Project in Science

Submitted by: Anthony James U. Esteban.Submitted to: Subject: Science

Leslie Jose Acuña

A. SUN1. Parts of the Sun2. Importance of the

Sun

B. Planets MercuryVenusMarsJupiterEarthNeptuneSaturnUranus

C. Other Planets1. Pluto2. Eris3. Ceres

D. MeteorsCometsAsteriods

F. MoonPhases of the Mon

Parts & importance of the sun

Parts of the Sun

From here on Earth, the Sun like a smooth ball of fire, and before the discovery of sunspots by Galileo, astronomers even thought it was a perfect orb with no imperfections. However, we now know that the Sun, like Earth, is actually made up of several layers, each of which serves its own purpose. It’s this structure of the Sun that powers this massive furnace and provider of all terrestrial life and energy.

Importance of sun The Sun is our supply of daylight. It is the enormous bright

yellow circle that we see in the sky in day time. Astronomy believes that the sun is one of the many stars in our

galaxy, which the Earth orbits. It is usually thought of as the midpoint of our Solar System, because it is the only star in it (the solar system) which is also the only foundation of energy for the entire living thing on earth.

According to geometry, on one occasion the Sun is also in the centre because the planets go around on all sides of it. This is somehow vital in astronomy and in forecasting space travel. It is known that a spacecraft can actually surf on the solar wind (the particles flowing away from the sun out towards the system's edges)

Solar energy and photosynthesis drive life to reverse entropy, the reason that makes the green color of many leaves and plants; making order from less ordered molecules by creating more complex molecules, mainly proteins and enzymes.

Lately, life has been revealed on the ocean floor that depends on chemosynthesis, determined by energy still in the Earth from its configuration. Nuclear fusion and nuclear fission are used as a human energy source. Other than these, all life relies on the large-scale nuclear fusion that takes place in our Sun. On the surface, we can see it uniting hydrogen into helium, but it also obliges many other heavier elements mutually nearer its core. Not many might know this, the fact that we can't get close to that.

Sunspot activity may change the weather on Earth, in a round of about every 11 years. This phenomenon may also meddle with electronics.

Why do we need the Sun? Why is the Sun so important to us? It had always been stationary

up there in the sky and seems as though it does not give any good to some of us who cannot stand the heat of the sun burning on our skin.

Well, do not be fooled. The Sun is the prime source of the energy that we get from the food that we eat. Remember the food chain system that we have learned from Biology class? The Sun provides energy and photosynthesis that is needed for plants to grow. These energy that we get from plants are then transferred into us while we are consuming it.This also occurs when we consume on meat or poultry products. The energy that the animals might have consumed from the plants that they have eaten while they were alive would still remain in their bodies that would finally end up in ours.

As the cycle goes on and on, let us all not hope that something else might consume the energy that we currently have by having us on the daily meals!! :)

What would happen if the Sun never existed?

Here is a very interesting question. What would happen if the Sun NEVER had existed?

If the sun never existed, nothing in this world could have existed either. God created lives on earth for us to appreciate, and therefore please do cherish the gift of light and heat that is given to us in our daily lives.

Just imagine life without the ability to  see the surroundings around us, and not knowing the existence of heat that we could feel right now; and worst of all, imagine not having the energy that we are supposed to get from the food that we eat. Seriously, how can there be life without the help of our friend, the Sun?

Planets of the Solar System

Solar System

The Planet MercuryMercury is a planet in our solar system. It is the smallest of the eight planets. It is also the closest to the sun. Mercury goes around the sun the fastest of all the planets. Mercury has no moons.

How Did Mercury Get Its Name?The Romans believed that gods and goddesses were in charge of everything on Earth. Mercury is named after the messenger for their gods. The Roman Mercury had wings on his helmet and shoes. He could travel very quickly from place to place. The planet Mercury moves quickly around the sun. That is how it got its name.

How Big Is Mercury?Mercury is a little bigger than Earth's moon. It is made of heavier materials, like iron. But if you could weigh Mercury and the moon, Mercury would weigh a lot more. Mercury is heavy, but it is small. It would take more than 18 Mercury to be as big as Earth.

Where Is Mercury?Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Mercury goes around the sun once every 88 Earth days. A day on Mercury lasts a lot longer than a day on Earth. One day on Mercury lasts 59 Earth days.

Planet EarthEarth is our home planet. Scientists believe Earth and its moon formed around the same time as the rest of the solar system. They think that was about 4.5 billion years ago. Earth is the fifth-largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 8,000 miles. And Earth is the third-closest planet to the sun. Its average distance from the sun is about 93 million miles. Only Mercury and Venus are closer.

Earth has been called the "Goldilocks planet." In the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," a little girl named Goldilocks liked everything just right. Her porridge couldn't be too hot or too cold. And her bed couldn't be too hard or too soft. On Earth, everything is just right for life to exist. It's warm, but not too warm. And it has water, but not too much water.

Earth is the only planet known to have large amounts of liquid water. Liquid water is essential for life. Earth is the only planet where life is known to exist.

More facts about Planet Earth What Does Earth Look Like?

From space, Earth looks like a blue marble with white swirls and areas of brown, yellow, green and white. The blue is water, which covers about 71 percent of Earth's surface. The white swirls are clouds. The areas of brown, yellow and green are land. And the areas of white are ice and snow.

The equator is an imaginary circle that divides Earth into two halves. The northern half is called the Northern Hemisphere. The southern half is called the Southern Hemisphere. The northernmost point on Earth is called the North Pole. The southernmost point on Earth is called the South Pole.

How Does Earth Move?Earth orbits the sun once every 365 days, or one year. The shape of its orbit is not quite a perfect circle. It's more like an oval, which causes Earth's distance from the sun to vary during the year. Earth is nearest the sun, or at "perihelion," in January when it's about 91 million miles away. Earth is farthest from the sun, or at "aphelion," in July when it's about 95 million miles away.At the equator, Earth spins at just over 1,000 miles per hour. Earth makes a full spin around its axis once every 24 hours, or one day. The axis is an imaginary line through the center of the planet from the North Pole to the South Pole. Rather than straight up and down, Earth's axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees.

Why Do We Have Day and Night?At all times, half of Earth is lighted by the sun and half is in darkness. Areas facing toward the sun experience daytime. Areas facing away from the sun experience nighttime. As the planet spins, most places on Earth cycle through day and night once every 24 hours. The North Pole and South Pole have continuous daylight or darkness depending on the time of year.

More facts about Planet Earth Why Does Earth Have Seasons?

Earth has seasons because its axis is tilted. Thus, the sun's rays hit different parts of the planet more directly depending on the time of year.

From June to August, the sun's rays hit the Northern Hemisphere more directly than the Southern Hemisphere. The result is warm (summer) weather in the Northern Hemisphere and cold (winter) weather in the Southern Hemisphere.

From December to February, the sun's rays hit the Northern Hemisphere less directly than the Southern Hemisphere. The result is cold (winter) weather in the Northern Hemisphere and warm (summer) weather in the Southern Hemisphere.

From September to November, the sun shines equally on both hemispheres. The result is fall in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

The sun also shines equally on both hemispheres from March to May. The result is spring in the Northern Hemisphere and fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

What Are Earth's Different Parts?Earth consists of land, air, water and life. The land contains mountains, valleys and flat areas. The air is made up of different gases, mainly nitrogen and oxygen. The water includes oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, rain, snow and ice. Life consists of people, animals and plants. There are millions of species, or kinds of life, on Earth. Their sizes range from very tiny to very large.

Below Earth's surface are layers of rock and metal. Temperatures increase with depth, all the way to about 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit at Earth's inner core.

Earth's parts once were seen as largely separate from each other. But now they are viewed together as the "Earth system." Each part connects to and affects each of the other parts. For example:

Clouds in the air drop rain and snow on land. Water gives life to plants and animals. Volcanoes on land send gas and dust into the air. People breathe air and drink water. Earth system science is the study of interactions between and among Earth's different parts.

The Planet VenusVenus Inside and On TopVenus is the second planet from the Sun, and is Earth's closest neighbor in the solar system. Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon, and sometimes looks like a bright star in the morning or evening sky. The planet is a little smaller than Earth, and is similar to Earth inside. We can't see the surface of Venus from Earth, because it is covered with thick clouds. However, space missions to Venus have shown us that its surface is covered with craters, volcanoes, mountains, and big lava plains. The surface of Venus is not where you'd like to be, with temperatures that can melt lead, an atmosphere so thick it would crush you, and clouds of sulfuric acid that smell like rotten eggs to top it off! 

Air on VenusThe atmosphere of Venus is very hot and thick. You would not survive a visit to the surface of the planet - you couldn't breathe the air, you would be crushed by the enormous weight of the atmosphere, and you would burn up in surface temperatures high enough to melt lead.

The atmosphere of Venus is made up mainly of carbon dioxide, and thick clouds of sulfuric acid completely cover the planet. The atmosphere traps the small amount of energy from the sun that does reach the surface along with the heat the planet itself releases. This greenhouse effect has made the surface and lower atmosphere of Venus one of the hottest places in the solar system! Why should Venus and not the Earth have a hot and thick atmosphere? Some scientists call it the Goldilocks phenomenon.

Discovering VenusDiscover Venus 

Venus is one of the brightest objects in the sky. It is always found near the Sun. It rises and sets each day, so it has the nicknames Morning and Evening Star! Scientists found that Venus rotates backwards. This means that on Venus the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east. We've sent a lot of spacecrafts to visit Venus. They found out that Venus' atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. This is not good air to breathe!

The Planet NeptuneAfter Pluto was declassified as a planet, Neptune became the farthest planet from the sun. Neptune's diameter is about 30,200 miles or almost 4 times the Earth's diameter. The planet was named after the Roman sea God.Neptune Facts You Might Not Know AboutNeptune is so far away that it took the space probe Voyager 2, 12 years to reach it.Neptune is the stormiest planet. The winds there can blow up to 1,240 miles per hour, that is three times as fast as Earth's Hurricanes.The planet has has a system of thin dark rings but they are incomplete rings and are best described as arcs.Neptune is a sea blue color due to the methane gas in its atmosphere.Neptune once had a great dark spot similar to Jupiter.Neptune only receives 1/900 of the solar energy that reaches Earth.Neptune has its own heat source, it emits a quantity of energy 2.7 times greater than it receives.Neptune has 19 known moons.Neptune is 30 times farther from the sun as is the Earth.It goes around the sun once every 165 Earth Years.The atmosphere is made up of Hydrogen, Helium and Methane.Neptune has a rocky core.

The Planet MarsMars is the only planet whose surface can be seen in detail from the Earth. It is reddish in color, and was named after the bloody red God of war of the ancient Romans. Mars is the fourth closest planet to the sun. The diameter of Mars is 4,200 miles, a little over half that of the Earth. Mercury is the only planet smaller than Mars.Mars Facts You Might Not Know AboutMars is red because it is rusty. There is a lot of iron in the soil, and the air on Mars has made it turn red-just like rusty iron on Earth.One of Mars' moons, Phobos, is moving closer and closer to Mars. Scientists think that one day it will crash into Mars.Mars has the tallest Volcano in the Solar System named Olympus Mons and it is 15 miles high which is three times the height of Mount Everest.Like Earth, the poles of Mars are covered in ice. The ice becomes thicker in the winter.Mars orbits the sun every 687 Earth days.The Martian “day” is about half a hour longer than Earth.At its brightest, Mars outshines every other planet apart from Venus.The thin atmosphere of Mars is made of mostly carbon dioxide.A hundred pound man would weight 38 pounds on Mars.In 1996 NASA, while studying the ALH 84001 meteorite of Martian origin found in Antarctica in 1984, announced that fossilized micro-organisms from Mars might be present in it.Valleys and Canyons on Mars suggest that the planet once had large amounts of surface water.In winter, nighttime temperatures on Mars can drop as low as -191°F.

The Planet SaturnSaturn is the second largest planet. Only Jupiter is larger. Saturn has seven thin, flat rings around it. A couple of planets have rings, but their rings are much fainter than those around Saturn. Saturn's diameter at its equator is 74,600 miles which is almost ten times that of Earth. The planet can be seen from Earth with the unaided eye, but its rings cannot. Saturn was the farthest planet from the earth that the ancient astronomers knew about. They named Saturn after the Roman God of agriculture.Saturn Facts You Might Not Know AboutA 100 pound object on Earth would weight 116 pounds on Saturn.Saturn has the lowest density of all the planets in the solar system. It is so light that it could actually float on water if there was an ocean big enough to hold it.It takes about 29.46 Earth years for Saturn to orbit around our sun.Saturn's rings are made up of billions of pieces of rocks and dust.Saturn has over 30 known Satellites, but many of them are small and faint.Saturn has no solid surface. It is a giant ball of gas, but it does have a solid inner core.The temperature difference between the poles and the equator is very small on Saturn.The atmosphere of Saturn comprises mostly of Hydrogen and Helium.Galileo was the first astronomer to observe Saturn's rings...He could not see the rings clearly with his small telescope and thought they were large Satellites.Titan is the only Saturn Moon with an atmosphere.Titan is also larger than the planet Mercury.

The Planet JupiterJupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System. Ancient Astronomers named Jupiter after the king of the Roman Gods. Jupiter is the 5th closest planet to our sun. The atmosphere of Jupiter consists of about 84 percent Hydrogen and about 15 percent helium, with small amounts of acetylene, ammonia, ethane, methane, phosphine, and water vapor.Jupiter Facts You Might Not Know AboutIf you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 264 pounds on Jupiter.Jupiter has a mass 318 times greater than the Earth's and a diameter that is 11 times larger.The mass of Jupiter is 70% of the total mass of all the other planets in our Solar System.Jupiter's volume is large enough to contain 1,300 planets the size of Earth.Jupiter rotates faster than any planet in the Solar System.It rotates so quickly that the days are only 10 hours long...But it takes 12 Earth years for Jupiter to complete an orbit around the sun.The great red spot on Jupiter is a storm that has been going on for over 300 years.You can fit 100 Earths into Jupiter's great red spot.Jupiter has the biggest moon in the Solar System, Ganymede. It is even bigger than Mercury and Pluto.Jupiter has a ring just like Saturn and Uranus.The Planet has over 60 known satellites (moons) but most of them are extremely small and faint.Jupiter is covered by an ocean of hydrogen with a sludge-like consistency.Unlike other planets, Jupiter sends out a strong radio radiation that can be detected on Earth.In 1994, pieces of a comet called shoemaker-Levy 9 broke apart and crashed into Jupiter. This left patches in Jupiter's atmosphere that lasted for many months.

Planet UranusUranus is the seventh planet from the sun and is named after the Greek God of the sky in latin. It is the only planet whose name came from a figure in Greek mythology as opposed to Roman mythology.Uranus Facts You Might Not Know AboutBecause of the strange way it spins, nights on some parts of Uranus can last for more than 40 years.The planet's most extraordinary feature is the tilt of its rotational axis, which is almost perpendicular to the plane of the eclipitc, which means that it alternately has its north pole and its south pole turned towards the sun.Even though Neptune is further from the sun, Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system.Uranus has 27 known satellites.In many Asian languages, Uranus' name is translated into “Sky king star”.Uranus mass is more than 14 times larger than Earth.Uranus and Neptune are both known as Ice Giants.It is the second least dense planet after Saturn.The planet was discovered in 1781 by William Hershel.It takes 30,685 Earth days for Uranus to complete an orbit around the sun.

Dwarf Planets

Dwarf Planet PlutoPluto is technically no longer a planet, but it is still the 10th largest body orbiting around the sun. The ex-planet got its name from an eleven year old girl in Oxford, England. She named Pluto after the Roman God of the underworld.Pluto Facts You Might Not Know AboutPluto is smaller than the Earth's moon.The color of Pluto is reddish-brown.Pluto has an enormous moon for its size, Charon. It is more than half the size of Pluto.The sun would look like a bright star from Pluto, since they are so far away from each other.Pluto's thin atmosphere contains traces of methane, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.Some astronomers believe that Pluto was once a moon of Neptune but it somehow escaped into its own orbit.Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh.One reason why Pluto is declassified as a planet is because asteroids has been detected in our solar system that are as large or larger than Pluto. Stricter rules are now in place as to what can be called a planet. Pluto did not meet all the new requirements to be labeled as one.Technically, Pluto's name is now 134340 after being declassified as a planet.Because of Pluto's irregular orbit, there are periods of times when it is closer to the sun than Neptune.Aside from Charon, Pluto has 2 smaller moons that were found in 2005.

Dwarf Planet ErisThe dwarf planet was named for Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord. This is quite fitting, as there was some dispute over the classification when it was discovered. Rejected names for the planet include Xena (from the TV show), Lila, and Persephone (Pluto/Hades’ wife in Greek mythology)Eris has one satellite (moon) which is called Dysnomia and takes 16Earth days to complete a full orbit. Dysnomia is named for the daughter of the goddess Eris in Greek mythology and is the Greek goddess of lawlessness.Eris was once considered to become the tenth planet of the solar system before the reclassification of Pluto in 2006. This is due to the large size of Eris, which exceeds Pluto’s mass by 28%.All of the objects inside the asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, could fit inside Eris – even though it is only 2/3 the diameter and 1/3 the volume of Earth’s Moon.Eris is so far from the Sun that its atmosphere sometimes freezes due to lack of sunlight. Over the course of the hundreds of years it takes the dwarf planet to orbit the Sun, it thaws as it gets closer to the Sun’s heat.Scientists believe that the surface of Eris is rocky, similar to the surface found on Pluto.

Other PlanetsPlutoEris

Ceres

More facts about Dwarf Planet Eris It is believed that Eris was originally located

inside the Kuiper belt, but that gravitational interactions with Neptune as the solar system formed forced the dwarf planet out into the scattered disc region.

As of 2014, Eris’ distance from the Sun is approximately 96.4 astronomical units (AU) which is around 14,062,199,874 km – which is roughly three times the distance of Pluto.

Eris and its moon Dysnomia are currently the most distant known natural objects in the entire Solar System.

Dwarf Planet CeresCeres was the first object to be considered an asteroid in the solar system. In early 1801, an Italian astronomer by the name of Giuseppe Piazzi discovered and named Ceres. He originally classified it as a planet, but it has since been reclassified as a dwarf planet.Ceres accounts for approximately one third of the mass of the entire asteroid belt but it cannot be classified as planet since it does not “dominate its orbit” – sharing it instead with many thousands of asteroids.

More facts about Dwarf Planet Ceres The unmanned spacecraft Dawn is scheduled to arrive at Ceres in early 2015. This

probe was launched by NASA on 27th September, 2007 and should it complete it complete its mission, it will be the only craft to successfully orbit two separate extraterrestrial bodies – having completed a fourteen month survey mission of the protoplanet Vesta in late 2012.

Ceres was named for the Roman God of agriculture, Ceres (or Cerere in Italian) – also known as Demeter in Greek mythology. The original name of Cerere Ferdinandea was changed after there were objections toFerdinandea.

Ceres was classified as a planet for half a century – from 1801 until the 1850s – when it was reclassified as an asteroid. In 2006, it was subsequently classified as a dwarf planet.

The presence of water ice on Ceres has led to speculation that life may exist there. Discussions about life on Ceres are not as active as those for Mars and Europa, however.

Ceres is believed to have a rocky core with an icy inner mantle that is 100km thick. Scientists have calculated that this ice mantle may contain as much as 200 million cubic kilometres of water – that’s more fresh water than can be found on planet Earth.

Ceres is generally regarded as too dim to be seen with the naked eyebut a viewer with exceptional eyesight under the right conditions might be able to see the dwarf planet.

Ceres completes its orbit once every 4.6 Earth years and completes a full rotation every nine hours and four minutes.

Meteors, Comets & Asteroids

MeteorsA meteoroid is a small fracture of rock that enters our Solar System. Once this meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere it becomes a meteor. This meteor can be seen in the sky as a shooting star. Most meteors are observed at night. Meteors are composed of various metals.

Asteroids

Asteroids are small Solar System bodies that orbit the Sun. Made of rock and metal, they can also contain organic compounds (some scientists suggest that asteroids could have brought they necessary chemicals to start life on Earth).Asteroids are similar to comets but do not have a visible coma (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do.Asteroids are also known as planetoids or minor planets.Asteroids vary greatly in size, some feature diameters as small as ten metres while others stretch out over hundreds of kilometres. Note that objects under ten metres in diameter are generally regarded as meteoroids.The first asteroid was discovered in 1801 by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. Named Ceres, it features a diameter of around 950 kilometres and is now regarded as a dwarf planet. Ceres was given dwarf planet status in 2006, along with Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea.

More facts about Asteroids The asteroid belt lies roughly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in the Solar

System. It is home to a large amount of irregular shaped asteroids that range in size from dust through to the dwarf planet Ceres.

The technology used for discovering asteroids has improved dramatically since original discoveries and astronomers now have access to a range of powerful telescopes to aid in their research and discoveries.

It is believed by many scientists and researchers that an asteroid impact was the cause behind the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago.

The possibility of an asteroid colliding with Earth has received increased attention over recent years. The Shoemaker-Levy comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994 were given widespread media coverage and Hollywood also played its part with moves such as Deep Impact (1998) and Armageddon (1998). While these movies sometimes featured dubious science they certainly increased public awareness of the topic.

There are now many groups and organizations that use automated systems to discover near Earth asteroids. While many are discovered, they rarely have the potential to cross paths with Earth.

There have been many ideas suggested as ways to avoid the unlikely but potentially devastating impact of an asteroid collision with Earth, these include using nuclear explosions to break the asteroid into smaller pieces or other weapons to deflect it off course.

CometsA comet is an icy space object that exists in our Solar System. Comets have a nucleus made up of dust, ice, various frozen gases and water. They orbit the Sun. Once comets pass close to the Sun they develop a dust atmosphere called a halo or coma as well as a tail of dust.

Phases of Moon

Phases of the MoonMoon Phases refers to

the different appearance of the Moon as seen from Earth. There are 8 main phases of the moon: new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent. These phases repeat themselves about once every 29.5 days.

Interesting Moon Phases Facts: Because the moon takes almost

the same amount of time to complete one revolution as it does one rotation, we see mainly the same side of the moon at all times.During a new moon phase the moon seems to disappear but actually the Sun is shining on the opposite side of it.When the Moon, Sun, and Earth line up, an eclipse occurs.The path the Moon takes around the Earth is said to be in the shape of an ellipse.The moon takes about 27.3 days to orbit the Earth.If you were above Earth looking down from the North Pole, the Moon will be moving counterclockwise around Earth.

The Moon is said to be 4.5 billion years old.The Moon is about 250,000 miles away from Earth.On average the Moon moves at 2,288 miles per hour around Earth.If you were able to travel by car to the Moon, it would take you 130 days to get there.It is a misconception that the Moon gives off light when actually it is reflecting the Sun's light.If there was no Sun, then we would not be able to see the Moon and Moon Phases would not exist.Sometimes in February there is no full moon phase.When there is more than one full moon in one month, it is referred to as a Blue Moon.Because tides are related to the gravitational pull of the Moon, more tide activity occurs during a full moon.