Our Solar System

Our Solar System Most of our Solar System is “empty” – meaning it lacks __________ Our Solar System is made up of: The Sun Planets Moons Asteroids Comets Meteoroids mass

Solar Systems orbiting Sun gravitational The term “solar system” refers to any star (or group of stars) that has non-stars _____________ around it Our Solar System is made up of the ______ and all other objects that orbit under its _________________ influence orbiting Sun gravitational

The Sun The Sun Main Sequence gravitational 99 Our Solar System revolves a large mass at the center called ___________ Our Sun is a medium-sized ___________________ star about 5 billion years old The Sun is the __________________ center of our Solar System It makes up about ____ percent of the mass of the whole Solar System The Sun Main Sequence gravitational 99

The Sun The Sun produces its energy in its _________ through a process called Nuclear _________ core Fusion

The Planets 8 spherical Terrestrial Planets Jovian Planets There are ___ planets in our Solar System The planets are the largest objects that orbit the Sun Planets are generally ____________ in shape There are two types of planets in our Solar System: ________________________ spherical Terrestrial Planets Jovian Planets

Terrestrial Planets closest solid densities The Terrestrial Planets are the planets that are __________ to the Sun They are mostly ______ with very high ___________ The Terrestrial Planets in our Solar System are: Mercury Venus Earth Mar These planets are the most like Earth out of all of the planets in the Solar System solid densities

Terrestrial Planets

Jovian Planets far away gaseous size density The Jovian Planets are _____________ from the Sun These planets are mostly ___________ but do have a solid core They are extremely large in ______ but low in ___________ The Jovian Planets in our Solar System are: Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune gaseous size density

Jovian Planets

Asteroids metallic spherical atmosphere Definition: An asteroid is a solid rocky or __________ body that independently orbits the Sun Asteroids have an irregular shape, however they get more ___________ as they get larger They do not have an ______________ metallic spherical Asteroids are smaller than planets and are often referred to as “minor planets” atmosphere

Asteroids Most asteroids are in orbits between Mars and __________ Jupiter

Moons orbits 175 Mercury Definition: A moon is a body that __________ a planet or asteroid as those objects orbit the Sun There are approximately _____ known moons Moons can vary in size from larger than ___________ to only a few kilometers in diameter orbits 175 Mercury

Moons appearance Moons can vary greatly in their ______________ Some moons have craters (like our moon), volcanoes, ice, etc.

Comets ice rocky Definition: A comet is a solid composed mostly of _____ made from frozen water and methane They are usually covered in small pieces of ________ or metallic solids Most comets are only 1 to 100 kilometers in diameter ice rocky

Comets When comets get near the Sun, some of their ices turn to ________ As theses gases are released they form spectacular _______ visible in the Earth’s sky gases tails

Meteoroids dime Definition: Meteoroids are very small solid fragments that orbit the Sun Most meteoroids are the size of a _______ or a grain of sand There is a difference between: Meteoroids Meteors and Meteorites dime

Meteors A meteoroid that is passing through the Earth’s _______________ is called a METEOR As they burn up, they leave a brief streak that we can see from Earth atmosphere

Meteorite Earth’s surface depression If a meteoroid survives its trip through Earth’s atmosphere and lands on the _________________ it is called a METEORITE Some meteorites have enough mass to create a _______________ in the Earth’s crust called an IMPACT CRATER How would these impact craters be indicated on a topographic map? Earth’s surface depression

Impact Crater in AZ