The Inner Planets
Terrestrial High temperatures Closer to the Sun Closer to each other
Mercury Closest to the Sun Only 88 days to orbit Many craters Temperature extremes
400C during day, -180 at night
Basically no atmosphere
Named after the Roman messenger of the gods.
Mercury Second densest object
in the solar system. Mercury is not the
hottest planet even though it is the closest to the Sun
It rotates on its axis one and a half times for each orbit around the sun.
Venus Named after the Roman
Goddess of Love Earth’s sister planet Morning and evening star Thick atmosphere of CO2
and Sulfur Longer day than year Spins opposite than other
planets Over 500C all the time
Venus The atmosphere of
Venus contains a high percentage of carbon dioxide that holds heat in the planet's atmosphere.
The atmosphere of Venus is made of thick clouds of sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide, which makes it very hot.
Hottest planet in solar system
Earth Home sweet home Only planet with
sustained life Hydrosphere (water) Atmosphere made up
of N, O, CO2 Comfortable
temperature
Earth Earth has fewer craters than other terrestrial planets because of its atmosphere (upper) which destroys meteorites.
Its atmosphere is called a secondary atmosphere.
Mars
Named after the Roman god of war.
Frozen polar CO2 caps Smaller than Earth Slightly longer day and
year Very cold
Mars Thin atmosphere Largest mountain in
solar system Olympus Mons Mars has frozen polar
ice caps and is known as the most like Earth.
Asteroid Belt
Separates the inner and outer planets
Possibly an annihilated planet
Most asteroids hang out here
Outer Planets
Gas giants No solid surface, just thick atmosphere All very large Very far apart from each other All have rings
Jupiter
Named after the Roman king of the godsCould hold 1300 EarthsAlmost big enough to be a star12 EY = 1 Jovian year1 Jovian day = 12 EHHuge storms
Great red spot “hurricane” larger than Earth
Some moons may have water
Jupiter is largest planet in the solar system.
Jupiter can fit all of the other planets inside this gas giant and there would still be space left over.
Great Red Spot
Caused by winds spinning in opposite directions on the surface – essentially a permanent hurricane.
About 3 times the diameter of Earth.
Saturn Named after the
Roman god of the harvest
29 years to orbit Large rings made of ice
and dust 10 hour day Possibly still forming Tilts itself
Saturn Saturn is known for its’
rings and is the least dense planet. It would float in a swimming pool if we had one big enough to put this planet into.
Uranus
Named after the Roman god of the sky
Blue in color due to methane gas
84 years to orbit Rotates sideways Very cold
-250C
Uranus
Uranus also has rings, but lies on its side so the rings go around it vertically.
Neptune
Named after the Roman god of the sea
Methane atomosphere 164 years to orbit -250c temps 30 times farther from
the sun than Earth
Neptune
Neptune is blue because it is mostly made of a gas called methane
Neptune’s Blue Spot
A storm as large as Earth
Similar to Great Red Spot of Jupiter
PlutoPluto is not a planet, because of its size and irregular orbit.