THE PLANETSBy Micah Segura-Mitchell

JUPITER

Named after the Roman “King of Gods”

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT JUPITER:•More than 1300 Earths could fit inside of Jupiter•Surrounding the core of Jupiter•Jupiter has a moon larger than Mercury

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION:•90% Hydrogen•10% Helium

JUPITER

Major Features Big red Spot, which is a big

storm, that’s been active for over 400 years

Major rings that are made mainly of dust

Human Technology Sent:We’ve sent eight probes since 1973 to 2011

MARS

Named after the Roman “God of War. “ •“Olympus Mons” is a shield volcano

on Mars that is 14 miles high•One of Mar’s moons will eventually crash into Mars•Mars is believed to have water underneath it’s surface in the form of ice

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MARS

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION:•Carbon Dioxide: 95.32%•Nitrogen: 2.7%•Argon: 1.6%•Oxygen: .13%•Carbon Monoxide: .08%

MARS

Major Feature: Red Appearance, due to rust. Huge Shield Volcano 14 miles

high (22km) Large Canyons that can get up to

7 km deep. Polar Caps made of dry ice Human Technology

sent to Mars:We have successfully had 4 rovers land on the surface of mars

MERCURY

Named after the Roman “Messenger of the Gods”

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MERCURY:•Only takes 88 earth days for mercury to orbit the sun•The suns rays are seven times stronger on mercury than they are on Earth•Mercury’s sky is always black due to lack of atmosphere

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION:Mercury has almost no atmosphere, with very small traces of:•Hydrogen•Oxygen•Sodium•Potassium•Argon

MERCURY

Major Features:

Many Craters Visible Fault

lines Large Plains

Human Technology Sent:A robotic NASA spacecraft that orbits the planet named, MESSENGER.

NEPTUNE

Named after the Roman “God of The Sea”

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT NEPTUNE:•Neptune suffers the most violent weather in the solar system•Neptune can get wind’s 10 times fasters than hurricanes•Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION:•Molecular Hydrogen: 80%•Helium: 19%•Methane: 1.5%•Hydrogen Deuteride and Ethane: .5%

NEPTUNE

Major Features of Neptune:

Great Dark Spot, a depression surrounded by high cirrus clouds

Very faint narrow rings on the planet

Human Technology Sent:•One probe was sent to Neptune which got to it in August 1989, after 12 years of traveling

SATURN

Named after the Roman “God of Agriculture”

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SATURN:•Saturn could potentially float in water•A year on Saturn is 10,759 Earth days•Approximately 750 Earths could fit inside of Saturn

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION:•Helium•Hydrogen

SATURN

Major Features of Saturn

A large ring circling Saturn made of dust, rock, and ice.

Human Technology Sent:Three probes have been sent past Saturn, with one in orbit around Saturn

VENUS

Named after the Roman “God of Love”

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT VENUS:•There are over 1600 volcanoes on Venus•A day on Venus lasts 243 Earth Days•Venus and Earth are nearly equal in size

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION:•Carbon Dioxide: 96%•Nitrogen: 3.5%•Carbon monoxide, argon, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor: less than 1 percent

VENUS

Major Features of Venus

Similar to Earth, it has Canyons, volcanoes, lava flows, rift valleys, mountains

Human Technology sent to Venus:•Over 20 probes have been sent to Venus•One probe landed on the surface but didn’t make it past 2 hours on the hostile surface environment

Uranus

Named after the Greek “God of the Sky”

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT URANUS:•Uranus is flipped over on it’s side•Summer on Uranus is 42 years long•Uranus has 27 moons

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION:•Molecular Hydrogen: 82.5%•Helium: 15.2%•Methane: 2.3%

Uranus

Major Features of UranusUranus, being a gas giant, doesn’t have very much major features. Although it does have layers where the atmospheric conditions differ significantly temperature wise, and with how there are different elements in the gases in each layer.

Human Technology sent to Uranus:Only one probe has passed by Uranus, Voyager 2, in 1986

EARTH

The origin of where Earth got it’s name is unknown

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT EARTH:•The water on Earth is 97% Salted and 3% fresh•75% of Earths’ animals could be extinct within 300 years•95% of Earths ocean remains unexplored

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION:Nitrogen: 78.09%Oxygen: 20.95%Argon: .93%Carbon Dioxide:.039 %+Small amounts of other gases

Earth

Major Features of Earth The Earth is divided into seven

different continents Super Volcano in Yellowstone Grand Canyon Polar Caps

Three Criteria To be A PlanetThe Three criteria are: It must be an object which

independently orbits the sun It must have enough mass so

that gravity pulls it into a roughly spherical shape

It must be large enough to “dominate” its orbit

Pluto didn’t make the cut as a planet, due to the fact it didn’t dominate it’s orbit. It’s moon is only half its size.

Poor Pluto!