1. Our Solar System

2. Terrestrial Planets
Inner solar system planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars)
Four planets closest to the sun
Rocky crusts, dense mantles and cores
All have layers
Formed by collisions in space (metals that sank into the surface and created their cores) and then shaped by gravity and energy into planets

3. Mercury One of the terrestrial planets
Covered in smooth plains (created by lava) and craters
Core of iron that shrunk when the planet cooled, making the crust wrinkle up and create cliffs
Has the longest cycle of day and night of the terrestrial planets (3 months of daylight and 3 months of darkness)
Half of the planet is very hot and the other half is very cold (no energy to move heat)

4. Venus Just a little smaller than Earth (“Earth’s sister planet”)
Venus takes 8 months to turn on its axis, and rotates/orbits in opposite directions
Long days and nights (2 months of daylight and 2 months of darkness)
Very dense atmosphere = lots of energy to move heat around the planet. The surface is very hot!! Corrosive (Poisonous chemicals cover the surface)
Covered in cliffs and lava, too hot for water and protected from other impacts in space

5. Earth
We all know about the life on Earth so there is no need to talk about it for too long 

6. Mars
Covered in large valleys and raised areas (Valles Marineros is longer than the USA!)
Crust is covered in cooled off lava…Mars is covered in giant volcanoes
Wind and gravity move sand and objects around to create sand dunes
Mars also has craters on its southern hemisphere
Cold climate due to lack of energy to move heat around planet
Polar caps that freeze in winter and shrink in summer like Earth

7. Gas Giants Outer planets of the solar system
Largest planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune)
Consist of hydrogen, helium, and other gases
These planets are very dense and have large masses
Huge gravitational pulls and high energy keep these gaseous planets in a circular shape
All planets have outer rings, some of which are not visible

8. Jupiter
The largest planet in the solar system (over ten times larger than Earth in diameter and 1200 times larger in volume)
A jet plane that could circle earth would take 23 days to circle Jupiter
Five times farther from the Sun than Earth is
Has a very fast rotation (can do it in less than 10 hours), so it causes lots of storms and fast winds
Many different layers of clouds that are different colors

9. Saturn The sixth planet from the sun
Just a little smaller than Jupiter, but the mass is only one-third of Jupiter’s
Since there is less mass, the gravitational pull is weaker, and gas particles spread out more (it is lower density than Jupiter)
Storms and winds form deep in the atmosphere and are hard to see
Saturn is the only gas giant with visible rings. They are made of chunks of ice and moons. The rings have bright and dark stripes that change over time.

10. Uranus
High density; covered in methane, ammonia, and water (that’s why it’s blue!)
About twice Saturn’s distance from the Sun (takes 84 years to orbit the sun)
System of rings and moons around the equator
Axis rotation is almost the same as its orbit, so it spins on its side

11. Neptune
High density; covered in methane, ammonia, and water (that’s why it’s blue!)
Almost same temperature as Uranus because its core is very warm
Methane crystals form in the atmosphere and make the planet look white
Storm systems cause the dark blue areas to show up

12. Pluto Smallest planet (smaller than Luna, our moon)
Made of ice and rock
Barely any gravitational pull
May contain a core, mantle and crust
No spacecraft has made it out to Pluto, so they are not sure what its surface looks like
Pluto and its moon orbit the sun like the rest of the planets

13. Other Space Bodies
Asteroids are small, solid rocky bodies that orbit close to the Sun
Comets form clouds of material around small space objects
Meteors are particles that enter Earth’s thin, upper atmosphere and become hot enough to glow
Meteorites are space objects that reach Earth’s surface