STARS & PLANETSSTARS & PLANETS

DEFINITIONS-

Solar System- Sun & all objects that are gravitationally bound

to the Sun.

Star- enormous hot ball of gas held together by gravity.

Planet- an object which revolves around a star.

Moon- an object which revolves around a planet.

Asteroid- rocky body too small to be a planet.

Comet- object in space made up of ice & dust.

Meteor- Chunks of burning rock & dust in our atmosphere.

Satellite- any object which revolves around another object.

M y

V ery

E legant

M other

J ust

S erved

U s

N achos

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

INNER PLANETS: Terrestrial (rocky)-

OUTER PLANETS: Gas Planets:

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Mercury-

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-- Rocky & cratered.

-- No moons.

-- No atmosphere.

-- Surface temperature:

-170 - 400 C.

Venus-

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-- Rocky.

-- No moons.

-- Closest to Earth.

-- Retrograde rotation.

-- Atmosphere is mostly

carbon dioxide.

-- Avg. surface temp.: 460 C

Earth-

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-- Rocky.

-- One moon.

-- Only planet with life.

-- Only planet with water.

-- Avg. surface temp.: 10 C.

-- Seasons due to tilt on axis.

Mars-

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-- Rocky.

-- Has 2 moons.

-- Atmosphere thin CO2.

-- Polar ice caps.

-- Volcanoes & canyons.

-- Has seasons.

-- Avg. surface temp.: -50 C.

Jupiter-

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-- Gas giant.

-- 63 moons + faint rings.

-- Mass greater than all

other planets combined.

-- No solid surface.

-- Composed mainly of:

hydrogen & helium.

-- Great Red Spot.

Saturn-

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-- Gas giant.

-- 47+ moons, rings of rock & ice.

-- Like Jupiter has rapid rotation,

thus it has many storms.

Uranus-

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-- Gas giant.

-- 27 moons plus rings.

-- Atmosphere mostly

hydrogen & helium.

-- Retrograde rotation.

Neptune-

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-- Gas giant.

-- 13 moons plus rings.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLANETS & STARS:

STARS- every star in the sky is a SUN; stars produce

their own light by nuclear fusion.

PLANETS- reflect light from the stars.

Sun-

Medium sized star

Center of our solar system

Part of the Milky Way Galaxy

One of many stars in our galaxy