Solar Solar SystemSystem

Vocabulary• Orbit means to circle around.

The planets orbit the Sun.

• Our moon is a body in space that circles planet Earth. Other planets have moons, too.

• Our solar system includes the Sun and all the planets, moons, and stars.

• A star is a body which looks like a bright point in the sky at night. A star is not a planet or a moon. Our sun is a star.

• Scientists pretend that planets and stars have a line drawn through their middles. This line is called an axis.

What is a planet?

• A large space body with reflects the light of a star around which it revolves

• There are NINE planets within our solar system!

The Order of the Planets

• My• Very• Educated• Mother• Just• Served• Us• Nine• Pizzas

• Mercury• Venus• Earth• Mars• Jupiter• Saturn• Uranus• Neptune• Pluto

Why is the Sun SOO Important!

• The sun is the CENTER of our solar system!

• It is our closest STAR!

• All the planets in our solar system revolve around the sun!

This planet is Mercury. It is small and rocky. One day on Mercury is the same as 58.65 Earth days. The temperature gets hotter than an oven during the daytime and colder than a freezer at night. Mercury is the first planet in our solar system. It has a thin atmosphere. It is the fastest moving planet in our solar system.

Mercury is the planet which is closest to the Sun.

It is one of the four inner planets. (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars)

1 Earth year = about 4 Mercury years

Mercury is about 1/3 as big as Earth (3 Mercury’s = 1 Earth)

The next planet is Venus. It is the second planet from the sun. It is the hottest in our solar system. The temperature is 870 degrees Fahrenheit. It is 67,230,00 miles from the sun. Venus rotates very slowly. It is known as the morning star or the evening star.

Venus is very bright, and you can see it from Earth at sunrise and sunset

1 day on Venus = longer than one year on Earth!!

Venus is different from any other planet because it spins “backwards” on it’s axis

Earth is the third planet from the sun. Earth is the fifth largest planet in our solar system. Earth’s rotation is slowing down slightly about one second every 10 years. The Earth is 93 million miles from the sun. We think Earth is the only planet with life.

Earth is the planet we live on!

It only takes 24 hours to spin around it’s axis one day (1 day = 24 hours)

Earth orbits the sun in 365 days (1 year = 365 days)

Earth is covered mainly by water

Earth has 1 moon

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. Mars’s nickname is the red planet because it has red soil. Mars’s soil is dry, rocky, and covered with iron-rich dust. Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our solar system, is on Mars. Some people say there was a dried up river on Mars. NASA took a picture of Mars and they found a rock formation of a head.

Mars has an atmosphere made up of almost all Carbon dioxide (with only a little oxygen) making it impossible for humans to breathe on Mars.

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Jupiter has 39 known moons. It has a giant red spot which is a storm. Jupiter is so big that you could put every planet from our solar system in it if it were hollow. If you weighed 100 pounds on Earth you would weigh 254 pounds on Jupiter. Jupiter is 480,000,000 miles away from the sun.

Jupiter has three layers of clouds

Jupiter has a lot of storms on it’s surface.

One of these, “Jupiter’s Red Spot” has been going on for 300 years

Jupiter has at least 61 moons

View the movement of the atmospheric bands

Approximate size comparison of Earth and Jupiter, including the Great Red Spot

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun. It is the second biggest planet. Saturn has rings which are made up of rocks and ice (ranging from as small as a pebble to as big as a building). Saturn is made out of hydrogen and helium. If there was an ocean big enough to hold Saturn it would float.

A rough comparison of the sizes of Saturn and Earth

Saturn has many wind storms on it’s surface.

The rings have a pretty color because of the way the sun shines on them from a distance.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun. It is the third largest planet in our solar system. It has 11 rings and 22 known moons. Uranus is the only planet in our solar system that spins on it’s side. It is the size of 14 Earths. It is 1,850,000,000 miles from the sun. It is a frozen planet with a molten core.

1 day on Uranus = 17 hours on Earth

1 year on Uranus = 84 Earth years

Uranus has more moons than any of planet (so far 20 have been discovered)

Clouds cover the entire surface of Uranus

Size comparison of Earth and Uranus

Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun. Neptune has eight narrow, faint rings in clumps. Neptune was the first planet whose existence was predicted mathematically. Neptune is over 16 times the size of Earth. A day on Neptune is 19.1 Earth hours. One year on Neptune is 164.8 Earth years. Neptune is 4,546,000,000 miles from the sun.

Neptune is the eight planet from the sun

(Like Uranus) Neptune is a blue color because it’s atmosphere is made up of mainly Methane Gas

Neptune has something scientists call the “great dark spot” which they believe is a hole in it’s atmosphere

Neptune has eight moons!

Pluto is the ninth planet from the sun and is the smallest planet in our solar system. Each day on Pluto is 6.39 Earth days. A year on Pluto is 247.7 Earth years. Pluto is very cold. It can be between -396° to -378°F. Pluto has one moon named Charon and it is almost the size of Pluto.

New Horizons, launched on January 19, 2006

CRIRES model-based computer-generated impression of the Plutonian surface by ESO—L. Calçada, with atmospheric haze, and Charon and the Sun in the sky.

Resources

• http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/etp.htm

• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/

• http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level1/solar_system.html

• http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm

• http://www.dustbunny.com/afk/planets/