References

Sun• The Sun is a star and is not solid• Because of this, different parts of it rotate at

different rates: at its poles, the sun rotates once every 36 days, whereas, at its equator, it rotates once every 25 days

• The temperature at the surface of the sun is around 5500 degrees C, which is around 55 times the temperature of boiling water and 5.5 times the temperature of molten lava!

• It can fit a million Earths• 98 percent of the Sun is made out of hydrogen and

helium.• 4 hydrogen atoms fuse together to make one atom

of helium – these collisions occur a billion times in one second within the Sun’s core!

• In each of these reactions, some of the mass of these atoms is converted into radiation – the Sun has an output of Watts, which is more than the energy given by a billion billion power stations!

Home Page

Mercury• Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun• It resembles the moon in that it has impact

craters on its surface• It has a crater called the Caloris Impact Basin

which is the size of Texas• Mercury’s molten core is larger than Earth’s core

relative to their respective planet sizes• The temperature on Mercury varies by around

600 degrees C between day and night• Mercury has the most elliptical orbit of any planet

in the Solar System

Home Page

Venus• The surface of Venus is hot enough to melt

lead!• However, its composition is very similar to

Earth’s• Atmospheric composition:

• 96.4% carbon dioxide• 3.4% nitrogen• 0.015% sulfur dioxide• 0.007% argon• 0.002% water vapor

• It is frequently referred to as the morning or evening star, as it can be seen in the sky right after the Sun rises or sets.

Home Page

Earth• Earth formed approximately 4.54 billion

years ago• More than 70 percent of the Earth is

covered in water.• Atmospheric Composition:

• 78.084% nitrogen• 20.846% oxygen• 0.9340% argon• 0.1 % water vapor• 0.039% carbon dioxide• Minimal percentages of neon, helium,

methane, krypton, hydrogen, nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide

• The Earth’s lithosphere (solid outer layer) floats on molten magma.

• Earth’s moon is the largest moon relative to the planet that it orbits in the Solar System

Home Page

Mars• Mars is known as ‘The Red Planet’.• The temperature on Mars barely reaches 0

degrees C on a summer day• There has been evidence found on Mars of the

existence of water• This leads to possibilities of life, such as

microorganisms, existing there.• Mars is home to ‘Olympus Mons’, the largest

volcano in the solar system – it is three times the height of Mount Everest!

Home Page

Jupiter• Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar

system.• It is a gaseous planet that is more than three

hundred times the mass of the Earth.• It has a ‘Great Red Spot’, which is actually a

hurricane three times bigger than our planet, that has been going on for at least 200 years.

• If you managed to travel to Jupiter, the first thing that you would come across would be an invisible force field.

• The core of Jupiter is thought to be solid, and around the size of the Earth

Home Page

Saturn• Saturn is the second largest planet in the

Solar System• Its diameter is ten times that of the Earth and

it is ten times further away from the Sun.• Saturn has 53 known moons, and has 9

moons that have been discovered and are waiting to be confirmed

• Saturn’s ‘Great White Spot’ is a giant storm, similar to Jupiter’s ‘Great Red Spot’.

• However, Saturn’s ‘Great White Spot’ is not always there, and only shows up intermittently, around every 30 years.

• Saturn’s rings are so thin that they appear to vanish when they are looked at straight on the edge.

Home Page

Uranus• When Uranus was first discovered, it was

mistakenly catalogued as a star• Uranus is the name of the father of the Roman

god Saturn• Unlike any of the other planets, it spins on its

side, with its northern hemisphere facing the Sun for 42 years of sunlight, before turning the other way and experiencing 42 years of darkness

• Uranus has 27 moons named after various characters from works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope

Home Page

Neptune• Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun• Neptune is made up mostly of hydrogen

and helium, with a small amount of methane

• Neptune is blue because the methane in its atmosphere absorbs red light from the Sun, but reflects blue light

• Neptune has 13 moons which are named after different sea gods and nymphs in Greek mythology

Home Page

References• Books:

• Brunier, Serge. Solar System Voyage. Cambridge University Press, 2002.• Chown, Marcus. Solar System: A Visual Exploration of the Planets, Moons, and Other Heavenly

Bodies that Orbit Our Sun. Touch Press and Faber and Faber, 2011.

• Websites• http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/index.cfm• Images:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Planets2013.jpg• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/venus_magellan.jpg• http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=9643• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/marsglobe1.jpg• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/saturn/saturn.jpg• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/uranus_voy2.jpg• http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2424

Home Page