1. Week 3
Week January 18-22
Out 18th
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn

2. Week 3 Day 1 Mars small planet 4th planet from Sun
orbit is mild ellipse or stretched circle
named after the Roman god of war
year is 687 Earth days
day is 24 hr. and 37 min.
diameter 6800 km.
Can be seen without a telescope—a small rust colored light in the sky

3. Mars core of iron thick rock layer above core
atmosphere thinner than Earth’s
has dust storms and clouds
entire planet can be covered by storms and dust at once
average temp. -12 degrees C
winter can get to -70 degrees C

4. Mars
In winter, the planet has ice caps at the north and south poles like Earth does.
caps are made of frozen carbon dioxide, or “dry ice”.
has mountains, sandy deserts and many, inactive volcanoes.
largest volcano in the solar system- Olympus Moons- over m. tall, much higher than Mount Everest, and is over 965 km. wide at its base.
many canyons -Valles Marineris- over 3200 km. long and deep enough to hold a mountain range.

5. Mars two moons- Phobos and Deimos
Moon actually asteroids that got caught in Mars’ gravitational pull

6. Week 3 Day 2 Jupiter a gas giant 5th from the Sun
1st gas planet in solar system
orbit is nearly circular
The Romans named Jupiter after the supreme god in their religion.
largest planet
year=almost 12 Earth yr.
day=10 hr.

7. Jupiter
For size comparison, if Earth was a dime….Jupiter would be a soccer ball!
can be seen without telescope
a giant cloud made up mostly of hydrogen and helium.
gravity holds this ball of gas together
does not have surface since it is gas
Constant swirling of gas creates wind storms—Great Red Spot
At least 16 known moons

8. Jupiter 3 largest moons--Europa , Callisto , Ganymede
Europa is a giant ball of ice.
Callisto is covered with thousands of craters
Ganymede, the largest moon, is made up of rocky ice.

9. Week 3 Day 3 Saturn a gas giant 6th planet from Sun
named after the Roman god of agriculture
is the origin, of the word “Saturday”
year=29.5 Earth yr.
day=10 ½ hr.
2nd largest planet
can be seen without telescope
has faint greenish color

10. Saturn mostly hydrogen and helium less dense than Jupiter
no solid surface
center=liquid hydrogen
at least 18 moons
most interesting moon=Titan
Titan=thick atmosphere containing nitrogen
Titan may have liquid water on surface

11. Saturn Special Features
The Rings  Very thin
seem to disappear when Saturn is viewed from the edge made up of billions of snowballs, ranging from the size of a cricket ball to bigger than a house.
The gaps in Saturn’s rings are caused by the many moons that circle the giant planet. The moons keep the rings lined up.
One of the bands in Saturn’s rings is braided, much like a pigtail.

12. Saturn Special Feature
Weight
weighs very little
very light gas planet
so light that it could float in water.