Transcript The Planets

The Planets
REESE
ALL PICTURES AND INFORMATION CAME FROM:
NASA WEBSITE
AND
HTTP://WWW.LPI.USRA.EDU/EDUCATION/EXPLORE/SOLAR_SYS
TEM/BACKGROUND/
MERCURY
MERCURY
Mercury is about one-third the size of Earth.
It is the closest to our Sun, orbiting it in just 88 days. Because it is so
close to the Sun, its surface temperatures are extreme, ranging from
427°C (800°F) on the sunward side to –183°C (–297°F) on the side
facing away from the Sun.
 Mercury has no atmosphere and no surface water; the high
temperatures prevent these from forming. EXCEPT-Frozen water was
found at the poles!!!!
 The surface of Mercury looks like our Moon. It is covered by craters,
indicating its long history of bombardment by asteroids and other
impactors. Other than impact events, Mercury's surface has not been
modified in billions of years; Mercury is not geologically active. While
there is evidence of ancient lava flows, Mercury has no active
volcanoes. Because it lacks an atmosphere and flowing water it has no
active weathering processes.
 Its core is very large (size of moon) and 75% is Nickel.
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VENUS
VENUS
 Venus is almost the size of Earth.
 Its rotation is very slow. Venus turns once on its axis every
243 Earth days and it spins backward relative to the other
planets. The time it takes to rotate is very close to the time
it takes to orbit the Sun.
 Surface temperatures on Venus range from 377°C to 487°C
(710° to 908°F) — even hotter than Mercury! The reason
that Venus is hotter, even though it is farther from the Sun,
is that it has a thick atmosphere composed of carbon
dioxide and traces of water vapor and sulfuric acid. This
atmosphere — about 90 times the pressure of Earth's
atmosphere — creates an intense greenhouse effect; heat is
trapped in the atmosphere.
 Venus has many volcanoes, some of which may still be
active.
Earth
EARTH
 Earth is a dynamic planet. It also is the only planet we know
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that has life.
It spins on its axis once a day and orbits the Sun once a year
(other planet's years and days often are presented relative to
Earth's).
The rotation axis is tilted (23 ◦), giving Earth its seasons. Surface
temperatures range from –73° to 48°C (–100° to 120°F) and
liquid water is abundant.
Earth's atmosphere traps energy from sunlight, creating a
greenhouse effect that warms the surface. It also moderates the
climate and protects the surface from damaging components of
solar radiation. Gases: water vapor, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon
dioxide.
Earth has water, rock, and tectonic cycles, which are important
for renewing nutrients.
It has one natural satellite — the Moon.
MARS
MARS
Mars is about half the size of Earth.
Its period of rotation is very close to Earth's, but it takes about two
Earth years to orbit the Sun. Mars is tilted on its axis (25 ◦), so it
experiences seasons.
Surface temperatures are cold — –83° to –33°C (–117° to –27°F) — and
the planet is very dry.
The atmosphere is thin and composed mostly of carbon dioxide. There
is no liquid water present at the surface. There may be frozen water in
the subsurface, and Mars has ice caps in its polar regions. The ice is a
combination of carbon dioxide and water ice. There is evidence that
Mars had flowing water and oceans at its surface during its early
history, perhaps until about three and a half billion years ago.
 Mars has the tallest volcano (Olympus Mons) in our solar system — it is
about 22 kilometers tall (almost 14 miles high). Some of the volcanoes
on Mars have been recently active.
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Mars has two small moons - Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror)
Mars Rover
ASTEROID BELT
ASTEROID BELT
 The asteroid belt resides between the inner planets
and the outer planets. Actually, there are several
distinct bands within the belt.
 Asteroids are rocky remnants from our early
solar system.
 They range in size from a 1000 kilometers (620
miles) across to the size of sand grains.
JUPITER
JUPITER
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Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system; about 1000 Earths
could fit inside a hollow Jupiter.
It contains more mass than all the other planets combined.
Jupiter spins on its axis once every 10 hours and orbits the Sun once
every 12 years.
It is about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium with some methane, water,
and ammonia.
Temperatures reach –200°C (–325°F) at the top of the atmosphere.
The atmosphere is tumultuous, divided into distinct bands. Wind
speeds are high, up to 400 kilometers per hour (250 miles per hour)
and lightening is frequent.
The Giant Red Spot is a massive storm system larger than the diameter
of Earth that has been raging for at least 400 years.
Jupiter has at least 63 moons. Ganymede, the largest of Jupiter's
moons, is larger than the planet Mercury.
Jupiter’s Four Main Moons
The larger two, Callisto and Ganymede, are roughly the size of
the planet Mercury.
The smallest, Io and Europa, are approximately the size of
Earth's Moon.
IO
Average surface
temperature of
–150 C
Thin, patchy
atmosphere of
sulfur compounds
No known liquid
water
Highly volcanic
Europa
Europa is covered
by a water-ice shell
no more than 150
kilometers thick
Average surface
temperature –145C
No atmosphere
Ganymede
Largest moon in
ALL of Solar System;
bigger than Mercury,
with bright (younger)
patches and dark
(older) patches
Older regions may be
4 billion years old
Ice crust
May have salty ocean
beneath ice crust
Callisto
Mostly made of ice
and rock, without a
real core.
Strong new
evidence of salty
ocean underneath
an ice crust.
SATURN
SATURN
 Saturn is the second-largest planet.
 Its day is 11 hours long and its orbit around the Sun takes
about 30 years.
 Its composition and atmosphere are similar to Jupiter's.
Its temperatures range from -191° C to >-130° C
 Winds reach 1770 kilometers per hour (1100 miles an
hour). Saturn is best known for its beautiful rings. The
ring system stretches to a diameter of 250,000 kilometers
(155,000 miles) but is only 1 kilometer thick (a little over
half a mile).
 Saturn has 53 moons and counting.
Titan
Titan is the biggest of
the 53 known moons.
The temperature at
Titan's surface is about
-289 degrees
Fahrenheit (-178
degrees Celsius).
Titan is of great interest
to scientists because it
is the only moon in the
solar system known to
have clouds and a
mysterious, thick,
planet-like atmosphere.
Titan's atmospheric
pressure is about 60
percent greater than the
Earth‘s-- (pressure
found at the bottom of a
swimming pool.)
URANUS
URANUS
 Uranus was the first planet discovered by telescope. Like
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the other gas giants, its atmosphere is mostly hydrogen
and helium.
It has a little methane in its atmosphere, which absorbs red
light, giving Uranus its blue-green color. It has He and H
too. Its temperature ranges from -214° C to >-205° C
The interior of Uranus contains more rock and ice than
Jupiter and Saturn.
It rotates on its axis once every 17 hours and orbits the Sun
once every 84 years.
Unlike the other planets, Uranus' axis is tilted so that the
planet rotates on its side. Given Uranus' long period of
orbit, this translates into a 20-year winter or summer!
Uranus has 27 known satellites and 11 rings.
NEPTUNE
NEPTUNE
 Neptune is the most distant gas giant planet.
Neptune spins on its axis once every 16 hours, and
an orbit around the Sun takes 165 years.
 Like Uranus, it has methane in its atmosphere,
which gives it its blue hue but it has He and H too.
Its temperature ranges from -223° C to >-220° C.
 Neptune has the fastest winds in the solar system
(2000 kilometers or 1250 miles per hour), and some
massive storm systems that move within its
atmosphere.
 It has 13 known moons and 4 rings.
PLUTO
 Pluto is dwarf planet in our solar system and
usually is the farthest planet from our Sun.
However, Pluto has a fairly odd orbit (highly
elliptical) and sometimes is located inside
Neptune's orbit.
 Pluto rotates on its axis once every 6 days, and its
journey around the Sun takes 240 Earth years.
 It is a small icy, rocky body, with a single moon,
Charon, that is half Pluto's size. Pluto may be a
large-sized member of the Kuiper belt.
Kuiper Belt
January 2006: Launch
July 2015 :Pluto
2016-2020: Kuiper Belt
Kuiper Belt
 The Kuiper belt is a disk-shaped region of small, icy
planetary bodies that extends beyond Neptune.
 These bodies are the "leftovers" from the formation of our
early solar system.
 Scientists believe that short-period comets, those with
orbits less than 200 years, such as Comet Halley, originate
in the Kuiper belt.
Planetary DATA
Planet
Diameter
(Km)
Distance
Rotation
from SUN (Earth
(million
Time)
km)
Revolutio
n
(Earth
Time)
Known
Moons
Mercury
4,878 (8th)
57.9
58.67 days
88 days
0
Venus
12,104 (6th)
108.1
243 days
224.7 days
0
Earth
12,756 (5th)
149.6
23.9 hrs
365.25 days
= 1 year
1
Mars
6,786 (7th)
227.9
24.6 hrs
1.88 years
2
Jupiter
142,984 (1st)
778.3
9.84 hrs
11.86 years
63
Saturn
120,536 (2nd)
1427.0
10.2 hrs
29.46 years
53
Uranus
51,108 (3rd)
2869.6
17.9 hrs
84.02 years
27
Neptune
49,538 (4th)
4496.6
19.1 hrs
164.8 years
13
Pluto
(Dwarf )
2,300
5900.0
6 days 9
hours
247.7 years
1
PLANET
DENSITY
Gravitational Acceleration
MERCURY
5.427 g/cm3.
0.38 (3.697 meters/sec2)
VENUS
5.243 g/cm3.
0.90 (8.8 m/s2 )
EARTH
5.52 g/cm3
1.00 (9.807 m/s2 )
MARS
3.94 g/cm3
0.38 (3.7 m/s2 )
JUPITER
1.33 g/cm3
2.64 (25.8 m/s2 )
SATURN
0.687 g/cm3
1.14 (11.1 m/s2 )
URANUS
1.27 g/cm3
0.92 (9.0 m/s2 )
NEPTUNE
1.638 g/cm3
1.15 (11.27 m/s2 )
.