NSF North Mississippi GK-8 Solar System Can You Name the Planets?

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Solar System

Can You Name the Planets?

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Major Solar System Bodies

Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Asteroid Belt Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

Terrestrial

Jovian

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Mnemonics

M V E M J S U N P

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies

My Very Easy Memory Jingle Seems Useful Naming Planets

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Solar System Roughly to Scale

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Sun

A star Also called

“Sol” 99.86% of

Solar System mass

All other objects rotate around the Sun

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Terrestrial Planets

Terrestrial means “Terra-like” Terra is another name for Earth Four Terrestrial Planets

Mercury Venus Earth Mars

None have rings, some have moons

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Mercury

Closest to the Sun Covered in craters Second smallest Only planet with scarps Only partially explored No atmosphere 800 °F peak

temperature

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Venus

Earth’s “sister planet” Extremely hot 96% carbon dioxide

atmosphere 90 atmospheres of

pressure Sulfuric acid rain

(battery acid)

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Earth

Only planet with known life

Only planet with a hydrosphere

Visible moon Also called “Terra” Densest planet

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Moon

Not a planet Easily visible Formed by giant

impact Covered in craters

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Moon Craters

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Moon Landing

Buzz Aldrin

(posing)

Neil Armstrong

(reflection)

July 20, 1969

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Aldrin(Posing)

Armstrong(reflection)

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Earth Rise

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Mars

The “Red Planet” Carbon Dioxide

polar caps Two moons

(captured asteroids)

NASA currently exploring

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Mars

Viking Lander

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Mars

Viking Lander

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Mars’s moons

Phobos Deimos

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Asteroid Belt

Stretch of Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter

Very sparsely populated

First Asteroid ever discovered was Ceres.

Eros

Ida

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Jovian Planets

Jovian means “Jove-like” Jove is another name for Jupiter Also called “Gas Giants” Four Jovian Planets

Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune

All have moons and rings

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Jupiter

Great Red Spot Largest planet 318 times as

massive as Earth At least 63 moons 4 Galilean moons Also called Jove

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Great Red Spot

Permanent Hurricane

At least 300 years old

Larger than the Earth

Winds move several hundred mph

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Galilean moons

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Saturn

Easily visible rings

Rings created from former moons

Gas Giant Second largest 34 moons

Titan

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Titan

Only moon with full atmosphere

Similar to early Earth

Ice volcanoes spew ammonia (like window cleaner)

Cassini-Huygens probe

Methane or Ethane seas

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Titan Probe Image Panorama

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Uranus

Relatively featureless

Tilted over 90 degrees

Blue-green Methane

atmosphere 27 moons

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Neptune

Extremely Blue Same size

(roughly) as Uranus

Great dark spot Atmospheric hole

Strong storms 13 moons

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Pluto

Smallest planet Neither Jovian nor

Terrestrial May not be a planet One moon, Charon

No rings Not explored Highly elliptical orbit

20 of every 248 years, Neptune is further

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Pluto and Charon

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Review

How many planets are there? There are 9 planets.

Can you name the planets in order from the Sun? Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

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Review

What is the smallest planet? Pluto

What is the largest planet? Jupiter

Which planet is closest to the Sun? Mercury

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Review

Which planet is furthest from the Sun? Pluto

Which planet is called “The Red Planet”? Mars

Which planet has sulfuric acid rain and is called Earth’s “sister”? Venus

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Review

Which planet is known for its rings? Saturn

Can you name some Solar System objects which are not planets? The Sun, The Moon, other moons, Asteroids

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The End

Great Job!

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Credits

Prepared By Derek Park NSF NMGK-8 University of Mississippi July 2005

Images and Information(see next slide for links) Wikipedia NASA University of Cincinnati Dept. of Physics

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Credits (Continued)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(planet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(planet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(planet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_(planet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus_(planet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune_(planet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto_(planet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloris_Basin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Red_Spot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilean_Moon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(Moon) http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov http://www.physics.uc.edu/~hanson/ASTRO/LECTURENOTES/F04/GASGIANTS/Page24.html