Planets of the Solar System

1. The Planets in our Solar System

2. The Planets
 Do you know a saying to remember the planets in
order?
 My Very Eager Mother Just Severed Us Nine Pizzas
 Do you know the planets in order?
 Mercury
 Venus
 Earth
 Mars
 Jupiter
 Saturn
 Uranus
 Neptune
 Pluto (dwarf planet)

3. Solar System Data
Pluto 2,300

4. What do you know about the
planets?

5. Planet Sizes Relative to Each Other

6. Inner Planets
 Characteristics of the inner planets:
 “Terrestrial Planets”
 Rocky
 Dense (about five times denser than water)
 Metal cores (iron)
 Thin atmosphere
 The inner planets:
 Mercury
 Venus
 Earth
 Mars

7. Mercury
 Inner most planet
 Terrestrial planet
 “Iron Dwarf” for having a large iron
core and being only 38% the size
of Earth
 Thin Atmosphere: Some
Hydrogen, Helium, Oxygen
 Composition: Iron Core, Silicate
Surface
 Iron core is about the size of
Earth’s moon
 Hundreds of craters
 Sunlight Strength: 450-1040%
of Earth’s
 Highest and lowest surface
temps: 427°C to -173 °C

8. Venus
 Second planet from the Sun
 Terrestrial planet
 “Sister Planet” roughly the same size
and mass as Earth’s
 Thick Atmosphere: 96% Carbon
Dioxide
 Surface pressure 92 times
greater than Earth’s
 Clouds made of sulfuric acid
 Composition: Nickel-iron Core,
Silicate mantle, rocky crust
 Lots of volcanic features, but not
active.
 Sunlight Strength: 190% (cloud
tops), 5% (surface) of Earth’s
 Surface Temp: 464° C

9. Earth
 Third planet from the Sun
 Terrestrial planet
 200km Thick Atmosphere:
78% Nitrogen, 21%
Oxygen, 1% argon
 Composition: Nickel-iron
Core (inner core: solid &
outer core: liquid), Olivine
mantle (composed from
oxygen, magnesium and
silicon), rocky crust
 One moon

10. Mars
 Fourth planet from the Sun
 Terrestrial planet
 “Red Dwarf”
 Once covered with water
 Surface Pressure: 0.007 equivalent to the
cruising altitude of a plane
 Atmosphere: 95% Carbon Dioxide, 2.7%
Nitrogen, 1.6% Argon, and 0.7% other
gases
 Composition: Iron and iron sulfide core,
olivine and iron oxide mantle, rocky crust
 Craters in the south, volcanic features in
the north
 Lack of craters in the north suggest a much younger
region covered by lava flows.
 Sunlight Strength: 36-52% of Earth’s
 Surface Temp: -50°C to -123° C

11. The Outer Planets
 Characteristics of the outer planets:
 “Jovian Planets”
 Composed of mostly gases and ices
 No solid surface
 May have a solid core
 Most have rings
 Thick Tumultuous atmospheres - rapid winds, large storms
 The outer planets:
 Jupiter
 Saturn
 Uranus
 Neptune
 Pluto (dwarf planet)

12. Jupiter
 Fifth planet from the Sun
 Jovian planet
 “Goliath planet”
 Five main rings
 Atmosphere: 90% Hydrogen and 10%
Helium
 Three separate clouds layers of ammonia
ice, ammonium hydrosulfide ice, and water
ice.
 The atmosphere blends seamlessly with the
outer core.
 Composition: Liquid molecular hydrogen
and helium outer mantle, liquid metallic
hydrogen inner mantle, and ice and rock
core
 Core pressure is about 100 million atmospheres
 A very powerful magnetic field that extends
all the way to Saturn’s Orbit.
 Sunlight Strength: 3-4% of Earth’s

13. Saturn
 Sixth planet from the Sun
 Jovian planet
 “Ringed Giant”
 Seven main rings
 Atmosphere: 96% Hydrogen and 4%
Helium
 Clouds on Saturn the same as
Jupiter’s but can twice a deep as
Jupiter’s.
 Composition: Liquid hydrogen (outer
mantle), Liquid metallic hydrogen
(inner mantle), ice (outer core) and
rock (inner core)
 Most oblate planet with visible
bulges at the equator
 Sunlight strength: 1% of Earth’s
 Powerful magnetic field (600 times

14. Uranus
 Seventh planet from the Sun
 Jovian planet
 “Blue Giant”
 Eleven thin rings
 Atmosphere: 83% Hydrogen, 15% Helium and
2% Methane
 Only one cloud layer of methane has been
detected. Below this layer it is believed to
have clouds similar to Saturn and Jupiter
 Composition: Liquid hydrogen and other
elements (outer mantle), slushy layer of icy
compounds of water, methane, and ammonia
(inner mantle), and an icy & rocky (core)
 Red light is absorbed by methane, which is
why this planet is blue-green in color
 Sunlight strength: 1% of Earth’s
 Powerful magnetic field (50 times that of
Earth’s)
 Axial inclination of 97.8° (sideways compared to
other planets)

15. Neptune
 Eighth planet from the Sun
 Jovian planet
 “Blue Colossus”
 Five main rings
 Atmosphere: 79% Hydrogen, 18% Helium
and 3% Methane
 Dynamic atmosphere with a main clouds of
methane ice crystals.
 Composition: Hydrogen and other elements
mixed into an icy liquid (outer mantle),
slushy mixture rich in water, methane, and
ammonia (inner mantle), and an icy & rocky
(core)
 Orbit is almost perfectly circular
 Sunlight strength: 0.1% of Earth’s
 Visually the sun would be 900 times fainter
than how we see it on Earth
 Axial inclination of 97.8° (sideways compared
to other planets)

16. Poor Pluto
 What have you heard about Pluto?
 Why is it different than the other planets?
 Why is it now technically not a planet?

17. Pluto
 Little is know, but best guess is
that 70% of the planet is rock and
ice makes up the other 30% of the
planet.
 The picture to the right is the
highest resolution picture of Pluto
known at this time.
 67% of the diameter of the moon.
 Elongated and inclined orbit
different than the other planets
 Member of the Kuiper Belt
 Kuiper belt is a belt of icy planet
building leftovers
 NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft
launched in early 2006 is
expected to reach Pluto in 2015.