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Explore the Solar System, from the Sun's heat to Pluto's distance; learn about planets like Jupiter and Saturn, their moons, and unique characteristics.
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Earth Science An overview of the Solar System
The Sun • The sun is the biggest, brightest, and hottest object in the solar system. • The sun is an ordinary star. • The sun is made of about 70% hydrogen and 28% helium.
Mercury • Mercury is solid and is covered with craters. • Mercury has almost no atmosphere. • Mercury is the eighth largest planet.
Venus • Venus is the sixth largest planet. It’s about three-fourths the size of earth. • The surface is rocky and very hot. The atmosphere completely hides the surface and traps the heat.
Earth • Earth is the fifth largest planet and the third from the sun. • Liquid covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface. • The Earth has one moon.
Mars • Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. • Mars has a thin atmosphere that contains mostly carbon dioxide. • Mars has two small moons.
Moons of Mars Phobos Deimos
Jupiter’s Red Spot • The Great Red Spot, a huge storm of swirling gas that has lasted for hundreds of years. • Jupiter does not have a solid surface. The planet is a ball of liquid surrounded by gas.
Moons of Jupiter Jupiter has four large Galilean moons, twelve smaller named moons and twenty-three more recently discovered but not named moons. We’ll take a look at the four large Galilean moons which were first observed by Galileo in 1610.
Io • Io is the fifth moon of Jupiter. It’s the third largest of Jupiter’s moons. • Io has hundreds of volcanic calderas. Some of the volcanoes are active.
Europa • Europa is the sixth of Jupiter’s moons and is the fourth largest. • It is slightly smaller than the Earth’s moon. • The surface strongly resembles images of sea ice on Earth. There may be a liquid water sea under the crust. • Europa is one of the five known moons in the solar system to have an atmosphere.
Ganymede • Ganymede is the seventh and largest of Jupiter’s known satellites. • Ganymede has extensive cratering and an icy crust.
Callisto • Callisto is the eighth of Jupiter’s known satellites and the second largest. • Callisto has the oldest, most cratered surface of any body yet observed in the solar system.
Saturn • Saturn is the second largest planet and the sixth from the sun. • Saturn is made of materials that are lighter than water. If you could fit Saturn in a lake, it would float!
Rings of Saturn • Saturn’s rings are not solid; they are composed of small countless particles. • The rings are very thin. Though they’re 250,000km or more in diameter, they’re less than one kilometer thick.
Uranus • Uranus is the third largest planet and the seventh from the sun. • Uranus is one of the giant gas planets. • Uranus is blue-green because of the methane in its atmosphere.
Neptune • Neptune is the fourth largest planet and the eight from the sun. • Because of the orbits, from 1979 to 1999, Neptune was the ninth planet. • Like Uranus, the methane gives Neptune its color.
Pluto • Pluto is the smallest planet and usually the farthest from the sun. • Pluto is the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft.