Our Solar System

Our Solar System – The Sun and the objects that orbit it:

Our Solar System – The Sun and the objects that orbit it:

• 8 Planets and their moons

Our Solar System – The Sun and the objects that orbit it:

• 8 Planets and their moons• Dwarf planets

Our Solar System – The Sun and the objects that orbit it:

• 8 Planets and their moons• Dwarf planets• Asteroids and Comets

The Planets

Mercury:Closest to the SunOrbits the Sun in 88 daysTemperatures from -280 F to 800 F (!)No Moons

Venus:Brightest object in our sky, after our own MoonOrbits the Sun in 225 daysAverage Temperature of 863F

Earth:Orbits the Sun in ? daysTemperatures from ? To ?Any Moons?

Mars:Orbits the Sun in 687 daysTemperatures from -225F to just 95FTwo Moons – Phobos and Deimos

We’ve been to Mars! (Or our robots have.) This is Curiosity – One of NASA’s greatest successes.

The Gas Giants: Jupiter and Saturn

The Gas Giants: Jupiter and Saturn:Composed mostly of gas - Probably don’t have a solid surface

The Gas Giants: Jupiter and Saturn:Composed mostly of gas - Probably don’t have a solid surfaceMuch longer orbits, 4 thousand and 11 thousand days.

The Gas Giants: Jupiter and Saturn:Composed mostly of gas - Probably don’t have a solid surfaceMuch longer orbits, 4 thousand and 11 thousand days.The two biggest planets around our Sun.More than 60 moons each.

The Ice Giants: Uranus and Neptune

The Ice Giants: Uranus and NeptuneComposed mostly of frozen Oxygen, Carbon, Nitrogen and Sulfur

The Ice Giants: Uranus and NeptuneUranus takes 30,000 days to travel around the Sun, has 27 moons. It’s the coldest planet, at -371 F

The Ice Giants: Uranus and NeptuneNeptune’s orbit around the Sun is 60,190 days. It’s the farthest out. It’s -360 F – and has 14 Moons.

Why do the planets orbit the Sun?

Gravity!

GravityAny object with mass (substance) causes space to bend around it. Drawing other objects closer.

This is also how the Sun and planets formed. Gravity drew gasses together in space, until they collapsed into the spherical bodies they are today.

To learn more:http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

This is an amazing resource to follow what we’re learning about space right now.

Like the Voyager Mission: Our space program launched a probe called Voyager in 1977…

And last year, Voyager 1 became the first object from Earth to leave our Solar System – it is no longer affected by the Sun’s gravity, or magneticm at all. It’s an exciting time to follow what we learn from that.