THE SOLAR SYSTEM

OVERVIEW

The Solar System consists of

• The Sun is the star of the system

• Eight planets, circling around the Sun

• Moons

• Asteroids

• Meteorites

• Comets

• Our Solar System is

located about 2/3

of the way out from

the galaxy’s center. •The Sun is the only

star in the SOLAR

SYSTEM, but it is one

of over 100 billion

stars in our galaxy,

the Milky Way.

OUR PLACE IN THE GALAXY

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

THE PLANETS

The path each planet travels around the

Sun is called orbit.

The planets are kept in their orbits due to the

pulling force of the Sun’s gravity.

The time a planet makes one trip around

the Sun is called a Year.

Each planet spins around itself and around

the Sun. The face of the planet towards the

Sun, receives the light, the other is in the dark

The planets have Night and Day.

THE MOONS

• Moons are ‘natural satellites’

• Moons orbit around a planet

• The moon stays in its orbit due to the gravitational pull of the planet

• Our moon has a circular orbit

• We see the moon because it reflects the Sun’s light

ASTEROIDS, METEORITE AND COMETS

• Asteroids - minor planets found in their thousands between Mars and Jupiter

• Meteorites - probably fragments of asteroids that broke up

• Comets - These are lumps of ‘dirty ice’ a few km across that travel close and far around the Sun. As they near the Sun they warm up. This causes a tail of dust and cloud.

THE SUN

The sun is a big ball of

hot gases, mainly

hydrogen and helium.

The gases are

converted into energy

in the Sun's center and

is released into the

Solar System as heat

and light.

Sunspots are darker, cooler areas on the

surface of the Sun.

THE SUNSPOTS

MERCURY

• The smallest planet, closest to the Sun

• Dry and rocky, very hot days and very cold nights

• Rotates slowly – the day 176 Earth days, the night 176 Earth nights

• One Mercury-year is a quarter Earth-year

• Mercury is very difficult to be spotted with the naked eye

• Mercury has no moons

• Mercury has no atmosphere

• Named after the God of Speed

MERCURY CROSSING THE SUN

VENUS

• Venus is the second nearest to the Sun

• Is a medium sized planet, almost the same size as Earth.

• Thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide traps the Sun‘s heat inside.

• The rain is sulphuric acid and the presure on the surface 90 times than on Earth.

• Venus is very well visible to the naked eye, always close to the sun before sunrise or after sunset

• Venus has no moons

EARTH

• Our planet, the only planet were life, as we know it, is possible.

• Medium sized planet, a bit larger than Venus, third from the Sun.

• Has atmosphere, and deep underground is magma - melted rock. Has active volcanos and is covered 75% with water

• The Earth has one natural satelite – the Moon

EARTHRISE FROM APOLLO 8

MARS

• It is a small size planet, half as large as Earth, the fourth from the Sun.

• Mars is well visible to the naked eye, redish because of the rusted iron in the soil.

• Mars has canyons, volcanos, dust storms, fog, polar caps and craters.

• The carbon dioxide atmosphere is too thin to keep the heat in, which makes it really cold on the surface.

• Mars has two small, potato shaped, moons Phobos and Deimos

PHOBOS AND DEIMOS

• Phobos and Deimos are Mars‘s companions. Phobos means “fear“, Deimos means “panic“. Mars itself has been named for the Roman God of War.

• They are quite small (<15km) and look like two potatoes.

THE JOVIAN PLANETS

JUPITERIs the largest planet of the

Solar System, a huge ball of gases.

It almost became a star but it didn‘t get hot enough.

Jupiter is well visible to the naked eye

The Great Red Spot on its surface is a giant storm as wide as three Earths

It has small ring around

Jupiter has 63 moons!

JUPITER‘S GALILEAN MOONS

• Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are the biggest moons of Jupiter. They can be seen with small telescopes or even with binoculars.

SATURN

• It is the second-largest planet of the Solar System, only a bit smaller than Jupiter and very similar.

• Saturn‘s atmoshpere is made of hydrogen

• Saturn is well visible to the naked eye and the famous rings can be seen with small telescopes

• Saturn has at least 34 moons! The most famous moon is Titan.

URANUS – THE OUTER PLANETS• It is huge, cold, blue-green

planet of hydrogene and helium.gas, surounded by many black rings and icy moons.

• Because it spins tilted on the orbit, the nights may last more than 40 years.

• It is quite far away but still can be spotted with small telescopes

• Like Saturn, Uranus has a system of rings

NEPTUNE

• it is medium sized planet of the Solar System, only a little bit smaller than Uranus

• it is quite far away but still can be spotted with small telescopes

• Neptune has four rings and at least 13 moons

PLUTO THE DWARF PLANET

A dwarf planet orbits the sun

just like other planets, but it is

smaller. A dwarf planet is so

small it cannot clear other

objects out of its path.

Pluto is in a region called the

Kuiper (KY-per) Belt. Thousands

of small, icy objects like Pluto

are in the Kuiper Belt.

• Pluto is very cold, made out of rock and ice and has five moons. Its largest moon is named Charon. Charon is about half the size of Pluto.

• In 2015, the Pluto is due to be visited by a spacecraft for the first time - the New Horizons probe.

THE DWARF PLANETS

The speed of light is the fastest speed that

could EVER be achieved.

The speed of light is 300,000 km per SECOND!!

Light takes 2 seconds to reach the Earth from

the Moon

Light takes it 8 minutes to reach the Earth from

the Sun

SPEED IN UNIVERSE

If you were in a spaceship that travelled at

the speed of light and you started a journey

from the Sun it would take:

3 minutes to reach Mercury,

5 minutes to reach Venus,

8 minutes to reach the Earth,

51/2 hours to reach Pluto,

4 years to reach the next star,

5000 years to reach the edge of the galaxy,

SPEED FACTS

Real rockets don’t travel at the speed of

light, they travel MUCH slower.

The Apollo missions took 4 days to reach

the Moon - at the speed of light it would

have taken 2 seconds!!

These rockets were travelling roughly

200,000 times slower than light.

At this speed it would take 125 YEARS to

get to Pluto!

SPEED FACTS

MASS AND WEIGHT

Mass is the amount of matter in an object and

is measured in kilograms.

Mass has the same value anywhere in the

Universe, including outer space.

Weight is a force and is caused by the pull of

gravity acting on a mass. Like other forces,

weight is measured in newtons and has both

magnitude and direction.

Weight has different values depending on

where the object is in the Universe.

SAME MASS DIFFERENT WEIGHT

Gravity is the force that attracts

objects with mass towards each

other.

The bigger the mass of the

object, the stronger the force of

gravity.

For example, an apple will have

the same mass on Earth as on

the Moon, but its weight will be

different.

The Earth has a bigger mass than

the Moon and so exerts a

stronger gravitational pull on the

apple.

THE SKY TONIGHT• The Red Planet puts on its best show in more than six years in April.

TOTAL MOON ECLIPSE APRIL 15TH

• 15 April - Total lunar eclipse, visible for observers in North and Central America and western South America. The total eclipse begins at 7:07 UT, peaks at 7:46 UT, and ends at 8:25 UT. This is the first total lunar eclipse visible in North America since 2011.

During a lunar eclipse, the full Moon passes into Earth’s shadow and appears

to grow dark over several hours. Some sunlight refracts and reddens as it

passes through the Earth’s atmosphere and casts a copper-color onto the

Moon’s visible surface.

Weather permitting, this event is visible without optics, although the view is enhanced with binoculars or small scope at low magnification.

www.worldofteaching.com

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/

http://www.astronomy.com/observing/sky-events/2014/04/explore-mars-this-month

http://oneminuteastronomer.com/sky-this-month/#sthash.ZtiWvx0y.dpuf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOF0bRBFJ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_lL6I3OaA

RESOURCES