Planet Highlights

Mercury

Mercury

Mercury

Highest Density
Thinnest Atmosphere
Highest Temperature and
Greatest Temperature Range
Messenger will fly by in 2011
Surface is similar to the moon,
very cratered, old

Venus

Venus
Its day is longer than its year
Still volcanically active and
covered with large lava flows
It has no moons
Atmosphere is mostly Carbon
Dioxide, which causes a large
Greenhouse Effect, raising its
temperature

Venus: Earths Twin

Similar in size
Similar density
Young, volcanically active
surface
Probably used to have water
that boiled away

Mars

Exploration of Mars
Has been explored more than any
other planet:
Mariner 4 visited for the first time in
1965
Landers include Mars 2, Viking,
Pathfinder, Spirit, and Opportunity
3 orbiters are currently in orbit
We have learned a lot about the surface of
Mars as a result

Surface of Mars
Largest Mountain/Volcano in Solar
System: Olympus Mons

Surface of Mars
Rocky
Evidence of erosion
possibly by liquid
water: Dry river
beds and canyons
Volcanoes and lava
flows
Red Planet

Largest Canyon in solar

system
Would
stretch
from New
York to
Los
Angeles
on earth

Moons of Mars
2 Moons
Phobos

Deimos

Other Mars Facts

Very thin atmosphere
Permanent polar ice caps made of
water and carbon dioxide

Asteroid Belt
The region between Mars and Jupiter
contains irregularly shaped rocky
objects called asteroids.

Asteroids
Asteroids are probably left over
material from a planet that never
formed.
They range in size from 1000 km to
the size of a pebble.
There are 26 large ones and
millions of smaller ones, although
most of the asteroid belt is empty
space.

Jupiter
Gas Giant: No solid surface, its gases
just get more dense.
Under the gases is a liquid metallic core
(at high temperatures and pressures the
hydrogen becomes a liquid with ionized
protons and electrons that conduct
electricity like a metal)
Made mostly of Hydrogen and Helium
Rocky core 10-15 times the mass of
earth

Jupiter
Lots of
images from
Hubble
Flyby in 1973
by Pioneer,
Voyager
Orbited for 8
years by
Galileo

Jupiter Facts
Has the Great Red Spot- giant storm
in its gases
Has faint rings
Has 63 moons, 4 very large ones
Was hit by a comet in 1994
So big all of the other planets would
fit inside it (diameter is 11 times that
of earth)

Saturn
Gas Giant containing a gas surface
of mostly Hydrogen and Helium, a
liquid hydrogen metal outer core,
and a rocky inner core
Has large, prominent rings with
spaces between them
Cassini is orbiting since 2004
Voyager and Pioneer visited
34 moons

Saturn
Saturn
has such
a low
density it
would
float in
water!

Titan- Saturns Moon

Larger than Mercury and Pluto
Second largest moon in solar
system
Has a planet-like atmosphere
Has places on it that look like
liquid-filled lakes (probably not
water)

Titan
We sent Cassini THROUGH
Saturns rings to orbit Titan.
Then we dropped Huygens
onto the surface of Titan. It
landed with the help of 3
parachutes to slow it down
from 12,000 mph
Found mud, rock, and liquid

Uranus
Gas Giant: Its atmosphere has
Hydrogen and Helium, but its
interior is rocky and icy.
Only visited once by Voyager
Rotates on its side with its south
pole facing the sun
11 rings
27 moons

Uranus

Neptune
Sometimes its orbit crosses that of
Pluto, making it farther away from
the sun than Pluto
Visited only once by Voyager
Gas Giant with a Gas surface of
hydrogen and helium, and then a
rocky, icy core
13 Moons and faint rings

Neptune

Pluto
Smaller than 7 moons in the solar
system and is now a dwarf planet
Very eccentric orbit, so it crosses
with Neptune
New Horizons, launched in 2006,
should flyby in 2015
3 moons, one almost as big as Pluto;
Double Planet

Pluto

Kuiper Belt
Region beyond Neptune with
small, icy objects that are the
source of comets
Sedna and other small planetoids
are located here