2. Section One: Our Planets, Our Solar System

3. The Planets, From Closest To the Sun  Mercury  Venus  Earth  Mars  Jupiter  Saturn  Uranus  Neptune Citing - http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/act09_planet_list.htmlhttp://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/act09_planet_list.html

4. Our Sun  In the center of our solar system  Provides light, heat, and energy  Gaseous  The suns diameter is about 432,000 miles  Over 1 billion stars in the galaxy  Has a temperature of about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit

5. Our Sun  The sun is magnetic  Born about 4.6 billion years ago  99.8% of the mass in our solar system  The average density is 90 lbs./ square foot Citing - http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/sun_worldbook.html#backToTophttp://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/sun_worldbook.html#backToTop

7. The Planets, Mercury  Diameter of 3032 miles across the equator  It is the fastest planet to move around the sun in its orbit  Has the slowest rotation except for Venus  Travels about 30 miles per second Citing - http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/mercury_worldbook.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/mercury_worldbook.html

8. The Planets, Venus  Similar to Earth in size  When Venus is at its nearest point to Earth, it can be seen all day  Venus has the most circular orbit around our sun  55 degrees F on the surface, but up to 870 degrees F of the actual planet  The mass is about 4/5 th of Earth’s Citing - http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/venus_worldbook.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/venus_worldbook.html

9. Venus’ Surface

10. The Planets, Earth  Has life  Ranked 5 th in size  About 93 million miles from the sun  Earth takes 365 days 6 hours 9 minutes 9.54 seconds to circle the sun once  The distance around Earth's orbit is 584 million miles Citing - http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/earth_worldbook.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/earth_worldbook.html

11. The Planets, Mars  The fourth planet from the sun  About 4.6 billion years ago  Nicknamed from the ancient god of war  Water once flowed on the surface of Mars  Water may still live in cracks under the surface  Vast amounts of ice under the surface

12. The Planets, Jupiter  About 11 times bigger than Earth  Usually brighter than most stars and planets, except Venus  Named after the king of Roman gods  A giant ball of gas and liquid with little, or no, solid surface  Travels in an elliptical orbit  Completes one orbit every 4,333 days (12 Earth Years)  Large mass but very low density

13. Callisto and Ganymede are moons of Jupiter

14. The Planets, Saturn  Has 7 flat rings around it  Diameter is almost 10 times that of Earth’s  Named it the Roman god of agriculture  It takes almost 30 years to orbit the sun  Lower density than any other planet  Has 25 satellites and numerous other smaller ones that orbit around with the rings of Saturn

16. The Planets, Uranus  7 th planet from the sun  Takes light 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel to Uranus  British astronomer William Herschel discovered it in 1781  Rotates on a horizontal axis  Has 21 known satellites  Strong magnetic field  1,784,860,000 miles from the sun

17. The Planets, Neptune  Clouds surround the planet  Every 248 years Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for about a 20-year period  The diameter at the equator is four times bigger than Earth’s  1 Day – 16 hours and 7 minutes  Made up of hydrogen, helium, water, and silicates

19. What About Pluto?!?!?!  Considered a Dwarf Planet  Last planet in our Solar System  About 3,647,240,000 miles from the sun  Comes inside Neptune’s orbit about for 20 Earth Years every 248 Earth Years  Astronomers know little because it is so far away from Earth and the sun  Thin atmosphere Picture of Pluto from the Hubble Telescope