The solar system By Dylon Godwin

Inner Planets In our solar system, there are four terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus Earth and Mars, which are the closest to the sun. During the creation of the solar system, there were likely more terrestrial planets, but they likely merged or were destroyed. Mercury has a thin atmosphere. It swings between burning and freezing temperatures. Mercury is also a dense planet, composed mostly of iron and nickel. Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system. It has volcanoes and canyons. Venus is trapped by a thick toxic gas. Earth is the only planet in our solar system that sustains life and contains water. Mars has one of the most interesting terrains of all planets. It is called the red planet, because its rusty.

Outer planets Jupiter Uranus also has rings, but they are narrow, dark, and hard to see. They were discovered while astronomers watched Uranus come close to a star. It has 15 moons. Neptune is farthest from the sun. It is the coldest planet. Most outer planets are made of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter's outer atmosphere is very cold. But inside the planet, it gets hotter and hotter closer to the center. There is also a magnetic field around Jupiter 10,000 times more powerful than Earth's. Jupiter has a hurricane called the Red Spot, which dwarfs all planets. Saturn is far from the sun and is very cold. It takes almost 30 years for it to go once around the sun.

Earth’s Surface Waterways Waterfall Man Made Glacier

Mars, The Red Planet Mars is the only planet whose surface can be seen in detail from the Earth. Mars is red because it is rusty. There is a lot of iron in the soil, and the air on Mars has made it turn red-just like rusty iron on Earth. Mars has the tallest Volcano in the Solar System named Olympus Mons and it is 15 miles high which is three times the height of Mount Everest. Like Earth, the poles of Mars are covered in ice. The ice becomes thicker in the winter. Mars orbits the sun every 687 Earth days. The atmosphere is made mostly of carbon dioxide. It is said that Mars might have once sustained life. Mars also used to have water. That is how the valleys and canyons were created. In winter, nighttime temperatures on Mars can drop as low as -191°F.

Earth Most of the Earth’s surface, about 70%, is covered with water. The remaining 30% is made up of the seven continental landmasses. Salt water makes up about 97% of all water. Two percent of the water on earth is glacier ice at the North and South Poles. This ice is fresh water and could be melted; however, it is too far away from where people live to be usable. Less than 1% of all the water on earth is fresh water that we can actually use. Earth’s landmass may have once been a supercontinent called Pangea. Pangea was known as the continental drift, causing our supercontinent to divide into 7 continents. Earth is home to all life. Volcanoes, mountains, streams/rivers, craters, oceans, valleys, canyons, and plateaus are all on earth’s surface.

Mountains & Sunsets Earth’s Surface

Curiosity Curiosity is also know as the Mars Rover which belongs to NASA. Curiosity's extensive size allows it to carry a host of scientific experiments that will be able to zap, analyze and take pictures. Curiosity can climb up about 65 centimeters or 25 inches. The $2.5-billion MSL spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Nov. 26, 2011, and arrived on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012. It weighs about 1 ton. Curiosity's main goal is to assess whether the Red Planet is, or ever was, capable of supporting microbial life.

Earth & Mars Earth and Mars have some similarities. The similarities of mars and earth are their surfaces. Mars surface has volcanoes, valleys and deserts similar to earth.  Both have ice at their north and south poles. Although present-day Mars is extremely cold and barren, NASA has discovered evidence that it was once a warmer planet. Some believe that water may still exist in a frozen state on Mars and if we could warm up the atmosphere significantly, it would be possible to create human-friendly living conditions there. In addition, scientists have discovered that the current atmosphere on Mars resembles Earth's atmosphere a billion years ago. They speculate that the process that warmed up Earth's atmosphere to allow plant and animal life to exist can be repeated on Mars. Furthermore, Earth and Mars share the basic elements needed for life to exist (carbon, oxygen and nitrogen).

Earth & Mars There are many differences between Mars and the Earth. Mars is colder, red, and only 53% the diameter of Earth. Mars has only 10% the mass that Earth has and only 38% of the gravity we have here on Earth. A year on Mars is about twice as long as on Earth, therefore, the seasons are also twice as long. Earth & Mars Contrast

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED! THE END Credits Sites~ Google Images www.netanimations.com www.nationalgeographic.com www.space.com www.nineplanets.com My Brain THE END