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PLANETS. NOTES. Mercury. 1 st 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:
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PLANETS NOTES
Mercury • 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 • 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 • 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 • 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 mooncollided with somethingand 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=h3ppbbYXMxE&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 • 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.