SST: GEOGRAPHY

Name Shreyansh Thakur

Class 6 A
Roll No.41
 FIRST WE WILL LEARN ABOUT PLANETS

A planet is a celestial body which orbit around the

Sun. A planet has sufficient mass for its self-gravity
to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a
hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, etc.
 FUN FACT ABOUT PLANET

 The ancient Greeks counted the Earth's Moon and Sun as planets
along with Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Earth was not
considered a planet, but rather was thought to be the central object
around which all the other celestial objects orbited. The first known
model that placed the Sun at the center of the known universe with
the Earth revolving around it was presented by Aristarchus of Samos
in the third century BCE, but it was not generally accepted. It wasn't
until the 16th century that the idea was revived by Nicolaus
Copernicus.
 By the 17th century, astronomers (aided by the invention of the
telescope) realized that the Sun was the celestial object around which
all the planets—including Earth—orbit, and that the moon is not a
planet, but a satellite (moon) of Earth. Uranus was added as a planet
in 1781 and Neptune was discovered in 1846.
 Ceres was discovered between Mars and Jupiter in 1801 and originally classified as
a planet. But as many more objects were subsequently found in the same region, it
was realized that Ceres was the first of a class of similar objects that were
eventually termed asteroids (star-like) or minor planets.
 Pluto, discovered in 1930, was identified as the ninth planet. But Pluto is much
smaller than Mercury and is even smaller than some of the planetary moons. It is
unlike the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars), or the gas giants
(Jupiter, Saturn), or the ice giants (Uranus, Neptune). Charon, its huge satellite, is
nearly half the size of Pluto and shares Pluto's orbit. Though Pluto kept its
planetary status through the 1980s, things began to change in the 1990s with some
new discoveries.
Planets in our solar system
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

 1.1 Mercury
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
1.1 Mercury
• The smallest planet in our solar system and nearest to the Sun, Mercury is only
slightly larger than Earth's Moon.
• From the surface of Mercury, the Sun would appear more than three times as
large as it does when viewed from Earth, and the sunlight would be as much as
seven times brighter. Despite its proximity to the Sun, Mercury is not the hottest
planet in our solar system – that title belongs to nearby Venus, thanks to its dense
atmosphere.
• Because of Mercury's elliptical – egg-shaped – orbit, and sluggish rotation, the
Sun appears to rise briefly, set, and rise again from some parts of the planet's
surface. The same thing happens in reverse at sunset.
• Mercury is the fastest planet in our solar system – traveling through space at
nearly 29 miles (47 kilometers) per second. The closer a planet is to the Sun, the
faster it travels. Since Mercury is the fastest planet and has the shortest distance to
travel around the Sun, it has the shortest year of all the planets in our solar system
– 88 days.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
• Mercury is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet. Mercury has a solid,
cratered surface, much like the Earth's moon.
• Mercury's thin atmosphere, or exosphere, is composed mostly of oxygen (O2),
sodium (Na), hydrogen (H2), helium (He), and potassium (K). 
• Mercury has no moons. There are no rings around Mercury. 
• It is unlikely that life as we know it could survive on Mercury due to solar radiation,
and extreme temperatures.
• Standing on Mercury's surface at its closest approach to the Sun, our star would
appear more than three times larger than it does on Earth.
• wo NASA missions have explored Mercury: Mariner 10 was the first to fly by
Mercury, and MESSENGER was the first to orbit. ESA's BepiColombo is on its
way to Mercury.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

1.2 Venus
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

1.2 Venus
• Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is Earth’s closest planetary neighbor.
It’s one of the four inner, terrestrial (or rocky) planets, and it’s often called Earth’s
twin because it’s similar in size and density. These are not identical twins, however
– there are radical differences between the two worlds.
• Venus has a thick, toxic atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide and it’s perpetually
shrouded in thick, yellowish clouds of sulfuric acid that trap heat, causing a
runaway greenhouse effect. It’s the hottest planet in our solar system, even though
Mercury is closer to the Sun. Surface temperatures on Venus are about 900 degrees
Fahrenheit (475 degrees Celsius) – hot enough to melt lead. The surface is a rusty
color and it’s peppered with intensely crunched mountains and thousands of large
volcanoes. Scientists think it’s possible some volcanoes are still active.
• Venus has crushing air pressure at its surface – more than 90 times that of Earth –
similar to the pressure you'd encounter a mile below the ocean on Earth.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

• Another big difference from Earth – Venus rotates on its axis backward, compared
to most of the other planets in the solar system. This means that, on Venus, the Sun
rises in the west and sets in the east, opposite to what we experience on Earth. (It’s
not the only planet in our solar system with such an oddball rotation – 
Uranus spins on its side.)
• Venus was the first planet to be explored by a spacecraft – NASA’s Mariner 2
 successfully flew by and scanned the cloud-covered world on Dec. 14, 1962. Since
then, numerous spacecraft from the U.S. and other space agencies have explored
Venus, including NASA’s Magellan, which mapped the planet's surface with radar.
Soviet spacecraft made the most successful landings on the surface of Venus to date,
but they didn’t survive long due to the extreme heat and crushing pressure. An
American probe, one of NASA's Pioneer Venus Multiprobes, survived for about an
hour after impacting the surface in 1978.
• More recent Venus missions include ESA’s Venus Express (which orbited from
2006 until 2016) and Japan’s Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter (orbiting since 2016).
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has made multiple flybys of Venus, and on July 11,
2020, the probe came within 516 miles of the surface.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
In June 2021 three new missions to Venus were announced:
•On June 2, 2021, NASA announced it had selected two new missions to Venus as part
of the agency’s Discovery Program. The missions are expected to launch in the 2028-
2030 timeframe.
•On June 10, 2021, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the 
selection of EnVision to make detailed observations of Venus. As a key partner in the
mission, NASA is providing the Synthetic Aperture Radar, called VenSAR, to make
high-resolution measurements of the planet’s surface features.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
• Venus is often called "Earth’s twin" because they’re similar in size and structure, but
Venus has extreme surface heat and a dense, toxic atmosphere. If the Sun were as
tall as a typical front door, Earth and Venus would each be about the size of a nickel.
• Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun, orbiting at a distance of about 67
million miles (108 million kilometers)
• Venus rotates very slowly on its axis – one day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days. The
planet orbits the Sun faster than Earth, however, so one year on Venus takes only
about 225 Earth days, making a Venusian day longer than its year!
• Venus has a solid surface covered in dome-like volcanoes, rifts, and mountains, with
expansive volcanic plains and vast, ridged plateaus.
• The average surface of Venus is less than a billion years old, and possibly as young
as 150 million years old – which is relatively young from a geological perspective.
This is a major conundrum for scientists – they don’t know exactly what happened
that made Venus completely resurface itself.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
• Venus’ thick atmosphere traps heat creating a runaway greenhouse effect – making
it the hottest planet in our solar system with surface temperatures hot enough to
melt lead. The greenhouse effect makes Venus roughly 700°F (390°C) hotter than it
would be without a greenhouse effect.
• Venus is permanently shrouded in thick, toxic clouds of sulfuric acid that start at an
altitude of 28 to 43 miles (45 to 70 kilometers). The clouds smell like rotten eggs!
• Venus was the first planet explored by a spacecraft and was intensely studied early
in the history of space exploration. Venus was also the first planet whose surface
was reached by a spacecraft from Earth. The intense heat means landers have only
survived for a couple of hours.
• Venus is an unlikely place for life as we know it, but some scientists theorize
microbes might exist high in the clouds where it’s cooler and the pressure is similar
to Earth’s surface. Phosphine, a possible indicator of microbial life, has been
observed in the clouds.
• Venus rotates backward on its axis compared to most planets in our solar system.
This means the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east, opposite of what we see on
Earth.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

1.3 Earth
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

1.3 Earth
• Our home planet is the third planet from the Sun, and the only place we know of so
far that’s inhabited by living things.
• While Earth is only the fifth largest planet in the solar system, it is the only world
in our solar system with liquid water on the surface. Just slightly larger than nearby
Venus, Earth is the biggest of the four planets closest to the Sun, all of which are
made of rock and metal.
• The name Earth is at least 1,000 years old. All of the planets, except for Earth,
were named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. However, the name Earth
is a Germanic word, which simply means “the ground.”
• If the Sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be the size of a nickel.
• Earth orbits our Sun, a star. Earth is the third planet from the Sun at a distance of
about 93 million miles (150 million km).
• A day on Earth is 24 hours. Earth makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in
Earth time) in about 365 days.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
• Earth is a rocky planet with a solid and dynamic surface of mountains, canyons,
plains and more. Most of our planet is covered in water.
• Earth's atmosphere is 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other
ingredients—the perfect balance to breathe and live.
• Earth has one moon. Earth has no rings.
• Many orbiting spacecraft study the Earth from above as a whole system—observing
the atmosphere, ocean, glaciers, and the solid earth.
• Earth is the perfect place for life as we know it.
• Our atmosphere protects us from incoming meteoroids, most of which break up in
our atmosphere before they can strike the surface.
 D. Crust
PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
A. Earth's inner core is the C.Mantle
innermost geologic layer of
the planet Earth. It is primarily A.Inner Core
a solid ball with a radius
of about 1,220 km (760 mi),
which is about 20% of Earth's
radius or 70% of the Moon's
radius. The inner core is
believed to be composed of
an iron–nickel alloy with some
other elements. B. Outer core.
B. Earth's outer core is a fluid
layer about 2,400 km (1,500
mi) thick and composed of C. The mantle is the mostly-solid D. “Crust” describes  the
mostly iron and nickel that lies bulk of Earth’s interior. The mantle outermost shell of
above Earth's solid inner core a terrestrial planet.
lies between Earth’s dense, super-
and below its mantle. Its outer
heated core and its thin outer layer, Our planet’s thin, 40-
boundary lies 2,890 km (1,800
the crust. The mantle is about 2,900 kilometer (25-mile) deep
mi) beneath Earth's surface.
Unlike the inner (or solid) core, kilometers (1,802 miles) thick, and crust—just 1% of Earth’s
the outer core is liquid. makes up a whopping 84% of mass—contains all known
Earth’s total volume.  life in the universe.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

1.4
Mars
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

1.4 Mars
• Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun – a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin
atmosphere. Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons,
extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past.
• Mars is one of the most explored bodies in our solar system, and it's the only planet
where we've sent rovers to roam the alien landscape.
• Perseverance rover – the largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another
world – touched down on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, after a 203-day journey traversing
293 million miles (472 million kilometers). The Ingenuity helicopter rode to Mars
attached to the belly of Perseverance.
• Perseverance is one of three spacecraft that arrived at Mars in 2021. The Hope
orbiter from the United Arab Emirates arrived on Feb. 9, 2021. China’s Tianwen-1
mission arrived on Feb. 10, 2021, and includes an orbiter, a lander, and a rover.
Europa and India also have spacecraft studying Mars from orbit.
• In May 2021, China became the second nation to ever land successfully on Mars
 when its Zhurong Mars rover touched down.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
• An international fleet of eight orbiters is studying the Red Planet from above
including three NASA orbiters: 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
and MAVEN.
• These robotic explorers have found lots of evidence that Mars was much wetter and
warmer, with a thicker atmosphere, billions of years ago.
• If the Sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be the size of a dime, and
Mars would be about as big as an aspirin tablet.
• Mars orbits our Sun, a star. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun at an average
distance of about 228 million km (142 million miles) or 1.52 AU.
• One day on Mars takes a little over 24 hours. Mars makes a complete orbit around
the Sun (a year in Martian time) in 687 Earth days.
• Mars is a rocky planet. Its solid surface has been altered by volcanoes, impacts,
winds, crustal movement and chemical reactions.
• Mars has a thin atmosphere made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2), argon (Ar),
nitrogen (N2), and a small amount of oxygen and water vapor.
• Mars has two moons named Phobos and Deimos. There are no rings around Mars.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

 Several missions have visited this planet, from flybys and orbiters to rovers on the
surface. The first true Mars mission success was the Mariner 4 flyby in 1965.
 At this time, Mars' surface cannot support life as we know it. Current missions are
determining Mars' past and future potential for life.
 Mars is known as the Red Planet because iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize,
or rust, causing the soil and atmosphere to look red.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

Asteroid Belt
 ABOUT ASTEROID BELT

Asteroid Belt
 Early in the life of the solar system, dust and rock circling the sun were
pulled together by gravity into planets. But not all of the ingredients
created new worlds. A region between Mars and Jupiter became the
asteroid belt.
 Occasionally people wonder whether the belt was made up of the
remains of a destroyed planet, or a world that didn't quite get started.
However, according to NASA, the total mass of the belt is less than the
moon, far too small to weigh in as a planet. Instead, the debris is
shepherded by Jupiter, which kept it from coalescing onto other growing
planets.
 ABOUT ASTEROID BELT

 Observations of other planets are helping scientists to better

understand the solar system. According to a developing theory known
as Grand Tack, in the first 5 million years of the solar system, Jupiter and
Saturn are thought to have moved inward toward the sun before
changing direction and heading back to the outer solar system. Along
the way, they would have scattered the original asteroid belt before
them, then sent material flying back to refill it. 
 "In the Grand Tack model, the asteroid belt was purged at a very early
stage and the surviving members sample a much larger region of the
solar nebula," John Chambers of the Carnegie Institution for Science
wrote in a "Perspectives" piece published online in the journal Science.
 ABOUT ASTEROID BELT

 Our solar system isn't the only one to boast an asteroid belt. A cloud of
dust around a star known as zeta Leporis looks a lot like a young belt.
"Zeta Leporis is a relatively young star — approximately the age of our
sun when the Earth was forming," Michael Jura said in a statement. "The
system we observed around zeta Leporis is similar to what we think
occurred in the early years of our own solar system when planets and
asteroids were created." A professor at the University of California, Los
Angeles, Jura has since passed away.
 INNER PLANET
Inner Planet
 The inner, rocky planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
NASA's newest rover — Perseverance — landed on Mars on Feb. 18,
2021. The outer planets are gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and ice
giants Uranus and Neptune.
 The inner, rocky planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
NASA's newest rover — Perseverance — landed on Mars on Feb. 18,
2021. The outer planets are gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and ice
giants Uranus and Neptune.
 OUTER PLANET

Outer Planet
 The outer planets are planets in the Solar System that are beyond the
asteroid belt. The four planets; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are
gas giants. All four of these planets have planetary rings which are made up
of dust and other particles.
 Except for Pluto, the outer planets are alike in a lot of ways. They are much
bigger than the inner planets. They are made mostly of hydrogen and
helium. The hydrogen and helium are in the form of gas in the planets'
atmospheres.
 The four outer planets have longer orbits and spins, a composition of
gases and liquids, numerous moons, and rings. The outer planets are
made of hydrogen and helium, so they are called gas giants.
 PLANET AND IT’S DESTINATION

Jupiter
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

Jupiter
 Jupiter has a long history of surprising scientists – all the way back to 1610 when
Galileo Galilei found the first moons beyond Earth. That discovery changed the
way we see the universe.
 Fifth in line from the Sun, Jupiter is, by far, the largest planet in the solar system –
more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined.
 Jupiter's familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and
water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter’s iconic Great
Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.
 Eleven Earths could fit across Jupiter’s equator. If Earth were the size of a grape,
Jupiter would be the size of a basketball.
 Jupiter orbits about 484 million miles (778 million kilometers) or 5.2 Astronomical
Units (AU) from our Sun (Earth is one AU from the Sun).
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
 Jupiter rotates once about every 10 hours (a Jovian day), but takes about 12 Earth
years to complete one orbit of the Sun (a Jovian year).
 Jupiter is a gas giant and so lacks an Earth-like surface. If it has a solid inner core
at all, it’s likely only about the size of Earth.
 Jupiter's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H 2) and helium (He).
 Jupiter has more than 79 moons.
 In 1979 the Voyager mission discovered Jupiter’s faint ring system. All four giant
planets in our solar system have ring systems.
 Nine spacecraft have visited Jupiter. Seven flew by and two have orbited the gas
giant. Juno, the most recent, arrived at Jupiter in 2016.
 Jupiter cannot support life as we know it. But some of Jupiter's moons have oceans
beneath their crusts that might support life.
 Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm that’s about twice the size of Earth and
has raged for over a century.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

Saturn
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

Saturn
 Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest planet
in our solar system. Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the
second-largest planet in our solar system.
 Adorned with thousands of beautiful ringlets, Saturn is unique among
the planets. It is not the only planet to have rings – made of chunks of
ice and rock – but none are as spectacular or as complicated as
Saturn's.
 Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of
hydrogen and helium.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

 Nine Earths side by side would almost span Saturn’s diameter. That
doesn’t include Saturn’s rings.
 Saturn is the sixth planet from our Sun (a star) and orbits at a distance
of about 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) from the Sun.
 Saturn takes about 10.7 hours (no one knows precisely) to rotate on
its axis once—a Saturn “day”—and 29 Earth years to orbit the sun.
 Saturn is a gas-giant planet and therefore does not have a solid
surface like Earth’s. But it might have a solid core somewhere in
there.
 Saturn's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium
(He).
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

 Saturn has a total of 82 moons.

 Saturn has the most spectacular ring system, with seven rings and
several gaps and divisions between them.
 Few missions have visited Saturn: Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2
flew by; But Cassini orbited Saturn 294 times from 2004 to 2017.
 Saturn cannot support life as we know it, but some of Saturn's moons
have conditions that might support life.
 About two tons of Saturn’s mass came from Earth—the Cassini
spacecraft was intentionally vaporized in Saturn’s atmosphere in
2017.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

Uranus
 URANUS

Uranus
 Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, and has the third-largest diameter in our
solar system. It was the first planet found with the aid of a telescope, Uranus was
discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought
it was either a comet or a star.
 It was two years later that the object was universally accepted as a new planet, in
part because of observations by astronomer Johann Elert Bode. Herschel tried
unsuccessfully to name his discovery Georgium Sidus after King George III.
Instead, the scientific community accepted Bode's suggestion to name it Uranus,
the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by Bode.​
 Uranus is about four times wider than Earth. If Earth were a large apple, Uranus
would be the size of a basketball.
 Uranus orbits our Sun, a star, and is the seventh planet from the Sun at a distance of
about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers).
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
 Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate once (a Uranian day), and about 84 Earth
years to complete an orbit of the Sun (a Uranian year).
 Uranus is an ice giant. Most of its mass is a hot, dense fluid of "icy" materials –
water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core.
 Uranus has an atmosphere made mostly of molecular hydrogen and atomic helium,
with a small amount of methane.
 Uranus has 27 known moons, and they are named after characters from the works
of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
 Uranus has 13 known rings. The inner rings are narrow and dark and the outer
rings are brightly colored.
 Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to fly by Uranus. No spacecraft has orbited this
distant planet to study it at length and up close.
 Uranus cannot support life as we know it.
 Like Venus, Uranus rotates east to west. But Uranus is unique in that it rotates on
its side.
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION

Neptune
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
Neptune
 Dark, cold, and whipped by supersonic winds, ice giant Neptune is the eighth and
most distant planet in our solar system.
 More than 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth, Neptune is the only planet in our
solar system not visible to the naked eye and the first predicted by mathematics
before its discovery. In 2011 Neptune completed its first 165-year orbit since its
discovery in 1846.
 NASA's Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune up close. It flew
past in 1989 on its way out of the solar system.
 Neptune is about four times wider than Earth. If Earth were a large apple, Neptune
would be the size of a basketball.
 Neptune orbits our Sun, a star, and is the eighth planet from the Sun at a distance of
about 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers).
 Neptune takes about 16 hours to rotate once (a Neptunian day), and about 165
Earth years to orbit the sun (a Neptunian year).
 PLANET AND IT’S DEFINITION
 Neptune is an ice giant. Most of its mass is a hot, dense fluid of "icy" materials –
water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core.
 Neptune's atmosphere is made up mostly of molecular hydrogen, atomic helium
and methane.
 Neptune has 14 known moons which are named after sea gods and nymphs in
Greek mythology.
 Neptune has at least five main rings and four more ring arcs, which are clumps of
dust and debris likely formed by the gravity of a nearby moon.
 Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune. No spacecraft has orbited
this distant planet to study it at length and up close.
 Neptune cannot support life as we know it.
 Because of dwarf planet Pluto’s elliptical orbit, Pluto is sometimes closer to the
Sun (and us) than Neptune is.