1	The Solar System Distinctions and Superlatives
2	The Solar System Consists of: The Sun 8 Planets All moons of all planets Asteroid Belt Kuiper Belt Comets and Space Debris
3	The Sun Medium Sized Yellow Star Diameter: 1,390,000km or 109 Earths Mass: 332,830 Earths Contains 98% of all mass of Solar System
4	The Nine Planets All orbit the sun 4 Inner Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) Also called Terrestrial Planets 4 Outer Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) Also called Jovian planets
5	Terrestrial Planets 4 closest planets to Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars Rocky Dense (Heavy for their size) Relatively thin atmosphere Relatively small Few or no moons Relatively short revolution period (year)
6	Mercury Smallest Planet Closest to the sun Shortest Revolution Period (year) 88 days No Atmosphere No Moons Very high and very low temperatures Marked by Craters
7	Venus Hottest Planet Thick Atmosphere Greenhouse Effect No moons Longest Rotation Period (day) 243 days Clockwise Rotation
8	Earth Only planet with 3 states of water Only planet that we know has life Nitrogen / Oxygen Atmosphere 1 moon Mostly covered by water Largest Terrestrial Planet
9	Mars The Red Planet – covered in rust Icy Poles 2 moons Thin CO₂ Atmosphere Farthest Inner Planet
10	Jovian Planets 4 Largest Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Mostly Gas – Also called Gas Giants Have ring systems Have many (between 8-60 moons) Long Revolution Period (Year) Short Rotation Period (Day)
11	Jupiter Largest Planet Great Red Spot Thin Ring System 18-40 Moons Shortest Rotation period (day) 10 hours
12	Saturn Largest Ring System 30 or more moons 2^nd largest planet
13	Uranus Sideways planet (Largest axis tilt, 97˚) 22 or more moons Methane (blue) atmosphere Smooth featureless sphere
14	Neptune Last Jovian Planet Very Similar to Uranus Great Dark Spot 8 moons 9^th planet for 20years at a time
15	Pluto Dwarf Planet Probably a Kuiper Belt Object Icy
16	Largest Moons / Satellites Larger than Mercury Ganymede – Jupiter Titan – Saturn Larger than Pluto Callisto – Jupiter Io – Jupiter Moon – Earth Europa – Jupiter Triton – Neptune Smaller than Pluto Titania - Uranus
17	Asteroid Belt Band of rocks and chunks of metal that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter. When they approach Earth – Meteoroids When they enter Earth’s atmosphere – Meteors When they hit the Earth - Meteorites
18	Kuiper Belt Large asteroids that orbit the sun beyond Pluto Pluto may be a large Kuiper Belt Object and not a planet
19	Comets Ice – Dirt masses that orbit the sun Very large, stretched orbits Long revolution periods Come close to the sun Have two tails – dust and ion Dust tail trails comet Ion tail always points away from sun
20	Space Debris Comets fall apart and leave behind pieces The pieces pass through the atmosphere as meteor showers Meteor shower is a regular appearance of meteors in a short period of time.
21	Quiz