The Solar System

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The Solar System

• A View of the Sun and the
• Nine Planets

Launch off to the Planets
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• Nine Planets
• Solar System called the Milky Way
• Everything rotates around the sun

THE SOLAR SYSTEM
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The Sun!
First Stop

• The sun is a star like all other stars, it is
  just closer to us.
• It is made of 75 Hydrogen, and 25 Helium
• The sun is about 4.5 Billion years old
• There are cooler spots on the sun called
  sunspots, but they are still extremely hot.

4
Mercury

• Mercury is the closest planet to the sun
• The surface has many craters that are very old
• The atmosphere of Mercury is thin
• Mariner 10 is the only spacecraft to visit

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Venus

• The Earth and Venus are very similar, many times
  Venus is called the Earths sister planet.
• There is no water on Venus, it has all boiled
  off.
• Venus is the sixth largest
• It is the brightest planet

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EARTH

• The Earth is the fifth largest planet
• There is only one natural satellite, the moon,
  rotating around the earth
• 71 of the Earths surface is covered with
  water
• The Earth is the only planet with proven life
  living on it

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MARS

• Mars has the nickname Red Planet for its
  appearance
• The average temperature is negative 67 degrees
  Fahrenheit
• There are permanent ice caps at both poles on
  Mars
• People have landed on Mars to explore its surface

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JUPITER

• Jupiter is the largest planet
• It is 318 times the size of the Earth
• Galileo discovered Jupiter in 1610
• There are 16 satellites (moons) orbiting Jupiter
• Jupiter is a gas planet and has no solid surface

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SATURN

• Saturn is the second largest planet
• The interior of Saturn is hot and radiates more
  heat than what it receives from the sun
• The planet looks flat because of its rapid
  rotation and gaseous atmosphere
• Saturn is known for its many rings

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URANUS

• Uranus was the first planet discovered at a later
  date, it was founded in 1781 by William Herschel
• The composition of Uranus is rocks and ice
• There are 11 rings and 17 moons
• Voyager 2 made the only visit to Uranus on
  January 24, 1986

Voyager 2
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Neptune

• Neptune is blue in color like Uranus
• Sometimes Neptune crosses Plutos orbit making it
  the furthest planet from the sun
• There is a Great Dark Spot in the southern
  hemisphere that moves very quickly
• Neptune has rings that have a twisted structure
  and has a faint arc to it

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PLUTO

• Pluto is the smallest planet
• It is 5,913,520,000 km from the sun
• Pluto is the only planet that has never been
  visited
• There is only one satellite known to Pluto
  that is named Charon

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For more information go to the Astronomy for Kids
website
Http//www.frontiernet.net/kidpower/astronomy.htm
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