Transcript solar_system

Earth Science
An overview of the
Solar System
The Sun
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The sun is the
biggest, brightest, and
hottest object in the
solar system.
The sun is an
ordinary star.
The sun is made of
about 70% hydrogen
and 28% helium.
Mercury
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Mercury is solid and is
covered with craters.
Mercury has almost no
atmosphere.
Mercury is just a little
bigger than the moon.
Mercury is heavy and
dense.
We can see it from Earth
often called the “morning
star.”
Venus
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Venus is the sixth largest
planet. It’s about threefourths the size of earth.
The surface is rocky and
very hot. The atmosphere
completely hides the
surface and traps the
heat.
Rotates in the opposite
direction of Earth.
Very toxic.
One day is equal to 243
Earth days.
Earth
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Earth is the fifth largest planet and the third from
the sun.
Liquid covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface.
The Earth has one moon.
Moon
Mars
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Mars is the fourth planet from the
sun.
Mars has a thin atmosphere that
contains mostly carbon dioxide.
Mars has two small moons.
Mars has seasons similar to ours.
The climate changes widely
between seasons.
There are ice caps on both poles.
A year on Mars takes as long as
two Earth years.
A day on Mars lasts only thirty
minutes longer than a day on
Earth
Moons of Mars
Phobos
Deimos
Jupiter
Jupiter’s Red Spot
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The Great Red Spot, a
huge storm of swirling
gas that has lasted for
hundreds of years.
Jupiter does not have a
solid surface. The planet
is a ball of liquid
surrounded by gas.
It takes Jupiter almost 12
years to complete its orbit
around the Sun.
Moons of Jupiter
Jupiter has four large Galilean moons,
twelve smaller named moons and twentythree more recently discovered but not
named moons.
We’ll take a look at the four large Galilean
moons which were first observed by
Galileo in 1610.
Io
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Io is the fifth moon of
Jupiter. It’s the third
largest of Jupiter’s
moons.
Io has hundreds of
volcanic calderas.
Some of the volcanoes
are active.
Europa
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Europa is the sixth of
Jupiter’s moons and is
the fourth largest.
It is slightly smaller than
the Earth’s moon.
The surface strongly
resembles images of sea
ice on Earth. There may
be a liquid water sea
under the crust.
Europa is one of the five
known moons in the solar
system to have an
atmosphere.
Ganymede
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Ganymede is the
seventh and largest of
Jupiter’s known
satellites.
Ganymede has
extensive cratering
and an icy crust.
Callisto
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Callisto is the eighth of Jupiter’s known satellites
and the second largest.
Callisto has the oldest, most cratered surface of
any body yet observed in the solar system.
Saturn
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Saturn is the second largest planet and the sixth
from the sun.
Saturn is made of materials that are lighter than
water. If you could fit Saturn in a lake, it would
float!
Rings of Saturn
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Saturn’s rings are not
solid; they are
composed of small
countless particles.
The rings are very
thin. Though they’re
250,000km or more in
diameter, they’re less
than one kilometer
thick.
Uranus
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Uranus is the third
largest planet and the
seventh from the sun.
Uranus is one of the
giant gas planets.
Uranus is blue-green
because of the
methane in its
atmosphere.
Neptune
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Neptune is the fourth
largest planet and the
eight from the sun.
Because of the orbits,
from 1979 to 1999,
Neptune was the
ninth planet.
Like Uranus, the
methane gives
Neptune its color.
Pluto
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Pluto is the smallest
planet and usually the
farthest from the sun.
Pluto is the only
planet that has not
been visited by a
spacecraft.
Categorized as a
dwarf planet.