1. The Solar System

2. Not pictured, the dwarf planet Ceres
Neptune
Uranus
Saturn
Not pictured
The dwarf
planet Eris
Jupiter
Mars
Earth
Venus
Mercury
Not pictured, the dwarf planet Ceres
Image from

3. Image from http://www.nineplanets.org/gif/NinePlanets.jpg

4. Another perspective Another perspective Renamed Eris
Image from

5. The Inner Planets
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars

6. Humans Needs? Oxygen (Not 100%) Water Favorable Temperature
Daily sunlight for photosynthesis
Favorable Atmosphere conditions (little CO2, no narcotic gases(argon), total pressure around 1atm)

7. Characteristics of the Inner Planets
Very similar to each other
small
rocky surfaces.
Dense.
NO rings
“Terrestrial planets” because they resemble Earth, “terra-” means “Earth”

8. Mercury Size- about 38% of Earth’s diameter =4878 km
Distance from sun- about 39% of Earth’s distance=58,000,000 km
Surface- thin, hard rocky surface with plains and craters
Atmosphere- thin with sodium and gases

9. Mercury(cont’d) Can’t support life (no water or oxygen, hot temps)
Moons- none
Rotation- 59 Earth days
Revolution Earth years
Daytime(sunlit side) temperature 430ºC Nighttime(shaded side) temperature -190ºC

10. Mercury

11. Venus 95% of Earth’s diameter=12,104 km
Distance from sun- about 2/3 of Earth’s=108,000,000 km from sun
Surface- rocks similar to Earth
Has volcanoes with lava flows

12. Venus (cont’d) Atmosphere- thick
Mostly carbon dioxide (greenhouse effect is strong)
Clouds partly sulfuric acid
Atmospheric pressure is 90 times heavier than Earth’s and would crush a human
No water
Harsh temperatures and atmosphere

13. Venus (cont’d) Sometimes called “Earth’s twin”
Retrograde rotation- rotates “backward” from east to west (opposite of Earth)
Rotation=8 Earth months
Revolution=7.5 Earth months
Moons- None

14. Venus

15. Earth Size- 12,756 km diameter Distance from Sun- 150,000,000 km
Surface- Crust is a solid rocky surface, 70% is covered by water
Atmosphere- up to 100 km thick, made up of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% other gases

16. Earth Rotation takes 24 hours Revolution takes 365.25 days
Earth has one moon

17. Earth

18. Mars Size- 53% of Earth’s diameter, it is 6794 km
Distance from Sun- about 1.5 times distance of Earth
228,000,000 km from sun
Surface-Rocky surface with carbonite rocks high in iron, creating red color
Polar ice caps contain frozen water and carbon dioxide

19. Mars Atmosphere- Very thin, Thin clouds Mostly carbon dioxide
1% of Earth’s atmospheric pressure
Ability to support life- It is possible that primitive bacteria may have lived on Mars or may now live there but none has been found.
Existence of liquid water makes life on Mars a possibility

20. Mars continued Rotation- 1.03 Earth days Revolution- 1.9 Earth years
Mars has largest volcano in solar system, called Olympus Mons
Moons- 2

21. Mars

22. The Outer Planets
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto (a dwarf Planet)

23. Characteristics of The Outer Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are called “Gas Giants”
Larger than Earth
Don’t have solid surfaces
Pluto and Eris are small and rocky, like the terrestrial planets.

24. Characteristics of Gas Giants
Don’t have well-defined surfaces
Deep atmospheres about 75% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 1% other elements
Solid cores of rock, ice, frozen carbon dioxide and other compounds

25. Jupiter Size- diameter is 11 times Earth’s, It is 142,800 km
Distance from Sun- 5.2 times further than Earth. It is 778,000,000 km
Surface and atmosphere of gas and liquid it does not have a well-defined surface
Deep atmosphere of about 86 % hydrogen,14 % helium, and tiny amounts of other substances.

26. Jupiter continued Lacks water, oxygen and moderate temperatures.
Largest planet in solar system with 300 times the mass of Earth
Rotation Earth days (fastest)
Revolution- 29 Earth years

27. Jupiter continued Moons- 67 Has dark rings
Great Red Spot is storm on Jupiter, twice as big as Earth

28. Jupiter

29. Saturn Size- About 9.44 times size of Earth. It is 120,540 km
Distance from sun- About 9.5 times distance from sun as Earth. 1,427,000,000 km
Syruplike mixture of helium and hydrogen
Atmosphere of gaseous helium and hydrogen

30. Saturn continued Lacks water, oxygen, and moderate temperatures
Second largest planet in solar system
Rotation Earth days
Revolution- 29 Earth years

31. Saturn continued Moons- 62 Low density planet, could float in water
Prominent rings- mostly chunks of ice and rocks

32. Saturn

33. Uranus Size- About 4 times diameter of Earth. It is 51,200 km
Distance from Sun- About 19 times farther from sun than Earth. It is 2,871,000,000 km

34. Uranus continued
Surface consists of blue-green clouds made up of tiny ice crystals of methane, and rock.
Atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.

35. Uranus continued
Lacks water, oxygen, and moderate temperatures needed to support life, NO known life
Rotation Earth days, is retrograde rotation like Venus, and rotates on side
Revolution- 84 Earth years
Moons-27
Rings- 13 dark rings

36. Uranus

37. Neptune
Size- Almost 4 times diameter of Earth. It is 49,500 km
Distance from Sun- Almost 30 times farther from sun than Earth. It is 4,497,000,000 km
Composition: Ice and Silicates (rock) with about 15% hydrogen, some water, and a little helium

38. Neptune continued
Atmosphere:hydrogen and helium with a small amount of methane.
Lacks significant water, oxygen, and moderate temperatures

39. Neptune continued Rotation- 0.67 Earth days
Revolution- 165 Earth years
Visible clouds in atmosphere
Moons- 13
Rings-5

40. Neptune

41. Pluto Size- about 17% of diameter of Earth. It is 2200 km
Distance from sun- more than 39 times farther than Earth. It is 5,913,000,000 kilometers
Rocky, icy surface is very small
Thin atmosphere of methane gas

42. Pluto continued
Lacks water, oxygen, and warmth needed for life. NO known life
Moons- 1 Charon (book), 3- Charon, Hydra and Nix (web and NASA)
Rotation- 6.4 Earth days
Revolution- 248 Earth years

43. Pluto

44. The Dwarf Planets
Ceres- new dwarf planet, it was classified as the largest asteroid in the Asteroid Belt (it is between Mars & Jupiter).
Pluto- was classified as a planet, now classified as a dwarf planet
Eris- new dwarf planet, past Pluto it is an icy body near the edge of our solar system.

45. The Dwarf Planets and their Moons

46. Planets and Dwarf Planets compared
Dwarf planets are smaller than planets
Both orbit the Sun
Both are large enough that their gravity pulls them into the shape of a sphere
Planets clear smaller objects out of their orbit. Dwarf planets can not because of their weaker gravity.
Pluto doesn’t dominate it’s orbit due to it’s small mass. Neptune crosses into it’s orbit.

47. Meteorite vs. Meteoroid
Meteoroid = while in space a meteorite is called a meteoroid
Meteorite = a small rock or rocky grain that strikes Earth’s surface

48. Meteor Sometimes called a “Shooting Star”
When a meteorite enters Earth’s atmosphere, friction causes them to burn up, producing a streak of light

49. Where do they come from? How big are they?
Pieces of rock that broke off other objects
Sizes range from as small as a pebble or as big as a huge boulder

50. Are they dangerous?
Most meteoroids disintegrate before reaching the earth by burning up in Earth’s atmosphere
Some leave a trail that lasts several minutes
Meteoroids that reach the earth are called meteorites. Large ones can cause damage

51. Flagstaff, Arizona 49,000 years ago
Meteorite about 150 feet in diameter
Weighed 650 pounds
Energy = 2.5 million tons of dynamite
4000 feet wide, 650 feet deep
Still visible today
Barringer Meteorite Crater

52. What’s a “Meteor Shower”?
Icy surface of comets heat up as they get closer to the sun.
Debris particles are released.
Occur when Earth passes through the tail or debris of a comet

53. Comets Bodies in space made up of ice, dust, small gritty particles
Sometimes called “dirty snowballs”
When close to the sun, ice vaporizes, producing a spectacular streak of gas, referred to as a “tail”
Many in a regular orbit around the sun

54. Comets

55. Where do comets come from?
Many ordinate in a region called the Oort cloud beyond Pluto
Others originate in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune

56. Asteroids
An irregularly shaped rocky object in space (like a space potato)
May be the shattered remains of objects left over from the time when the planets were formed

57. How big are asteroids? Larger than meteoroids
Size ranges from 10 feet across to bigger than a mountain

58. Asteroids
Most are in a band that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter (Asteroid Belt)
At least 1000 asteroids orbit outside of the Asteroid Belt – these could be a danger to Earth
Asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit are called Near-Earth Asteroids or NEAs
NEA / Earth collision not likely
But if it did, the affect of the impact would depend on the size of the asteroid

59. Large Asteroid hits Earth 65 Million Years Ago
Catastrophic Collision
Asteroid 6 to 12 miles in diameter
Near the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico

60. Large Asteroid hits Earth 65 Million Years Ago
Collision produced an explosion = 100 trillion tons of dynamite
Gouged out a crater about 60 miles in diameter
How would an event like this affect Earth?

61. What do Scientists Think Happened?
Forests were wiped clean for a distance of 300 to 600 miles in all directions
300 foot wave struck the coast of Texas
Powerful Earthquakes
Landslides destroyed long stretches of coastline
Debris would cover large parts of North America
Poisonous gases and dust spread over most of the Earth,

62. What do Scientists Think Happened
Sunlight was blocked for many months
Temperatures plummeted to the freezing point
Not enough sunlight for photosynthesis
Plants died Animals died
Many animals became extinct (including many types of dinosaurs)

63. The Rise and Fall of Life on Earth
Dip around 65 Million years ago?