Earth Science

An overview of the

Solar System

The Sun
The

sun is the
biggest, brightest, and
hottest object in the
solar system.
The sun is an
ordinary star.
The sun is made of
about 70% hydrogen
and 28% helium.

Mercury
Mercury

is solid and
is covered with
craters.
Mercury has almost
no atmosphere.
Mercury is the eighth
largest planet.

Venus
Venus

is the sixth
largest planet. Its
about three-fourths
the size of earth.
The surface is rocky
and very hot. The
atmosphere
completely hides the
surface and traps the
heat.

Earth
Earth

is the fifth largest planet and the third from

the sun.
Liquid covers 71 percent of the Earths surface.
The Earth has one moon.

Moon

Mars
Mars

is the fourth
planet from the sun.
Mars has a thin
atmosphere that
contains mostly
carbon dioxide.
Mars has two small
moons.

Moons of Mars
Phobos

Deimos

Jupiter

Jupiters Red Spot

The

Great Red Spot,

a huge storm of
swirling gas that has
lasted for hundreds of
years.
Jupiter does not have
a solid surface. The
planet is a ball of
liquid surrounded by
gas.

Moons of Jupiter
Jupiter has four large Galilean moons,
twelve smaller named moons and twentythree more recently discovered but not
named moons.
Well take a look at the four large Galilean
moons which were first observed by
Galileo in 1610.

Io
Io

is the fifth moon of

Jupiter. Its the third
largest of Jupiters
moons.
Io has hundreds of
volcanic calderas.
Some of the volcanoes
are active.

Europa

Europa is the sixth of

Jupiters moons and is
the fourth largest.
It is slightly smaller than
the Earths moon.
The surface strongly
resembles images of sea
ice on Earth. There may
be a liquid water sea
under the crust.
Europa is one of the five
known moons in the solar
system to have an
atmosphere.

Ganymede
Ganymede

is the
seventh and largest of
Jupiters known
satellites.
Ganymede has
extensive cratering
and an icy crust.

Callisto
Callisto

is the eighth of Jupiters known satellites

and the second largest.
Callisto has the oldest, most cratered surface of
any body yet observed in the solar system.

Saturn
Saturn

is the second largest planet and the sixth

from the sun.
Saturn is made of materials that are lighter than
water. If you could fit Saturn in a lake, it would
float!

Rings of Saturn
Saturns rings

are not

solid; they are

composed of small
countless particles.
The rings are very
thin. Though theyre
250,000km or more in
diameter, theyre less
than one kilometer
thick.

Uranus
Uranus

is the third
largest planet and the
seventh from the sun.
Uranus is one of the
giant gas planets.
Uranus is blue-green
because of the
methane in its
atmosphere.

Neptune
Neptune

is the fourth
largest planet and the
eight from the sun.
Because of the orbits,
from 1979 to 1999,
Neptune was the
ninth planet.
Like Uranus, the
methane gives
Neptune its color.

Pluto
Pluto

is the smallest
planet and usually the
farthest from the sun.
Pluto is the only
planet that has not
been visited by a
spacecraft.