Our Solar System

1
Our Solar System
2
The Sun

• It is a medium-sized yellow star in the middle of
  its life cycle.
• Its the center of our Solar System and holds
  objects in orbit by gravity
• More than 1,000,000 Earths can fit inside the Sun
• The only source of energy, its fueled by nuclear
  fusion of small atoms to form larger ones
• Has sun spots, solar flares, and prominences

3
Mercury

• Terrestrial planet with a solid rocky surface
• Covered with craters
• Extreme temperatures (from -170 ºC up to 467 ºC)
• Thin atmosphere so its temperatures vary by day
  and night
• Fastest planet to revolve around the Sun, thus
  named Mercury
• No moons

4
Venus

• Terrestrial planet with a solid, rocky surface
• Earths twin in size
• Extremely hot temperatures (470 ºC) due to thick
  atmospheric cloud cover and green house effect.
• Retrograde motion (it rotates clockwise)
• No moons

5
Earth

• Terrestrial planet with a solid, rocky surface
• Frozen caps at North South Poles
• Capable of supporting life due to C, 70 water,
  and protective atmosphere
• Seasons due to axis tilt
• 1 Moon Luna where we have landed multiple
  times and sent more than 70 spacecraft

6
Earths Moon Luna

• The moon acts like a mirror it reflects sunlight
  to Earth
• Phases of the moon occur as the moon revolves
  around Earth and reflects sunlight.
• Tides -- high tide and low tide -- are caused by
  the moons gravitational pull

7
Mars

• Terrestrial planet with a solid, rocky surface
• Red surface due to Fe
• Enormous active volcanoes and dust storms
• Thin atmosphere
• Frozen polar caps like Earth
• Liquid water once?
• 2 Moons Phobos and Deimos

8
Asteroids

• Made of rock, minerals, and rare elements
• More than 100,000 orbit in the Asteroid Belt
  between Mars and Jupiter
• Could collide with Earth, but probably wont
• One asteroid named Ceres is a dwarf planet
• Moons a few asteroids have moons

9
Meteors or Shooting Stars

• Pieces of rock that are falling toward Earth are
  meteors
• They glow brightly as they are burning up due to
  fluid friction
• Called meteoroids if they are far away,
  meteors if they have a bright tail, and
  meteorites once they hit Earth

10
Jupiter

• The largest gas giant with no solid surface
• Faint rings
• Made of elements H and He with a hot, solid
  core of Fe -- almost a star!
• Red Spot is a massive storm
• 62 Moons the four largest are named Io, Europa,
  Ganymede, Callisto, but there are more

11
Saturn

• Second largest gas giant without a solid surface
• Famous for bright, icy rings that we can see from
  Earth with a telescope. The rings have large
  divisions.
• Mostly made of elements H and He
• Less dense than water!
• 60 Moons Titan and Pheobe and more, some orbit
  in the gaps of the rings

12
Uranus

• Gas giant without a solid surface
• Made of elements (H) and (He) and water, ammonia
  and methane
• Bluish reflection due to methan (CH4) gas
• Faint rings, but the brightest clouds
• Axis is turned sideways so it has wild seasons
• Retrograde motion
• 27 Moons Ariel and more

13
Neptune

• Gas giant without a solid surface
• Bluish reflection due to methane (CH4) gas but
  more vivid than Uranus
• Six faint rings
• Farthest planet from the Sun, usually
• 13 Moons Triton is the largest and 12 more

14
Dwarf Planets

• Pluto has a solid, icy surface, three moons,
  and it orbits in a tilted plane. Charon is one
  of 3 moons of Pluto.
• Makemake is ¾ the size of Pluto and takes 310
  years to orbit the sun.
• Eris is larger than Pluto, but farther away
• More dwarf planets are expected to be named or
  discovered

15
Comets

• Made of rock, ice and dust
• Comets consist of a head, coma, and two tails
  that point away from the Sun
• Short-period comets come from the Kuiper Belt
  and orbit the Sun every 200 years or less
• Long-period comets come from the Oort Cloud and
  take longer to orbit the Sun