MYTHOLOGY AND OTHER FACTS ABOUT OUR SOLAR

SYSTEMBy Katie Mae Farley

The Sun Like all the planets in our solar system

the Earth revolves around a medium size star. This star provides all the energy necessary to sustain life on Earth.

Plasma erupts from the sun in the shape of a massive handle.

Mercury Mercury’s orbit brings it closer to the sun

than any other planet. In astronomy mythology, Mercury was the Roman version of the God Hermes. He was the messenger for the other Gods, and for this reason Mercury is often depicted in pictures with winged sandals. In addition to delivering messages, he was also the protector of travelers, and merchants.

Picture of Mercury taken by Messenger space craft

Venus In astronomy mythology, Venus was the

Roman goddess of love and beauty. In Greek her name was Aphrodite.

Venus’s orbit makes it the second closest to the sun.

Simulated views of the surface of Venus.

Earth In astronomy mythology, Her Greek name

was Gaea. Earth was the mother of the mountains, valleys, streams and all other land formations. She was married to Uranus.

Earth’s Orbit makes it the third closet to the sun.

Our Earth

Mars Mars was the Roman God of war and agriculture.

It may not seem like these two things go together, but they do. Mars protected those who fought for their communities, and stayed home to raise crops for food.

Mars has higher mountains, and deeper canyons than any other planet. The largest canyon on Mars would stretch from New York City to Los Angeles on the Earth. That makes the Grand Canyon look tiny. It Also has the Solar Systems biggest volcano, Olympus Mons.

Water-ice clouds, polar ice, polar regions, and geological features can

be seen in this picture of Mars.

Jupiter Jupiter known as Zeus in Greece over

threw his father Saturn to become King of the Gods. He then split the Universe with his brothers Neptune and Pluto.

You can see four of Jupiter's moons With a pair of binoculars at night. Also Jupiter spins really fast. It only takes 10 hours to go from night to day on Jupiter. For that reason its middle has been stretched out. Rather than round it is short and fat.

A true-color image of Jupiter taken by the Cassini spacecraft

Saturn Saturn was the God of agriculture, he was

called Cronus by the Greeks. He is the son of Uranus, and father of Jupiter. Saturn over threw his father to become king of the Gods, but was then over thrown himself by his son Jupiter.

Saturn has several hundred rings. However it is not the only planet with rings. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune also have rings.

Saturn in early October 2004, Cassini captured a series of images that have been composed into this large global natural color view of Saturn

Uranus In astronomy mythology, Uranus was the lord of

the skies and husband of Earth. He was also the King of the Gods until his son Saturn overthrew him.

Uranus is very odd.  Unlike all the other planets and most of the moons in our Solar System Uranus spins on its side.  It is believed that long ago a very large object smashed into this planet.  The crash was so powerful that it completely changed the direction of Uranus' spin.

Hubble Space Telescope image of Uranus

Neptune Neptune was originally only the God of

Water, but was later extended to the ocean when he became associated with the Greek God Poseidon.

Scientists think there is a very large water ocean under Neptune's clouds.

Voyager 2 captured this image of Neptune in 1989

Pluto Pluto was thought to be the God to whom

all men must eventually go. Romans believed him to be the God of the Underworld. His name in Greece was Hades.

Pluto is so far away, that no satellites have ever been sent there. This means that we have no good pictures of it. All we can do is guess what it must look like.

A Hubble Space Telescope image of Pluto and its Moons, Charon, Hydra and Nix.

Charon is the largest moon close to Pluto. Hydra is the higher of the two dots to the

right of Pluto. Nix is the lowest dot.

Credits Information taken from: kidsastronomy.com

Pictures taken from http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm

Presentation put together by Katie Mae Farley