Our Solar System

The Sun The Romans called the sun Sol, which in English means sun. In ancient Greece, the sun was called Helios. The sun is a yellow star. We don't often think of the Sun as having cooler areas on its surface. The Sun is far too hot for an astronaut to ever visit, but there are areas which are slightly cooler than others. These areas are known as sun spots. Sun spots are still very hot The Sun is so large that the Earth could easily fit inside the Sun a million times.

Mercury Mercury is the closest planet to the sun Mercury is a small and rocky planet (similar to our moon) Mercury’s surface has craters Mercury has no moons Temperatures on Mercury range from -183 degrees to 427 degrees. The average temp is 179 Scientists think that there may be volcano activity on Mercury

Venus Venus is a small rocky planet, blanketed by a thick layer of yellowish clouds The clouds that surround Venus are formed from a poison called sulphuric acid Venus is a very hot planet- around 400 degrees! Venus has no moons Venus is a similar size to Earth There are many active volcanoes on Venus Venus spins very slowly, in the opposite direction to most other planets Venus is usually visible with the naked eye. It is the brightest “star” in the evening sky

Earth Earth is the third closest planet to the sun Earth is a small, rocky planet that supports a variety of life Earth is the only planet whose name is not from Greek or Roman mythology The Earth’s surface is very young 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Earth is the only planet where water exists in liquid form on the surface Earth’s oceans keep our planets temperature stable Earth has 1 moon Temperatures at the Earth’s centre(called the “core”) is around 7227 degrees which is hotter than the surface of the Sun!

Mars Mars is a small and rocky planet (about half the size of Earth) Mars is known as the ‘Red Planet’ because of its reddish appearance Mars is a cold and lifeless planet Mars has two tiny moons Mars has ice caps at both poles There are currently 3 spacecrafts orbiting Mars

Jupiter Jupiter is by far the largest planet, (it is 318 times bigger than Earth!) Jupiter is a giant gas planet and therefore does not have a solid surface The swirls & bands you can see are the tops of clouds high in the atmosphere Jupiter has faint rings like Saturn but they are much smaller Jupiter is usually visible with the naked eye. It is the brightest “star” in the night sky Jupiter has 4 large moons and many other smaller moons

Saturn Saturn is the 2nd largest planet Saturn is a giant gas planet Saturn’s rings are very bright and are made up of many small particles (mostly water ice) circling Saturn Wind speeds on Saturn can read 1800 km/h Saturn has at least 18 moons!

Uranus Uranus is the 3rd largest planet Uranus is a gas planet. Its centre is made up of mostly rock and ice Uranus spins differently from most other planets- its on a tilt Uranus has 15 known moons Like the other gas planets, Uranus has rings around it but they are very, very faint

Neptune Neptune is a gas planet Neptune is our 4th largest planet and our furthest from the Sun (excluding Pluto) Winds on Neptune are the fastest in our Solar System, reaching 2000km/h Neptune also has rings but like Uranus and Jupiter, they are very dark and very faint which make them hard to see. Neptune has 8 known moons- 7 small and 1 large

Like Uranus, Pluto seems to be tilted Pluto has 1 main moon Pluto is a dwarf planet Pluto is smaller than all of the planets Pluto is very far from the Sun and is therefore a very dark planet Very little is known about Pluto and photos of Pluto are not very clear because Pluto is so far away Pluto has never been visited by a space craft but there is one on its way! (Left Earth 2006 and will reach Pluto 2015!) Scientists are still unsure of exactly what Pluto is made of- it is thought to be made primarily of rock and ice Like Uranus, Pluto seems to be tilted Pluto has 1 main moon

Saturn & its moons

Venus Uranus- with its rings and moons circling Mars

Nebula

A Super Giant Star A star

References http://kids.nineplanets.org/earth.htm http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Earth http://www.abc.net.au/children/space/planets/earth.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/messenger/psc/PlanetSize.html