Transcript notes-PLANETS-powerpoint_made-by-me_contains-ALL

PLANETS
NOTES
Mercury
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1st planet from the Sun
About 1/3 the size of Earth
No moons
No rings
It is rocky
Unlike Earth, it has very little atmosphere…but
has a little oxygen and sodium.
• Could it support life? (let’s discuss)
Mercury continued
• Other cool facts:
– A very slow spin, so in two of Mercury’s years,
only 3 Mercury days have passed.
– Looks like our moon (lots of craters)
Venus
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2nd planet from the Sun
VERY similar in size to Earth
No moons.
No rings.
It is rocky.
It’s atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and
nitrogen. The high carbon dioxide means it has a
huge greenhouse effect (it is very hot!)
• Could it support life? (let’s discuss it)
Venus continued
• The temperatures on Venus are hot enough to
melt metal.
• There are clouds of
sulfuric acid (which
makes acid rain).
• It has retrograde motion
(meaning the Sun rises
in the west instead
of the east, like us)
Earth
• 3rd planet
• We ARE Earth. 
• 1 moon, called the Moon. (sometimes called
Luna)
• No rings.
• Rocky.
• 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% other.
• Yes, it can support life—has water and oxygen.
• No other cool facts. (we already know lots)
Mars
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4th planet from the sun.
A bit smaller than Earth.
Two moons: Phobos and Deimos
No rings.
Rocky—actually it’s quite red, from the
iron oxide in the soil (also known as RUST!)
• 95% carbon dioxide and 2.7% nitrogen, but does
not have the strong greenhouse effect that Venus
does.
• Could it support life? (let’s discuss)
Mars cont.
• Polar ice caps are made of
carbon dioxide ice (dry ice)
• Water ice lies beneath the surface, we think.
• Has dried up lake and river beds, so we think it
had liquid water at some point. (must have
been warmer, too!)
• Average temperature is -81 degrees F.
• Dust storms! Very windy!
Jupiter
• 5th planet from the Sun
• Diameter is 11 times as big as Earth, and is only
10 times smaller than the Sun. (largest planet!)
• Lots of Moons—63 we think. The 4 main moons
are Io, Europa, Ganymeade and Callisto.
• Yes, it has a ring. It is nearly invisible.
• It is considered a Gas Giant. (gaseous)
• 90% Hydrogen, and 10% Helium.
• Could it support life? (let’s discuss)
Jupiter, cont.
• The Great Red Spot is a storm similar
to a hurricane.
• It spins in a little less
than 10 hours.
(has a 10-hr day—which is
the fastest spinning planet!)
Saturn
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6th planet.
2nd largest planet in the solar system.
Has 62 moons—we think! The largest is Titan.
YES-IT HAS RINGS! 
Gaseous…one of the gas giants!
96% Hydrogen and 3% Helium.
Could it support life? (Let’s discuss)
Saturn cont.
• Rings are made up of rocks, dust & ice.
• Has 7 major rings.
• Scientists think that the
rings are from when a moon
collided with something
and was broken.
• If Saturn were a lot smaller,
and you put it in a glass of
water…it would float.
(it has a very low density) 
Uranus
• 7th planet from the Sun.
• 4 times as large as Earth.
• We think it has 27 moons. Titania and Oberon
are the major moons.
• Yes it has a ring (that’s hard to see).
• It is gaseous (one of the Gas Giants)
• 83% Hydrogen, 15% Helium, 2% Methane
(methane gives it the blue color)
• Could it support life? (let’s discuss)
Uranus
• Pronounced Your-In-Us. Not Your-Anus. 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ppbbYX
MxE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
• Was discovered accidentally.
• The north pole is actually
tipped clear over on
its side.
• The average temp is
around -355 degrees F.
Neptune
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8th planet from the Sun.
About 4 times as large as Earth.
Moons-13, we think. The major one is Triton.
Yes, it has 6 rings.
It is gaseous (it’s a Gas Giant).
80% Hydrogen, 19% Helium, 1.5% methane.
(planet is also blue due to methane)
• Could it support life? (discuss)
Neptune cont.
• Predicted before it was discovered. We
noticed Uranus had a slight variation in it’s
orbit, so we thought there must be another
planet out there affecting it.
• Had a Great Dark Spot
(like Jupiter’s Great Red Spot)
that was a storm, but it
disappeared in 1994.