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Carver Road Middle School
The Solar System Carver Road Middle School See body of Powerpoint for image sources
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Relative Sizes of the Planets, plus Pluto
Neptune Uranus Saturn Not pictured The dwarf planet Eris Jupiter Mars Earth Venus Mercury Not pictured, the dwarf planet Ceres Image from
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Clean picture comparing relative sizes
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Another perspective Another perspective Renamed Eris
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The Inner Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars
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Characteristics of the Inner Planets
They are 4 planets closest to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Located inside Asteroid Belt Very similar to each other, they are small and have rocky surfaces. They are dense. Do NOT have rings Often called “terrestrial planets” because they resemble Earth, “terra-” means “Earth”
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Mercury Size- about 38% of Earth’s diameter
it is 4878 km Distance from sun- about 39% of Earth’s distance it is 58,000,000 km Surface- thin, hard rocky surface covered with many plains and craters Atmosphere- very thin, some sodium and other gases
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Mercury(cont’d) Ability to support life- none, there is NOT any sign of life on Mercury, lack of water and oxygen along with hot temperatures make life unlikely Moons- none Rotation- 59 Earth days Revolution- .24 Earth years Daytime(sunlit side) temperature 430ºC Nighttime(shaded side) temperature -190ºC
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Mercury Image on right from Image on left from
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Venus Size- slightly smaller than Earth
95% of Earth’s diameter, it is 12,104 km Distance from sun- about 2/3 of Earth’s, it is 108,000,000 km from sun Surface- covered with rock similar to some parts of Earth, has volcanoes with lava flows and strange domes
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Venus (cont’d) Atmosphere- Very thick and cloudy, mostly carbon dioxide, clouds partly sulfuric acid Atmospheric pressure is 90 times heavier than Earth’s and would crush a human
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Venus (cont’d) Atmosphere continued- Mostly carbon dioxide so greenhouse effect is strong Has clouds of sulfuric acid Ability to support life- Life does NOT appear to exist on Venus, lack of water along with harsh temperatures and atmosphere make life on Venus unlikely
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Venus (cont’d) Sometimes called “Earth’s twin” or “Earth’s sister planet” due to similarity Retrograde rotation- rotates “backward” from east to west (opposite of Earth) Rotates very slowly, one rotation takes about 8 Earth months and one revolution around sun takes about 7.5 Earth months (One day is longer than one year) Moons- None
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Venus Phases of Venus Image from Image on left from
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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
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Earth Ability to Support Life- Life does exist on Earth. Gaseous oxygen, liquid water and moderate temperatures are hospitable for life on Earth Rotation takes 24 hours Revolution takes days Earth has one moon
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Earth Image on right from Image on left from
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Mars Size- 53% of Earth’s diameter, it is 6794 km
Distance from Sun- about 1.5 times distance of Earth It is 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
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Mars Atmosphere- Very thin, with thin clouds Mostly carbon dioxide, only 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
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Mars continued Has polar ice caps of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide Rotation Earth days Revolution- 1.9 Earth years Mars has largest volcano in solar system, called Olympus Mons Moons- 2 Phobos and Deimos Image of Phobos from
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Mars Image on left from Image on right from
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The Outer Planets Jupiter Saturn Uranus pronounced “YOOR-a-nus” see
Neptune Pluto (a dwarf Planet)
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Characteristics of The Outer Planets
These are the planets outside of the Asteroid Belt, they are: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are called “Gas Giants” . They are much larger than Earth and do not have solid surfaces
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Characteristics of The Outer Planets
Pluto and Eris are small and rocky, like the terrestrial planets. The gas giants do not have well-defined surfaces but have deep atmospheres that are typically about 75% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 1% other elements Gas giants likely have solid cores of rock, ice, frozen carbon dioxide and other compounds
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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 Has a deep atmosphere of about 86 % hydrogen,14 % helium, and tiny amounts of methane, ammonia, phosphine, water, acetylene, ethane, germanium, and carbon monoxide.
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Jupiter continued Ability to support life- Lacks water, oxygen and moderate temperatures needed to support life. NO known life Largest planet in solar system with 300 times the mass of Earth Rotation- .41 Earth days (fastest) Revolution- 29 Earth years
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Jupiter continued Moons- 17 (book), 63 (web), 16 that are 10 km or larger and many smaller ones(NASA), Europa may have water Has dark rings Great Red Spot is storm on Jupiter, twice as big as Earth
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Jupiter Jupiter and moon Io
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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 Surface and atmosphere of a gas giant, it does not have a well-defined surface but has syruplike mixture of helium and hydrogen and a thick atmosphere of gaseous helium and hydrogen
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Saturn continued Ability to support life- Lacks water, oxygen, and moderate temperatures needed to support life Second largest planet in solar system Rotation Earth days Revolution- 29 Earth years
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Saturn continued Moons- 19 (book), 34 (Web), 25 that are 10 km or larger plus additional smaller ones (NASA) Low density planet, could float in water Prominent rings- diameter of 250,000 km or more but only about 1 kilometer thick, mostly chunks of ice and rocks
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Saturn Image on right from Image on left fromhttp://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/images/full/saturn/saturn.jpg
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Uranus pronounced “YOOR-a-nus”
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 Surface and atmosphere of a gas giant, it does not have a well-defined surface,
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Uranus continued the surface of Uranus consists of blue-green clouds made up of tiny ice crystals of methane, and rock. The crystals of methane have frozen out of the planet's atmosphere. Uranus' atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.
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Uranus continued Ability to support life- 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- 18 (book), 27 (Web), 21named moons (NASA) Rings- 11 dark rings
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Uranus Image on left from Image on right from
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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 Surface and atmosphere of a gas giant, it does not have a well-defined surface Neptune's composition is probably similar to Uranus': various "ices" and Silicates (rock) with about 15% hydrogen, some water, and a little helium
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Neptune continued Atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium with a small amount of methane. Ability to support life- Lacks significant water, oxygen, and moderate temperatures needed to support life. NO known life.
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Neptune continued Rotation- 0.67 Earth days
Revolution- 165 Earth years Visible clouds in atmosphere Moons- 8 (book), 13 (web), 11 (NASA) 3 Very dark rings, 1 very faint ring
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Neptune Image on left from Image on right from
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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
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Pluto continued Ability to support life- 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
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Pluto Image on left from Image on right from
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The Dwarf Planets Ceres- new dwarf planet, it was classified as the largest asteroid in the Asteroid Belt (it is between Mars & Jupiter). Say sir’eez 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. Say ee’ris
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The Dwarf Planets and their Moons
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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 Information from
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Additional Sources
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