Transcript THE SOLAR SYSTEM

By Jakob
Shaw
The Solar System contains the sun, eight planets and
their moons, dwarf planets and other small objects such
as asteroids, comets and meteorites.
The Sun is the centre of the Solar System and
everything else orbits around it.
The four inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars)
are made up of balls of rock and metal.
The outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune)
are giant balls of gas and liquid.
The astro belt keeps the
inner and outer planets apart.
The sun is a star and makes 99% of the Solar Systems
mass. It is made up of hydrogen gas.
At its core it continually explodes (bigger than a nuclear
bomb) creating pure heat and light.
The temperature at the core
is 15 million*C and 6 000*C
on the surface.
The sun is about 5 billion
years old and has enough
energy to shine for another
5 billion years.
Planet
Materials
Atmosphere
Temperature
Distance
from sun
Time to orbit
diameter
(In Earth years)
Number
of
moons
Mercury
Rock and
metal
Argon, neon
and helium
-180*C to
430*C
58 million
km
88 days
O
4 874km
Venus
Rock and
metal
Very thick
carbon dioxide
460*C
108 million
km
224 days and
17 hours
O
12 091km
Earth
Rock and
metal
Nitrogen and
oxygen
-88*C to
58*C
150 million
km
365 days
and 6 hours
1
12 745km
Mars
Rock and
metal
Thin carbon
dioxide
-125*C to
24*C
225 million
km
687 days and
23 hours
2
6 787km
Jupiter
Gas and
liquid
Hydrogen
and helium
-110*C
772 million
km
11 years and
11 months
63
142 868km
Saturn
Gas and
liquid
Hydrogen
and helium
-140*C
1 432
million km
29 years and 5
months
56
120 438km
Uranus
Gas and
liquid
Hydrogen,
helium and
methane
-215*C
2 880
million km
84 years
27
51 076km
Neptune
Gas and
liquid
Hydrogen,
helium and
methane
-195*C
4 505
million km
164 years
13
49 488km

Mercury: Origin of name,
‘Messenger of the Roman
Gods’.
It has little atmosphere so its
surface is covered with craters
because asteroids collide with
it.
It has the widest range of
temperature than any other
planet (-180*C to 430*C).

Venus: Origin of name,
‘Roman Goddess of love and
beauty’.
It has the longest day of any
planet, 243 earth days.
The sun rises in the west
and sets in the east
(opposite to other planets in
the solar system).


Earth: Origin of name, a
Saxon word for ground.
It is the only planet in the
Solar system were life has
been found.
Man made structures such
as the great wall of China
and pyramids can be spotted
while orbiting the earth.
Mars: Origin of name after the
Roman God of war and also known
as the ‘red planet’ because of the
rusty rock and red sand.
Can have Tornadoes as large as
8km high.
It is the planet most like Earth it’s
rocky with an iron core,
atmosphere, weather, seasons and
polar icecaps.
ice cap

Jupiter: Origin of name,
‘King of Roman Gods’.
It is the largest planet in our
solar system and could contain
all of the planets combined.
The red spot on Jupiter is a
Hurricane twice as big as
Earth and has been raging for
several centuries.
red
spot

Saturn: Origin of name,
‘Roman God of agriculture’. Also
known as ‘lord of the rings’.
It has the most spectacular ring
system. The rings consist of
billions of chunks of ice.
As it is mostly made of light
hydrogen gas it could float in
water and you would not be able
to land on it.


Uranus: Origin of name,
‘Greek God of the sky’.
It is the only planet that spins
on it’s side and rolls around its
orbit.
It also has rings but can only
be seen when they block the
light of other stars beyond the
solar system.
Neptune: Origin of name,
‘Roman God of the sea’.
It has the fastest winds in
the solar system at over
2000km a hour.
Its vivid blue colour is a
mystery.

Dwarf Planets: Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet because of
its small size and distant location.
It also overlaps Neptune's orbit because it orbits around the sun in a
long elliptical (oval shape) manner rather than a circular one like the
other planets.
Pluto: Pluto is named after the Roman God of the underworld. It has
one large moon called Charon and two very small moons Nix and
Hydra.
Pluto is found in the Kuiper belt
with other Dwarf planets such as
2003EL61, Eris and Sedna.
The first probe is due to visit Pluto
in July 2015 so more will be known
then.
Bond, Peter. Guide to space, Great Britain;
Dorling Kindersley Books,1999.
McRae, Anne. The Solar System. Italy; McRae
books Srl. 2001.
www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/
Stevens, Gareth. The Solar System. U.S.A;
Gareth Stevens publishing.2004.
Dyer, Alan. Space. Australia. Five mile press Pty
Ltd.2007.