1. The Solar System
• The system of objects in the solar neighborhood
(near the Sun)
• What are these objects?
Sun and Stars
Eight Planets
Six Planets
moons
Asteroids
Comets
3A
3. Terrestrial Planets
• Close to the sun
• Small
– Mass
– Radius
• High density
– Primarily rocky
– Solid surface
• Weak magnetic field
• Few moons
• No rings
3A
5. • Mercury the planet closest to the sun
• The second smallest planet in our solar system.
• Only slightly larger than the Earth's moon
• Mercury's surface is covered with craters.
• This tiny planet does not have any rings or moons.
• Mercury has the longest day of any planet
3A
7. • After the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the
night-sky from Earth
• There are more volcanoes on Venus than on any other planet in the
Solar System
• It may not be the closest to the Sun but Venus is the hottest planet
in the solar system
• Venus is considered to be Earth's sister planet because of its
closeness in size and mass to that of the Earth.
3A
9. • Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest
planet in the Solar System.
• Earth rotates around its axis, giving rise to day and night.
• Earth has one large satellite, The Moon.
• Earth is the only planet to have liquid water on its surface.
• Earth has gravity.
• Earth is almost the same size as Venus.
3A
11. • Mars is very bright, which makes it easy to spot in the night sky.
It was named after the Roman god of war because its reddish color
reminded people of blood.
• Mars has the tallest mountain (Olympus Mons) in the solar
system, three times the size of Mt. Everest.
• Mars’s moons, which are shaped like potatoes, probably used to
be asteroids.
• Mars has the largest and most violent dust storms in our entire
solar system.
3A
12. Jovian Planets
• Far from the sun
• Large
– Mass
– Radius
• Low density
– Primarily gaseous
– No solid surface
• Strong magnetic
fields
• Many moons
• Many rings
3A
14. • Fifth planet from the sun
• Atmosphere is made of Hydrogen, helium
• Has 17 moons
• Largest storm (Great Red Spot), 3 times bigger than Earth
• Largest planet in our solar system
• has the biggest moon in the solar system
3A
16. • Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun
• The second largest planet in the solar system.
• Saturn also has 22 moons. The 18 named moons are Pan,
Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Janus, Mimas,
Enceladus, Tethys, Telesto, Calypso, Dione, Helene, Rhea,
Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, Pheobe.
• Saturn is sometimes called "The Jewel of the Solar System.“
• The brightest ring system
3A
18. • Uranus is the coldest planet in the entire solar system
• Uranus is turned over and rotates on its side
• A day in the north pole of Uranus lasts 84 Earth years
• Uranus contains rings
• Uranus is 1st planet discovered in modern age
• The composition of Uranus is similar to Neptune’s with bluish
green clouds of methane crystals in its atmosphere.
3A
20. • Neptune, usually the eighth planet from the Sun, is a very
cold place.
• Neptune was actually the farthest planet from the Sun from
February 7, 1979 until February 11, 1999 (the order was
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Pluto, and Neptune).
• Neptune will be the 8th farthest planet from the Sun until
the 23rd century.
• Neptune’s Great Dark Spot is a huge storm the size of
Earth.
3A
22. • In 2006, got renamed from a "planet" to a "dwarf planet"
• Pluto gets closer to the Sun than Neptune about 10% of its
orbit.
• One day on Pluto is about 6 and a half earth days.
• Pluto has three moons, They are almost the same size as
Pluto. They are called Charon, Hydra and Nix
• Pluto is smaller than the Moon
• It takes 248 Earth years for Pluto to orbit around the Sun.
3A
24. • The Moon is Earth’s nearest neighbor in space.
• The Moon has no atmosphere, so there is no air to breathe.
• The Moon is the only natural satellite of the planet Earth.
• The Moon's orbit around the Earth is a slightly squashed
circle called an ellipse.
• Looking down from the north pole we would see the Moon
orbiting counterclockwise from west to east.
3A
26. • The Sun is the central body in our solar system.
• The Sun is by far the largest object in the solar system.
• Around 74% of the Sun’s mass is made up of hydrogen.
Helium makes up around 24% while heavier elements such
as oxygen, carbon, iron and neon make up the remaining
percentage.
• It makes up around 99.86% of the Solar System’s mass.
3A
28. • Asteroids are massive cosmic bodies also known as planetoids.
• They orbit the sun, and appear somewhat similar to comets, but
lack the distinctive tail of the comets.
• The majority of asteroids are found in the Asteroid Belt between
Jupiter and Mars.
3A
30. • Comets are small celestial bodies that appear in the night sky
as a ball inside a long, thin envelope of visible light.
• They are composed of water, frozen gasses and dust not
incorporated into larger heavenly bodies at the dawn of the
universe.
• Beyond the reach of the sun, comets remain frozen and are
relatively difficult to detect.
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm
3A
31. The main difference between an asteroid and a comet is
what they are made of.
• Asteroids are made up of metals and rocky material
• while comets are made up of ice, dust and rocky material.
• Comets form a distinctive coma and tail when near the sun
while asteroids do not.
• Asteroids are mostly found in the asteroid belt between the
orbits of Mars and Jupiter while Comets are hypothesized
to be concentrated in an orbiting belt very far away from
the sun.
3A
33. • Stars don’t twinkle
• Every star you see in the night sky is bigger and brighter
than our sun
• Stars are very hot and give off huge amounts of energy, in
the form of heat and light.
• The oldest star yet discovered is HE 1523-0901, which is
an estimated 13.2 billion years old.
• Stars come in different colors. While hot stars give off blue
light, cooler stars give off red light.
3A
34. Activity
I- Multiple Choice
1. Which planet is the closest to the sun?
a) Pluto c) Earth
b) Mercury d) Jupiter
2. Which is the largest planet?
a) Saturn c) Earth
b) Pluto d) Jupiter
3. Which planet has the brightest ring system?
a) Saturn c) Jupiter
b) Neptune d) Uranus
3A
35. II- Identify the following into terrestrial, Jovian or Dwarf
planets.
__________ 1. Uranus
__________ 2. Mercury
__________ 3. Saturn
__________ 4. Neptune
__________ 5. Earth
__________ 6. Mars
__________ 7. Pluto
__________ 8. Jupiter
__________ 9. Venus
3A
