book layout 1

A GUIDE TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM

MISSION TABLE

MERCURY

JUPITER

VENUS

SATURN

MARS

Pages Pages Pages

Pages Pages Pages

4

NEPTUNE

HAUMEA

136108

CERES

MAKEMAKE

136472

ERIS

PLUTO

Pages Pages Pages

Pages Pages Pages

5

6

OBJECTIVE 1Mercury is the closest planet to the sun in our solar system. It is also the smallest planet, with a radius of only 2439.7 km. This is smaller than the radius of some of the solar systems larger natural satellites. It orbits the sun at a much faster pace than the earth and its year lasts only 87.969 earth days. Because of its close proximity to the sun, it is one of the least studied planets in the solar system.Mercury is classed as a terrestrial planet, and has a rocky surface like that of the earth. It is also extremely dense, having a density only slightly lower than earths. It is Mercury’s large iron core which is responsible for its high density.

Mercury has the most eccentric orbit of all the planets of the solar system, its distance from the sun ranges from 46 to 70 million kilometres. One Mercury day is the same length as two mercury years (about 176 earth days)

In appearance, Mercury mostly resem-bles the moon; it has a heavily cratered surface and no atmosphere. The extent of the cratering and plains suggests

that the planet has been geologically inactive for billions of years. The diver-sity of these craters is huge, they range from being only a few centimetres – to hundreds of kilometres across. The larg-est of these craters is Caloris Basin, which has a diameter of 1550 km. This impact was so powerful that it’s left evidence of lava eruptions thousands of years later and a 2 km tall ring surrounds the impact crater.Mercury has two distinct geographical plains; one being the heavily cratered areas of the surface, which are sur-rounded by the other, less severe plain comprised of rolling hills and the remains of much more ancient craters, most likely of volcanic origin.

The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was Mariner 10 which completed its observations 1975. It provided the first close up images of the planets surface, but only managed to map 45% of the planets surface due to the length of its orbit. Eight days after its final approach, the probe ran out of fuel and was shut

7

MERCURY

8

MISSION PATCHES

127°C

SURFACE TEMPERATURE

Anditi quae velitio eosseria aut lictotatquis que dus, idus atur?Nis et lam, sequo est autem rem eatia volupie nimusda vel id quos exersperovid que cones ium nimi, estio debis quibus estiumende volum corepudit maionem a viduntem cuptur? Eperum velias dolupta tiundis debis vent pel exernam dolore conse laborumet anderumque ex ea cul-lecabore ditaquibus denimpos ape pelliqui idessequas nestis apiendit que il ipsam abo. Mincitas doluptat.To te et dolupitium labor

9

4878 Km

DIAMETER



10

ATMOSPHERE

HeK

Ar

NXe

Kr

Ne



11

Anditi quae velitio eosseria aut lictotatquis que dus, idus atur?Nis et lam, sequo est autem rem eatia volupie nimusda vel id quos exersperovid que cones ium nimi, estio debis quibus estiumende volum corepudit maionem a viduntem cuptur? Eperum velias dolupta tiundis debis vent pel exernam dolore conse laborumet anderumque ex ea cullecabore ditaquibus

57,000,000 km

12

OBJECTIVE 2Venus is the second planet in the solar system. It one of the four terrestrial inner planets, and is very similar in size and composition to the earth, leading it to be known as earths sister planet. It is the brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon and can be seen be seen during the day on Earth when the skies are clear. Because of this, its existence has been known since ancient times and it was often referred to as the morning or evening star. The first civilisation to recognise that these two ‘stars’ were the same object were the babylonians, who referred to the planet as the bright queen of the sky.

The atmosphere of Venus is immensely thick and dense, so much so that it is impossible to see the surface of the planet from space without resorting to using light beyond the visible spectrum. The atmosphere contains high levels of sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide which create a huge greenhouse ef-fect on the planet. This causes Venus to have a higher surface temperature than Mercury, despite being further away from the sun. This surface temperature stays constant through-out the planet, despite Venus’ slow rotation speed, regulated by the winds in its lower atmosphere.

The surface of Venus is covered in vast vol-canic plains, 167 of these volcanoes are over 100km across.

Venus’s rotation is unusual, as it spins in the opposite direction to its orbit around the sun. Every other planet has an anti-clockwise rota-tion orbital direction, whereas Venus spins in a clockwise direction. Is it believed that this was caused by a huge impact in the early solar system, this could explain the lack of moons and the unusually slow rotational speed of the planet.

Venus was host to the first ever robotic space probe mission which began in 1961 with the Soviet probe Venera 1. It took another two missions by the Soviet Union before the probe Venera 3 became the first man made object to strike the surface of another planet on March 1st 1966.

13

VENUS

13

14

MISSION PATCHES

462 °C

SURFACE TEMPERATURE


15

12,102 Km

DIAMETER



16

ATMOSPHERE

N

ArCO

He

Ne

OCS

HCl

HF



17


18

OBJECTIVE 3Mars is the fourth planet in our Solar system, and is the outermost terrestrial planet. It is often referred to as the Red Planet, due to the high levels of iron oxide dust in the atmos-phere, however underneath this the planet is more yellow-orange in colour. It shares many features with the moon and Earth, its surface is heavily cratered, and it has numerous volcanoes, valleys and deserts. Mars is home to the highest known Mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, and also has promi-nent ice caps at the poles, just like the Earth. It is believed that Mars had large quantities of liquid water on its surface at one point in its history, due to erosion patterns found across the surface, however atmospheric pressure at current times is too low to allow large quanti-ties of liquid water to exist.

Mars is approximately half of the diameter of the Earth, but is much less dense. Its surface is composed largely of basalt, along with amounts of silica glass and iron oxide. Parts of this surface are magnetised, despite the planet not having a globalised magnetic field at the present time. This is believed to be evidence of plate tectonics on the Martian surface billions of years ago, when a younger Mars still had a functioning magnetic field. The ceasing of the planets internal dynamo (the rotation of electrically conductive liquids) is believed to have caused the loss of this field. The loss of this magnetic field

has had a dramatic effect on the planet. Without one, the planet has been unable to protect itself from the solar winds, which have stripped its atmosphere of its outer layers, reducing atmospheric density. The average surface pressure on mars is only 1% of that of the Earths.

Its surface features are not the only similar-ity Mars has with the earth. It is also the only planet in the Solar system with seasons like our own. This is due to its similar axial tilt of the two planets. It is theorised that Mars may have been much more habitable than it is today, and could have been very similar to the earth given the right conditions. However the ceasing of the internal dynamo, lack of magnetic field and thin atmosphere have rendered the planet almost completely geo-logically dead. The thin atmosphere prevents heat transfer across the martian surface, the lack of magnetic field provides little insulation from the solar wind, and there is no apparent volcanic activity to regulate the recycling of minerals between the surface and interior of the planet.

19

MARS

19

20

MISSION PATCHES

-46°C

SURFACE TEMPERATURE


21

6,746 Km

DIAMETER



22

ATMOSPHERE

N

Ar

O2

CO

NONe

Xe

Kr

HDO

H O2

CH4

H O2 2

H2



23


24

OBJECTIVE 4Mercury is the closest planet to the sun in our solar system. It is also the smallest planet, with a radius of only 2439.7 km. This is smaller than the radius of some of the solar systems larger natural satellites. It orbits the sun at a much faster pace than the earth and its year lasts only 87.969 earth days. Because of its close proximity to the sun, it is one of the least stud-ied planets in the solar system.Mercury is classed as a terrestrial planet, and has a rocky surface like that of the earth. It is also extremely dense, having a density only slightly lower than earths. It is Mercury’s large iron core which is responsible for its high density.Mercury has the most eccentric orbit of all the planets of the solar system, its distance from the sun ranges from 46 to 70 million kilo-metres. One Mercury day is the same length as two mercury years (about 176 earth days)

In appearance, Mercury mostly resembles the moon; it has a heavily cratered surface and no atmosphere. The extent of the cratering and plains suggests that the planet has been geologically inactive for billions of years. The diversity of these craters is huge, they range from being only a few centimetres – to hundreds of kilometres across. The largest of these craters is Caloris Basin, which has a diameter of 1550 km. This impact was so pow-erful that it’s left evidence of lava eruptions thousands of years later and a 2 km tall ring

surrounds the impact crater.Mercury has two distinct geographical plains; one being the heavily cratered areas of the surface, which are surrounded by the other, less severe plain comprised of rolling hills and the remains of much more ancient craters, most likely of volcanic origin.

The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was Mari-ner 10 which completed its observations 1975. It provided the first close up images of the planets surface, but only managed to map 45% of the planets surface due to the length of its orbit. Eight days after its final approach, the probe ran out of fuel and was shut down. It is thought to still be orbiting the sun, passing by Mercury every few months.

Mercury is one of the most difficult planets to reach in the solar system, due to its close proximity to the sun. Potential visitors have to travel the 91 million kilometres, into the suns gravitational well. As Mercury’s orbital veloc-ity is greater than that of the earth, visitors will also have to undergo a large change in velocity to approach in an appropriate orbit. Because of this, the trip to Mercury requires more rocket fuel alone than would be needed to leave the solar system entirely.

25

CERES

25

26

MISSION PATCHES

-46°C

SURFACE TEMPERATURE


27

6,746 Km

DIAMETER



28

OBJECTIVE 5Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It is the largest planet in our solar system and has over the double the mass of all the other planets of the solar system combined. Jupi-ter’s mass is mainly composed of Hydrogen and Helium, leading to its classification as a Gas Giant. Jupiter has one of the most distinct appearances of all the solar systems planets. Its atmosphere is divided into vivid stripes, the result of turbulent storms in the planets upper atmosphere. These stripes are composed of clouds of ammonia crystals, and its is the interaction between these clouds that causes the storms. The most prominent feature is the planets ‘Great Red Spot’ a giant storm larger than the diam-eter of the earth that has existed since at least since the 17th century when it was first observed. Some mathematical models sug-gest that the storm is stable and may be a permanent planetary feature.

While Jupiter’s outer atmosphere is over 90% Hydrogen, its interior contains a much more varied selection of elements, in both gaseous, liquid and solid form. It is believed that the composition of Jupiter’s outer atmosphere is very similar to that of a primordial solar nebula, due to its similarity to the elements found present in the Sun.

Jupiter’s mass is so immense that its barycen-tre, the central point at which the mass of

two orbiting objects balance each other, isn’t centralised with the sun as with other planets. It is instead found above the suns surface. Despite this huge mass, Jupiter is actually less dense than the earth.

It is theorised that Jupiter does have a dense solid core, surrounded by liquid metallic hydrogen. The majority of the planet however is comprised of its atmosphere, and Jupiter has the largest planetary atmosphere of any body in the solar system, which reaches over 5000km in altitude from the planets designated surface. The ability of Jupiter to keep such an immense atmosphere may be due to its immense magnetic field, which at fourteen times the strength of the Earth’s is the strongest in the solar system. Jupiter’s gravitational well is also immense, and it has lead to jupiter being referred to as the Solar systems Vacuum cleaner, as it tends to pull in and capture numerous comets and asteroids that would otherwise have been on a colli-sion course with the terrestrial planets.

29

JUPITER

29

30

MISSION PATCHES

-148 °C

SURFACE TEMPERATURE


31

142,984 Km

DIAMETER



32

ATMOSPHERE

He

HDCH

H O2

NH SH4

4

C H62

NH3



33


34

OBJECTIVE 6Saturn is the sixth planet in the Solar System. A gas giant, it is the second largest planet after Jupiter. Its dense rocky core is surrounded by metallic hydrogen, liquid hydrogen and its 1000km thick gaseous atmosphere. Saturn has an extremely hot interior, despite its dis-tance from the sun, and it radiates over twice as much energy into space as it receives from the sun.

The atmospheric composition of Saturn is very similar to that of Jupiter, with 93% of the outer atmosphere being composed of molecular hydrogen. One main difference however is the relative lack of Helium in comparison. Saturn’s atmosphere also displays banded patterns similar to those found on Jupiter, however they are much more feint. Instead, Saturn’s prominent feature is its rings. Al-though the other gaseous planets all have a ring system of some sort, Saturn’s are the most extensive, reaching as far as 120,700km from the planets equator. The rings are composed of millions of individual objects ranging from a few millimetres, to over 10 meters in diameter. Over 90% of these objects are composed of water ice. The exact origins of these rings is unknown, however theories suggest they could be the remains of a destroyed moon, or the original nebular material that came together to form the planet. There are 3 main ring

35

SATURN

35

36

MISSION PATCHES

-178 °C

SURFACE TEMPERATURE


37

120,536 Km

DIAMETER



38

ATMOSPHERE

HeNH3

CH4

C H62

HD

NH SH4



39


40

OBJECTIVE 7Uranus is the seventh planet in the solar system. It was officially discovered in 1781 by Sir William Herschel, and was the first planet to be discovered by telescope, however numerous sightings are recorded prior to this, the earliest being in 1690. It was originally classified as a comet by Herschel, until fellow astronomers plotted the planets full orbit and Herschel was asked to officially give a name to his new planet 1983.

Uranus is unique in our solar system in terms of its rotation. Rather than its poles being per-pendicular to its rotation around the sun, its axial tilt is 97.77 degrees, almost parallel with the plane of the solar system. This means the planet appears to spin sideways in compari-son to the other planets. Its moons and rings still orbit the planets equator on this extreme tilt, looking like target rings around the planet when viewed from earth. The extreme tilt of the planet means its poles get more exposure to the sun than its equator, but due to the in-ternal mechanisms of the planet, the equator is still its hottest area.

Although uranus has almost 15 times the mass of the earth, it has the smallest mass of the giant outer planets. Because its solid mass is made up mainly of ices such as water and methane that surround a small iron silicate core, it is classified as an ‘Ice giant’. 90% of Uranus’ mass is comprised of this icy mantle

layer, and its atmospheric mass is relatively small in comparison. This icy layer isn’t a solid mass like the ice found on earth. It is instead a highly conductive water-ammonia ocean. Above this, Uranus’ atmosphere consists manly of molecular hydrogen, helium and methane. It is this abundance of methane that gives Uranus it’s distinctive cyan colour-ing

Uranus has a complex planetary ring system. Its thirteen rings are made up of extremely small, dark particles and all but two of these rings are extremely narrow, being only a few kilometres wide. The objects that make up these rings are also extremely small, the largest being only a fraction of a meter wide. The rings are believed to be quite young and were not formed at the same time as the planet. The most likely origin is that they are the remains of one or more moons that were destroyed by an impact.

The magnetic field of Uranus is also quite unusual. Rather than being close in alignment to the planets rotational axis, it its rotated 59° from this. This magnetic field also does not originate from the planets centre as with the other planets, and is displaced more towards the southern rotational pole of the planet. This gives the planet a very asymmetric magnetic field, which is much stronger in the northern hemisphere than in the south.

42

MISSION PATCHES


43



44



45


46

OBJECTIVE 8Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun and the eighth planet of the solar system. It was the first planet to be found my math-ematical prediction rather than though a direct observation. Its effect on the orbit of Uranus lead to its prediction, and then discov-ery in 1846.

Neptune is one of the four giant outer plan-ets. Like Jupiter and Saturn, its atmosphere is comprised mainly of hydrogen and helium, however its icy mantle of a highly conductive water-ammonia ocean means it is classified as an ‘ice giant’ rather than a gas giant. It also contains a large proportion of methane in its atmosphere which, along with other atmospheric elements, is responsible for its vivid blue colouring. Its atmosphere is much more featured than that of Uranus, due to the abundance of visible weather patterns. Winds speeds can reach up to 600 meters a second and the majority of these move in the opposite direction to the planets rotation. It is believed that the active weather system is a result of the planets internal heat. Despite Neptune being almost two billion miles further from the sun than Uranus is, the two planets have a similar surface temperature. It is be-lieved that reactions within the centre of the planet are responsible for the production of massive amounts of heat, leading to the con-vection currents that create weather systems.

Neptune was the farthest known planet for almost 100 years until the discovery of pluto in 1930. It only regained this title in 2006, when the International Astronomical Union finally defined the word planet, and pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet.

Neptune’s size makes it an intermediate class of planet between the Earth and Jupiter. It has seventeen times the mass of the earth, and is 1/19th the mass of Jupiter. The term ‘Neptunes’ is used to describe extrasolar planets that are similar in mass to the planet, just as the terms ‘Jupiters’ and ‘Earths’ are used to describe other sized planets. Nep-tune, along with Jupiter, is the only planet with a surface gravity higher than that of the Earth.

47

NEPTUNE

47

48

MISSION PATCHES

-214 °C

SURFACE TEMPERATURE


49

49,532 Km

DIAMETER



50

ATMOSPHERE

NH3

HD

HeCH

H O

4

NH SH4

2

C H62



51


book layout 1

Documents

mercury years

mercury day

planets surface

cratered surface

rocky surface

nis et lam

closest planet

terrestrial planet