PLANETS NOTES

Mercury 1 st planet from the Sun About 1/3 the size of Earth No moons No rings It is rocky Unlike Earth, it has very little atmosphere…but has a little oxygen and sodium. Could it support life? (let’s discuss)

Mercury continued Other cool facts: – A very slow spin, so in two of Mercury’s years, only 3 Mercury days have passed. – Looks like our moon (lots of craters)

Venus 2 nd planet from the Sun VERY similar in size to Earth No moons. No rings. It is rocky. It’s atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The high carbon dioxide means it has a huge greenhouse effect (it is very hot!) Could it support life? (let’s discuss it)

Venus continued The temperatures on Venus are hot enough to melt metal. There are clouds of sulfuric acid (which makes acid rain). It has retrograde motion (meaning the Sun rises in the west instead of the east, like us)

Earth 3 rd planet We ARE Earth. 1 moon, called the Moon. (sometimes called Luna) No rings. Rocky. 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% other. Yes, it can support life—has water and oxygen. No other cool facts. (we already know lots)

Mars 4 th planet from the sun. A bit smaller than Earth. Two moons: Phobos and Deimos No rings. Rocky—actually it’s quite red, from the iron oxide in the soil (also known as RUST!) 95% carbon dioxide and 2.7% nitrogen, but does not have the strong greenhouse effect that Venus does. Could it support life? (let’s discuss)

Mars cont. Polar ice caps are made of carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) Water ice lies beneath the surface, we think. Has dried up lake and river beds, so we think it had liquid water at some point. (must have been warmer, too!) Average temperature is -81 degrees F. Dust storms! Very windy!

Jupiter 5 th planet from the Sun Diameter is 11 times as big as Earth, and is only 10 times smaller than the Sun. (largest planet!) Lots of Moons—63 we think. The 4 main moons are Io, Europa, Ganymeade and Callisto. Yes, it has a ring. It is nearly invisible. It is considered a Gas Giant. (gaseous) 90% Hydrogen, and 10% Helium. Could it support life? (let’s discuss)

Jupiter, cont. The Great Red Spot is a storm similar to a hurricane. It spins in a little less than 10 hours. (has a 10-hr day—which is the fastest spinning planet!)

Saturn 6 th planet. 2 nd largest planet in the solar system. Has 62 moons—we think! The largest is Titan. YES-IT HAS RINGS! Gaseous…one of the gas giants! 96% Hydrogen and 3% Helium. Could it support life? (Let’s discuss)

Saturn cont. Rings are made up of rocks, dust & ice. Has 7 major rings. Scientists think that the rings are from when a moon collided with something and was broken. If Saturn were a lot smaller, and you put it in a glass of water…it would float. (it has a very low density)

Uranus 7 th planet from the Sun. 4 times as large as Earth. We think it has 27 moons. Titania and Oberon are the major moons. Yes it has a ring (that’s hard to see). It is gaseous (one of the Gas Giants) 83% Hydrogen, 15% Helium, 2% Methane (methane gives it the blue color) Could it support life? (let’s discuss)

Uranus Pronounced Your-In-Us. Not Your-Anus. MxE&feature=youtube_gdata_player MxE&feature=youtube_gdata_player Was discovered accidentally. The north pole is actually tipped clear over on its side. The average temp is around -355 degrees F.

Neptune 8 th planet from the Sun. About 4 times as large as Earth. Moons-13, we think. The major one is Triton. Yes, it has 6 rings. It is gaseous (it’s a Gas Giant). 80% Hydrogen, 19% Helium, 1.5% methane. (planet is also blue due to methane) Could it support life? (discuss)

Neptune cont. Predicted before it was discovered. We noticed Uranus had a slight variation in it’s orbit, so we thought there must be another planet out there affecting it. Had a Great Dark Spot (like Jupiter’s Great Red Spot) that was a storm, but it disappeared in 1994.