The Solar System

1. The Solar System By: Seemani Dash

2. What is the Solar System? Our focus question:

3. Vocabulary for this Chapter • star: a huge ball of very hot, burning gas that gives off energy • ellipse: a shape like an oval • satellite: an object that orbits another object in space

4. What is our Solar System Made of? • The Sun • Eight planets • Dwarf planets • Moons • Asteroids • Comets

5. What is the Sun? • An average sized star made mostly of hydrogen and helium • The central and largest body in our solar system • Takes up almost 99% of the mass in our solar system • Very hot with no solid surfaces • Has three layers: the photosphere, the chromosphere, and the corona • Has three special things: sunspots, prominences, and solar flares

6. Sunspots, Prominences, and Solar Flares

7. Planets • a large, round object that revolves around a star • cooler and smaller than stars • shine because the light of the star reflects off the planet’s surface • stay in their elliptical orbit around the star because of gravity • eight known planets in solar system

8. What are the Inner Planets? • the four planets closest to the Sun • the four smallest planets

9. Mercury • 1st planet from the Sun • has no moons • has thousands of craters • almost no atmosphere • very hot at day • freezing cold at night

10. Venus • 2nd planet from the Sun • about the same size as Earth • rotates in the opposite direction than the other planets • has an atmosphere of thick, poisonous, and swirling clouds • Sun reflects off clouds, so the planet is one of the brightest objects in the sky

11. Earth • 3rd planet from the Sun • only planet with liquid water • atmosphere supports life • largest rocky planet in the solar system • one moon that has many craters

12. Mars • 4th planet from the Sun • has two deeply cratered moons • sometimes called the “Red Planet” because of soil that contains iron oxide • dust storms occur • has polar ice caps • many volcanoes • many probes landed on this planet

13. What are the Outer Planets? • the four planets farthest from the Sun • the four largest planets The “Gas Giants”, and the planets with rings

14. Jupiter • 5th planet from the Sun • largest planet in the solar system • atmosphere made mostly of hydrogen and helium • at least 63 moons • has a large storm called the great red spot

15. Saturn • 6th planet from the Sun • has a low mass • has visible rings made of ice, dust, and rock • at least 47 moons

16. Uranus • 7th planet from the Sun • atmosphere consists of hydrogen, helium, and methane • methane can become a liquid and makes a cloud that gives the planet a bluish color • at least 27 moons • rotates on its side

17. Neptune • 8th planet in the solar system • smallest of the gas giants • has one huge storm called the “Great Dark Spot” • at least 13 moons

18. Asteroids • rocky object up to hundreds of kilometers long • sometimes called minor planets • most are found in between Mars and Jupiter, in the asteroid belt • some asteroids have smaller asteroids orbiting the bigger ones This is Eros. This is Ida Examples

19. Comets • frozen mass of different kinds of ice and dust • much smaller than planets • have two tails, outward moving particles from the Sun always push tails in a direction away from the Sun This is a close look at a comet.

20. Dwarf Planets • it is a small, ball shaped or round object that revolves around the Sun • Pluto, Eris, and Ceres are all dwarf planets • Pluto orbits the Sun in a tilted ellipse Pluto Eris Ceres

21. References • 5th grade science book

22. I hope this helped you!