What makes up our solar system?

Where is our solar system located? In the Milky Way Galaxy about 2/3 of the way down on one of the arms 1 star-Our Sun

What were the earlier views of the solar system? Geocentric vs. Heliocentric

Geocentric “Earth Centered Model” Aristotle & Ptolemy believed that Earth was the center of the system of the planets They thought everything revolved around us!

Heliocentric “Sun-Centered System” Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the idea of that the sun was the center of the system Galileo (100 years later) agreed with Copernicus’ idea Discovered Venus went through phases like our moon Discovered Jupiter’s moons revolved around it & not the Earth

What keeps the planets in motion? Gravity: attractive force between two objects Inertia: tendency of an object to in motion/at rest to remain in motion/at rest until acted upon by an outside force Discovered by Issac Newton

What is an ellipse? Ellipse: elongated circle or oval shaped Johannes Kepler discovered that the planets had elliptical orbits not round!

What is a rotation & orbital period? Rotation period describes the time it takes the planet to spin around 1 time on its axis Orbital period describes the time it takes the planet to revolve around the Sun 1 time

Inner Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars

What do all of these planets have in common? Small Rocky Orbit paths are close together

Mercury 1st planet 36 million miles from the Sun 58 days rotation period 88 days orbital period

Mercury Fun Facts Looks like “Our Moon” No atmosphere Extreme temperatures 700°F(Day) & -300°F(Night)

Mercury SUPER Fact Fastest orbiting planet at 29 miles per second

Venus 2nd planet 67 million miles from the Sun 243 days rotation period 224 days orbital period

Venus Fun Facts Called “Earth’s Twin” or our sister planet Thick CO2 cloud covers the planet Hottest Planet at 900°F

Venus SUPER Fact Has Retrograde Rotation-spins backwards on its axis

Earth 3rd Planet 98 million miles from the Sun 24 hours rotation period 365 days orbital period

Earth Fun Facts Ongoing plate tectonics Oxygen rich atmosphere Oceans of water 1 moon

Variety of living things Earth SUPER Fact

Mars 4th planet 142 million miles from the Sun 24 hours rotational period 687 days orbital period

Mars Fun Facts Called the “Red Planet” due to the iron in its surface Polar ice caps 2 moons - Phobos & Deimos

Mars SUPER Fact Surface is marked with its own “grand canyon” Largest volcano in the solar system- ”Olympus Mons” towering at 17 miles above the surface

Outer Planets Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto ?

What do the “First Four” outer planets have in common? Large Have Rings Gaseous-75% Hydrogen & 24% Helium

What about Pluto? Pluto is much more like the 4 inner planets Some speculate that it may have been one of Neptune’s moon at one time – now a dwarf planet

Jupiter 5th planet 484 million miles from the Sun 10 hours rotational period 11 years orbital period

Jupiter Fun Facts Largest Planet Dark narrow rings 63 moons 4 largest moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto

Jupiter SUPER Fact “Great Red Spot” that is an ongoing storm much like a hurricane

Saturn 6th planet 888 million miles from the Sun 10 hours rotational period 30 years orbital period

Saturn Fun Facts Called the “Ringed Planet” Rings measure 600,000 miles from edge to edge Rings are made from ice & rocks 60 moons Titan is the largest-larger than Mercury

Saturn SUPER Fact It floats! It’s density is actually lower than water! If we could place Saturn in water…it would float!

Uranus 7th planet 1.8 billion miles from the Sun 17 hours rotation period 84 years orbital period

Uranus Fun Facts Blue in color…due to the methane in the atmosphere 20+ moons Has Rings

Rotates from top to bottom…on its side! Uranus SUPER Fact Rotates from top to bottom…on its side!

Neptune 8th planet 2.8 billion miles from the Sun 18 hours rotational period 165 years orbital period

Neptune Fun Facts “Blue Planet” due to the methane in the atmosphere 13 moons Largest moon-Triton

“Great Dark Spot”…ongoing storm Neptune SUPER Fact

Pluto Recently demoted to “Dwarf Planet” status 2.9 billion-4.6 billion miles from the Sun 6 days rotational period 248 years orbital period

Pluto Fun Facts Made of rock & ice Thin methane atmosphere 1 moon-Charon

It has an unusual orbit…it sometimes crosses Neptune’s orbit Pluto SUPER Fact It has an unusual orbit…it sometimes crosses Neptune’s orbit

What other objects are floating around the solar system? Comets Asteroids Meteoroids

Comet Fun Facts “Dirty Snowball” Made of dust & ice…as it passes the Sun, the ice turns into gas Have long, narrow, elliptical orbits Rarely pass by Earth Can only be seen briefly

Comet SUPER Fact Halley’s Comet Discovered by Edmond Halley in 1705 Orbits Earth every 76 years 1986 was the last time it appeared in the sky

Asteroid Fun Facts Small objects that orbit the Sun between Mars & Jupiter Over 10,000 have been discovered Some are over 250km across

Asteroid SUPER Fact Asteroid Belt

Chunks of rock & dust that comes from a comet or asteroid Meteoroid Chunks of rock & dust that comes from a comet or asteroid

What are meteors & meteorites? Meteor: is a meteoroid that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere producing a streak of light Meteorite: is a large meteoroid that did not burn in Earth’s atmosphere & hit the surface