1. Section 2: Inner Planets

2. Classifying Planets Terrestrial vs. Jovian:
Terrestrial-like Earth: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Jovian-huge gas planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Inner vs. Outer:
Inner-found before the asteroid belt: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Outer-found after the asteroid belt: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Inferior vs. Superior:
Inferior-between the Sun and Earth: Mercury and Venus.
Superior-after Earth: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

3. Mercury Named after the Roman Fleet Footed God The smallest planet
Closest to the Sun
Heavily cratered
Large iron core (70% of Mercury’s volume)
No atmosphere
427 (800F) to -127 ºC (-197F)
The year is only 88 days
Spins the slowest on its axis, but it revolves the fastest around the sun
Mercury

4. 2nd from Sun
Thick atmosphere of Carbon Dioxide- runaway greenhouse effect
Shines the brightest in our night sky
Most volcanoes in solar system of the planets
Spins backwards
Up to 900 ºF
Named after the Roman goddess of beauty and love- often called Earth’s twin
Clouds of sulfuric acid
Magellan, Cassini Huygens and MESSENGER have all flown by
Venus

5. Earth Earth: 3rd from Sun
Temperatures perfect for water in solid, liquid, and gas states.
Has ozone to protect from the Sun’s harmful radiation.
70% water, 30% land

6. Mars 4th from Sun ½ the size of Earth
Red planet- from rusted iron in crust.
Has frozen water under ice caps
Largest volcano- Olympus Mons
Largest Canyon- Valles Marineris
2 moons: Phobos (fear) and Deimos (flight)
Cold: -100 ºC night, just above
freezing during day (-148 F)
Named after Roman God of War
24.5 hour day
Has seasons like Earth
Mars

7. NASA on Mars The Mariner 9 Viking 1 and Viking 2 Global Surveyor
Mars Odyssey
Spirit and Opportunity Land Rovers
Mars Pathfinder

8. Section 3: Outer Planets

9. Jupiter 5th from the Sun Largest planet (1,323 Earths)
Named after Roman God of all Gods
Mostly hydrogen and helium
The Great Red Spot- a approx. 400 year old hurricane big enough to hold 2-3 Earths.
Spins fastest on its axis
Has lightning in clouds
Has 50 named moons and 14 other moons not named
Has 3 rings of dust
Studied by Galileo space probe
Jupiter

10. Jupiter’s 4 Big Moons 4 huge “Galilean Moons”:
Io: most volcanically active body in solar system.
Europa: mostly rock with a thick, cracked but smooth crust of ice; deep, warm ocean that holds twice as much water as Earth’s oceans.
Ganymede: Larger than Mercury, most likely had a volcanic past. Likely to have an ocean.
Callisto: Cratered and most likely covered in a salty ocean.

11. Saturn 6th from Sun Second largest planet (752 Earths)
Named after Roman Lord of the Rings
Mostly hydrogen and helium
It’s low density would allow it to float in water
Known as the ringed planet- has largest and most complex ring system
Made of ice and rock
7 Rings A-G: Cassini division is the gap between rings
Saturn

12. Saturn’s Moons Saturn has over 30 moons. The largest moon is Titan:
Larger than Mercury
Has areas of water ice
Has areas composed of hydrocarbons- organic compounds that contain hydrogen and carbon.
All living things are made of carbon.
Scientists are interested in the possibility of life here.

13. Uranus 7th from the Sun 3rd largest (Fits only 64 Earths) 27 moons
Mostly hydrogen, helium & 2% methane
Looks bluish-green in color
Tilted 98º- rotates on its side
11 rings- dark and narrow
Father of Neptune and Jupiter
May have slushy water
5 large moons- Miranda
This planet was discovered using math- nobody was even looking for it.
Uranus

14. Neptune 8th from Sun 4th largest (58 Earths) Has rings
Has at least 13 moons: Triton, the largest, has geysers that erupt methane and nitrogen
Has a Great Dark Spot “Wizard’s Eye”
Named after Roman God of the Sea
Similar atmosphere to Uranus, but more methane, so it looks even bluer.

15. Pluto Farthest from the sun It takes 248 years to orbit the sun
Now considered a dwarf planet
Named after the Roman God of the Underworld
Has 5 moons: the biggest one is named Charon which is about ½ the size of Pluto
Solid ice-rock surface

16. Comets , Asteroids, and Meteoroids
A comet, is composed of ice, dust and rock particles mixed with methane and ammonia.
Halley’s comet appears every 76 years.
It will appear again in 2061.
An asteroid is a rocky object formed from material similar to the planets- found in asteroid belts
A meteoroid is a rocky object formed from asteroids or comets.
If it burns up in our atmosphere it is a shooting star
When it hits Earth it is called a meteorite

17. Sedna has been labeled a distant planetoid
It is smaller than Pluto, but bigger than a comet.
It is three times farther away from Earth than Pluto