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Earth Science

An overview of the

Solar System

The Sun

The sun is the

biggest, brightest, and

hottest object in the

solar system.

The sun is an

ordinary star.

The sun is made of

about 70% hydrogen

and 28% helium.

Mercury

Mercury is solid and

is covered with

craters.

Mercury has almost

no atmosphere.

Mercury is the eighth

largest planet.

Venus

Venus is the sixth

largest planet. It’s

about three-fourths

the size of earth.

The surface is rocky

and very hot. The

atmosphere

completely hides the

surface and traps the

heat.

Earth

Earth is the fifth largest planet and the third from

the sun.

Liquid covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface.

The Earth has one moon.

Moon

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Mars

Mars is the fourth

planet from the sun.

Mars has a thin

atmosphere that

contains mostly

carbon dioxide.

Mars has two small

moons.

Moons of Mars

Phobos

Deimos

Jupiter Jupiter’s Red Spot

The Great Red Spot,

a huge storm of

swirling gas that has

lasted for hundreds of

years.

Jupiter does not have

a solid surface. The

planet is a ball of

liquid surrounded by

gas.

Moons of Jupiter

Jupiter has four large Galilean moons,

twelve smaller named moons and twenty-

three more recently discovered but not

named moons.

We’ll take a look at the four large Galilean

moons which were first observed by

Galileo in 1610.

Io

Io is the fifth moon of

Jupiter. It’s the third

largest of Jupiter’s

moons.

Io has hundreds of

volcanic calderas.

Some of the volcanoes

are active.

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Europa

Europa is the sixth of Jupiter’s moons and is the fourth largest.

It is slightly smaller than the Earth’s moon.

The surface strongly resembles images of sea ice on Earth. There may be a liquid water sea under the crust.

Europa is one of the five known moons in the solar system to have an atmosphere.

Ganymede

Ganymede is the

seventh and largest of

Jupiter’s known

satellites.

Ganymede has

extensive cratering

and an icy crust.

Callisto

Callisto is the eighth of Jupiter’s known satellites

and the second largest.

Callisto has the oldest, most cratered surface of

any body yet observed in the solar system.

Saturn

Saturn is the second largest planet and the sixth from the sun.

Saturn is made of materials that are lighter than water. If you could fit Saturn in a lake, it would float!

Rings of Saturn

Saturn’s rings are not

solid; they are

composed of small

countless particles.

The rings are very

thin. Though they’re

250,000km or more in

diameter, they’re less

than one kilometer

thick.

Uranus

Uranus is the third

largest planet and the

seventh from the sun.

Uranus is one of the

giant gas planets.

Uranus is blue-green

because of the

methane in its

atmosphere.

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Neptune

Neptune is the fourth largest planet and the eight from the sun.

Because of the orbits, from 1979 to 1999, Neptune was the ninth planet.

Like Uranus, the methane gives Neptune its color.

Pluto

Pluto is the smallest

planet and usually the

farthest from the sun.

Pluto is the only

planet that has not

been visited by a

spacecraft.