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All About Neptune228 words

All About Uranus298 words

All About Venus448 words

All About Jupiter266 words

All About Earth381 words

All About Mars301 words

All About Saturn300 words

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All About Neptune

All About NeptuneThe text and images are from NASA Space Place.

What is Neptune like?

Neptune is dark, cold, and very windy. It's the last of the planets in our solar system. It's more than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth is. Neptune is very similar to Uranus. It's made of a thick soup of water, ammonia, and methane over an Earth-sized solid center. Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The methane gives Neptune the same blue color as Uranus. Neptune has six rings, but they're very hard to see.

Neptune Facts

· Neptune is the coldest planet in our solar system.· Neptune, like Uranus, is an ice giant. It's similar to a gas giant. It is made of thick soup of water, ammonia, and methane flowing over a solid core about the size of Earth.

· Neptune has a thick, windy atmosphere.· Neptune is encircled by six rings.· Neptune has 13 moons and one unconfirmed moon.· One day on Neptune goes by in 16 hours.

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All About Neptune

· Neptune has such a long journey around the sun it takes 164 Earth years to go around once. That's a long year!

· Neptune was discovered in 1846 by Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams, and Johann Galle.

· Only Voyager 2 has visited Neptune.

What does Neptune look like?

Voyager 2 took this picture of Neptune in 1989.

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All About Neptune

Clouds streak across Neptune.

Neptune is a very cold, windy world.

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All About Uranus

All About UranusThe text and images are from NASA Space Place.

What is Uranus like?

Uranus is made of water, methane, and ammonia fluids above a small rocky center. Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen and helium like Jupiter and Saturn, but it also has methane. The methane makes Uranus blue.

Uranus also has faint rings. The inner rings are narrow and dark. The outer rings are brightly colored and easier to see. Like Venus, Uranus rotates in the opposite direction as most other planets. And unlike any other planet, Uranus rotates on its side.

Uranus Facts

· Uranus is an ice giant (instead of a gas giant). It is mostly made of flowing icy materials above a solid core.

· Uranus has a thick atmosphere made of methane, hydrogen, and helium.ReadWorks.org

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All About Uranus

· Uranus is surrounded by a set of 13 rings.· Uranus has 27 moons.· Uranus is the only planet that spins on its side.· Uranus spins the opposite direction as Earth and most other planets.· One day on Uranus lasts a little over 17 hours.· One year on Uranus is the same as 84 years on Earth. That's a long time to wait for birthday cake.

· Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel in Great Britain.· Uranus has only been visited by Voyager 2.

What does Uranus look like?

This picture shows Uranus surrounded by its four major rings and by 10 of its moons. This image has colors added to show the different altitudes and thicknesses of clouds in the atmosphere.

Green and blue areas show where the atmosphere is clear and sunlight can get through. The yellow and grey parts have thicker clouds. Orange and red colors mean very high clouds, similar to cirrus clouds on Earth.

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All About Uranus

The Hubble Space Telescope took this picture of Uranus. You can see bands and a dark spot in Uranus' atmosphere.

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All About Venus

All About VenusThe text and images are from NASA Space Place.

What is Venus like?

Even though Venus isn't the closest planet to the sun, it is still the hottest. It has a thick atmosphere full of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulfuric acid. The gas traps heat and keeps Venus toasty warm. In fact, it's so hot on Venus, metals like lead would be puddles of melted liquid.

Venus looks like a very active planet. It has mountains and volcanoes. Venus is similar in size to Earth. Earth is just a little bit bigger.

Venus is unusual because it spins the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets. And its rotation is very slow. It takes about 243 Earth days to spin around just once. Because it's so close to the sun, a year goes by fast. It takes 225 Earth days for Venus to go all the way around the sun. That means that a day on Venus is a little longer than a year on Venus.

Since the day and year lengths are similar, one day on Venus is not like a day on Earth. Here, the sun rises and sets once each day. But on Venus, the sun rises every 117 Earth days. That means the sun rises two times during each year on Venus, even though it is still the same day on Venus! And because Venus rotates backwards, the sun rises in the west and sets in the

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All About Venus

east.

Just like Mercury, Venus doesn't have any moons.

Venus Facts

· Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system.· Venus is a terrestrial planet. It's small and rocky.· Venus has an active surface, including volcanoes!· Venus has a thick atmosphere. It traps heat and makes Venus very hot.· Venus doesn't have any moons.· Venus spins the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets.· A day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days. That's a long time!· A year on Venus lasts 225 Earth days.· Venus has been known since ancient times because it can be seen easily without a telescope.

· Venus has been visited by several spacecraft. Mariner 2, Mariner 5, and Mariner 10 have been there. We also sent Pioneer Venus 1 and Pioneer Venus 2. Most recently we sent an orbiter called Magellan.

What does Venus look like?

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All About Venus

A crater on the surface of Venus. It's 45 miles (72 km) wide.

Here you can see the clouds covering Venus.

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All About Venus

This is a combination of images taken by the Magellan spacecraft. The colors have been altered so you can see all the differences in Venus's surface. Magellan used radar to get information about the surface of Venus, which we can't normally see because of the thick,

cloudy atmosphere.

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All About Jupiter

All About JupiterThe text and images are from NASA Space Place.

What is Jupiter like?

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It's similar to a star, but it never got big enough to start burning. It is covered in swirling cloud stripes. It has big storms like the Great Red Spot, which has been going for hundreds of years. Jupiter is a gas giant and doesn't have a solid surface, but it may have a solid inner core about the size of Earth. Jupiter also has rings, but they're too faint to see very well.

Jupiter Facts

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system.

Jupiter is a gas giant. It's made mostly of hydrogen and helium.

Jupiter has a very thick atmosphere.

One day on Jupiter goes by in just 10 hours. That's quick!

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All About Jupiter

One year on Jupiter is the same as 11.8 Earth years.

Jupiter has rings, but they're very hard to see.

Jupiter has been known since ancient times because it can be seen without advanced telescopes.

Jupiter has 50 confirmed moons and 17 unconfirmed moons. We're waiting to get more information about the unconfirmed ones before we can be sure they are moons.

Eight different spacecraft have visited or passed by Jupiter, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Cassini, New Horizons, and Juno.

What does Jupiter look like?

Here you can see Jupiter and one of its many moons, Ganymede.

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All About Jupiter

This picture is actually four pictures taken by Cassini put together. The dark spot on the left is the shadow from Jupiter's moon Europa.

This picture taken by Voyager 2 shows the Great Red Spot.

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All About Earth

All About EarthThe text and images are from NASA Space Place.

What is Earth like?

Our home planet Earth is a rocky, terrestrial planet. It has a solid and active surface with mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. Earth is special because it is an ocean planet. Water covers 70% of Earth's surface.

Our atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe. The atmosphere also protects us from incoming meteoroids, most of which break up in our atmosphere before they can strike the surface as meteorites.

Since we live here, you might think we know all there is to know about Earth. Not at all, actually! We have a lot we can learn about our home planet. Right now, there are many satellites orbiting Earth taking pictures and measurements. This is how we can learn more about weather, oceans, soil, climate change, and many other important topics.

Earth Facts

· Earth is the only planet in our solar system we know of that supports life.

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All About Earth

· Earth is a terrestrial planet. It is small and rocky.· A Day on Earth lasts a little under 24 hours, but since you live here, you probably knew that already.

· One year on Earth lasts 365.25 days. That 0.25 extra means every four years we need to add one day to our calendar. We call it a leap day (in a leap year).

· Earth's atmosphere is the right thickness to keep the planet warm so living things like us can be [here]. It is mostly nitrogen, and it has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe.

· We have known about our own planet since ancient times, of course. But we didn't know our place in the solar system or universe for a long time.

· We have one moon. We're the only planet to have just one moon.· Earth has lots of spacecraft watching it. There is still a lot we can learn about our home planet.

What does Earth look like?

This Apollo 11 picture taken by an astronaut in 1969 shows the Earth rising over the moon. Doesn't it look small?

This is a view of Earth looking just at the northern portion.

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All About Earth

A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite took this picture of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.

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All About Mars

All About MarsThe text and images are from NASA Space Place.

What is Mars like?

Mars is a cold desert world. It is half the size of Earth. Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet. It's red because of rusty iron in the ground.

Like Earth, Mars has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons, and weather. It has a very thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon.

There are signs of ancient floods on Mars, but now water mostly exists in icy dirt and thin clouds. On some Martian hillsides, there is evidence of liquid salty water in the ground.

Scientists want to know if Mars may have had living things in the past. They also want to know if Mars could support life now or in the future.

Mars Facts

· Mars is a terrestrial planet. It is small and rocky.· Mars has two moons. Their names are Phobos and Deimos.· Mars has a thin atmosphere.· Mars has an active atmosphere, but the surface of the planet is not active. Its volcanoes are dead.· One day on Mars lasts 24.6 hours. It's just a little longer than a day on Earth.· One year on Mars is 687 Earth days. It's almost twice as long as one year on Earth.

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All About Mars

· Mars has been known since ancient times because it can be seen without advanced telescopes.· We have sent 20 spacecraft to visit Mars. And Mars is the only planet we've sent rovers to. They drive around Mars, taking pictures and measurements.

What does Mars look like?

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this picture of Mars as it was making its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years!

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All About Mars

In this picture of Mars, you can see water-ice clouds, polar ice, and some rocky features.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this picture with its panoramic camera near "Solander Point" on Mars.

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All About Saturn

All About SaturnThe text and images are from NASA Space Place.

What is Saturn like?

Saturn isn't the only planet to have rings, but it definitely has the most beautiful ones. The rings we see are made of groups of tiny ringlets that surround Saturn. They're made of chunks of ice and rock. Like Jupiter, Saturn is mostly a ball of hydrogen and helium.

When Galileo Galilei saw Saturn through a telescope in the 1600s, he wasn't sure what he was seeing. At first he thought he was looking at three planets, or a planet with handles. Now we know those "handles" turned out to be the rings of Saturn.

Saturn Facts

· Saturn is a gas giant like Jupiter.· Saturn has a thick atmosphere.· Saturn has a lovely set of seven main rings with spaces between them.· Saturn has 53 moons! It also has nine unconfirmed moons we need to learn more about.· One day on Saturn lasts 10.7 hours.

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All About Saturn

· One year on Saturn is the same as 29.5 Earth years.· Saturn has been known since the ancient times because it can be seen without advanced telescopes.

· Five spacecraft have been by Saturn, including Pioneer 11, Cassini, and Voyager 1 and 2.

What does Saturn look like?

The Cassini spacecraft took this picture of Saturn's rings. You can see the grey and tan colors.

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All About Saturn

This is a picture of Saturn and its moons Tethys and Dione. Voyager 1 took this picture as it passed by.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft went behind Saturn and took this picture in 2013. You can see seven of its moons and its inner rings. In the background you can also see Earth.

A portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings. This picture was made from images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2013. It was put together by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic.

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