Unit 2 Solar System

Terrestrial Planets (Rocky Planets)

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Mercury

*No atmosphere. Temperature Ranges from: -279 F (-173 C) to 801 F (427) C

*It takes 58 earth days to equal 1 day on Mercury; long days and long nights thus, boil and freeze

Venus

*Thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide

*average tempature 846 F (462 C)

Earth

*The blue planet with 70% covered by Oceans.

*Our oceans may have come from the degassing of volcanoes and comets (snowballs) striking the planet

Mars

* Iron in the soil makes Mars red. Dust storms, three months in length, shroud the planet with red soil

*Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system; Olympus Mons. Not Active Now

*Mars shows surface structure, much like channels of once running water. Rocks on the surface of Mars look like Sedimentary Indicating there was weathering by water on Mars in the past

Jovian Planets

*In order from the Sun: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (Pluto next and is a terrestrial planet)

*Are mainly composed of hydrogen

*All have rings of mainly dust

*All have moons and many of them

*All Jovian planets are huge compared to terrestrial planets

*All have a magnetic field

*All have very strong winds; order of magnitude stronger than the
strongest winds on Earth

Saturn

*violent storms

Jupiter

Great Red Spot. Three-hundred-year-old storm. Two Earths can fit into the Red Spot.

*Like Venus, only a 3-degree tilt of its rotation axis, resulting in no
seasons. Earth’s tilt, presently, is 23.5 degrees.

Uranus

*Blue due to methane in the atmosphere. Rotates on its side. Tilt is 90 degrees. Extreme Seasons, yet always cold since far from the Sun.

Neptune

*Blue de to methane in the atmosphere

*Cloud form changes every 6 years

*Highest winds of any planet in our solar system

Moon

*Our Moon is a NOT a Vagabond, as are Asteroids, Meteoroids and
Comets and Dwarf planets

*Age of our Moon is the same as Earth because it is made from the
Earth’s upper mantle and crust; not like any other moon in our solar
system

*Our Moon was born from our earth as an asteroid hit the earth and
debris was thrown into space then gravitationally attracted to form
the moon; captured by the Earth’s gravitational force, as well as the
moon’s force itself, the moon revolves around the Earth

*Our Moon is moving away from Earth an average of 3.8 cm (1.5 in)
per year

*we only see one side of the Moon because of Synchronous Rotation or Tidal Locking

Types of Tides

*Diurnal = One High Tide in 24 hours

*Semidiurnal = Two High Tides in 24 hours

*Mixed = Semidiurnal yet different heights for high tide

*Spring tide, Earth, Sun and Moon are aligned at new and full moon.
Largest tidal range

*Neap tide, Earth, Sun and Moon are not aligned at first and third
quarter moon. Smallest tidal range

Vagabonds

*The asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter

*Meteoroids are found throughout the solar system

*Comets are found in the Kuiper Belt, near the orbit of Jupiter and beyond Pluto

*Asteroids can be called minor planets, located in the inner Solar
System

*Large asteroids have also been called planetoids

*They move through space with an average speed of 25 km per second

*Meteoroids are smaller than asteroid

*They are composed of metallic rock rocky

*Space dust is a meteoroid up to about one meter in size

*They move through space with an average speed of 20 km per second

*Comets are small icy bodies moving quickly from far in our solar
system to proximity of our Sun

*The main body is called a coma

*Comets have two tails; one gas and the other dust

*The tails of comets are directed away from the Sun due to solar wind

*They move through space with an average speed of 10 to 70 km per second as it approaches close to the Sun

Craters on the moon

*The moon has NO atmosphere to frictionally burn up meteoroids,
thus has many Craters

*The far side of the moon has more craters than the near side

*The near side of the moon has a much thinner crust, which has
allowed past active volcanoes to erupt and fill in ancient large basins (or large impact craters melted surrounding rock)