Our solar system

By Ginny (P7)
The sun is the centre of our solar system
 What force holds a planet in
orbit around the sun?

• Gravity. The force by which two masses

attract each other.

• FORMULA - gravitational force is

proportional to the product of their masses
and inversely proportional to the square of
the distance between them.

Source: http:/
/wiki.answers.com/
 NASA

• NASA means, National Aeronautics

and Space Administration: an
independent agency of the United States
government responsible for aviation and
spaceflight.
 How Old Is The Solar System
• Our solar system might be even older than we
originally thought, by as much as 2 million years.

• A group of scientists analyzed lead isotopes within a

3.2-pound meteorite found in the Moroccan desert in
2004 and found evidence that suggests the mineral
was formed 4.56 billion years ago, making the
meteorite the oldest object ever found.

• This finding is between 300,000 and 1.9 million years

older than previous estimates.!!!
All the planets in our solar system
are roughly spherical.
• The earth takes 1
year (365 days) to
orbit the sun.

• The earth‘s moon

takes 28 days to
orbit the earth.
 Why
is
there
day
and
night
?

When the Earth rotates sometimes we face the sun causing day
and sometimes we face away from the sun causing night.
 The gravitational pull on the our moon
Luna, is weaker than the gravitational
pull on earth
The planets and their moons
Mercury
 Mercury
• Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the 2nd smallest.
• Because Mercury is soo close to the sun it’s evolution took a slightly different course than that of the other planets.
• As the Sun formed, it pushed much of the lighter gas and dust out of the inner Solar System, leaving behind only heavier
elements.
• As a result, Mercury is essentially a large metal ball of iron with a very thin silicate crust.
• Mercury is just a little bit larger than Earth's moon.
• The surface of Mercury that faces the Sun can reach about 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
• On the other hand, the temperature on the nighttime side can plummet to almost -300 degrees Fahrenheit.
• This is because Mercury has little to no atmosphere to help regulate temperature.
Because of its close location to the Sun, the planet Mercury has become tidally locked to the Sun, or nearly so.
• The tidal forces of the Sun have over ions of time slowed down the rotation of Mercury to match its revolution around the
Sun.
• The result is that Mercury rotates very slowly.
• One day on Mercury is about 58-1/2 Earth days long.
• But while Mercury's days are very long, its revolution around the Sun is rather fast.
• Mercury can complete one orbit around the Sun in only 88 Earth days.
• That's just about 3 months here on Earth
Venus
 Venus
• In the early days of Venus' 4 billion year long life, it would have appeared almost a twin
to earth.
• However, over a period of a few million years, forces on Venus caused it to take a very
different course than the Earth.
• Owing to that it is closer to the Sun, Venus' temperature should have been only slightly
warmer than that of the Earth.
• That single fact has caused an unstoppable chain of events that doomed Venus to its
fiery existence.
• But as the planet warmed, the water evaporated.
• The increase in water vapour caused the temperature to rise further, which caused
more water to evaporate, causing the temperature to climb still further.

• (Water vapour is a very effective greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gas soaks up hot air and prevents it
from escaping into space).

• Today it is likely that all of Venus' water has evaporated into the atmosphere.

• This atmosphere effectively traps the Sun's energy causing the surface to burn much
hotter than it naturally would.

• The temperatures on Venus can reach almost 482 degrees Celsius.

 Did you know?

• If you somehow found a way to survive the scorching

heat found on the surface of Venus, you would quickly
notice something strange about the days.

• Aside from the fact that Venus rotates very slowly so

that a day on Venus lasts more than 100 Earth days,
Venus also rotates in the opposite direction as almost all
the other planets.

• Instead of the Sun rising in the east and setting in the

west, the Sun on Venus would appear to rise in the west
and set in the east
Earth
 We should protect and
treasure the earth!!!
NOT destroy and
damage it!!!!

Earth

Earth is the only

known planet with O2,
water and abundant
plants and animals!!!
 Luna

•Total Lunar Eclipse - Winter Solstice 21 Dec 2010 Image source: JM Brannigan
 Luna
• Luna is the Earths’ only moon.
• Some planets have more moons because
of their mass.
• Since they are bigger and more massive.
• They pull much more stuff around them to
orbit.
• That is why Earth does not have more
moons
Mars
 Mars
• Mars has two moons.

• You may sometimes hear Mars referred to as the "Red Planet.“

• This is because the surface of Mars is red.

• If you stood on the surface of Mars, you would see red dirt and rocks everywhere.

• Mars has mild temperament that is more like the Earth's than any of the other planets.

• Evidence suggests that Mars once had rivers, streams, lakes, and even an ocean.

• Before space investigation, Mars was considered the most likely candidate for harbouring extraterrestrial
life.

• As Mars' atmosphere slowly depleted into outer space, the surface water began to permanently
evaporate.

• Today the only water on Mars in either frozen in the polar caps or underground.
• Phobos is only about 3000
miles above the Martian
surface and orbits in a little
over 7 hours (thus it makes
more than 3 orbits in a
single Martian day).

•Deimos is a little further out

than Phobos and orbits in
about 30 hours.
Asteroids
 Asteroids
• Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects
too small to be considered planets.

• They are sometimes called minor planets.

Jupiter
 Jupiter
• Although Jupiter is 318 times the mass of the
Earth, it is not very dense: it is just slightly more
dense than water, Jupiter is the largest planet in
the solar system.

• Jupiter is almost 11 times the size of Earth.

• Jupiter is a swirling ball of clouds arranged in

rotating storms and in complex bands.
 Jupiter has An amazing 63
known moons!

• I can’t show you them all!!

• It‘s 4 largest moons are called the Galilean

satellites, after Italian astronomer Galileo
Galilei.

• These large moons, are named - Io,

Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

• Each are distinctive worlds.

Saturn
 Saturn
• Saturn is the least dense planet in our Solar System.

• It is made up of mostly hydrogen and helium, which are the two lightest elements in the universe and
thus make Saturn the lightest planet that we know of.

• Interestingly, it is believed Saturn would actually be able to float in water because the hydrogen and
helium that make up the planet are so lightweight.

• Because Saturn is such a lightweight planet and it spins so fast, Saturn is not perfectly round like
most of the other planets. Like Jupiter, Saturn is wider in the middle and more narrow near its top and
bottom.

• Saturn is not the only planet with rings.

• Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings.

• The rings are amazingly thin.

• If you turned the rings on their side, they would be able to fit between the goal posts on a football
field!!

• The rings are not solid but rather are made up of particles of ice, dust and rocks.

• The rings are held in place around Saturn by the moons that also orbit this large planet.

• The gravity of these moons also cause the gaps that are seen in between the rings.
Saturn has thirty-three moons, here are some of them.
Uranus
 Uranus
• Uranus orbits the Sun once every 84 Earth years and it rotates about its axis once every 17
hours 14 minutes.
•
Unlike all the other planets and most of the moons in our Solar System, Uranus spins on its
side.

• A recent theory is that the extreme tilt of Uranus' axis may have been caused by a large
moon that was slowly pulled away from the planet by another large planet long ago when our
Solar System was still new.

• It is thought that the gravitational pull of this moon moving away from Uranus may have
caused it to tilt on its side.

• The thick atmosphere of Uranus is made up of methane, hydrogen and helium.

• Uranus is an extremely cold planet, one of its very common names is "ice giant.“.

• Because of the tremendous planetary pressure of Uranus, there could possibly be trillions of
large diamonds in or on the surface of this planet.

• Scientists also believe that on the surface of Uranus there may be a huge ocean. And,
interestingly, it is thought that the temperature of this ocean may be extremely hot, maybe
even as hot as 2760 degrees Celsius.
• Uranus, the seventh planet of the Solar System, has 27
known moons, 22 of which are quite small; and all of
which are named after characters from the works of
William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

• The five largest moons of Uranus are Titania, Oberon,

Umbriel, Ariel, and Miranda
In order, moving out from the planet, they are:

• Miranda
• Ariel
• Umbriel
• Titania
• Oberon
Neptune
 Neptune
• If Neptune were hollow, it could contain nearly 60 Earths.
• Neptune orbits the Sun every 165 years.
• A day on Neptune is 16 hours and 6.7 minutes. The first two thirds of
Neptune are composed of a mixture of molten rock, water, liquid
ammonia and methane.
• The outer third is a mixture of heated gases comprised of hydrogen,
helium, water and methane.
• Methane gives Neptune its blue cloud colour.
• Neptune has eleven moons.
• For many, centuries people did not know that this planet even existed.
• It was discovered by Johann Galle and Heinrich D'Arrest in 1846.
Here's a list of all known moons
of Neptune.

• Naiad
• Thalassa
• Despina
• Galatea
• Larissa
• Proteus
• Triton
• Nereid
• Halimede
• Sao
• Laomedeia
• Psamathe
• Neso
 • Triton is
Neptune's
largest moon.

Triton
Psamathe

• Neptune's smallest
moon is Psamathe (as
of 2010).
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Pluto
 What we know about Pluto!
• Pluto is a Dwarf Planet.
• It once was the 9th Planet.
• farthest from the sun
• Pluto is freeeezing cold.
• Has not been visited by NASA.
• Pluto takes 249 earth years to once round the sun.
• Pluto has one moon called Charon .
• Pluto was the only planet to be named by a kid.

(After the planet was discovered in 1930, an 11-year-old girl who lived in Oxford,
England, by the name of Venetia Burney, suggested that this new planet needed to
be named after the Roman god of the underworld. Venetia's grandfather sent this
suggestion to the Lowell Observatory and the name was accepted.)
 Reference
• http://www.google.co.uk
• http://www.universetoday.com/71878/our-solar-system-now-2-million-years-older/
• http://nineplanets.org
• http://www.alexanderandthings.com/Moon%20Phase%20Page.htm
• http://velonews.competitor.com/files/2010/03/thesun.jpg
• http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mars.htm
• http://www.enotes.com/science-fact-finder/space/how-long-do-planets-take-go-
around-sun
• http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/astronomy-facts/solar-
system/saturn
• http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/Moon_NPole.jpg
• http://www.leetsoftware.com/screenshots/nature3.jpg
• http://mrscjacksonsclass.com/petsall.jpg
• http://www.kidsastronomy.com
• http://www.crimsonrose.co.uk/images/Tradtional%20basket.jpg
• http://laluminata.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/lipica_horses_slovenia_photo_gov.jpg
Thank you