Our Solar System By:Ishali & Halen
The Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto Comets Table of Contents Telescopes Probes Men and Women in Space Dictionary
What is The Solar System?
THE SUN The sun is by far the largest object in the solar system. The sun is a huge ball of burning gas which is also a star. The gas is made out of hydrogen and helium. The outside of the sun is 11,000 degrees fahrenheit. Our sun is called a yellow dwarf star which means it is only a medium sized star! All of the nine planets orbit around the sun.
rcury Mercury was named by the romans after the fleetfooted messenger of the gods. Mercury is the second smallest plant in the solar system. Mercury also has a roman symbol (shown on top). Unlike the earth Mercury has no moon. On Mercury you weigh less than you do on Earth. For
Venus Venus is covered in a thick layer of yellowish clouds. These clouds are not like regular clouds,they are made of sulfuric acid. Venus is so similar to Earth that they call it Earth s sister planet. Some of Venus surface has rolling plains. You won t find many mountains or hills. Venus is the second planet from the sun. It is almost the same size as the Earth.
Earth Earth is the only planet that doesn t have a roman or greek name. Earth s name comes from old English & German. Also Earth is sometimes called Water Planet because it s the only planet that has liquid water. Unlike other planets Earth has one moon. Earth orbits around the Sun. Earth spins on its own axis once every 24 hours. When it is rotating we get day and night or light and darkness. So that means we face the sun and than we don t. The revolution in earth days is 365.26 days.
Mars Mars is a small rocky planet. Mars has a diameter of 4,222 miles which is 6,790 km that is only half the size of Earth. Mars is 48.5 miles or 78 million km away but,is not difficult to see for much of the year. Mars is the only planet with features of land scarping that can be seen from Earth. Mars has two moons that are called Phobos & Deimos.
Jupiter Jupiter is a huge planet. It would take 11 planets the size of Earth to fit the surface of Jupiter. A space probe, Voyager 1, discovered a ring system that surrounds Jupiter but, you can t really see it. Jupiter is a planet lying far
Uranus Uranus is a large gas planet & it s color comes from clouds of hydrogen,helium,& methane. Uranus is tipped on it s side and it has a ring system. Uranus has five moons &to see the moons you need a telescope. Uranus diameter is about four times that of earth. Uranus completes one orbit around the sun only once every 84 years, passing through all the zodiacal constellations. If you use binoculars of 12x magnification show planet Uranus as a star. The space probes showed Uranus as a featureless globe.
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun, like Jupiter, Saturn is a gas planet. Saturn is about nine & a-half times the diameter of Earth. Saturn s ring is made up of billions of ice-coated pieces of rock. also the ring looks like it has gaps in between the ring but it doesn t. Those gaps are really filled with smaller rings within them. Another thing of ring is the tilt of the rings as seen from earth changes during the planets orbit of the sun. Saturn takes 29.5 years to orbit the sun.
Neptune Neptune is a gas planet too. Neptune is similar to Uranus but it is bluer and smaller. Neptune has many moons including one moon called Triton. Neptune has four faded rings unlike Saturn. Neptune's diameter is about four times that of earth just like Uranus. It takes Neptune 165 years just to orbit around the sun that means that Neptune moves very slowly. Neptune is very hard to find but you can see Neptune with binoculars or a small telescope. The Great Dark Spot on Neptune is a huge in the atmosphere. On Neptune's surface there are bright whispy clouds of something called Methane ice.
Pluto As you know Pluto is no longer called a planet. Some people call it a dwarf planet. Pluto is so small & so distant that Pluto's surface can t be seen from Earth. Also the spaceprobe hasn t ever visited it. Some people believe it is a frozen world of rock and also ice. Pluto has just one moon. That moon is called Charon. Pluto s diameter is so small that it s 1\5 less than Earth. Pluto completes one orbit around the sun every 284 years. Scientists found other things that look like Pluto. There has only be a small part of Pluto s path that has been seen since it was found in the 1930. If you want to see Pluto you need an 8in(200mm)telescope & even through the telescope it looks like a star.
Asteroids The solar system contains millions of space rocks,which are called asteroids. Ceres is the only one that is the biggest out of the asteroids that have been discovered. Ceres is about 580 miles across. Ceres was also the first asteroid to be discovered. Ceres is covered with dark matter that reflects little sunlight. Also asteroids come in various shapes and sizes. There are only about ten asteroids that are larger than 155 miles. Asteroids that are over 186 miles are round. All asteroids are made of either rock, metal, or sometimes even both. Most asteroids exist in a broadband known as the Asteroid or Main Belt, and that lies between the orbits of Mars & Jupiter. All of the asteroids shine by reflected but, only Vesta is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Vesta is about 350 miles and is the third largest asteroid known. Vesta s entire suface is pitted with impact craters. More than 90% of asteroids exist in the asteroid belt. 7,000 of them have been identified and are also found in other parts of the Solar System.
Meteors & Meteorites
Comets Comets are lumps of snow and dust, which are called dirty snow balls. Just a few miles in size. Comets are just leftovers from the formation of the Solar System. There are still millions of comets at the very fringes of the Solar System. Every year however, some of the comets travel in toward the sun; which is coming close enough to Earth for us to see. By the time a comet is visible from Earth, it has undergone many dramatic changes, and become a spectacular object with a glowing head & long tail. Some comets return to our skies in a relatively short period of time, less than 200 years.
Telescope Telescopes help you see faint objects appear brighter and also larger than when seen with the naked eye. Telescope do that by gathering more light and magnifying the image of an object so, that more details can be seen. The main telescope used arre refractor and reflection. Both of those produce images that are upsidedown, but that doesn t matter for astronomical use. The size of a telescope will generally refer to the aperture which is the diameter of the objective lens or mirror that collects the light. There are two types of mounts: altazimuth and equatorial. An altazimuth mount is constantly adjusted manually to keep objects in view An equatorial mount can be fitted with a drive to enable motorized tracking of objects. The two mount both move horizontally and vertically, but the altazimuth in relation to the horizon and the equatorial in relation to the celestial equator. A good telescope for observing the moon, planets, and double stars is a 3in.(75-mm) refactor.
Probes
Men&women in space
Dictionary Celestial Objects: Any of the natural objects that can be seen in our sky, including stars, planets, moons, asteroids, galaxies, and comets. Distance: Separation between surfaces or objects. Gravitational Force: The force of attraction between all masses in the universe. Gravity:The gravitational attraction of the Earth, the Moon, or a planet for bodies at or near it s surface. Mass: A quantaty or aggregate of mater USU of considerable.