “Earth’s twin” or “Earth’s sister planet” due to similarity • Retrograde rotation- rotates “backward” from east to west (opposite of Earth) • Rotates very slowly, one rotation takes about 8 Earth months and one revolution around sun takes about 7. 5 Earth months (One day is longer than one year) • Moons- None 13

Venus Phases of Venus Image from http: //www. spacestationinfo. com/images/venus-phase 1. gif Image on left from http: //rocksfromspace. open. ac. uk/images/venus. jpg 14

Earth • Size- 12, 756 km diameter • Distance from Sun- 150, 000 km • Surface- Crust is a solid rocky surface, 70% is covered by water • Atmosphere- up to 100 km thick, made up of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% other gases 15

Earth • Ability to Support Life- Life does exist on Earth. Gaseous oxygen, liquid water and moderate temperatures are hospitable for life on Earth • Rotation takes 24 hours • Revolution takes 365. 25 days • Earth has one moon 16

Earth Image on right from http: //z. about. com/d/space/1/7/c/e/earth_moon. jpg 17 Image on left from http: //www. physorg. com/newman/gfx/news/2005/earth 12. jpg

Mars • Size- 53% of Earth’s diameter, it is 6794 km • Distance from Sun- about 1. 5 times distance of Earth It is 228, 000 km from sun • Surface-Rocky surface with carbonite rocks high in iron, creating red color Polar ice caps contain frozen water and carbon dioxide 18

Mars • Atmosphere- Very thin, with thin clouds Mostly carbon dioxide, only 1% of Earth’s atmospheric pressure • Ability to support life- It is possible that primitive bacteria may have lived on Mars or may now live there but none has been found. Existence of liquid water makes life on Mars a possibility 19

Mars continued • Has polar ice caps of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide • Rotation- 1. 03 Earth days • Revolution- 1. 9 Earth years • Mars has largest volcano in solar system, called Olympus Mons • Moons- 2 Phobos and Deimos 20 Image of Phobos from http: //www. nasa. gov/images/content/221818 main_PIA 10368 -516. jpg

Mars Image on left from http: //www. lunarplanner. com/Images/Mars 2003/Mars. jpg Image on right from http: //www. spacetoday. org/images/Mars. Rovers 2003/Mars. Rover 2003_1. jpg 21

The Outer Planets • • • Jupiter Saturn Uranus pronounced “YOOR-a-nus” see http: //www. nineplanets. org/say/uranus. au Neptune Pluto (a dwarf Planet) 22

Characteristics of The Outer Planets • These are the planets outside of the Asteroid Belt, they are: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris • Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are called “Gas Giants”. They are much larger than Earth and do not have solid surfaces 23

Characteristics of The Outer Planets • Pluto and Eris are small and rocky, like the terrestrial planets. • The gas giants do not have well-defined surfaces but have deep atmospheres that are typically about 75% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 1% other elements • Gas giants likely have solid cores of rock, ice, frozen carbon dioxide and other compounds 24

Jupiter • Size- diameter is 11 times Earth’s, It is 142, 800 km • Distance from Sun- 5. 2 times further than Earth. It is 778, 000 km • Surface and atmosphere of gas and liquid it does not have a well-defined surface • Has a deep atmosphere of about 86 % hydrogen, 14 % helium, and tiny amounts of methane, ammonia, phosphine, water, acetylene, ethane, germanium, and carbon monoxide. 25

Jupiter continued • Ability to support life- Lacks water, oxygen and moderate temperatures needed to support life. NO known life • Largest planet in solar system with 300 times the mass of Earth • Rotation-. 41 Earth days (fastest) • Revolution- 29 Earth years 26

Jupiter continued • Moons- 17 (book), 63 (web), 16 that are 10 km or larger and many smaller ones(NASA), Europa may have water • Has dark rings • Great Red Spot is storm on Jupiter, twice as big as Earth 27

Jupiter and moon Io Image on left from http: //pds. jpl. nasa. gov/planets/images/browse/jupiter. jpg 28 Image on right from http: //www. spacetoday. org/images/Sol. Sys/Jupiter. Below. Io 2001. jpg

Saturn • Size- About 9. 44 times size of Earth. It is 120, 540 km • Distance from sun- About 9. 5 times distance from sun as Earth. 1, 427, 000 km • Surface and atmosphere of a gas giant, it does not have a well-defined surface but has syruplike mixture of helium and hydrogen and a thick atmosphere of gaseous helium and hydrogen 29

Saturn continued • Ability to support life- Lacks water, oxygen, and moderate temperatures needed to support life • Second largest planet in solar system • Rotation- 0. 43 Earth days • Revolution- 29 Earth years 30

Saturn continued • Moons- 19 (book), 34 (Web), 25 that are 10 km or larger plus additional smaller ones (NASA) • Low density planet, could float in water • Prominent rings- diameter of 250, 000 km or more but only about 1 kilometer thick, mostly chunks of ice and rocks 31

Saturn Image on right from http: //www. adlerplanetarium. org/cyberspace Image on left fromhttp: //pds. jpl. nasa. gov/planets/images/full/saturn. jpg 32

Uranus • pronounced “YOOR-a-nus” • Size- About 4 times diameter of Earth. It is 51, 200 km • Distance from Sun- About 19 times farther from sun than Earth. It is 2, 871, 000 km • Surface and atmosphere of a gas giant, it does not have a well-defined surface, 33

Uranus continued • the surface of Uranus consists of bluegreen clouds made up of tiny ice crystals of methane, and rock. The crystals of methane have frozen out of the planet's atmosphere. • Uranus' atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane. 34

Uranus continued • Ability to support life- Lacks water, oxygen, and moderate temperatures needed to support life, NO known life • Rotation- 0. 72 Earth days, is retrograde rotation like Venus, and rotates on side • Revolution- 84 Earth years • Moons- 18 (book), 27 (Web), 21 named moons (NASA) • Rings- 11 dark rings 35

Uranus 36 Image on left from http: //nssdc. gsfc. nasa. gov/planetary/image/uranus. jpg Image on right from http: //www. nasa. gov/images/content/139938 main_uranus_ring. jpg

Neptune • Size- Almost 4 times diameter of Earth. It is 49, 500 km • Distance from Sun- Almost 30 times farther from sun than Earth. It is 4, 497, 000 km • Surface and atmosphere of a gas giant, it does not have a well-defined surface • Neptune's composition is probably similar to Uranus': various "ices" and Silicates (rock) with about 15% hydrogen, some water, and a little helium 37

Neptune continued • Atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium with a small amount of methane. • Ability to support life- Lacks significant water, oxygen, and moderate temperatures needed to support life. NO known life. 38

Neptune continued • • Rotation- 0. 67 Earth days Revolution- 165 Earth years Visible clouds in atmosphere Moons- 8 (book), 13 (web), 11 (NASA) • 3 Very dark rings, 1 very faint ring 39

Neptune Image on left from http: //www. diracdelta. co. uk/science/source/n/e/neptune. jpg 40 Image on right from http: //upload. wikimedia. org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Neptune-visible. jpg

Pluto • Size- about 17% of diameter of Earth. It is 2200 km • Distance from sun- more than 39 times farther than Earth. It is 5, 913, 000 kilometers • Rocky, icy surface is very small • Thin atmosphere of methane gas 41

Pluto continued • Ability to support life- Lacks water, oxygen, and warmth needed for life NO known life • Moons- 1 Charon (book), 3 - Charon, Hydra and Nix (web and NASA) • Rotation- 6. 4 Earth days • Revolution- 248 Earth years 42

Pluto Image on left from http: //www. crh. noaa. gov/Image/fsd/astro/Pluto 1. jpg 43 Image on right from http: //www. jb. man. ac. uk/public/Pluto 1. jpg

The Dwarf Planets • Ceres- new dwarf planet, it was classified as the largest asteroid in the Asteroid Belt (it is between Mars & Jupiter). Say sir’eez • Pluto- was classified as a planet, now classified as a dwarf planet • Eris- new dwarf planet, past Pluto it is an icy body near the edge of our solar system. Say ee’ris 44

The Dwarf Planets and their Moons Image from http: //www. windows. ucar. edu/our_solar_system/dwarf_planets/images/dwarf_planet_sizes_sm. jpg 45

Planets and Dwarf Planets compared • Dwarf planets are smaller than planets • Both orbit the Sun • Both are large enough that their gravity pulls them into the shape of a sphere • Planets clear smaller objects out of their orbit. Dwarf planets can not because of their weaker gravity 46 Information from http: //www. windows. ucar. edu/tour/link=/our_solar_system/dwarf_planets. html

Background info on Dwarf Planets • There are currently three official dwarf planets. Pluto, formerly the smallest of the nine "traditional" planets, was demoted to dwarf planet status. Ceres, the largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, was also declared a dwarf planet. The third and final (for now!) dwarf planet is Eris, an icy body on the edge of our Solar System that was discovered recently in 2005. Eris was temporarily labeled 2003 UB 313 when it was first discovered, and given the nickname "Xena", before astronomers settled on the official name of Eris. Text from http: //www. windows. ucar. edu/tour/link=/our_solar_system/dwarf_planets. html 47

Background info on Dwarf Planets continued • What's the difference between regular planets and dwarf planets? As you might guess, it's partly an issue of size, with dwarf planets being smaller. But just how big does a planet need to become a full-fledged planet instead of a dwarf? You might think the minimum size requirement is arbitrary, but the size cutoff is actually based on other properties of the object and its history in the Solar System. Both planets and dwarf planets orbit the Sun, not other planets (in which case we call them moons). Both must be large enough that their own gravity pulls them into the shapes of spheres; this rules out numerous smaller bodies like most asteroids, many of which have irregular shapes. Planets clear smaller objects out of their orbits by sucking the small bodies into themselves or flinging them out of orbit. Dwarf planets, with their weaker gravities, are unable to clear out their orbits. Though there are just three dwarf planets now, their number is expected to grow. Scientists estimate there may be 70 dwarf planets amongst outer solar system objects that have been discovered already. Since we don't know the actual sizes or shapes of many of the objects we've found (because they are so far away), we can't yet determine whether they are actually dwarf planets or not. More observations and better telescopes will help us determine which other objects are dwarf planets. Astronomers speculate that there may be 200 or so dwarf planets out through the distance of the Kuiper Belt, an icy band of frozen planetoids on the edge of our Solar System. Text from http: //www. windows. ucar. edu/tour/link=/our_solar_system/dwarf_planets. html 48

Additional Sources • http: //www. windows. ucar. edu/tour/link=/our_solar_system/dwarf_pla nets/dwarf_planets. html • http: //www. pantheon. org/miscellaneous/pronunciations. html • http: //www. nasa. gov • http: //www. nineplanets. org 49