Overview of the Solar System

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Overview of the Solar System

• The solar system consists of
• The Sun Its at the center of the solar system
• The nine planets
• About 90 satellites of the planets
• A large number of small bodies like asteroids and
  comets.

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The Sun

• The Sun contains more than 99.8 of the total
  mass of the solar system. It is obviously the
  biggest object in the solar system.
• The Sun is about 4.5 billion years old. Since its
  birth it has used up about half of the hydrogen
  in its core. It will continue to radiate
  "peacefully" for another 5 billion years.
• The picture on the left shows a solar eclipse.
  The part of the Sun that you can see is called
  the corona.
• The Suns energy is produced by nuclear fusion
  reactions.

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The Planets

• There are nine planets and they orbit in
  elliptical orbits around the Sun.
• Looking down from the Suns north pole, all the
  planets travel in a counter-clockwise direction.
• The planets can be categorized either as
  terrestrial or jovian. The terrestrial planets
  are made of rock and metal. The jovian planets
  are made of gas.

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The Inner Planets (Part One)

• Mercury (terrestrial)
• Closest to the Sun
• Small terrestrial planet
• Venus (terrestrial)
• The many clouds of this planet are made of
  poisonous sulfuric acid
• Very hot because of the greenhouse effect

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The Inner Planets (Part Two)

• Earth (terrestrial)
• Has one satellite known as the Moon
• Densest of all the planets
• Only planet known to currently support life
• Mars (terrestrial)
• Has two moons
• Known as the red planet due to its color

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The Asteroid Belt

• The main asteroid belt is located between Mars
  and Jupiter.
• The total mass of all asteroids is less than the
  Moon
• Asteroids are small chunks of rock and metal that
  orbit the Sun. Scientists believe that they are
  loose material that never compacted into planets.
• There may be more than a million asteroids in our
  solar system.

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The Outer Planets (Part One)

• Jupiter (jovian)
• The largest planet
• Its Great Red Spot is a storm of swirling gas
• Saturn (jovian)
• Known for its beautiful rings made of mostly ice
• Has 18 moons more than any other planet
• Uranus (jovian)
• Seems to be rotating sideways
• Appears blue due to methane in upper atmosphere

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The Outer Planets (Part Two)

• Neptune (jovian)
• Known for its Great Dark Spot comprised of
  storms
• Has the fastest winds of any of the planets 2000
  km/hr
• Pluto (terrestrial)
• It is the farthest planet
• It has never been visited by a spacecraft
• Its orbit is unusual and, therefore, is sometimes
  in front of Neptune

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Comets

• Comets are made up of dust and ice.
• The tail can be up to 10 million kilometers long.
• Comets can cause meteor showers on Earth if the
  Earth passes through the orbit of a comet.
• Most comets have orbits far beyond that of Pluto

Haleys Comet
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The Earths Moon

• Orbits around the Earth once a month
• The Moon has no atmosphere
• The Moons gravity plays a part in influencing
  the tides on Earth
• There are many theories as to how the Moon formed
  the most widely accepted is the impact theory

Buzz Aldrin Second man on the Moon
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Exploring the Solar System
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