This presentation provides an overview of the planets in our solar system from Mercury to Neptune, as well as other astronomy topics such as galaxies, light years, gravity, the sun, moons, and the universe. Key details are provided for each planet, such as their distance from the sun, composition, and interesting facts. Tools used in space exploration like probes and satellites are also discussed. Fun facts are shared at the end, such as temperature variations on Mercury and Venus and the moon moving away from Earth each year.

1. Astronomy Unit Presentation
By: Jaida Glanton

2. Mercury
• Mercury is the second
smallest planet in the solar
system .
• Mercury is 46 million
kilometers from the sun .
• Has no moons
• Hot rocks
• The surface is covered with
craters .

3. Venus
• Orbits the sun every 224.7 Earth
days
• one of the brightest object in the
sky
• Venus is 6 million miles from the
sun
• Second planet from the sun
• Venus rises and sets with the
sun

4. Earth
• Orbits the sun
• Earth has tectonic plates
• Summer and winter are caused
by the tilt of the Earth
• 30% of Earth is covered by land
• 70% of Eath is covered by water

5. Mars
•
•
•
•
•
Very bright
2 moons called Phoboo and Piemos
4th planet from the sun
200 To the maximum degrees
Has roughly the same surface areas
of the earth

6. Jupiter
• 5th planet from the sun
• Jupiter has “ the great red
spot”
• Has 4 rings
• Jupiter has hydrogen
• Find fact

7. Saturn
• Second largest planet
• The density is less than water
• 886 miles away from the sun
• Other planets have rings , Saturn's rings
are the only ones visible from Earth
• Has gas

8. Uranus
• Has 13 rings . 2 of them are far away from the
planet
• Uranus is located between Saturn and Neptune
• 7th planet from the sun
• Uranus mass is more than 14 times larger than Earth
• Massive axis tilt of roughly 90 degress

9. Neptune
• Neptune has 19 known moons
• Neptune is 30 times farther from the sun
as is the Earth
• Has a rocky core
• The atmosphere is made up of hydrogen ,
helium and methane
• Goes around the sun once every 165 Earth
years

10. Tools used for space
• Probes – can travel to + on planets
• Satellites – any object that revolves around
another

11. Galaxies
Spiral -Most spiral galaxies contain a central bulge surrounded by a flat rotating disk of stars
Elliptical-An elliptical galaxy is a galaxy having an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth
Irregular-An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape
Active- An active galactic nucleus is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much higher than
normal luminosity over at least some portion
Cluster-A galaxy cluster is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies
bound by gravity

12. Light Years
•
•
•
•
Distance that can travel in the year
Distance not time
The different distance is measured by the parallax
Since light travels at slightly more than 186,000
miles (300,000 kilometers) per second, one lightyear is roughly equal to 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion
kilometers).

13. Mass and distance effects on gravity
• If the body mass is heavy then the stronger
the gravitational force is.
• Mass does not change
• Mass takes of space
• Gravity depends on –mass and –distance
• Distance effects it by how much the weight is .

14. Sun
• The sun has layers
• Core ,radiation zones , convection zone ,
photosphere , chromosphere and corona
• The sun has sun spots
• Solar layer – is a magnetic storm that
releases huge amount of gas into the
atmosphere.
• The sun is really bright

15. Moons
• The moons was formed 20 to 30 million
years after earth
• The moon contains soil
• The moon has no atmosphere Because
of the wind
• The moon has phases

16. Universe
• The universe is 13.7 billion years old
• Other planets have rings , Saturn's rings are
the only ones visible from Earth

17. FUN FACTS!
• Even though Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, temperatures can reach 280 degrees F. Why? Since Mercury has almost no atmosphere, there is nothing to
trap heat near the surface. So, the dark side of Mercury (the side facing away
from the Sun) is very cold.
• Venus is considerably hotter than Mercury, even though it is further away from
the Sun. The thickness of Venus’ atmosphere traps heat near the surface of the
planet.
• Every year the moon is moving away from the Earth by 3 cm.
• Some of the stars in the sky are so far that the light from them takes million of
years to reach us.
• The Sun is only an average size for a star but still accounts for 98% of the total
matter in our solar system.