3. The Inner Planets

4. Mercury Closest planet to the sun
Surface has many craters and looks like the moon
Cliffs that may have formed from the iron rich core to cool and contract causing the crust to shrink
Very little gravity
Gases that could form an atmosphere easily escape
Thin atmosphere made of sodium, potassium, helium, and hydrogen
450* C during day, -170* at night

7. Venus 2nd planet from the sun Similar size and mass of the earth
Atmosphere has 90 x the pressure then the earth
Made up of mostly carbon dioxide
Clouds contain droplets of sulfuric acid, give them a yellowish look.
Solar energy is trapped by atmosphere, temp. can reach 470* C

9. Earth 3rd Planet from the sun
Average distance from the sun is 150 million kilometers. (93 million Miles)
Surface temp. of earth allows water to exist in all three states (solids, liquids, and gas)
•      Ozone, ( O3) exists in the layer of the atmosphere known as the stratosphere
Ozone protects life from the ultraviolet radiation

11. Mars The fourth planet from the sun
Red planet because of the iron oxide in the rocks
Contains the largest volcano in the solar system (Olympus Mons)
Large rift, zones have formed in the Martian Crust
Has two polar ice caps that change in size
Northern pole – Water ice
South Pole – Frozen carbon dioxide

12. Would take 3 years to get to mars Two moons – Phobos and Deimos
Mars is 55 million Km at the closest point to the earth (34,182,722 miles)
Would take 3 years to get to mars
Two moons – Phobos and Deimos
Long channels in the surface – Flowing water
Atmosphere is made up of Carbon Dioxide, nitrogen, argon
Much thinner then ours

16. Outer Planets

17. Jupiter 5th planet from the sun
Largest planet Has a faint ring around it
Composed of mostly gases and liquid hydrogen, helium and some ammonia, methane and water vapor
Great Red Spot (large hurricane)

18. 28 moons Four largest, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
Gallileo discovered them in 1610
Volcanoes continually erupt on Io
Ocean of liquid water is hypothesized to exist under the ice crust of Europa

22. Saturn Sixth planet from the sun Ringed planet Second largest
Has the lowest density, so low that the planet would float on water
Gaseous planet
Atmosphere composed of hydrogen and helium

23. Has several broad rings made of ice and rocks
At least 30 moons orbit Saturn, the largest being Titan
The environment on Titan might be similar to the environment on earth before oxygen became a major atmospheric gas

25. Titan

27. Uranus Seventh planet from the sun 21 moons and additional satellites
Has a system of thin, dark rings
Atmosphere is composed of hydrogen, helium, and some methane gives the planet a distinctive bluish green color
Axis of rotation is tilted on its side

29. Neptune Is the 8th planet from the sun most of the time
Methane in its atmosphere give neptune its blue green color
Outer layer changes from gas to a slushlike layer (melted ice) towards the interior
Towards the interior, this slushy material is thought to change into a solid

30. Winds in the gaseous portion exceed speeds of 2400 km per hour
Has a great dark spot
Winds in the gaseous portion exceed speeds of 2400 km per hour
Eight moons – Triton is the most unique
Has a great geyser that shoot gaseous nitrogen into space
Also has rings that are thin in some places and thick in other places

33. Triton and Neptune

34. Pluto
Is the farthest from the sun then any other planets during most of its orbit
Dense atmosphere, only outer planet with a solid rocky surface
Some people feel that Pluto was a moon that escaped from its orbit around Neptune
Only moon – Charon (considered the double planet)

36. Sedna 10 planet from the sun
It is twice as far from the sun as any other solar system object and three times farther than Pluto or Neptune.
the orbit of Sedna is extreme elliptical
it takes 10,500 years to circle the sun.
On 15 March 2004, Sedna was discovered
the surface temperature is about 400 degrees below zero Farenheit
Sedna is at most about 1800 km in diameter