solar2

The Solar System Part II

Earth Facts

Name means mother of the land
Distance = 93 mil mi (108mil km)
Diameter = 7926mi (12,756km)
Day = 24 hrs

Earth Facts

Year = 365.25 days
Number of moons = 1
Temps: 136f -130f (58 -90)
Atmosphere: 78% N, 21% O, 1% other

Earth’s only natural satellite

The Moon

Official Name = Luna
Distance from Earth = 252,698mi
Diameter = 2160 mi
Atmosphere = 0
White part = Highlands, Dark
Dark Part = Marias (seas)

The Red Planet

Mars Facts

Mars is named for the god of war, due to its red color
Distance = 141 mil mi
Diameter = 4212 mi
Day = 24.6 hrs
Year= 687 days

Mars facts

Soil is high in iron oxide (rust) so its reddish in color

has ice caps made of CO2 and H20

Canals: it was believed Mars had canals that took water from poles to the equator for aliens.

Proved to be "mars"quake faults.

Mars Facts

The atmosphere is 95%CO2, and oxygen and H2O

The hottest temperature is 80f at the equator, low -170

Olympus Mons= Shield volcano. Tallest mnt in the S.Syst

Mars Facts

Spacecraft

Mariner

Viking. Went to Mars to test for life. Did two tests

CO2 test to see if ground gave off bubbles

Mars Facts

Fed broth to soil and see if there are any chem reactions

both proved inconclusive

More facts will be presented on

Pathfinder Mission: to take weather samples and test better photograph surface

Mars Facts

Valles Marineris = deepest canyon in the solar syst. Its240 km wide and 6.5 m deep

Moons

Phobos 14mi diameter

Deimos 7.5 mi diameter

The Asteroid Belt

Located between Mars and Jupiter

Asteroids vary in size from a grain of sand to 1000m.

Asteroids are clumps of matter that failed to join together 4.6 bil yrs. ago

Asteroid Belt

Not all asteroids are found in this belt, some are found in a second belt called the trajan belt, located between Jupiter and Saturn

Some are sent in all directions, some towards Earth

Asteroids

There are at least 70 known Asteroid craters on Earth

Asteroids smaller than a volkswagon burn up

An asteroid probably killed the dinosaurs 65mil yrs. ago

Asteroids

The largest known asteroids are

Ceres

Pallas

Juno

Vesta

JUPITER

Jupiter s named after the King of the Gods

Almost became a star but it cooled down too quickly and didn’t have fusion
Diameter = 88,650 mi

Jupiter

Distance = 506 mil mi

Year = 4333 days

Day = 9.84 hrs.

Layers of Jupiter:

Tiny solid core

Frozen water and ammonia

Jupiter

Next layer is H and He

lower atmosphere is ethane, methane, acetylane

Upper atmosphere is ammonia and ammonia hydrosulfide

Jupiter

Great Red Spot: a large storm that has been going on for at least 300 yrs

Jupiter’s atmosphere is arranged in bands, each spinning at a different speed

Jupiter

Jupiter has a small set of three rings

Jupiter has a large magnetic field

Jupiter has 16 moons

Jupiter’s moons

These moons are divided into 4 groups of four

Group 1 diameters less than 200mi (Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Thebe)

Group 2 aka Galilean Moons b/c discovered by Galileo

Jupiter’s Moons

These moons are 1900 mi or larger (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto)

Europa, Ganymede, Callisto are all covered with ice

Io is covered with active volcanoes

Jupiter’s moons

Group 3: Diameters less than 105 mi (Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara)

Group 4: Diameters less than 17 mi ( Ananke, Carme, Pasiphae, Sinope)

The Ringed Planet

Saturn Facts

Named for Jupiter’s Father

Is the most distant planet visible with the naked eye

Distance 885 mil mi from Sun

Diameter 74, 565 mi

Period = 29.46 years

Saturn Facts

Day = 10.25 hrs

Layers of Saturn:

Solid core

Frozen H,He

Liquid H , He

Ammonia clouds

Saturn Facts

Top layer is made of Phosphine, acetylene, ethane, methane, methacetylene and propane (all explosive)

The top layer is filled with swirling storms

Anne’s Spot: a storm in atmosphere

Rings of Saturn

Rings are made of ice and silica particles ranging from 1/1000 mm to 100km in diameter

The rings are actually 7 major rings and thousands of ringlets

Shepard moons keep the rings circular and even

Theories of ring formation

The rings were once a moon that decayed

A mood was struck and the remains make up the rings

The rings are dust particles left over from the formation of S. Syst.

Moons of Saturn

Saturn has officially 17 moons, with several Co-orbitals (20 total)

Atlas

Prometheus

Pandora

Epimetheus

Janus

Moons of Saturn

Mimas

Enceladus

Tethys

Telesto

Calypso

Dione

Helene

Rhea

Saturn’s Moons

Titan

Hyperion

Iapetus

Phoebe

Silly moon facts

Titan: One of two moons with an atmosphere similar to Earth’s original. Cassini Misison to look for life on Titan

Hyperion- looks like a hamburger

Mimas- looks like the deathstar

Uranus

Is named for the father of the titans and cyclops

It is 1.7 bil mi from the sun

It has a diameter of 32,116mi

day = 17. 3 hrs

Year = 84 yrs

has rings

Uranus facts

Solid core of metal and silicates

frozen H, He

H and He

upper atmosphere Methane

has a magnetic field

Rotates on its side

has 15 moons

most famous is Miranda

Neptune

Named for the god of the sea

Is 2.8 billion mi from sun

day = 16. 3 hrs

Year = 165 yrs

has rings

lowest temp is -353f

Neptune facts

Great Dark Spot (GDS) a giant green storm on neptune

same layers of atmosphere as Uranus except top layer is methane and ammonia making the dark blue color

Neptune Facts

Has a magnetic field

Diameter is 30, 642mi

Has 8 known moons

most famous is triton, the second moon to have atmosphere.

Triton has a chance of colliding with Pluto in the future due to cross of orbits

Pluto

Named for the god of the dead or underworld

is considered 2.8 bil mi from sun (sometimes)

Year = 248 yrs

Day = 6days 9.5 hrs

Pluto facts

Most recent of the solar syst planets to be discovered 1929

Diameter = 2160 mi

has a very elliptical orbit that crosses Neptunes orbit, will eventually crash with Neptune or its moon Triton

Pluto Facts

Lowest temp -220c

had an atmosphere that just collapsed

1 moon Charon very similar in size. Is considered by some to be a co planet. Both may be moons that drifted away from Neptune

Planet X????

Scientists believe there’s a 10th planet passed Pluto

This Planet X is affecting the orbits of Uranus and Neptune

Other theory: There is a "Brown Dwarf" or an object bigger than a planet, but smaller than a star

Theory 3: There is a black hole

Beyond Pluto

Comets

Beyond Pluto there is an area called an Oort cloud. This cloud contains ice, gas, and dust
Inside this cloud there is an area called the Kruper Belt. Inside the belt gravity brings ice gas and dust together making a comet.
Sometimes the gravity of a nearby star will cause this comet to leave the kruper belt and travel the solar syst.
The ice core of the comet is called its nucleus, as it comes toward the sun it melts it makes a cloud called a coma and a tail
The tail points away from the Sun due to the solar winds pushing them
as the comet goes away from the sun the tail shrinks and it builds up ice again

Comets

Comets travel on very elliptical orbits through the Solar System
Some like Halley’s comet travel at regular intervals
Halley’s comet will come back in 2062
Schumaker-Levy: Comet broke into 22 pieces, striking Jupiter, leaving holes in the atmos.

Meteors

Meteoroids- chunks of metal or stone that orbit the sun
Meteors- When a Meteoroid burns through the atmos. Causing a shooting star
Meteorite- When it actually strikes the Earth
Some meteors come from the Moon or from Mars

Life in the S. Syst

For life to exist you need
the right temp conditions
liquid water and Carbon or organic compounds
If the Earth were a little closer to the Sun, life would not exist

2-4 Exploring the Solar Syst.

Escape Velocity: The speed at which a rocket or object needs to achieve in order to leave the Planet’s gravitational pull
Earth’s Escape Velocity is 11.2km/sec

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This page was hand made by Project LASA on November 9, 1998.