1 Ambition – Respect - Excellence Ardrossan Academy Dead Earth Subtopic – SPACE – the solar system

2 Ambition – Respect - Excellence Lesson Title: The Solar System Learning Intention:. To understand – How conditions on planets change with distance from the Sun, and what other objects exist in the Solar system I will be successful if I can : Explain how the conditions on a planet change as the distance from the Sun increases

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Our Solar System has EIGHT planets Four inner TERRESTRIAL planets - small and solid Four outer GAS GIANT planets - huge and gaseous Planets are visible because they reflect light from the Sun

MERCURY 58 million km from Sun Year = 88 days Day = 59 days Similar size to our moon No atmosphere Max Temp > 400 ℃ Min Temp < -170 ℃

VENUS 110 million km from Sun Year = 225 days Day = 243 days Similar size to Earth Atmosphere of Sulphuric acid Average Temp > 400 ℃

EARTH 150 million km from Sun Year = 365 days Day = 24 hours Atmosphere of Nitrogen & Oxygen Max Temp > 50 ℃ Min Temp < -90 ℃

MARS 230 million km from Sun Year = 687 days Day = 24½ hours Approx half size of Earth Atmosphere of CO 2 Max Temp > 20 ℃ Min Temp < -140 ℃

JUPITER 780 million km from Sun Year = 11.9 years Day = 9 hr 50 min More than 1000 times larger than Earth Atmosphere of hydrogen & helium Average Temp ℃ Red Spot is a storm twice the size of the Earth

SATURN 1,430 million km from Sun Year = 29.4 years Day = 10 hr 14 min More than 700 times larger than Earth Atmosphere of hydrogen & helium Average Temp ℃ Rings are 250,000 km across, but only 1 km thick

URANUS 2,870 million km from Sun Year = 84 years Day = 17 hr 12 min More than 60 times larger than Earth Atmosphere of hydrogen, helium & methane Average Temp ℃ Planet rotates on its side, with south pole facing Sun

NEPTUNE 4,500 million km from Sun Year = 165 years Day = 16 hr 7 min About 50 times larger than Earth Atmosphere of hydrogen, helium & methane Average Temp ℃ Has both a dark spot ‘storm’ and rings

DWARF PLANETS Until 2006 Pluto was classified as a planet It was reclassified as other similarly sized objects had been found, but not classified as planets These include the largest known asteroid - ‘Ceres’ and a large object beyond Pluto - ‘Eris’

ASTEROIDS A band of rock fragments between Mars and Jupiter Many fragments are extremely large - up to 1000 km across Can fall out of orbit towards the Sun & Inner planets

THE NIGHT SKY On a clear night, away from bright lights in towns and cities, many bright objects can be seen in the sky This picture was taken at an observatory in the Andes mountains in Chile

STARS Stars give out light, like our own Sun They appear less bright as they are very far away Our nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.3 light- years away. (40 million million km)

CONSTELLATIONS Constellations are groups of stars They stay in the same places compared to each other, but move across the sky as the Earth rotates on its axis.

CONSTELLATIONS The constellation of ‘The Plough’ moves across the sky. The star near the centre that doesn’t move is ‘Polaris’ - the star directly above the North Pole.

GALAXIES Galaxies are massive groups of stars There may be many millions of stars in a Galaxy Our galaxy is called ‘The Milky Way’ (from the latin ‘Via Lactea’)

GALAXIES Many galaxies, including our own, are spiral shaped We can’t see all of the Milky Way because we are inside it We can see a band of closely packed stars - one spiral arm

COMETS A comet is a ball of ice and dust that orbits the Sun Comets move slowly across the sky, appearing for many months As it approaches the Sun it heats up, creating the ‘tail’ which always points away from the Sun

COMETS In July 1994 a comet called Shoemaker-Levy crashed into Jupiter Jupiter’s gravity had broken it up into a string of smaller pieces which left a trail in the atmosphere

METEORS Meteors are small pieces of rock As they pass into the Earth’s atmosphere they heat up They travel quickly across the sky in a few seconds, followed by a bright tail

METEORS As the Earth travels around the Sun it passes through areas where there are many meteors This causes ‘Meteor Showers’