1. What makes up our solar system?

2. Where is our solar system located?
In the Milky Way Galaxy about 2/3 of the way down on one of the arms
1 star-Our Sun

3. What were the earlier views of the solar system?
Geocentric vs. Heliocentric

4. Geocentric “Earth Centered Model”
Aristotle & Ptolemy believed that Earth was the center of the system of the planets
They thought everything revolved around us!

5. Heliocentric “Sun-Centered System”
Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the idea of that the sun was the center of the system
Galileo (100 years later) agreed with Copernicus’ idea
Discovered Venus went through phases like our moon
Discovered Jupiter’s moons revolved around it & not the Earth

6. What keeps the planets in motion?
Gravity: attractive force between two objects
Inertia: tendency of an object to in motion/at rest to remain in motion/at rest until acted upon by an outside force
Discovered by Issac Newton

7. What is an ellipse? Ellipse: elongated circle or oval shaped
Johannes Kepler discovered that the planets had elliptical orbits not round!

8. What is a rotation & orbital period?
Rotation period describes the time it takes the planet to spin around 1 time on its axis
Orbital period describes the time it takes the planet to revolve around the Sun 1 time

9. Inner Planets
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars

10. What do all of these planets have in common?
Small Rocky Orbit paths are close together

11. Mercury 1st planet 36 million miles from the Sun
58 days rotation period
88 days orbital period

12. Mercury Fun Facts Looks like “Our Moon” No atmosphere
Extreme temperatures
700°F(Day) & -300°F(Night)

13. Mercury SUPER Fact
Fastest orbiting planet at 29 miles per second

14. Venus 2nd planet 67 million miles from the Sun
243 days rotation period
224 days orbital period

15. Venus Fun Facts Called “Earth’s Twin” or our sister planet
Thick CO2 cloud covers the planet
Hottest Planet at 900°F

16. Venus SUPER Fact
Has Retrograde Rotation-spins backwards on its axis

17. Earth 3rd Planet 98 million miles from the Sun
24 hours rotation period
365 days orbital period

18. Earth Fun Facts Ongoing plate tectonics Oxygen rich atmosphere
Oceans of water
1 moon

19. Variety of living things
Earth SUPER Fact

20. Mars 4th planet 142 million miles from the Sun
24 hours rotational period
687 days orbital period

21. Mars Fun Facts Called the “Red Planet” due to the iron in its surface
Polar ice caps
2 moons - Phobos & Deimos

22. Mars SUPER Fact Surface is marked with its own “grand canyon”
Largest volcano in the solar system- ”Olympus Mons” towering at 17 miles above the surface

23. Outer Planets
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto ?

25. What do the “First Four” outer planets have in common?
Large
Have Rings
Gaseous-75% Hydrogen & 24% Helium

26. What about Pluto? Pluto is much more like the 4 inner planets
Some speculate that it may have been one of Neptune’s moon at one time – now a dwarf planet

27. Jupiter 5th planet 484 million miles from the Sun
10 hours rotational period
11 years orbital period

28. Jupiter Fun Facts Largest Planet Dark narrow rings 63 moons
4 largest moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto

29. Jupiter SUPER Fact
“Great Red Spot” that is an ongoing storm much like a hurricane

30. Saturn 6th planet 888 million miles from the Sun
10 hours rotational period
30 years orbital period

31. Saturn Fun Facts Called the “Ringed Planet”
Rings measure 600,000 miles from edge to edge
Rings are made from ice & rocks
60 moons
Titan is the largest-larger than Mercury

32. Saturn SUPER Fact
It floats! It’s density is actually lower than water! If we could place Saturn in water…it would float!

33. Uranus 7th planet 1.8 billion miles from the Sun
17 hours rotation period
84 years orbital period

34. Uranus Fun Facts Blue in color…due to the methane in the atmosphere
20+ moons
Has Rings

35. Rotates from top to bottom…on its side!
Uranus SUPER Fact
Rotates from top to bottom…on its side!

36. Neptune 8th planet 2.8 billion miles from the Sun
18 hours rotational period
165 years orbital period

37. Neptune Fun Facts “Blue Planet” due to the methane in the atmosphere
13 moons
Largest moon-Triton

38. “Great Dark Spot”…ongoing storm
Neptune SUPER Fact

39. Pluto Recently demoted to “Dwarf Planet” status
2.9 billion-4.6 billion miles from the Sun
6 days rotational period
248 years orbital period

40. Pluto Fun Facts Made of rock & ice Thin methane atmosphere
1 moon-Charon

41. It has an unusual orbit…it sometimes crosses Neptune’s orbit
Pluto SUPER Fact
It has an unusual orbit…it sometimes crosses Neptune’s orbit

42. What other objects are floating around the solar system?
Comets
Asteroids
Meteoroids

43. Comet Fun Facts “Dirty Snowball”
Made of dust & ice…as it passes the Sun, the ice turns into gas
Have long, narrow, elliptical orbits
Rarely pass by Earth
Can only be seen briefly

44. Comet SUPER Fact Halley’s Comet Discovered by Edmond Halley in 1705
Orbits Earth every 76 years
1986 was the last time it appeared in the sky

45. Asteroid Fun Facts
Small objects that orbit the Sun between Mars & Jupiter
Over 10,000 have been discovered
Some are over 250km across

46. Asteroid SUPER Fact
Asteroid Belt

47. Chunks of rock & dust that comes from a comet or asteroid
Meteoroid
Chunks of rock & dust that comes from a comet or asteroid

48. What are meteors & meteorites?
Meteor: is a meteoroid that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere producing a streak of light
Meteorite: is a large meteoroid that did not burn in Earth’s atmosphere & hit the surface