What is it?

The Solar System

• Order the planets:

VENUS EARTH

MERCURY URANUS

MARS JUPITER

NEPTUNE SATURN

Correct answer• Mercury• Venus• Earth• Mars• Jupiter• Saturn• Uranus• Neptune

What are the

inner and outer

planets?

THE SUN• The Sun is a star found at the center of

the Solar System.

• The Sun’s diameter is about 110 times wider than Earth’s.

• 74% = hydrogen. 24% = helium, 2% oxygen, carbon, iron and neon

• Light from the Sun reaches Earth in around 8 minutes.

MERCURY

• Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun.  (58 million kilometres away)

• Like all the other planets Mercury orbits round the Sun, but its orbit of the Sun lasts for only 88 days.

• Because Mercury goes round the Sun so quickly, the planet was called after the messenger of the Roman Gods.  

• Mercury has no moons. 

VENUS

• Venus is the brightest planet in the Solar System and can be seen even in daylight if you know where to look. 

• Venus is called after the Roman Goddess of love and beauty.

• Venus has no moons.• Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar

System, even hotter than Mercury, which is closer to the Sun.

EARTH

• It is the only planet that has an atmosphere containing 21 percent oxygen.

• It is the only planet that has liquid water on its surface. It is the only planet in the solar system that has life.

• The Earth takes 365¼ days to complete its orbit round the Sun.  

• The Earth is 150 million kilometres from the Sun.

• It has got one Moon.

MARS

• Mars is often called the Red Planet, This is due to a mineral called iron oxide that is very common on the planet’s surface.

• Mars has two moons Phobos and Deimos .• Mars doesn’t have a protective layer

of atmosphere like Earth, so it cannot store heat from the sun. As a result, the temperature on Mars often drops to -82 degrees C in the winter and only rises to -5 degrees C in the summer.

JUPITER

• Jupiter is the giant of the Solar System, with a mass more than 300 times the mass of the Earth and is called after the ancient Roman sky-god, Jupiter, known to the Greeks as Zeus.

• Jupiter is the stormiest planet in the Solar System. 

• Jupiter is the first of the “gas giants” , entirely  composed of dense layers of gas.

SATURN

• The bright globe of Saturn is surrounded by rings which may be composed of ice.  

• Saturn is the last planet that can be seen without using a telescope or binoculars.

• Saturn has at least 18 moons, satellites which orbit round the planet attracted to it by the planet’s gravity.

• The weather on Saturn is also very stormy.

URANUS

• Uranus cannot be seen from the Earth without a telescope.

• Uranus has a total of 27 moons, most of whom are named after characters in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.  

• Most of the centre of Uranus is a frozen mass of ammonia and methane, which gives it the blue-green colour.  

NEPTUNE

• It is one of the four “gas giants”.  Like Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, it is composed only of gas.  Neptune is a great ball of hydrogen and helium.

• We now know that Neptune has 13 moons in total. One of them, Triton, is the most unusual moon since it orbits Neptune in the opposite direction of Neptune’s own rotation on its axis.  

• Neptune was the God of the Sea.

PLUTO • According to new rules adopted by the International

Astronomical Union, acelestial body must meet the following criteria in order to qualify as a planet:

• A planet must be round.• A planet must orbit the sun.• A planet must have “cleared the neighborhood”

of its orbit. This means that as a planet travels, its gravity sweeps and clears the space around it of other objects.

• Pluto follows the first two rules: It is round, and it orbits the sun. It does not, however, follow the third rule.  Don’t feel too sad for Pluto, though. It has a new title — “dwarf planet.” 

CREATE YOUR OWN PLANET

• - Is it an inner or outer planet?• - How far is it from the Sun?• - What is the colour of the planet and why?• - What is the population/surface/weather of the

planet?• - What langugage do they speak?• - How many moons has the planet got?• - one more extra information of your choice