Transcript Unit 4
WARM UP • Can you list the planets in order? Our Solar System Space Distances • To measure distances in space, we use the astronomical unit (AU). • 1 AU = 150 million kilometers • 1 AU = the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. 1 AU Solar System Tour • Going on a tour through our solar system, we’ll visit 9 planets and some other things too! Comets • Comets are made up of dust and frozen gases such as ice. • Sometimes, a comet swings too close to the sun. The suns radiation vaporizes some of the material, spurting gas and dust…this looks like a tail. Mercury • Mercury is 0.4 AU from the Sun. • Like our moon, it’s surface is marked with craters from meteorite impacts. • 88 days to orbit the Sun (1) Venus • Venus is 0.7 AU from the Sun. • It is surrounded by thick clouds. • The clouds create an extreme greenhouse making it the hotest planet at 470 *C (880*F) • 225 days to orbit the Sun Earth • Earth is 150 million km from the Sun (1 AU). • Earth is the only planet in the solar system with life! • Here, surface temperatures allow H2O to exist as solid, liquid and gas. • 365 days to orbit the Sun Mars • Mars is the 1.5 AU from the Sun. • It has seasons and polar ice caps. • Evidence that there was once liquid water on Mars. • Mars gets its red color from iron oxide • 687 days to orbit the Sun Asteroid Belt • The asteroid belt is a band of rocks that lies between the outer planets (the gas giants) and inner planets (the terrestrial planets). – It lies between Mars and Jupiter Jupiter • Jupiter is 5.2 AU from the Sun. • It is the largest planet in the solar system with many moons. • It has a Great Red Spot; a giant storm that’s larger than Pluto. • 12 years to orbit the Sun Great Red Spot Saturn • Saturn is 9.5 AU from the Sun. • It is large and has a ring system. • The rings are made up of millions of particles of dust, ice, and rock. • 29.5 years to orbit the Sun Uranus • Uranus is 19.2 AU from the Sun. • It has a ring system and many moons (27 that we know of). • Uranus spins horizontal on it’s plane of orbit. (like it is laying down) • 84 years to orbit the Sun Neptune • Neptune is 30.6 AU from the Sun. • Its atmosphere is made of methane gas which give s the planet a bluegreen color. • Sometimes, Neptune’s orbit crosses with Pluto’s and therefore switches places with Pluto. • 165 years to orbit the Sun Pluto • Pluto is usually 39.5 AU from the Sun. • It is a small, rocky “dwarf planet” with a frozen crust. • Pluto is smaller than the Moon. • 248 years to orbit the Sun