By: Justin Elder THE SOLAR SYSTEM
By: Justin Elder
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION• Our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy
• The solar system consists of the Sun and planets that gravitationally orbit around it
• The solar system is approximately 4.6 billion years old
• The solar system consists of four inner planets (Terrestrial Planets) Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars and four outer planets (Gas Giants) Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
• The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System.
• Diameter: 1.4 million kilometers or 870,000 miles.
• Composition: 71% hydrogen, 27% helium and less than 2% of all other elements.
• Atmosphere: photosphere, chromosphere, and corona.
• Layers: core, radiation zone, and convection zone
THE SUN
• The first planet from the Sun
• Diameter: 4,878 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 58 million kilometers (0.39 AU)
• Atmosphere: carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, oxygen, carbon monoxide, water vapor, nitric oxide
MERCURY
• The second planet from the Sun
• Diameter: 12,100 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 107 million kilometers (0.72 AU)
• Atmosphere: carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
VENUS
• The third planet from the Sun
• Diameter: 12,715.43 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 150 million kilometers (1.0 AU)
• Atmosphere: nitrogen and oxygen
• Earth is the only planet we know of to have life
EARTH
• Fourth planet from the Sun
• Diameter: 6,792 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 228 million kilometers (1.52 AU)
• Atmosphere: carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon
MARS
• Belt of asteroids located between the planets Mars and Jupiter
• Distance from Sun: approx. 2.8 AU
• Size of asteroids vary from very small to about 930 kilometers
ASTEROID BELT
• The fifth planet from the Sun
• Diameter: 142,984 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 778 million kilometers (5.2 AU)
• Atmosphere: hydrogen and helium
• The Great Red Spot is an anticyclone storm that could fit two to three Earth sized planets
JUPITER
• The sixth planet from the Sun
• Diameter: 120,536 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 1,429 million kilometers (9.5 AU)
• Atmosphere: hydrogen and helium
• Saturn’s rings extend from 6,630 km to 120,700 km and are about 20 meters thick
SATURN
• The seventh planet from the Sun
• Diameter: 51,118 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 2.87 billion kilometers (19.2 AU)
• Atmosphere: hydrogen, helium and methane
URANUS
• The eighth planet from the Sun
• Diameter: 49,500 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 4.5 billion kilometers (30.1 AU)
• Atmosphere: hydrogen and helium
NEPTUNE
• The second largest known dwarf planet in the solar system
• Diameter: 2,320 kilometers
• Distance from Sun: 5.9 billion kilometers (39.5 AU)
• Atmosphere: a thin layer of gases surround pluto
PLUTO
• A region in the solar system outside of the orbit of Neptune from about 30 AU to 50 AU
• 20 times as thick as the asteroid belt
• Three dwarf planets exist in the Kuiper belt Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake
KUIPER BELT
CONCLUSION
• Andromeda is the close galaxy to the solar systems galaxy
• There are more that 140 moons in the Solar System
• The Sun will eventually turn into a red giant and finally a white dwarf