1. Topic: The Outer Planets PSSA: 3.4.7.D/S8.D.3.1

2. Objective: TLW compare the characteristics of the outer planets.

3. MI #1: Jupiter Per. Of Revolution = 11 years, 313 Days Per. Of Rotation = 10 hours Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system; its Great Red Spot is a storm that is 3x the diameter of Earth. Jupiter has 63 known satellites; the four Galilean moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

5. MI #2: Saturn Per. Of Revolution = 29 years, 155 days Per. Of Rotation = 11 hours Saturn has very prominent rings made of ice particles. Saturn has 34 named satellites, including Titan, the largest.

7. MI #3: Uranus Per. Of Revolution = 84 years Per. Of Rotation = 17 hours Uranus rotates on its side. It has 21 named moons, including Miranda and Ariel. All of its moons are named for characters from the writings of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

8. MI #4: Neptune Per. Of Revolution = 163 years, 263 days Per.. Of Rotation = 16 hours It had a “Great Dark Spot” that was believed to be a large storm, but it has disappeared. 13 moons – the largest of which is Triton.

10. MI #5: Pluto Per. Of Revolution = 248 years, 4 days Per. Of Rotation = 6 days, 10 hours Pluto is technically classified as a dwarf planet due to its size and characteristics. It has 3 moons; Charon (the largest), Nix, and Hydra Eris and Ceres are the other two dwarf planets in our solar system.

12. MI #6: Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud The Kuiper Belt is a region beyond the orbit of Neptune believed to be the source for many short period comets. The Oort Cloud is a region hypothesized to be at the outer reaches of the solar system that may contain a trillion comets

13. So What…? Real Life Application Understanding the outer planets helps us understand the Earth’s relationship to other parts of our solar system.