BRANDON HOUSTON

The Solar System

Overview

The Sun

The Planets

Moons

Mercury

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun.Mercury orbits at 29 miles per second.Temperatures range from 700 degrees to

–300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun.Temperature is about 900 degrees

Fahrenheit.Venus spins backwards on its axis.

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun.Earth has oceans of water, and an

oxygen-rich atmosphere.Earth has intelligent life.The distance from the surface to the

center of the Earth is about 2,000 miles.

Our Home Planet

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.Mars is smaller and colder than Earth.Temperatures range from 30 degrees to –

220 degrees Fahrenheit.

Our Nearest Neighbor

Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun.Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar

system.Jupiter’s fast rotation causes the clouds

to form bands.Big red spot in southern hemisphere is a

hurricane-like storm.It takes 100 Earths to make 1 Jupiter.

The planet Jupiter's four largest moons are called the Galilean satellites, after Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who observed them in 1610.

These large moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Ten of the Moons of Jupiter:

1. Metis

2. Adrastea

3. Amalthea

4. Thebe

5. Io

6. Europa

7. Ganymede

8. Callisto

9. Themisto

10. Leda

The German astronomer Simon Marius claimed to have seen the moons around the same time, but he did not publish his observations and so Galileo is given the credit for their discovery.

Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun.Saturn is known as the “ringed” planet.Rings are made of ice and rock.Winds at the equator reach speeds of

1,100 miles per hour.

Saturn cannot support life.

Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun.

Uranus is the third largest planet in the solar system.

Named after the father of Saturn in Roman mythology.

Summers and winters on Uranus last 42 years.

Neptune

Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun.

Neptune is the fourth-largest planet in the solar system.

Neptune is sometimes further from the Sun than Pluto.

Pluto

Pluto is the ninth planet from the Sun.Pluto is smaller than the Earth’s moon.Pluto is the smallest planet.Pluto has an elliptical orbit.

P l a n e tD i s t a n c e f r o m S u n

i n M i l l i o n k m

Mercury 57.9

Venus 108.2

Earth 149.6

Mars 227.8

J upiter 778

Saturn 1,427.00

Uranus 2,870.00

Neptune 4,500.00

Pluto 5,900.00

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Distance from Sun in Million km

Distance from Sun in Million km

ASTRONOMY CLASS LECTURE

Sun Facts

What is the Sun?

Is a ball of hot gases. Is 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1.5% carbon,

nitrogen, and oxygen, and 0.5% all other elements.

The Sun's temperature is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface and 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the center.

The Sun Distances

The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is 93,000,000 miles. It takes light eight and a half minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth.

The diameter of the Sun is 870,000 miles, 109 times larger than the Earth's. Its volume is big enough to hold over 1 million Earths.

Looking at the sun?

DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN, EVEN WITH DARK OR SMOKED GLASSES.

DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITH BINOCULARS OR SMALL TELESCOPES.

YOU CAN DAMAGE YOUR EYES!

NEVER LOOKED AT THE SUN DIRECTLY

Studying the Sun

Scientists study the sun with instruments on the Ulysses spacecraft.

Ulysses is a joint effort of NASA and the European Space Agency.

Ulysses was launched in October 1990. It is the first spacecraft to orbit the Sun's

North and South poles.