1. The Solar System

2. Mercury Mercury fully rotates (One day) once every 58.646 Earth days Mercury Orbits the sun faster than any other planet A full orbit around the sun (one year) is about 88 Earth days Mercury has no atmosphere During daytime surface temperatures can reach 430 degrees Celsius During nighttime surface temperatures can drop to -170 degrees Celsius It is the solar system’s smallest planet The surface is heavily cratered from meteor and comet impacts

3. Venus Often known as Earth’s “sister” planet Venus's atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide Venus orbits the sun (one year) once every 225 earth days Venus rotates on it’s axis (one day) once every 117 earth days About 90 percent of the surface of Venus is recently hardened lava More than a thousand volcanoes or volcanic centers all over the planet Rivers of lava flow over the surface due to high volcanic activity From Earth Venus appears to be the brightest planet in the sky

4. Earth The only planet known to support life Rotates on it’s axis (one day) every 24 hours Orbits the sun once (one year) about every 365 days Has a diameter of 12 756 kilometres About 70% of the planet is covered by water Temperatures go from about -88 degrees Celsius to 58 degrees Celsius Earth has just one moon

5. Mars Iron in the soil gives reddish-brown colour Mars rotates on its axis (one day) once every 24 hours, 37 minutes Mars orbits the sun (one year) once every 687 days Has a diameter of about 6795 kilometers, so about half of Earth Known for giant dust storms on the surface Scientists are currently trying to find large sources of water under the surface, so that Mars may support life Home to the largest volcanic mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons Two moons, Deimos and Phobos

6. Jupiter The largest planet in the solar system (diameter of 142 984 kilometers) Jupiter rotates on its axis (one day) once every 9 hours, 56 minutes Jupiter orbits the sun (one year) once every 4 331 days Jupiter is home to at least 49 known moons of various sizes The many stripes and streaks are storm systems that can rage for years The Great Red Spot is a giant spinning storm, and has been observed for more than 300 years Jupiter is a gas giant, with an atmosphere of mostly Hydrogen and Helium Jupiter’s solid core of ice-rock at the center is about the size of Earth Jupiter has rings beneath the surface of gas, formed mostly by debris

7. Saturn Best known for its highly visible rings of mostly ice a gas giant like Jupiter, Saturn is made up of hydrogen and helium Has a diameter of about 230 537 kilometers Rotates on its axis (one day) every 10 hours, 39 minutes Orbits the sun (one year) once every 10 759 days Fast winds and heat storms in the upper atmosphere create bands and stripes Winds can (500 meters) per second (Fastest on Earth is about 110 meters a second)

8. Uranus Uranus, with no solid surface, is one of the gas giant planets Uranus gets its blue-green color from methane gas in the atmosphere Uranus's rotation axis is nearly horizontal; meaning it rotates sideways, as if it were tipped over There are 11 rings present around the gas giant Rotates on its axis (one day) once every 17 hours, 15 minutes Orbits the sun (one year) once every 30 867 days The average surface temperature is - 216 degrees celsius

9. Neptune It is invisible to the naked eye because of its extreme distance from Earth Uranus's blue-green color is also the result of atmospheric methane Neptune's winds are three times stronger than Jupiter's and nine times stronger than Earth's This hurricane-like Great Dark Spot is large enough to contain the entire Earth Neptune has 13 known moons, and six rings Neptune rotates on its axis (one day) every 16 hours, 7 minutes Orbits the sun (one year) once every 60 190 days

10. Pluto No longer considered a planet, Pluto is now just a dwarf planet Pluto is about 30% smaller than Earth’s moon Rotates on its axis (one day) once every 153 hours, 18 minutes Orbits the sun (one year) once every 90 553 days Very stable temperature, ranging from -233 to -223 degrees Celsius The dwarf planet is a whopping 5.9 BILLION kilometers from the sun Was known as the ninth full planet until 2006

11. The Sun All planets in our solar system orbit the sun! Has a diameter of about 1.4 million kilometers; it could hold 109 planet Earths across its surface Deep in the sun's core, nuclear fusion reactions convert hydrogen to helium, which generates energy It is already about 4.5 billion years old and has used up nearly half of the hydrogen in its core Surface temperature of about 5 538 degrees celsius Rotates on it’s axis (one day) once every 609 hours, 7 minutes

12. Earth’s Moon Completely orbits earth every 27 days, 7 hours The moon is the fifth largest moon in the solar system The moon has a quarter the diameter of Earth and 1 ⁄ 81 its mass It is in synchronous rotation with Earth, always showing the same side! The Moon's gravitational pull produces the Earth’s ocean tides Marked by many craters from impacts caused by asteriods and meteors The only solar body which man has travelled to as of this day

13. Bibliography http://science.nationalgeographic.com/scienc e/space/solar-system http://science.nationalgeographic.com/scienc e/space/solar-system www.wikipedia.org