The Planets of Our Solar System

Aim:Aim: What are some of the characteristics of the planets of our solar system?

I. Inner (Terrestrial) PlanetsInner (Terrestrial) Planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

A.A. MercuryMercury

1. Closest to the sun

2. Orbits the sun in 88 days

3. Completes one rotation in 59 days

1. Temperature of 400oC in day and -200oC at night

2. Has many craters like the moon

3. Very eccentric orbit

B. Venus Venus – very similar to the Earth in diameter, mass, and gravity.

1. Rotates east to west (only planet that rotates in this direction)

2. Atmosphere of mostly CO2

3. Greenhouse Effect - CO2 keeps heat from escaping

4. Surface temperature reaches a high of 460oC

5. Has winds that travel up to 300 km/hr

C. MarsMars (Has 2 moons)

1. 687 days to orbit Sun

2. It has half the diameter and gravity of the Earth

3. It has a similar tilt as the Earth, thus . . .?

It has 4 seasons like the earth!!

4. It has a high temperature of 27oC and a low temperature of -125oC.

5. It has a thin atmosphere of mostly CO2

4. Has frozen polar ice caps of CO2 and some water

5. Olympus Mons – large shield volcano. 600 km across and 25 km high.

II. Outer (Jovian) PlanetsOuter (Jovian) Planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

A.. Very large planets. Uranus is the smallest of these planets, but is still 15x larger than Earth!

B. Gas Planets

C. Composed mainly of Hydrogen (H) and Helium (He).

D. 3 layered structures

1. Rocky core

2. Liquid mantle (liquid hydrogen)

3. Gaseous outer layer

E. All have Ring systems

1. Individual particles that orbit planets

2. Closer to planet than the moons

3. Centered over the equator of the planet

Jupiter’s Ring

F. JupiterJupiter

1. Orbits the sun in 12 years and completes one rotation in 9.8 hours

2. Has twice the total mass of all other planets ‘ masses combined

3. Composed of 90% hydrogen and 10% helium surrounding small iron, rock, and water core.

4. Dark and light bands are wind streams

5.5.““Great Red Spot”Great Red Spot” – storm that is larger than the Earth across.

6. Has at least 16 moons. Largest ones that were discovered by Galileo. Named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Red Spot

G. SaturnSaturn1. Orbits the sun in 30 years and completes

one rotation in 10.2 hours

2. Wind speed at the equator reaches 1800 km/hr.

3. Very low density (0.7 g/cm3). Can float in water!

4. Spectacular ring system is composed primarily of water and ice.

5. At least 18 moons. Titan is largest moon.

H. Uranus

1. Takes 84 years to orbit sun once and rotates once in 17.3 hours.

2. Avg. surface temp. is –200oC

3. It’s axis is completely tipped over with it’s south pole pointing towards the sun.

4. Its atmosphere is made up of hydrogen and methane. The methane gives it its blue color.

5. Rock, iron core surrounded by water and hydrogen gas.

URANUS

I. Neptune

1. Orbits the sun in 165 years and rotates on its axis in 16 hours.

2. Outermost of large planets that has 6 moons

3. “Great Dark Spot” – large storm similar to Jupiter’s. 30,000 km across.

4. Wind speeds of up to 1300 miles/hr.

5. 8 moons

Neptune

J. Pluto

1. Very elliptical orbit and may even pass Neptune in its orbit

2. Orbits the sun in over 200 years and rotates once every 6 days.

3. Has one moon (Charon)

4. Made up of water, rock, and ice.

5. Temperature of about –387oC

6. Thin methane atmosphere

Pluto

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Earth’s revolution around sun - http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0408/es0408page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization