• Our Solar System’s Star

• Current Age- 5 Billions years old

• Life Time Expectancy- 10 Billions years

• 99.8 % of our solar systems total mass.

• 108 Earth fit across the diameter

The Sun

Mercury

• 1st Planet 58,000,000km• Rotation 59 Earth days• Revolution 88 Earth Days• Solid, rocky, surface.

– -173C to 427C– Very cratered

• Very thin atmosphere- Sodium and other Elements.

• No Moon• Factoids: Very hard to get a good view, has an

extreme temperature range.

Venus• 2nd Planet 108,000,000km• Rotation Period- 243 Earth Days

– Retrograde rotation- rotates east to west.

• Revolution Period- 225 Earth Days• A solid, rocky, cratered surface with

volcanoes.– 460ºC hot enough to melt lead.– Greenhouse effect- traps heat in the

atmosphere, due to Carbon Dioxide.

• Very thick atmosphere, cloud covered.

• No Moon

Earth

• 3rd Planet 150,000,000 km• Rotation 24 Earth hours• Revolution 365.25 Earth Days• Solid, rocky, surface, 71% liquid water

– -88°C to 58°C

• Atmosphere- nitrogen and oxygen• One natural satellite - Moon• Factoids: living beings and all that is

needed to sustain life

Mars• 4th Planet 228,000,000km• Rotation 1.03 Earth Days• Revolution- 687 Earth Days• Solid, rocky, surface. (the red planet)

– -87°C to -5°C– Once believed there were canals.– Has ice caps (made of frozen carbon dioxide

and water.)– Has seasons. (dust storms)

• Very thin atmosphere- mostly carbon dioxide• 2 Moons-Phobos and Deimos

Asteroid Belt

• Between Mars and Jupiter.• Over 10,000• Too small and numerous to be

planets.• Ceres is a dwarf planet• An asteroid might have made the

dinosaurs extinct.

Jupiter

• 5th Planet 778,000,000km• Rotation .41 Earth Days• Revolution 12 Earth Years• Gas giant, No Solid Surface - gravity keeps gases in

– 1.8987 x 1027 kg – 300 times more massive than Earth– solid core of rock and ice

• Very dense atmosphere- hydrogen and helium– Great Red Spot (giant hurricane – fit 3 Earths)

• Moons: 62 (Io, Ganymede, Calisto, Europa)

Saturn

• 6th Planet 1,427,000,000km• Rotation .43 Earth Days• Revolution 29 Earth Years• Gas giant, No Solid Surface

– 5.6851 x 1026 kg – solid core of rock and ice– less dense than water

• Very dense atmosphere- hydrogen and helium

• 1000’s of rings (made of rock and ice)• Moons: 60 (Titan)

Uranus

• 7th Planet 2,871,000,000km• Rotation .72 Earth Days• Revolution 84 Earth Years• Gas giant, No Solid Surface

– 8.6849 x 1025 kg – solid core of rock and ice– rotates on its side

• Very dense atmosphere- traces of methane• Thin rings (made of rock and ice)• Moons: 27

Neptune

• 8th Planet 4,479,000,000km (30 Earth’s)• Rotation .67 Earth Days• Revolution 165 Earth Years• Gas giant (gravity keeps gases in)

– 1.0244 x 1026 kg – solid core of rock and ice– found by a mathematician

• Very dense atmosphere- traces of methane– The Great Dark Spot (Didn’t last long)

• Thin rings (made of rock and ice)• Moons: 13 (Triton)

Which of the following statements correctly

describes the planets of our solar system?

A. Saturn is the farthest planet from the sun.B. Mercury takes the shortest amount of time to revolve around the sun.C. Venus is the 5th planet from the sun.D. Mars takes less time to revolve around the

sun than the Earth.

Which of the following statementscorrectly describes the Planets of oursolar system?

A.The outer planets have rocky surfaces with cores of gas.

B.The rocky surface of Venus is covered with ice.

C.The inner 4 planets have rocky surfaces while the outer planets are gaseous.

D.Jupiter is the smallest of the Outer Planets.

Comet

• “Dirty snowballs”• Spherical chunks of ice, rock and dust• Tens of thousands of Kilometers across• Very long and elliptical orbits• Sun melts the ice into gas and forms a

tail.• Solar wind pushes tail away from the

sun.• Halley’s comet- Every 76 Years (2062)

Parts of a Comet

1.Coma- gas and dust from the inner layer.

2.Nucleus- Central part of a comet.

3.Tail- gas and dust, pushed away from the sun due to solar wind.

Asteroids & Meteoroids

• Asteroids and meteoroids are irregularly-shaped chunks of rock in space.

• Asteroids are usually around a kilometer in size.

• Meteoroids are smaller than asteroids.• Meteoroids usually form from a comet

or asteroid.

Meteor• Meteors are small meteoroids enter

the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up entirely.

• Meteoroids burn due to the friction with the atmosphere.

• Meteors appear as a streak of light.• Meteors are referred to as Shooting

Stars.

Meteorites• Meteoroids that are too big to burn

up completely as the pass through the atmosphere.

• Meteorites survive entry and hit the Earth’s surface.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME CELESTIAL BODIES

Celestial body # 1 is most likely

which of the following? A. a star B. an asteroid C. a comet D. a planet

Celestial Body

Shape Diameter Composition

1 Spherical 12,000 Km Rock, Dust, & Ice

2 Irregular 1 Km Rock and Metal

3 Spherical 1 Million Km Glowing Gas