The planets

The Planets

By David Gu

General Information

1. Revolve: When a samller object circles around a larger one

2. Rotate: When an object spins on its axis

3. 8 planets have been found in our solar system

4. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are the inner planets

5. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are the outer planets

6. The inner planets are basicly spheres of rock, while the outer ones are gigantic sphereical gas planets with rings

7. More craters can be found on the inner planets because they were often hit by asteriods and meteorites for the past 600 million years

8. Orbit: A path followed by a Planet, Satellite, etc.

9. To be considered a planet the object must have an orbit around the Sun, have a certain amount of mass so that its own gravity can make it into a sphere, and not have any other objects similar to it in about the same distance from the Sun

10. A class of objects that meet the first and second requirement to be a planet but not the last one is a Dwarf Planet.

11. Pluto, Ceres, and Eris are currently the three dwarf planets in our solar system

The Inner Planets

Mercury Venus Earth Mars

Mercury

1. The sun is the cause of Mercury’s non-substantial atmosphere

2. Helium and Sodium can be found in Mercury’s atmosphere

3. Process of forming Mercury’s shape:

a) Impact Cratering- Objects crash into the surface leaving craters

b) Volcanism- Lava floods the surface

c) Tectonic Activity- Crust of the planet moves to adjust to the cooling down and heating up of the planet

Average Solar Distance: 57.8 million km Revolution Period: 87.9 Earth days Rotation Period: 58.6 Earth days Equatorial diameter: 4878 km Gravitational Pull: 0.38 times the Earth Natural Satellites: 0

Venus

1. From Earth, Venus is the brightest planet that can be seen due to its thick cloud layer, therefore it is called the “Evening Star”

2. Venus’ atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid (greenhouse, traps heat)

3. Retrograde rotation is a type of rotation in which a planet rotates clockwise instead of the other way

4. For Venus to rotate once it takes 243 Earth days, but for it to revolve around the Sun once, it takes only 225 Earth days

5. On Venus the Sun would appear to rise in the west and set in the east because Venus has a retrograde rotation, which means the planets rotates clockwise

6. Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system because its own greenhouse atmosphere traps heat inside

Average Solar Distance: 108.2 million km Revolution Period: 224.7 Earth days Rotation Period: 243 Earth days Equatorial diameter: 12,100 km Gravitational Pull: 0.91 times the Earth Natural Satellites: 0

Earth

1. 21% of oxygen, 78% nitrogen, 0.9% argon, and the other 0.1% is made up of water vapor, carbon dioxide, neon, methane, krypton, helium, xenon, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone

2. Our atmosphere protects us from solar radiation and meteors from reaching us in large amounts

3. Earth’s rotational tilt is at a 23.5 degree angle

4. The rapid spin of Earth’s iron-nickel core causes the magnetic field

5. Our Moon is the natural satellite of Earth

Average Solar Distance: 152 million km Revolution Period: 365.26 Earth days Rotation Period: 23.93 hours Equatorial diameter: 12,756 km Gravitational Pull: 9.8 meters per second

per second Natural Satellites: 1

Mars

1. Some pieces from Mars crash landed on Earth that may carry ancient bacteria or other signs of life

2. The main element of Mars’satmosphere is carbon dioxide

3. Much of Mars’ surface is covered by a soil rish in iron-laden clay that makes the planet look red

4. Olympus Mons is a Martian volcano over 600 kilometers in width and over 26 kilometers in length

5. Phobos and Deimos are the two satellites of Mars

Average Solar Distance: 228 million km Revolution Period: 686.98 Earth days Rotation Period: 24.6 hours Equatorial diameter: 6786 km Gravitational Pull: 0.38 times that of the

Earth

The Outer Planets

Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune

Jupiter

1. Jupiter’s flat poles and bulged out equator is caused by its rapid rotaion

2. Hydrogen, helium, sulfur, and nitrogen make up Jupiter’s atmosphere

3. The Giant Red Spot on Jupiter is actually a long lasting storm that was their since we discovered Jupiter

4. Jupiter has 50 satellites that we know of

5. Io, one of Jupiter’s satellites, is volcanically active

Solar Distance: 778.3 million km Revolution Period: 11.78 Earth years Rotation Period: 9 hours 55 minutes Equatorial diameter: 143,000 km Gravitational Pull: 2.54 times that of the

Earth Natural Satellites: 50+

Saturn

1. Hydrogen and helium make up Saturn’s atmosphere

2. Astronemers believe the rings may have formed from parts that resulted from the breakup of the natrual satellites

3. The rings of Saturn are made up of ice, rock, and some gases

4. Saturn’s density is really small, therefore it can float on water

5. Seasons on Saturn are seven years long

Solar Distance: 1.429 billion km Revolution Period: 29.46 Earth years Rotation Period: 10 hours 40 minutes Equatorial diameter: 120,660 km Gravitational Pull: 0.93 times that of the

Earth Natural Satellites: 53

Uranus

1. Uranus is tilted 98 degrees so when we look at it from Earth it appears to rotate on its side

2. Uranus’ atmosphere contains hydrogen, helium, and methane

3. Uranus has 27 known natuaral satellites

Solar Distance: 2.871 billion km Revolution Period: 84.01 Earth years Rotation Period: 17 hours 14 minutes Equatorial diameter: 51,118 km Gravitational Pull: 0.8 times that of the


Neptune

1. Ammonia, helium, and methane make up Neptune’s atmosphere

2. 13 satellites orbit around Neptune

3. Triton, Neptune’s largest satellite, is a combination of ice and rock, and astronemers believe Trition wasn’t originally a satellite but was captured into Neptune’s gravitational pull

Solar Distance: 4.501 billion km Revolution Period: 164.79 Earth years Rotation Period: 16.11 hours Equatorial diameter: 49,528 km Gravitational Pull: 1.2 times that of the


Dwarf Planets

Pluto Ceres Eris

Pluto

1. Charon, Nix, and Hydra are Pluto’s three moons, natuaral satellites

2. Using a spectroscope scientists learned that there is methane frost on Pluto

3. Charon is actually have the size of Pluto and is included into Pluto’s nitrogen and methane composed atmosphere

Average Solar Distance: 6 billion km Revolution Period: 248 Earth years Rotation Period: 6.4 Earth days Equatorial diameter: 2400 km Gravitational Pull: 0.04 times that of the


Ceres

1. For Ceres to make one complete revolution around the Sun it will take 4.6 Earth years

2. Ceres orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, which is in the asteriod belt, and so it was mistakenly considered as a asteriod

3. On Ceres’ surface you can probably find water, ice, carbonates, and clays

Solar Distance: 415 million km Revolution Period: 4.6 Earth years Rotation Period: 9.074 hours Equatorial diameter: 950 km Gravitational Pull: 0.028 times that of the


Eris

1. Eris’ original name was Xena, Greek goddess of strife and discord

2. It takes Eris 557 Earth days to make a revolution around the Sun

3. Dysnomia, daughter of Eris and cause of lawlessness in the ancient world, is the moon of Eris

4. Eris does not clear out its orbit (similar objects within its range of distance from the Sun)

Average Solar Distance: 10.12 billion km Revolution Period: 557 Earth years Rotation Period: unknown Equatorial diameter: 2400 km Gravitational Pull: 0.08 times that of the


Web Source

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/planets.html

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The planets