Planets of the Solar System

Solar System

Notes​

​https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/

Our Solar System​

​

Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.

​The planetary system we call home is located in an outer spiral arm of the

Milky Way galaxy.

​Mercury

• Closest planet to the sun

• It takes 88 days ​to travel around the sun

• It ​takes 59 Earth days to rotate on its axis

• Rotates completely on its axis 3 times for every 2 times it orbits the sun

• Mercury has a central core, a rocky mantle, and a solid crust.​

• ​Mercury has no atmosphere causing extreme temperatures: 800 degrees F during the day and -180 degrees F at night.

• Small magnetic field, this interacts with the solar wind of the sun to create magnetic tornados​

​​

​* Terrestrial Planet

Venus ​

• ​2nd planet from the sun, closest to Earth

• Often considered the sister planet to Earth

• No Moon and No Magnetic field

• Rotates very slowly and backward (this is called retrograde rotation)

• Its day is longer than its year:

• Length of Day: 242 Earth Days Length of the year: 225 Earth Days.​

• Has a runaway greenhouse because its atmosphere is mostly Carbon Dioxide

• The hottest planet with sulfuric acid clouds

​

​

​ *Terrestrial Planet

• Only planet to have life or liquid water

• has active volcanoes

• strong magnetic field

• has one moon.​

​Earth

​ *Terrestrial Planet

​Mars

​* Terrestrial Planet

• Also called the red planet from the iron oxide (rust) on the surface​

• Mars is about half the size of Earth

• Its day is 24.6 hours long and its year ​is 687 earth days

• ​Has 2 moons: Phobos and Deimos

• Has the largest volcano called Olympus Mons

• A large canyon system called Valles Marineris is long enough to stretch from California to New York​

• Has a very thin turbulent atmosphere and erosional features

• No Magnetic field ​

​

​

​

Multiple Choice

What are the 4 terrestrial planets?

• Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

• Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

• Pluto and Ceres

• Comets, Meteoroids and Astroids

Multiple Choice

Which terrestrial planet is closest to the sun?

• Mercury

• Venus

• Earth

• Mars

Multiple Choice

Which terrestrial planet has retrograde rotation?

• Mercury

• Venus

• Earth

• Mars

Multiple Choice

Which planet is considered the red planet?

• Mercury

• Venus

• Earth

• Mars

Multiple Choice

Which planet has its day longer than its year?

• Mercury

• Venus

• Earth

• Mars

Multiple Choice

Which planet has a small magnetic field that interacts with the solar wind from the sun to create magnetic tornados?

• Mercury

• Venus

• Earth

• Mars

Multiple Choice

Which planet has the largest volcano called Olympus Mons?

• Mercury

• Venus

• Earth

• Mars

What’s the difference between a meteor, meteoroid, and meteorite?​

• Meteoroids are objects in space that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. Think of them as “space rocks."

• When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors.

• When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.

​Asteroids and the Asteroid Belt

• Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

• The current known asteroid count is: 1,113,527

• Most of this ancient space rubble can be found orbiting our Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt.

• The orbits of asteroids can be changed by Jupiter's massive gravity – and by occasional close encounters with Mars or other objects.

• Asteroids can be knocked out of the main belt, and hurl them into space in all directions across the orbits of the other planets.

​

​Types of Asteroids

3 Types of Astroids

• The C-type (chondrite) asteroids are most common. They probably consist of clay and silicate rocks, and are dark in appearance. They are among the most ancient objects in the solar system.

• The S-types ("stony") are made up of silicate materials and nickel-iron. These reflect light.

• The M-types are metallic (nickel-iron). The asteroids' compositional differences are related to how far from the Sun they formed. Some experienced high temperatures after they formed and partly melted, with iron sinking to the center and forcing basaltic (volcanic) lava to the surface. These are rare.

​

​Dwarf Planet-Ceres

• Called an asteroid for many years​

• is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it's the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system.​ ​​

• 1,682 Earth days, or 4.6 Earth years, to make one trip around the Sun.​

• Completes one rotation every 9 hours, making its day length one of the shortest in the solar system.​

• No moons or rings​

• Less dense than any terrestrial planet

• ​Very thin atmosphere

​

Multiple Choice

What is a meteoroid called when it enters the Earth's atmosphere?

• Meteoroid

• Meteor

• Meteorite

• Astroid

Fill in the Blank

What is located between the terrestrial planets and the gas planets?

Fill in the Blank

What is the dwarf planet discovered in the Asteroid Belt?

Gas Planets

Gas planets have a center that is a dense core of metals like iron and nickel surrounded by rocky material and other compounds solidified by intense pressure and heat. It is enveloped by liquid metallic hydrogen inside a layer of liquid hydrogen.

​

A gas planet is mostly swirling gases and liquids deeper down. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land, it wouldn’t be able to fly through unscathed either. The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet would crash, melt, and vaporize any spacecraft trying to fly into the planet.​

The 4 gas planets are: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune ​

Fill in the Blank

Could a spaceship land on a gas planet?

Jupiter ​

​* Gas Planet

• Largest and Fastest rotating planet

• Strongest Magnetic Field

• Gives off more heat than it collects: gets so hot it turns Hydrogen gas to liquid.

• Composed of ​Hydrogen and Helium (like our sun)

• Jupiter has 53 confirmed moons and 26 provisional moons awaiting confirmation of discovery

• Europa moon of Jupiter: the likeliest place to find life elsewhere in our solar system. Has ice crystals

• Has several rings: very faint and consisting of mostly dust particles.

• One day-12 hours One ​year- 12 earth years.

​

​

​

​

​

​Saturn

​*Gas Planet

• The 2nd largest planet

• Has rings composed of ice, dust and large rocks

  • Has 7 rings: A layer and B layer the largest ​ ​

• Least Dense planet: would float in water

• Rotated so quickly it flattens out: Day is 10.7 hours and 29 Earth years

• Has an internal heat source

• Strong Magnetic Field

• Saturn has 53 confirmed moons with 29 additional provisional moons awaiting confirmation.​

• The largest moon is named Titan​

​

​

Uranus​

​*Gas Planet

• ​Tilted on a 98-degree angle, sit on is side

• ​Ice Giant: planet's mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of "icy" materials – water, methane, and ammonia – above a small rocky core.

• ​The magnetic axis is tilted nearly 60 degrees from the planet's axis of rotation, and is also offset from the center of the planet by one-third of the planet's radius.

• ​Day is 17 hours and One year is 88 Earth Days

• Has 42 days of darkness and 42 day​s of light

• Has 17 moons all named after Skaesperian characters

• Has 2 rings

​

​

​

​

Neptune ​

​*Gas Planet

• ​ Ice giant: smallest gas planet

• First planet located through mathematical calculations.

• One day is 16 hours & One Year 165 Earth years​

• ​Axis of rotation is tilted 28 degrees, it experiences seasons with the four seasons lasting for over 40 years.

• 14 Moons with the largest being Triton

• Very Dense

• Neptune had 5 prominent rings and 4 lesser rings ​formed from the gravitational pull from one of its moons. ​

​

Multiple Choice

What is the largest planet in our solar system?

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Uranus

• Neptune

Multiple Choice

Which planet could float in the ocean?

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Uranus

• Neptune

Multiple Choice

Which planet sits on its side with a 98-degree tilt?

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Uranus

• Neptune

Multiple Choice

Which gas planet takes 40 years to see all 4-seasons?

• Jupiter

• Neptune

• Uranus

• Saturn

Multiple Choice

Which planet rotates so fast it flattens out?

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Uranus

• Neptuen

Multiple Choice

How many confirmed moons does Jupiter have?

• 53

• 26

• 29

• 17

Kuiper Belt ​

• ​Is a donut-shaped region of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. There may be millions of these icy objects, collectively referred to as Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) or trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), in this distant region of our solar system.

• Both Pluto and ​Arrokoth are located here

• This is the source of comets ​

​

​Dwarf Planet-Pluto

• ​Very small: smaller than the United States

• Has a tilted orbit that crosses that of Neptune

• Made of ice and rock

• Has 5-moons: the closest being Charon. The gravitational pull between the 2 makes them look like twins.

• The day is 15​3 hours and one year is 248 Earth years

• It was considered the 9th planet but was downgraded based on its location and orbit. ​

​

Oort Cloud

• the most distant region of our solar system.​

• A giant spherical shell surrounding the rest of the solar system.

• A big, thick-walled bubble made of icy pieces of space debris the sizes of mountains and sometimes larger.

• It might contain billions, or even trillions, of objects.​

​

​Comets

• ​Cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock, and dust that orbit the Sun.

• When frozen, they are the size of a small town.

• When a comet's orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets.

• The dust and gases form a tail that stretches away from the Sun for millions of miles.

• There are likely billions of comets orbiting our Sun in the Kuiper Belt and even more distant Oort Cloud.

• ​Current Known: 3,743​

Multiple Choice

What dwarf planet is found in the Kuiper belt that was once considered the 9th planet in our solar system?

• Cerse

• Jupiter

• Neptune

• Pluto

Multiple Choice

What is located just outside Neptune's orbit?

• The Oort Cloud

• Kuiper Belt

• Asteroid Belt

• Nothiing

Fill in the Blank

What is the most distant region of our solar system?

Fill in the Blank

The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud are the sources of what celestial object?