1. Our Solar System

2. Our solar system in order from the sun 1.Mercury 2.Venus 3.Earth 4.Mars 5.Asteroid Belt 6.Jupiter 7.Saturn 8.Uranus 9.Neptune 10.Kuiper Belt (Pluto goes here) 11.Oort Cloud

4. Planets An object in orbit around a star, which dominates the mass of its orbital zone. The Terrestrial Planets: have a rocky crust, a denser mantle, and a very dense core. Mercury Venus Earth Mars

5. Mercury – 1st 1 solar orbit takes 88 days. Daytime temps reach 400 ̊ C, nighttime temps reach -200 ̊ C. Mercury’s orbit is an average of 57,909,100 km. Mercury’s average radius is 2440 km.

6. Venus – 2nd Atmosphere is made clouds of CO 2 and sulfuric acid; it is very warm (482 ̊ C) due to the greenhouse effect. Covered in lava, faults, and volcanoes. Orbit is an average of 108,208,930 km. Average radius is 6052 km

7. Earth: 3rd Has water in all three forms: vapor, liquid, and ice. Orbit is an average of 149,598,261 km. Earth’s radius is an average of 6371 km.

8. Mars: 4th Has polar ice caps made mainly of CO 2 27 ̊ C during the day, -125 ̊ C at night. Orbit is an average of 227,939,100 km. Radius is an average of 3396 km.

9. Asteroid Belt Asteroid: Solid rock masses floating in space Asteroid Belt: Zone of multiple asteroids between Mars and Jupiter No one asteroid dominates the orbital zone, Ceres is the biggest known asteroid in the belt.

10. The Jovian Planets The Jovian Planets are: Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune They are all built the same way: 1.a solid rock core 2.a liquid mantle 3.an outer gas layer (what you are looking at is clouds of gas, not the surface of the planet) 4.a ring system 5.give off more heat than they receive from the Sun.

12. Jupiter: 5th Takes 11.9 years to orbit the sun Surface is made of alternating light/dark bands of gas, with the light rising and the dark falling. Jupiter’s orbit is an average of 778,547,200 km. Jupiter’s radius is an average of 71,492 km.

13. Saturn: 6th Takes 29.7 years to orbit the sun. Known for its rings, which are made of rock and ice. Saturn’s orbit is an average of 1,433,449,370 km. Saturn’s average radius is 60,268 km.

14. Uranus: 7th It takes 84 years to orbit the sun. -200 ̊ C everywhere on the planet. Uranus’s average orbit is 2,876,679,082 km. Uranus’s average radius is 25,559 km. Its magnetic field is off its axis, and its south pole is pointed directly at the sun.

15. Neptune: 8 th The farthest planet, taking 165 years to orbit the sun. It gives off 2.7 times more heat than it receives. Fastest wind in the solar system, 2200 km / hr Neptune’s average orbit is 4,503,443,661 km. Neptune’s average radius is 24,764 km.

16. The sun is set at one foci of the ellipse and empty space is at the other. Point of orbit furthest from the Sun is called the aphelion. Point of orbit closest to the Sun is called the perihelion. Speed of any orbiting body will change, fastest at the perihelion and slowest at the aphelion. Orbits All orbits are elliptical, NOT circular.

17. Kepler’s Laws Planetary Motion 1 st The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci. 2 nd A line joining a planet and the Sun will sweep out equal areas in equal intervals of time. 3 rd The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

18. Kuiper Belt Kuiper Belt: Area of objects from about 30 AU (the orbit of Neptune) to 50 AU from the sun. Characteristics: Smaller icy objects (water, methane, & ammonia). No object is the dominant mass of the orbit. Hard to see and identify because of their size and the amount of light. Examples: Pluto, Charon (Pluto's “moon”), Haumea, Makemake, UB313, and perhaps some short period comets.

19. Oort Cloud Outer most area of our solar system 50,000AU to 100,000AU distance from the sun. Characteristics: An inner disk-shaped cloud of icy objects and an outer, spherical cloud. Example: Sedna, Halley’s Comet, other long period comets.

20. Meteors, Meteoroids, & Meteorites Meteoroids : any rock or ice fragment traveling in space. Meteor: is the light made when a meteoroid passes through our atmosphere. Meteorite is any piece of a meteoroid that survives its trip through the atmosphere and hits our surface.

21. Comets A Comet is a mass of rock, ice, dust, and frozen gas that orbits the Sun. It usually has a highly elliptical orbit. When the comet gets close to the Sun, the frozen gas melts and boils, producing the appearance of a “tail” The tail is caused by solar wind flying past the body of the comet. (This means the comet can fly through space tail-first).