2. The Solar System consists of:
PLANETSPLANETS
ANDAND
MOONS.MOONS.
3. PLANETS
A planet is a large,
round heavenly body that
orbits a star and shines
with light reflected from
the star. We know of nine
planets that orbit the sun
in our solar system.
4. What are the nine planets?
MERCURY
VENUS
EARTH
MARS
JUPITER
SATURN
URANUS
NEPTUNE
PLUTO
5. MERCURYMERCURY
The smallest planet in the solar
system, after Pluto, and the one
nearest to the sun. Its orbit about the
sun takes 88 days to complete, at a
mean distance of almost 36,000,000
miles..
7. EARTH
Earth is the largest and densest of the four
inner planets, the only one known to have
current geological activity, like earthquakes
and volcanoes. It is the only planet known to
have life. Its liquid hydrosphere (oceans and
seas) is unique among the terrestrial planets.
8. MARS
Mars is smaller than both
Earth and Venus.
Mars is named after the
Greek God of War. It is
sometimes also called the
red planet, because most of
its surface is covered in
reddish rocks, dust and soil.
11. Jupiter
Jupiter is the biggest planet in
the solar system. It is 2.5 times
the mass of all the other planets of
the solar system put together! It is
a gas giant, rather than a
terrestrial planet, and is made
largely of hydrogen and helium.
12. SATURNS
Saturn is distinguished by
its extensive ring system,
but otherwise has several
similarities to Jupiter. They
are both gas giants.
14. URANUS
one of the larger planets in the solar system and the seventh in
distance from the sun.
Uranus is the lightest of the outer planets, a type of gas giant that
some scientists call an ice giant. As you can imagine from this
nickname its atmosphere is very cold - the coldest in the solar
system.
.
15. NEPTUNE
Neptune is the outermost planet of the solar system. It
is slightly smaller than Uranus.
Neptune has a mark on it that looks very similar to
Jupiter's great spot. Just like Jupiter, this is caused by
violent storms.
16. PLUTO
Is Pluto a planet? Yes,
Pluto is a planet. The body
that decides the classification
of objects in the solar system,
the International Astronomical
Union (IAU), has no plans to
change Pluto's status as a
planet and has decided
against assigning it a minor
planet number.
