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The Solar System

The Solar System. Terrestrial Planets. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars Relatively small Composed of rock Have few or no moons. Mercury. Small, rocky planet Almost no atmosphere One day = 58.65 Earth days , and almost an entire Mercurian year (88 days)

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The Solar System

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  1. The Solar System

  2. Terrestrial Planets • Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars • Relatively small • Composed of rock • Have few orno moons

  3. Mercury • Small, rocky planet • Almost no atmosphere • One day = 58.65 Earth days, and almost an entire Mercurian year (88 days) • Heavily cratered surface similar to that of our Moon • Fastest planet in our Solar System • No moon

  4. Mercury was named after Mercury, the mythical Roman winged messenger because of its speed

  5. Mercury is the second-smallest planet in our Solar System, it is only slightly larger than Earth’s Moon

  6. There are no seasons on Mercury as Mercury’s axis has no tilt

  7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LajFhNUlXqA

  8. Venus • The hottest planet in the Solar System • Venus is covered with fast-moving sulfuric acid clouds which trap heat from the sun. The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide • Venus rotates very slowly, so a day there takes 243 Earth days • Venus has no moons

  9. Venus is named for the Roman goddess of love

  10. Venus has a retrograde orbit, which means that it rotates in the opposite direction of Earth and most of the other planets • From Venus, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the East (opposite of Earth) • No one knows why Venus has this unusual rotation

  11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqFVxWfVtoo • Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system • It has a very thick atmosphere, and its cloud cover traps the heat of the Sun giving Venus temperatures of 480ºC

  12. Earth

  13. Mars • Mars is known as “the red planet” • The surface of Mars is dry, rocky, and mostly covered with iron-rich dust • The north and south poles are covered by ice caps composed of frozen carbon dioxide and water • One day on Mars takes 1.03 Earth days, or 24.6 hours • One year on Mars takes 687 Earth days • Mars has a very thin atmosphere that lacks oxygen

  14. Mars is named for the Roman god of war

  15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwzGmgMu_lc

  16. Phobos and Deimos • Mars has two tiny moons that were probably former asteroids that were pulled into Mars’ orbit • Phobos (“fear”) is 22.2 km across and Deimos (“terror”) is only 12.6 km across • Both moons are heavily cratered

  17. Phobus

  18. Deimos

  19. Jovian Planets • Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune • Huge and gaseous • These planets all have rings • These planets all have many moons

  20. Jupiter • The largest planet in the Solar System; it is so big that all of the other planets in the Solar System could fit inside of it • Composed mostly of gas • Radiates twice as much heat as it absorbs from the Sun • One day on Jupiter takes only 9.8 Earth hours, but it takes 11.86 Earth years for Jupiter to orbit the Sun once

  21. Jupiter was named after the main Roman god, Jupiter

  22. Jupiter’s Red Spot • The Great Red spot on Jupiter is a storm that has been raging for centuries • It is about 28,000 km long and 14,000 km wide – three Earths could fit inside it • It is the biggest storm in the Solar System • Part of the reason that the storm never goes away is that it never passes over land – on Earth hurricanes lose much of their force as they move over the land

  23. Jupiter does have rings, but they are very faint • The rings are composed of tiny rock fragments and dust

  24. Jupiter has four main moons, and dozens of smaller ones – there are 60 known moons so far

  25. Io • Io is large, rocky and volcanically active • It’s volcanoes spew molten sulfur – making the planet very colourful • Io is very close in size to our Moon

  26. Europa • Europa is large, dense and icy • Frozen sulfuric acid has been found on its surface • Europa’s diameter is 3,138 km smaller than our Moon’s diameter

  27. Ganymede • Ganymede is Jupiter’s largest moon and it is scarred with many craters • Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System – it is even larger than Mercury and Pluto

  28. Callisto • Callisto is a large, icy, dark-coloured outer moon • It is roughly the size of Mercury • Callisto has the largest known impact crater in the Solar System, Valhalla

  29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s56pxa9lpvo

  30. Saturn • Saturn’s beautiful rings are made mostly of ice chunks and range in size from the size of a fingernail to the size of a car • Each day on Saturn takes 10.2 Earth hours, while a year on Saturn takes 29.46 Earth years • The average temperature on Saturn is -185ºC

  31. Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture

  32. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s56pxa9lpvo

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