Inner Planets Notes - Brian...
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1 The Inner Planets Notes The Inner Planets Notes How Many Planets? How Many Planets? • How many planets are there in our Solar System? 9? 8? • 13 Planets!!! – 4 terrestrial planets – 4 gas planets – 5 dwarf planets Planet Types Planet Types • Terrestrial Planets – “rocky planets” – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars – Orbit the Sun – Clear their own orbits of other objects • Dwarf Planets – Made of rock and ice – Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, Eris – Orbit the Sun – Too small to fully clear orbits, often found in Asteroid Belt or Kuiper Belt Order of the Solar System Order of the Solar System • Sun • Inner Planets – Mercury – Venus – Earth – Mars • Asteroid Belt – Asteroids – Ceres • Outer Planets • Kuiper Belt • Oort Cloud
Transcript of Inner Planets Notes - Brian...
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The Inner Planets NotesThe Inner Planets Notes
How Many Planets?How Many Planets?
• How many planets are there in our Solar
System? 9? 8?
• 13 Planets!!!
– 4 terrestrial planets
– 4 gas planets
– 5 dwarf planets
Planet TypesPlanet Types
• Terrestrial Planets– “rocky planets”
– Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
– Orbit the Sun
– Clear their own orbits of other objects
• Dwarf Planets– Made of rock and ice
– Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, Eris
– Orbit the Sun
– Too small to fully clear orbits, often found in Asteroid Belt or Kuiper Belt
Order of the Solar SystemOrder of the Solar System
• Sun
• Inner Planets– Mercury
– Venus
– Earth
– Mars
• Asteroid Belt– Asteroids
– Ceres
• Outer Planets
• Kuiper Belt
• Oort Cloud
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11stst Rock Rock -- MercuryMercury
• Dead planet, shrinking
• Extreme temperatures
• Thin atmosphere
• Fast orbit, slow rotation, year shorter than day!
• No moons
• Smallest planet
22ndnd Rock Rock -- VenusVenus
• Bright in night sky
• Earth’s “evil twin”, same size, same materials
• Thick, deadly atmosphere, massive lightning
• Heavily volcanic
• Hottest planet, runaway greenhouse effect
• No moons
33rdrd Rock Rock -- EarthEarth• One moon
• Only planet with life
• Ocean’s cover 75% of surface
• Study of Earth: Geology (3rd & 4th Quarter)
44thth Rock Rock -- MarsMars
• The Red Planet
• Half the size of Earth
• Thin CO2 atmosphere
• Used to have thicker atmosphere, liquid water on surface, maybe life
• Most studied and visited planet
• 2 moons, Phobos & Deimos
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55thth Rock Rock -- CeresCeres
• Dwarf planet
• Largest object in
Asteroid Belt
• 1st a planet,
then asteroid,
now dwarf
Asteroid BeltAsteroid Belt
• Asteroid Belt between Mars & Jupiter
• Asteroids: small, rocky objects, most under 1 km in diameter
• Over 100,000 asteroids in the belt
• “leftover” pieces from solar system creation
• Some have large elliptical orbits that bring them closer to the Sun than the Earth, and could smash into Earth!!!
