Home » Education » Science » Astronomy and Space

Learn About the Planets - Our Solar System уГД

0 Comments

31 Like

Like 31

Pin It

Ranked #342 in Education, #9,018 overall

Easy ways to remember the order of the planets

Our solar system consists of the sun, eight planets, moons, dwarf planets, an asteroid belt, comets, meteors, and others. The sun is the center of our solar system; the planets, their moons, the asteroids, comets, and other rocks and gas all orbit the sun.

The nine planets that orbit the sun are (in order from the sun): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet). A belt of asteroids (minor planets made of rock and metal) lies between Mars and Jupiter. These objects all orbit the sun in roughly circular orbits that lie in the same plane, the ecliptic (Pluto is an exception; it has an elliptical orbit tilted over 17┬░ from the ecliptic).

Easy ways to remember the order of the planets (and Pluto) are the mnemonics: "My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas" and "My Very Easy Method Just Simplifies Us Naming Planets" The first letter of each of these words represents a planet - in the correct order.

The Solar System is located in the Milky Way galaxy, which contains about 200 billion stars.

Solar System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia via kwout

Our Solar System Planets Educational Chart Poster - 24x36

Mercury

Shortest year of any planet

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Bluedharma

Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, has almost no atmosphere, and its dusty surface of craters resembles the Moon.

The planet was named for the Roman god Mercury, a winged messenger, and it travels around the Sun faster than any other planet. Mercury is difficult to see from Earth-in fact, the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, for all his years of research and observation, never once was able to see Mercury.

Shortest year of any planet -- 86.969 Earth days. Moonlike, closest to the sun. Lowest known atmospheric pressure. It is not much thicker than the surrounding vacuum.

How much would you weigh on Mercury?
If you moved to Mercury you would not weigh as much as you do on Earth. Not because you would lose weight on the space ship, but because Mercury is smaller, and so has less gravity. If you weigh 70 pounds on Earth, you would weigh only about 27 pounds on Mercury.

Mercury is so close to the Sun, and so small, that it has only a very small atmosphere. It has been blown away by the Sun's solar winds. That means that there is almost no air on Mercury.

Mercury by Silverdragon
More Planetmercury Posters

The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System

The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System [Hardcover]

The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System

by: William K. Hartmann, Ron Miller

Amazon Price: $75.00 (as of 06/04/2012)

Introducing the new edition of the book praised as "spectacular" (London Times), "eye-boggling" (Future Life), "concise and informative...the colorful and imaginative paintings steal the show"(Chicago Tribune), with "page after page filled with new colour paintings, each the well-controlled evocation of a spectacular scene"(Scientific American).

Venus

The Interior of Venus by solarviews
Browse more Venus Posters
This picture shows a cutaway view of the possible internal structure of Venus. The image was created from Mariner 10 images used for the outer atmospheric layer. The surface was taken from Magellan radar images. The interior characteristics of Venus are inferred from gravity field and magnetic field measurements by Magellan and prior spacecraft. The crust is shown as adark red, the mantle as a lighter orange-red, and the core yellow.

What is known about the Venusian interior comes primarily from the Venera, Pioneer Venus and Magellan spacecraft. Before these explorers, scientists thought that Venus would have tectonic processes similar to that of Earth's mantle convection. Venus and Earth are both similar in size and presumable the same composition. However, Venus showed no sign of plate tectonism, and appears to have a single plate which makes it very different from Earth

Venus is often called Earth's twin because the two planets are close in size, but that's the only similarity. The thick clouds that cover Venus create a greenhouse effect that keeps it sizzling at 864┬░F. Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is also known as the "morning star" and "evening star" since it is visible at these times to the unaided eye. Venus appears as a bright, white disk from Earth. Highest atmospheric pressure of any surface planet. A surface pressure of 92 atmospheres can make walking very difficult (assuming you can manage not to fry in the heat). On Earth, 92 atmospheres is equivalent to being 920 meters (~3000 feet) underwater. Divers rarely go much below 150 meters (~500 feet) underwater, equivalent to 15 atmospheres of pressure. At such pressure the low winds of Venus (1 to 3 km/h) can overwhelm you with its strong current. In addition the high pressure makes anything at the surface heat up very quickly. From West To East If you somehow found a way to survive the scorching heat found on the surface of Venus, you would quickly notice something strange about the days. Aside from the fact that Venus rotates very slowly, so that a day on Venus actually lasts longer than a year, Venus also rotates in the opposite direction as almost all the other planets. Instead of the Sun rising in the east and setting in the west, the Sun on Venus would appear to rise in the West, and set in the East.

3D Planets in a Tube

Earth - solar system mobile

Scientists use the Earth to study all the other planets.

Earth is not perfectly round; it bulges at the equator and is flatter at the poles. From space the planet looks blue with white swirls, created by water and clouds. Earth is a surface planet. We are stuck inside a huge gravity well that can kill (by a fall); Earth has the greatest gravity of any surface planet. Earth is the only surface planet to have nearly equal tides from two different sources. The tides from the Moon are slightly more than twice the force of the tides from the Sun. Scientists use the Earth to study all the other planets. Since no human has ever visited another planet, we have to use what we know about the Earth, and try to guess what the other planets must be like. This is called Comparative Planetology.

3-D Solar System

Solar System and Beyond by solarviews
Sell art online at Zazzle.

Visions of Mars

Visions of Mars [Paperback]

Visions of Mars

by: Olivier de Goursac

Amazon Price: $2.64 (as of 06/04/2012)

This amazing group of images, almost all previously unpublished, captures vast sandy plains, ancient lakes, deep canyons, the highest mountains in the solar system, polar ice caps, and other remarkable aspects of the planet's dramatic landscape. The book also includes a summary of the data that has been gathered about the planet up to this time.

Mars

Because of its blood-red color (which comes from iron-rich dust), this planet was named for Mars, the Roman god of war. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, situated between Earth and Jupiter. Three-quarters red, Mars also has dark blotches on it and white areas at the poles-these are white polar ice caps.

Today's weather forecast for Mars:
Another cool and mostly clear day. Low morning haze will give way to a sunny afternoon with occasional high clouds. High temperature about -10 C at the equator; -25 C in mid-latitudes. Winds moderate, reaching 50 km/h in mid-afternoon. Expect a few clouds this evening and lows of -75 C to -90 C.
Source: Toronto Star, March 26, 1995, Terrence Dickinson, direct quote of part of his weekly The Universe column.

Mars has higher mountains, and deeper canyons than any other planet. The largest canyon on Mars would stretch from New York City to Los Angeles on the Earth. That makes the Grand Canyon look tiny. It Also has the Solar Systems biggest volcano, Olympus Mons.

Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere

Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere (Cambridge Planetary Science)

Amazon Price: $94.66 (as of 06/04/2012)

"There are excellent photos, figures, tables, and diagrams and 19 pages in color. Without doubt, this is the best book available that summarizes knowledge of the largest planet in the solar system. Highly recommended." CHOICE

Jupiter

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was named for the most important Roman god because of its size. About 1,300 Earths would fit into it. Viewed through a large telescope, Jupiter is stunningly colorful-it is a disk covered with bands of blue, brown, pink, red, orange, and yellow. Its most distinguishing feature is "the Great Red Spot," an intense windstorm larger in size than Earth, which has continued for centuries without any signs of dying down.

Jupiter's small moon Sinope, is the moon at the greatest distance from its primary (23,700,000 km or about 60 times the Earth-Moon distance, and 40% the Sun-Mercury distance). This moon is actually invisible to the naked eye from Jupiter.

You can see four of Jupiter's moons With a pair of binoculars at night. Also Jupiter spins really fast. It only takes 10 hours to go from night to day on Jupiter. For that reason its middle has been stretched out. Rather than round it is short and fat. Kind of like when someone spins pizza dough really fast to stretch it out.

Moons:
Jupiter has at least 63 moons. Their names are Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Thebe, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Sinope, Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Ananke, Carme, Pasiphae W1302, W1700, W1704, W1704_2, W1800, W1903_s, W1805, W1902, W1904, W2002_2, and W1700_2.

Saturn: A New View

by: Laura Lovett, Joan Horvath, Jeff Cuzzi

Amazon Price: $6.64 (as of 06/04/2012)

This breathtaking volume, including authoritative essays on the planetary system and the mission, reveals the planet, its ethereally beautiful rings, and its 40+ moons in ways never before seen or recorded.
Astonishing, amazing, and personal.
- Dr. David Livingston

Saturn

Saturn, the second-largest planet, has majestic rings surrounding it. Named for the Roman god of farming, Saturn was the farthest planet known by the ancients. Saturn's seven rings are flat and lie inside one another. They are made of billions of ice particles.

Saturn is a favorite object for many observers. Its beautiful rings are 169,800 miles wide, but less thick than a football field. In many ways Saturn is similar to Jupiter, but it is much smaller. Under the clouds of methane and helium the sky gradually turns into liquid until it becomes a giant ocean of liquid chemicals.

Saturn has several hundred rings. However it is not the only planet with rings. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune also have rings.

Uranus

Uranus is a greenish-blue planet, twice as far from the Sun as its neighbor Saturn. Uranus wasn't discovered until 1781. Its discoveror, William Herschel, named it Georgium Sidus (the Georgian star) after the English king, George III. Later its name was changed to Uranus, after an ancient Greek sky god, since all the other planets had been named after Roman and Greek gods.

Uranus has the strangest tilt of any planet -- 97.86┬░. Uranus is a world on its side, and as result has the most extreme seasons, with the sun almost overhead during summer at Uranus' north pole.

Encyclopedia of the Solar System, Second Edition

Amazon Price: $17.28 (as of 06/04/2012)

"Wonderfully updated and spectacular spacecraft images...Its a great primer for students as well as a reference for professionals."
-WILLIAM K. HARTMANN, Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute

Neptune

Neptune, named for an ancient Roman sea god, is a stormy blue planet about 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth. Neptune was discovered when astronomers realized that something was exerting a gravitational pull on Uranus, and that it was possible that an unknown planet might be responsible. Through mathematical calculations, astronomers determined there was indeed an undiscovered planet out in space-a year before it was actually seen for the first time through a telescope (in 1846).

Strongest winds in the solar system -- 2200 km/h.

Pluto

Pluto is usually farther from the Sun than any of the eight planets; however, due to the eccentricity of its orbit, it is closer than Neptune for 20 years out of its 249 year orbit. Pluto crossed Neptune's orbit January 21, 1979, made its closest approach September 5, 1989, and remained within the orbit of Neptune until February 11, 1999. This will not occur again until September 2226.

Pluto was officially labeled the ninth planet by the International Astronomical Union in 1930 and named for the Roman god of the underworld. It was the first and only planet to be discovered by an American, Clyde W. Tombaugh. It has since been reclassified as a Dwarf Planet along with Eris and Ceres.

Learn About the Planets - Our Solar System уГД

Easy ways to remember the order of the planets

The Solar System is located in the Milky Way galaxy, which contains about 200 billion stars.

Mercury

Shortest year of any planet

The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System

Venus

Earth - solar system mobile

Scientists use the Earth to study all the other planets.

Visions of Mars

Mars

Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere

Jupiter

Saturn: A New View

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

Diagram of solar system

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Voila! Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

Solar system crafts

Our Solar System Craft Activities and Ideas

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Voila! Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

Uncle Milton Moon In My Room

Mars Coloring Pages

13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System

Full set of snap-together planets

As seen in Architectural Digest!

Table of Contents

by jeffryv

Explore related pages

Related Tags

Want our Newsletter?