SOLAR SYSTEM
What’s in Solar System?
• Our Solar System consists of a Central Star (The Sun), the 8
planets orbiting the sun. moons, asteroids, comets, meteors,
interplanetary gas, dust, and all the “space" in between them.
• The 8 planets of the Solar System are named for Greek and
Roman Gods and Godesses.
The Order of the Planets
Order of the Planets in are Solar system are:
• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune
The Inner & The Outer Planets
An asteroid belt stretchers in-between Mars and Jupiter,
separating the Solar System into two.
The Inner planets are:
• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
The Outer planets are:
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune
The Sun
• The sun’s energy comes from nuclear fusion (where hydrogen is
converted to helium) within its core. This energy is released from
the sun in the form of heat and light.
• Remember: Star produce light. Planets reflect light.
• A star’s temperature determines its “colour.” The coldest stars
are red. The hottest stars are blue.
The 8 planets of the Solar system
• Planets are categorized according to composition and size. There are two mains
categorized of planets:
-small rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars)
-gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune)
The Mercury
• Mercury has a revolution period of 88 days. Mercury has
extreme temperature fluctuations, ranging from 800 °F
(daytime) to -270 °F (night time).
• Even though it is the closest planet to the sun, Scientists
believe there is ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
on Mercury! The ice is protected from the sun’s heat by
crater shadows.
The Venus
• Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon because its
atmosphere reflects sunlight so well. People often mistake it for a star.
• It’s maximum surface temperature may reach 900 °F.
• Venus has no moons and takes 225 days to complete an orbit.
The Earth (Our Planet)
• Earth is the only planet known to support living organisms.
• Earth’s surface is composed of 71% water
-Water is necessary for life on Earth
-The oceans help maintain Earth’s stable temperatures.
Earth has one moon and an oxygen rich atmosphere.
Earth’s Moon
• It takes the moon approximately 26 days to complete one
rotation. The same side of the moon always faces us.
• The moon’s surface is covered in dust and rocky debris
from meteor impacts. It has no water or atmosphere.
• The moon reflects light from the Sun onto the Earth’
surface.
The Mars
• Like Earth, Mars has ice caps at its poles.
• Mars has the largest volcano in our Solar System: Olympus Mons.
Olympus Mons is approximately15 miles high.
• Mars appears red because of iron oxide, or rust, in its soil.
• Mars has two moons and takes about two years to complete an
orbit.
Characteristics of Gas Giants
• There are made up mostly of gases (primarily hydrogen and
helium).
• They are very light for their size.
• The move quickly in space.
• They have rings and many moons.
• They have a diameter of less than 48,000 km.
The Jupiter
• Jupiter is the largest most massive planet.
• It’s diameter is 11 times bigger than of the
Earth’s.
• It takes about 12 years for Jupiter to orbit
the sun.
• Jupiter has 16 known moons.
The Saturn
• Saturn is composed almost entirely of hydrogen
and helium.
• Saturn has many rings made of ice. Saturn’s rings
are very wide. They extend outward to about
260,000 miles from the surface but are less than 1
mile thick.
• Saturn has 18 known moons, some of which orbits
inside the rings!
• It takes Saturn about 30 years to orbit the Sun.
The Uranus
• Uranus is blue in colour due to methane
gas in its atmosphere.
• Uranus has 11 dark rings surrounding it.
• Uranus has 21 known moons and takes 84
years to complete one orbit.
The Neptune
• Neptune has fastest winds in the Solar
System: up to 2,000 km/hr.
• Neptune is also blue in colour due to
methane gas in its atmosphere.
• Neptune take 165 year to orbit the Sun and
has 8 moons.
What is Comets?
• Comets are large objects made of dust and ice that
orbit the Sun. Best known for their long, streaming
tails, these ancient objects are leftovers from the
formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
What brings comets near Earth so we can see them?
The gravity of a planet or star can pull comets from their homes in the
Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud. This tug can redirect a comet toward the Sun.
The paths of these redirected comets look like long, stretched ovals.
As the comet is pulled faster and faster toward the Sun, it swings around
behind the Sun, then heads back toward where it came from. Some comets
drive right into the Sun, never to be seen again. When the comet is in the
inner solar system, either coming or going, that's when we may see it in
our skies.
What is Asteroids?
• Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. Although
asteroids orbit the Sun like planets, they are much smaller than
planets.
• There are lots of asteroids in our solar system. Most of them live
in the main asteroid belt—a region between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter.
• Asteroids hang out in other places, too. For example, some
asteroids are found in the orbital path of planets. This means
that the asteroid and the planet follow the same path around the
sun. Earth and a few other planets have asteroids like this.
What is Asteroid-Belt?
• The asteroid belt is a region of space between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter where most of the asteroids in our Solar System are
found orbiting the Sun. The asteroid belt probably contains
millions of asteroids. Astronomers think that the asteroid belt is
made up of material that was never able to form into a planet, or
of the remains of a planet which broke apart a very long time
ago. The asteroids in the asteroid belt come in a variety of sizes.
Some are very small (less than a mile across), while others are
quite large. The largest asteroid is called Ceres. It is about one-
quarter the size of our moon. It is a dwarf planet.
