OUR SOLAR SYSTEM!

Rotation and Revolution

Period of Rotation- the time it takes and

object to spin once (1 day)

Period of Revolution- the time it takes to

go around once (1 year)

The Planets!

Mercury

Not much larger then our moon

Fastest revolving planet

Closest to the sun

Very thin atmosphere

Daytime temperatures reach 430oC (806oF)

At night temperatures drop to

-170oC (-274oF)

Venus

Shines like a star due to the reflection of the sun

Atmosphere very thick

Air pressure would crush us

Causes huge greenhouse effect

Temperature is about 460oC (860oF)

Retrograde Rotation: rotates from east to west

Day longer then year

EARTH!

Mars

Red planet

rust-iron oxide (Fe2O)

Largest volcanoes- Olympus Mans

NASA have sent many spacecrafts there

2 moons

Asteroid Belt

100,000s of boulder to mountain sized

rocks!

Located between Mars and Jupiter

Jupiter

Gas Giant

300 times the size of Earth

Red spot is an ongoing hurricane like

storm

Fastest rotation (over twice as fast as

Earth!)

52 moons!

Saturn

Gas Giant

Less dense then water!

Has HUNDREDS of rings made of ice and

rocks

30 moons

Uranus

Gas Giant

4 times as big as Earth

Bluish color due to methane in its

atmosphere

Tilted on its side

21 moons

Neptune

Gas Giant

Atmosphere contains visible clouds

Found on paper mathematically before

found with a telescope!

11 moons

Pluto (kind of…)

Known now as a dwarf planet or KBO

(Kuiper Belt Object)

Too small to be a planet (less then 2/3 the

size of the Earth’s moon)