The Solar System

Our Solar System is an amazing place. Not only is it home to eight planets, it also hold several
dwarf planet, hundreds of moons, and asteroids.
The eight planets in our Solar System are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune. These planets orbit the Sun.

The Sun is the center of our Solar System. It is because of the Sun that our solar system gets its
name. The Sun is the largest object within the Solar System - it makes up more than 95% of all the
matter! It is because of the Sun's large size that the rest of the objects within the Solar System orbit
around it.
The Sun is very, very hot. It is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit on its surface.
Composition of Planets
The substances that make up the planets are divided into three compositions: gases, rocks, and
ice based on their melting points.
1. Gases- hydrogen and helium; are those with melting points with near absolute zero.
- Hydrogen and Helium are the most abundant in the solar nebula
2. Rocks – principally silicate minerals and metallic iron which have melting points that exceed 700
degrees Celsius
3. Ice – includes ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide and water. They have intermediate melting
points, example water has melting point of 0 degrees Celsius
Atmosphere of Planets
- Jovian planets have very thick atmospheres of hydrogen, methane, helium and ammonia by
contrast terrestrial planets have thin atmospheres
- the distance from the sun explains their atmosphere; The temperature was low enough to allow
water vapor , ammonia to condense into ice.
- Jovian planets contain large amount of volatiles
- inner planets / terrestrial planets is hot enough for ices to survive
- inner planets lack atmospheres
- how did earth get its atmosphere and other volatile gases?
o during the early bombardment of icy fragments during the planetisimal stage
- Jovian planets are more massive that makes them have atmospheres
- Jovian planets have high gravitational fields making the gases to escape, terrestrial planets have
not
The Planets of the Solar System
Mercury (The inner most planet)
- the smallest planet and is hardly large than the earth’s moon
- revolves quickly but rotates slowly
- the night in mercury last for 3 months and is followed by 3 months of daylight
- 1 full day-night cycle of the earth is 24 hrs but mercury requires 179 earth days
- night temperature drops to – 173 degrees Celsius ; noon time 427 degrees Celsius
- no atmosphere in mercury
Venus ( the veiled planet)
- named for the goddess of love and beauty
- has retrograde motion ( pabali ang tuyok sa planet)
- similar to earth’s size, density, mass and location in the solar system
- referred to as earth’s twin
- covered with thick clouds impenetrable of visible light
- surface temp. reach up to 480 degrees Celsius
- atmosphere is 90% carbon dioxide because of global warming
- the volcanoes are responsible of the global warming in Venus
Mars ( the Red Planet)
- has thin atmosphere primarily composed of carbon dioxide
- polar ice caps of mars is composed of water and layer of carbon dioxide
- has the largest volcano in the in the solar system called Olympus Mons
- Has two satellites( moons) called Phobos and Deimos
Jupiter (
- Known for its "Great Red Spot" - a mass of hurricanes that have been storming for hundreds of
years. The spot is larger in size than that of Earth
- Jupiter has over 50 moons. Four of these moons are as big as planets
- Jupiter has a strong magnetic field,
- most massive planet in our solar system
Saturn
- The rings are made of ice and rock. Scientists are not yet sure how they formed. The gaseous
planet is mostly hydrogen and helium.
- The elegant planet
- Saturn's interior is similar to Jupiter's consisting of a rocky core, a  liquid metallic hydrogen layer
and a molecular hydrogen layer. Traces of various ices are also present.
- Saturn has 62 named satellites (as of spring 2010)
Uranus ( the side ways planet) 98 degrees tilt
- Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun and the first to be discovered by scientists. 
- Uranus is visible the naked eye
- retrograde motion
- British astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus accidentally on March 13, 1781, with his
telescope while surveying all-stars down to those about 10 times dimmer than can be seen by
the naked eye. One "star" seemed different, and within a year Uranus was shown to follow a
planetary orbit.
- Uranus is blue-green in color, the result of methane in its mostly hydrogen-helium atmosphere.
- Uranus has the coldest atmosphere of any of the planets in the solar system , even though it is
not the most distant from the sun. That's because Uranus has little to no internal heat to
supplement the heat of the sun
Neptune (The Windy Planet)
- great dark spot
- Neptune's cloud cover has an especially vivid blue tint that is partly due to an as-yet-unidentified
compound and the result of the absorption of red light by methane in the planets mostly
hydrogen-helium atmosphere.
- Neptune's winds can reach up to 1,500 mph (2,400 km/h), the fastest detected yet in the solar
system.

Other Members of the Solar system

1. Comets - These are also known as the ‘dirty snowballs’. They are cosmic
objects of frozen gasses, rocks and dust. These are not the tiny objects you
imagine them to be. They are the size of a small town (at least a few
kilometers in area). When these comets come close to the sun, these comets
heat up and spew dust and gasses into the atmosphere. This results in the
comets having a tail which is called a coma. Comets usually have a highly
elliptical orbit, which means their revolutions around the sun are several
years long. They tend to make periodical appearances in the earth’s atmosphere. Perhaps the most
famous comet identified by us is the Halley’s Comet which makes an appearance every 74 to 79 years.
Its last sighting was in 1986 and its next expected appearance is predicted to be i n 2061.

2. Asteroids-
Asteroids are essentially smaller planets, earning them the name of ‘minor plants’ or even ‘planetoids’.
They are rocky objects that orbit the sun but do not have air (i.e. an atmosphere). These asteroids are
located in the vast space occurring between Mars and Jupiter called the asteroid belt. There are tens of
thousands of these ancient space rubble located in this belt, with sizes ranging from 945 kilometres to
about 33 feet. Vesta is the largest asteroid and it has the total area of about 326 miles.

3. Meteors- Meteors are more commonly known as ‘shooting stars’ or

‘falling stars’, but like we said they aren’t stars at all. The flash of light
that is seen across the sky is called the meteor. When some debris enters the
earth’s atmosphere and on doing so combusts almost immediately it
results in the flash. The debris itself is the meteoroid. Meteoroids
are formed when two asteroids clash and a small part breaks loose.

4. The Asteroid Belt-this lies between the Inner Planets and Outer Planets. It is made up of rocks, ice
and metal.

5. The Dwarf Planets-these are too small to be called planets but too large to be called asteroids. The
three dwarf planets are:
a . Ceres-it is found in an asteroid belt in our solar system.
b. Pluto-Pluto has 3 moons and is usually farther from the sun than Neptune. The orbit of Pluto and
Neptune cross as certain points making Pluto closer to the sun than Neptune.
c. Eris-it is furthest away from the sun of the dwarf planets and has one moon. It is the largest of the
dwarf planets.

6. The Moons-moons are naturally occurring satellites that orbit the planets. Only Mercury and Venus
don't have moons. Io, one of Jupiter's moons, is the most volcanically active body in our solar system.

7. Kuiper Belt- Beyond the gas giant Neptune lies a region of

space filled with icy bodies. Known as the Kuiper Belt, this chilly
expanse holds trillions of objects, remnants of the early solar
system. Dutch astronomer Jan Oort first proposed in 1950 that
some comets might come from the solar system's far suburbs