Transcript File inner planets

Space… The Final
Frontier
By: Mrs. Cosnowski
Inner Planets
There are 4 inner planets
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
All 4 of these planets are called terrestrial
planets because the surface of the planet is
similar to Earth.
To learn the planets in order say the sentence:
My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us
Nachos.
The Sun
The Sun is the center of our Solar System.
Solar means sun which is why we call it a Solar System.
The Sun makes energy by converting hydrogen (H2) gas into helium (He) gas.
The Sun is about 4.5 billion years old, and it will live for about 4.5 billion more
years.
The planets in order of size from largest to smallest
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury
1,000,000 Earths will fit into the Sun!!!
Mercury
•It is the closest planet to the
sun.
•Now that Pluto is a Dwarf
Planet, Mercury is the smallest
planet and is about 1/3 the size
of Earth.
•It takes Mercury 88 days to
orbit the sun.
•Mercury does not have an
atmosphere.
•It has been discovered that
Mercury has ice at its north
pole that does not melt
because of being shaded by
craters.
Venus
•Venus has an atmosphere
with thick clouds made from
a poisonous gas called
sulfuric acid.
•This atmosphere traps the
heat from the sun and makes
Venus the hottest planet.
•Venus is sometimes called
our “sister planet” because
it’s similar to Earth in size.
•Venus rotates in a clockwise
direction, the opposite of
almost everything else in the
Solar System.
Earth
•Earth is the 3rd planet from
the sun.
•Earth has an atmosphere
made primarily of oxygen (O2),
nitrogen (N2), and argon (Ar).
•It takes 365 ¼ days to
revolve around the sun. This is
known as one year.
•The Earth is tilted on its axis
by 23 ½ degrees.
•It takes the Earth 24 hours to
rotate one time. This is known
as one day.
70% of Earth is covered in
water.
Moon
•The moon is about as old as the Sun
making it about 4.5 billion years old.
•It takes about 27 ¼ days to revolve one
time around Earth, and to rotate on its
axis one time. That means its day is the
same length as its “year”.
•The moon is considered a natural
satellite of Earth. Earth and all the
planets are satellites of the Sun.
•The moon is about 1/6 the size of Earth
and has the surface area of roughly Africa.
•There is no atmosphere surrounding the
moon.
•The surface of the moon is mainly made
up of a rocky composition.
•Humans first landed on the moon on
July 20, 1969. The last time we were there
was in December 1972.
•In November 2009 scientists found that
there is water on the moon. A spacecraft
named Clementine landed and recorded
data.
A lunar eclipse happens when
the moon passes through
Earth’s Shadow. It causes the
moon to turn dark reddish in
color.
Mars
•Mars has a thin atmosphere made
mainly of carbon dioxide (CO2) and
methane (CH4)gas.
•The Polar icecaps on Mars have
enough ice to cover the surface of
the planet about 20 feet deep.
Now the question becomes is there
liquid water?
•It takes Mars 24 hours and 37
minutes to rotate one time.
•Mars has at least 3 moons.
•Mars is about ½ the size of Earth
making it difficult for Mars to hold
on to an atmosphere.
•It takes 686 days to make one
revolution.
Mars has the Solar System’s
largest volcano, Olympus Mons.
Asteroid Belt
•After Mars there is a large gap
before the next planet, Jupiter. In
this gap is something called The
Asteroid Belt.
•The Asteroid Belt is made up of two
bands, the inner band and outer
band.
•Most of the asteroids in the inner
band are made of metal.
•Most of the asteroids in the outer
band are rocky asteroids and are rich
in carbon.
•One theory is that these asteroids
never came together to form a planet
because of Jupiter’s strong
gravitational pull.
•26 large asteroids have been found,
but there are millions of smaller ones.
Ceres is one of 5 dwarf planets in the
Solar System and is located in the
Asteroid Belt. The other 4 are Eris,
Pluto, Makemake and Haumea.
The End