Exploring Our Solar System: A Journey By: Sarah Naeger

The 8 Planets (largest to smallest) Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Earth Venus Mars Mercury

Jupiter The largest planet Famous for giant Red Spot 5 th closest planet to the sun Jupiter is so large that it could hold 1,300 Earths!! Has the biggest moon in the solar system Rotates (spins) faster than any other planet It has rings you just can’t see them Is a gaseous giant, made up of mostly hydrogen and helium

Saturn 2 nd largest planet in the solar system Known for its 7 beautiful rings It is a ball of gas, it has no core It’s largest moon, Titan, is the only moon of Saturn with an atmosphere and it larger than Mercury A Saturn day last only 10 hours and 14 minutes It poles are flattened due to its extremely fast rotation Has a very low density and if you put it in water it would float It’s largest moon, Titan, is the only moon of Saturn with an atmosphere and it larger than Mercury Its core is so hot that it radiates more energy than it receives from the sun

Uranus Seventh planet from the sun Coldest planet in the Solar System with surface temperatures around -210 Celcius Axis of rotation is tilted sideways may have been from a collision with another large planet It has a ring system as well The planet has clouds which are thought to have formed from methane crystals The planet appears blue to the naked eye because methane absorbs light to toward the red end of the color spectrum. The only light we see that is reflected is green-blue

Neptune Eight farthest planet from the sun Discovered through mathematical prediction not by observation Has the strongest winds of any planet Primarily composed of ice and rock Largest moon, Triton Despite its distance from the sun, Neptune has very strong winds up to nine times stronger than on Earth It has a Great Dark Spot much like the Great Red Spot on Jupiter but recently scientists have not seen it and wonder if it has disappeared altogether

Earth Only known habitable planet in the solar system, aren’t we lucky!!! Earth is a relatively young planet. The surface of the Earth is estimated to only be about 100 million years old Most of the Earth’s mass, is found in its liquid mantel layer just below the crust Its magnetic field is much larger than any other planet due to its iron nickel core spinning so fast The inner core is very hot about 7,500 degrees Kelvin

VENUS Hottest planet in the universe about 484 degrees Celsius It has an extremely high surface pressure, intense enough to crush rocks on the surface It spins in the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets. So the sun rises in the west and sets in the East The only water on the planet is in the form of water vapor that turns into sulfuric rain 85% of Venus’s surface is covered by volcanic rock

Mars Mars looks red in color because it is rusty. There is a lot of iron in the soil and the atmosphere has oxidized it. It has the tallest volcano, Olympus Mons which is 15 miles high Mar’s surface is the only planets surface who can be viewed in great detail from Earth Valleys and Canyons on the planet suggest that it might once have consisted of large amounts of surface water It gets very cold on Mars with temperatures hitting as low as -191 degrees Farenheit

Mercury Smallest of the eight planets Mercury has no know atmosphere or satellites (moons) Planet closest to the sun but surprisingly NOT the hottest It is slightly larger than our Moon Mercury was once believed to be two separate objects: one visible only at sunrise, 'Apollo’, and the other visible only at sunset, which 'Hermes'.

Solar System Quiz

Question 1 Why do Neptune and Uranus appear blue? A) A) Because they are far away B) B) Because of their methane atmosphere C) C) They are covered in ice which looks blue from far away D) D) They have clouds that are blue

Question 2 Which planet has the lowest density? A) A) Jupiter B) Uranus B) C) C) Saturn D) D) Earth

Question 3 Which planet has no satellites (moons)? A)A)Mercury B)B)Earth C)C)Venus D)D)Jupiter

Bibliography Thomas, Chris. "The Solar Space Station - facts, information and pictures about the Solar System, planets asteroids meteors comets etc." The Solar Space Station - facts, information and pictures about the Solar System, planets asteroids meteors comets etc. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov ScienceandSpaceHD. " YouTube - Our Solar System - Size Of Planets and Stars to Scale." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov

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