| Planet | Distance from the Sun (Astronomical Units miles km) | Period of Revolution Around the Sun (1 planetary year) | Period of Rotation (1 planetary day) | Mass (kg) | Diameter (miles km) | Apparent size from Earth | Temperature (K Range or Average) | Number of Moons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | 0.39 AU, 36 million miles 57.9 million km | 87.96 Earth days | 58.7 Earth days | 3.3 x 1023 | 3,031 miles 4,878 km | 5-13 arc seconds | 100-700 K mean=452 K | 0 |
| Venus | 0.723 AU 67.2 million miles 108.2 million km | 224.68 Earth days | 243 Earth days | 4.87 x 1024 | 7,521 miles 12,104 km | 10-64 arc seconds | 726 K | 0 |
| Earth | 1 AU 93 million miles 149.6 million km | 365.26 days | 24 hours | 5.98 x 1024 | 7,926 miles 12,756 km | Not Applicable | 260-310 K | 1 |
| Mars | 1.524 AU 141.6 million miles 227.9 million km | 686.98 Earth days | 24.6 Earth hours =1.026 Earth days | 6.42 x 1023 | 4,222 miles 6,787 km | 4-25 arc seconds | 150-310 K | 2 |
| Jupiter | 5.203 AU 483.6 million miles 778.3 million km | 11.862 Earth years | 9.84 Earth hours | 1.90 x 1027 | 88,729 miles 142,796 km | 31-48 arc seconds | 120 K (cloud tops) | 18 named (plus many smaller ones) |
| Saturn | 9.539 AU 886.7 million miles 1,427.0 million km | 29.456 Earth years | 10.2 Earth hours | 5.69 x 1026 | 74,600 miles 120,660 km | 15-21 arc seconds excluding rings | 88 K | 18+ |
| Uranus | 19.18 AU 1,784.0 million miles 2,871.0 million km | 84.07 Earth years | 17.9 Earth hours | 8.68 x 1025 | 32,600 miles 51,118 km | 3-4 arc seconds | 59 K | 15 |
| Neptune | 30.06 AU 2,794.4 million miles 4,497.1 million km | 164.81 Earth years | 19.1 Earth hours | 1.02 x 1026 | 30,200 miles 48,600 km | 2.5 arc seconds | 48 K | 2 |
| Pluto (a dwarf planet) | 39.53 AU 3,674.5 million miles 5,913 million km | 247.7 years | 6.39 Earth days | 1.29 x 1022 | 1,413 miles 2,274 km | 0.04 arc seconds | 37 K | 1 large (plus 2 tiny) |
| Planet | Distance from the Sun (Astronomical Units miles km) | Period of Revolution Around the Sun (1 planetary year) | Period of Rotation (1 planetary day) | Mass (kg) | Diameter (miles km) | Apparent size from Earth | Temperature (K Range or Average) | Number of Moons |
Monday, September 7, 2009
The Planets in Our Solar System
Planet Activities and QuizzesPlanet Activities and Quizzes
Planet Coloring pages
Enchanted Learning®
Over 20,000 Web Pages.
Sample Pages for Prospective Subscribers
An interactive puzzle on the Solar System.
Find It!, a quiz on the planets.
A fill-in-the-blank (cloze) activity on the Solar System - or go to the answers.
Solar System calendar to print out and color.
How to write a report on a planet - plus a rubric.
 Astronomy: K-3 Theme Page Activities, quizzes, books to print, and printouts. |  Nine Planets A Book With Tabs An activity book on the Solar System to print for fluent readers. The book contains information, pictures, and questions to answer. |  The Solar System Book A simple printable coloring book about the Solar System to print (for early readers). Pages on the Solar System, the sun, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. | Solar System Coloring Book Color and learn about our Solar System, the Sun, the planets, asteroids, comets, and our moon. |
 Solar System Diagram Label the Sun and planets. Answers |  Earth's Atmosphere Label the atmospheric layers of the Earth. Answers |  Earth Diagram Label the inside of the Earth. Answers |  Celsius Bar Graph Questions #2: Printable Worksheet A printable activity worksheet in which the student reads a bar graph of the average temperatures of the planets to answer questions, for example, "On average, is it warmer on Jupiter or Mars?" Or go to the answers. Go to a pdf version of the worksheet. |
 Moon Phases Diagram Label the phases of the waxing and waning moon. Answers |  Lunar Eclipse Diagram Label the lunar eclipse. Answers |  Planet-Sun Orbital Diagram Label the aphelion (farthest point in orbit) and perihelion (closest point in orbit) of a planet in orbit. Answers |
 Put 10 Planet Words in Alphabetical Order - Worksheet Put 10 planet words in alphabetical order. The words are: Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, moon, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, Uranus, Venus. Go to the answers. |  The Planets in English A Label Me! Printout Label the Solar System in English. Answers | The Planets in French A Label Me! Printout Label the Solar System in French. Answers |
The Planets in German A Label Me! Printout Label the Solar System in German. Answers | The Planets in Italian A Label Me! Printout Label the Solar System in Italian. Answers | The Planets in Portuguese Label the planets in Portuguese. Answers | The Planets in Spanish A Label Me! Printout Label the Solar System in Spanish. Answers |
Over 20,000 Web Pages.
Sample Pages for Prospective Subscribers
The Planets (plus the Dwarf Planet Pluto)
Our solar system consists of the sun, eight planets, moons, dwarf planets (or plutoids), an asteroid belt, comets, meteors, and others. The sun is the center of our solar system; the planets, their moons, the asteroids, comets, and other rocks and gas all orbit the sun. 
The largest planet is Jupiter. It is followed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury, and finally, tiny Pluto (a dwarf planet). Jupiter is so big that all the other planets could fit inside it.
The Inner Planets vs. the Outer Planets
The inner planets (those planets that orbit close to the sun) are quite different from the outer planets (those planets that orbit far from the sun).
Temperatures on the Planets
Generally, the farther from the Sun, the cooler the planet. Differences occur when the greenhouse effect warms a planet (like Venus) surrounded by a thick atmosphere.
Density of the Planets
The outer, gaseous planets are much less dense than the inner, rocky planets.
The Earth is the densest planet. Saturn is the least dense planet; it would float on water.
The Mass of the Planets
Jupiter is by far the most massive planet; Saturn trails it. Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, and Pluto are orders of magnitude less massive.
Gravitational Forces on the Planets
The planet with the strongest gravitational attraction at its surface is Jupiter. Although Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are also very massive planets, their gravitational forces are about the same as Earth. This is because the gravitational force a planet exerts upon an object at the planet's surface is proportional to its mass and to the inverse of the planet's radius squared.
A Day on Each of the Planets
A day is the length of time that it takes a planet to rotate on its axis (360°). A day on Earth takes almost 24 hours.
The planet with the longest day is Venus; a day on Venus takes 243 Earth days. (A day on Venus is longer than its year; a year on Venus takes only 224.7 Earth days).
The planet with the shortest day is Jupiter; a day on Jupiter only takes 9.8 Earth hours! When you observe Jupiter from Earth, you can see some of its features change.
The Average Orbital Speed of the Planets
As the planets orbit the Sun, they travel at different speeds. Each planet speeds up when it is nearer the Sun and travels more slowly when it is far from the Sun (this is Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion).
The nine planets that orbit the sun are (in order from the sun): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet or plutoid). A belt of asteroids (minor planets made of rock and metal) lies between Mars and Jupiter. These objects all orbit the sun in roughly circular orbits that lie in the same plane, the ecliptic (Pluto is an exception; it has an elliptical orbit tilted over 17° from the ecliptic).
Easy ways to remember the order of the planets (and Pluto) are the mnemonics: "My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas" and "My Very Easy Method Just Simplifies Us Naming Planets" The first letter of each of these words represents a planet - in the correct order.
The largest planet is Jupiter. It is followed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury, and finally, tiny Pluto (a dwarf planet). Jupiter is so big that all the other planets could fit inside it.
The Inner Planets vs. the Outer Planets
The inner planets (those planets that orbit close to the sun) are quite different from the outer planets (those planets that orbit far from the sun).
- The inner planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are relatively small, composed mostly of rock, and have few or no moons.
- The outer planets include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet). They are mostly huge, mostly gaseous, ringed, and have many moons (again, the exception is Pluto, the dwarf planet, which is small, rocky, and has one large moon plus two tiny ones).
Temperatures on the Planets
Generally, the farther from the Sun, the cooler the planet. Differences occur when the greenhouse effect warms a planet (like Venus) surrounded by a thick atmosphere. Density of the Planets
The outer, gaseous planets are much less dense than the inner, rocky planets.The Earth is the densest planet. Saturn is the least dense planet; it would float on water.
The Mass of the Planets
Jupiter is by far the most massive planet; Saturn trails it. Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, and Pluto are orders of magnitude less massive. Gravitational Forces on the Planets
The planet with the strongest gravitational attraction at its surface is Jupiter. Although Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are also very massive planets, their gravitational forces are about the same as Earth. This is because the gravitational force a planet exerts upon an object at the planet's surface is proportional to its mass and to the inverse of the planet's radius squared. A Day on Each of the Planets
A day is the length of time that it takes a planet to rotate on its axis (360°). A day on Earth takes almost 24 hours.The planet with the longest day is Venus; a day on Venus takes 243 Earth days. (A day on Venus is longer than its year; a year on Venus takes only 224.7 Earth days).
The planet with the shortest day is Jupiter; a day on Jupiter only takes 9.8 Earth hours! When you observe Jupiter from Earth, you can see some of its features change.
The Average Orbital Speed of the Planets
As the planets orbit the Sun, they travel at different speeds. Each planet speeds up when it is nearer the Sun and travels more slowly when it is far from the Sun (this is Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion).
This is a collection of many of the best images from NASA's planetary exploration program. The collection has been extracted from the interactive program "Welcome to the Planets" which was distributed on the Planetary Data System Educational CD-ROM Version 1.5 in December 1995. It has also been updated with the addition of more recent images. Please note: This collection replaces the former on-line version of Welcome to the Planets. Internal links within this site are not identical to the old site, so please adjust any links to this site accordingly.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Did you know, monkeys have 12 hairs at any one time
Did you know, monkeys have 12 hairs at any one time
Monday, August 31, 2009
Chandrayaan pictures
The instrument is an improved
948 x 648 - 90k - jpg
web.ift.uib.no
Chandrayaan-1
720 x 540 - 81k - jpg
whatwherewhohow.wordpres...
Chandrayaan-I sending
512 x 615 - 80k - jpg
pragmaticideas.wordpress...
Chandrayaan-1
731 x 543 - 45k - jpg
domain-b.com
Chandrayaan-1
1043 x 780 - 436k - jpg
gyandotcom.wordpress.com
Chandrayaan-1 to moon
466 x 700 - 82k - jpg
whataindia.wordpress.com
Obama sees Chandrayaan
720 x 540 - 156k - jpg
lordoftheweb.info
Chandrayaan project
1164 x 1005 - 127k - jpg
sajithmech1410.wordpress...
Chandrayaan-2 : India's
907 x 645 - 58k - jpg
techvivekparmar.wordpress...
Chandrayaan-1
344 x 300 - 19k - jpg
cira.colostate.edu
First Picture by
325 x 694 - 38k - jpg
travelindia-guide.com
will launch Chandrayaan-1
345 x 338 - 40k - jpg
thehindu.com
Space Applications Centre.
900 x 636 - 304k - jpg
sac.gov.in
The objective of
512 x 384 - 33k - jpg
howyoudoin.wordpress.com
by the Chandrayaan-1's TMC
2000 x 885 - 448k - jpg
dancewithshadows.com
Chandrayaan-2 Scientific
336 x 343 - 38k
techvivekparmar.wordpress...
With barely 24 hours
484 x 313 - 34k
pvino.wordpress.com
Page : Chandrayaan's first
350 x 329 - 26k - jpg
thehindu.com
Chandrayaan-1 launch
400 x 275 - 94k - jpg
dancewithshadows.com
Chandrayaan-1
1029 x 683 - 230k - jpg
whatwherewhohow.wordpres...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
An Overview of the Solar System
Orbits
The solar system consists of the Sun; the eight official planets, at least three "dwarf planets", more than 130 satellites of the planets, a large number of small bodies (the comets and asteroids), and the interplanetary medium. (There are probably also many more planetary satellites that have not yet been discovered.)
The inner solar system contains the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars:
The main asteroid belt (not shown) lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The planets of the outer solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet):
The first thing to notice is that the solar system is mostly empty space. The planets are very small compared to the space between them. Even the dots on the diagrams above are too big to be in proper scale with respect to the sizes of the orbits.
The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the Sun at one focus, though all except Mercury are very nearly circular. The orbits of the planets are all more or less in the same plane (called the ecliptic and defined by the plane of the Earth's orbit). The ecliptic is inclined only 7 degrees from the plane of the Sun's equator. The above diagrams show the relative sizes of the orbits of the eight planets (plus Pluto) from a perspective somewhat above the ecliptic (hence their non-circular appearance). They all orbit in the same direction (counter-clockwise looking down from above the Sun's north pole); all but Venus, Uranus and Pluto also rotate in that same sense.
(The above diagrams show correct positions for October 1996 as generated by the excellent planetarium program Starry Night; there are also many other similar programs available, some free.)
Sizes
The above composite shows the eight planets and Pluto with approximately correct relative sizes (see another similar composite and a comparison of the terrestrial planets or Appendix 2 for more).
One way to help visualize the relative sizes in the solar system is to imagine a model in which everything is reduced in size by a factor of a billion. Then the model Earth would be about 1.3 cm in diameter (the size of a grape). The Moon would be about 30 cm (about a foot) from the Earth. The Sun would be 1.5 meters in diameter (about the height of a man) and 150 meters (about a city block) from the Earth. Jupiter would be 15 cm in diameter (the size of a large grapefruit) and 5 blocks away from the Sun. Saturn (the size of an orange) would be 10 blocks away; Uranus and Neptune (lemons) 20 and 30 blocks away. A human on this scale would be the size of an atom but the nearest star would be over 40000 km away.
Not shown in the above illustrations are the numerous smaller bodies that inhabit the solar system: the satellites of the planets; the large number of asteroids (small rocky bodies) orbiting the Sun, mostly between Mars and Jupiter but also elsewhere; the comets (small icy bodies) which come and go from the inner parts of the solar system in highly elongated orbits and at random orientations to the ecliptic; and the many small icy bodies beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt. With a few exceptions, the planetary satellites orbit in the same sense as the planets and approximately in the plane of the ecliptic but this is not generally true for comets and asteroids.
The New Solar System
Summarizes what we've learned from interplanetary explorations in the last 25 years. My primary reference for The Nine Planets.
The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System
This 'road map' of the solar system is the definitive guide for beginning planetary science.
- there are several moons larger than Pluto and two larger than Mercury;
- there are many small moons that are probably started out as asteroids and were only later captured by a planet;
- comets sometimes fizzle out and become indistinguishable from asteroids;
- the Kuiper Belt objects (including Pluto) and others like Chiron don't fit this scheme well
- The Earth/Moon and Pluto/Charon systems are sometimes considered "double planets".
The eight bodies officially categorized as planets are often further classified in several ways:
- by composition:
- terrestrial or rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars:
- The terrestrial planets are composed primarily of rock and metal and have relatively high densities, slow rotation, solid surfaces, no rings and few satellites.
- jovian or gas planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune:
- The gas planets are composed primarily of hydrogen and helium and generally have low densities, rapid rotation, deep atmospheres, rings and lots of satellites.
- terrestrial or rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars:
- by size:
- small planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.
- The small planets have diameters less than 13000 km.
- giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
- The giant planets have diameters greater than 48000 km.
- The giant planets are sometimes also referred to as gas giants.
- small planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.
- by position relative to the Sun:
- inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
- outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
- The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter forms the boundary between the inner solar system and the outer solar system.
- by position relative to Earth:
- inferior planets: Mercury and Venus.
- closer to the Sun than Earth.
- The inferior planets show phases like the Moon's when viewed from Earth.
- Earth.
- superior planets: Mars thru Neptune.
- farther from the Sun than Earth.
- The superior planets always appear full or nearly so.
- inferior planets: Mercury and Venus.
- by history:
- classical planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
- known since prehistorical times
- visible to the unaided eye
- in ancient times this term also refered to the Sun and the Moon; the order was usually specificied as: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and Moon, based on the time for them to go "all the way round" the sphere of the "fixed" stars).
- modern planets: Uranus, Neptune.
- discovered in modern times
- visible only with optical aid
- Earth.
- The IAU has recently decided that "classical" should refer to all eight planets (Mercury thru Neptune, including Earth but not Pluto). This is contrary to historical usage but makes some sense from a 21st century perspective.
- classical planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Pictures
Note: most of the images in The Nine Planets are not true color. Most of them were created by combining several black and white images taken thru various color filters. Though the colors may look "right" chances are they aren't exactly what your eye would see.- The Nine Planets montage (larger version of the above) 36k jpg
- Another relative size comparison (from LANL) 93k gif
- Sun and large planet comparison (from Extrema) 15k jpg
- Earth and small body comparison (from Extrema) 13k jpg
- Voyager 1 mosaic of the solar system from 4 billion miles out 36k jpg; html (caption)
- Voyager 1 images of 6 planets from 4 billion miles out 123k jpg; html
- Pale Blue Dot, reflections on the above image by Carl Sagan.
More General Overview
- The largest, smallest, brightest, etc bodies
- The history of solar system discovery
- Solar System Introduction from LANL
- Solar System Family Portrait from NSSDC
- Solar System Live, the interactive Orrery of the Web.
- notes about the most distant object in the solar system and the surface temperatures of the planets from RGO
- scale models of the solar system
- A Solar System Scale Model Meta Page (links to many others)
- Lakeview Museum Community Solar System, the world's largest model of the solar system
- scale model from LPI
- Sagan Planet Walk in Ithaca, NY
- Build a Solar System, a neat scale model calculator
- Silver City, NM Sidewalk Solar System
- Solar System Walk in Gainesville, Florida
- Eugene Oregon Scale Model Solar System
- Bonsall Elementary
- PlanetTrek, a solar system scale model for Pasadena
- Walk the Solar System, a nice size comparison calculator from the Exploratorium
- Your Weight on Other Worlds, another neat calculator from the Exploratorium
- ConverTable Planets, a nice little Macintosh app to calculate your weight on other planets
- Galileo SSI Education Module on Planetary Surfaces
- a good bibliography of print material about the solar system
The Big Questions
- What is the origin of the solar system? It is generally agreed that it condensed from a nebula of dust and gas. But the details are far from clear.
- How common are planetary systems around other stars? There is now good evidence of Jupiter-sized objects orbiting several nearby stars. What conditions allow the formation of terrestrial planets? It seems unlikely that the Earth is totally unique but we still have no direct evidence one way or the other.
- Is there life elsewhere in the solar system? If not, why is Earth special?
- Is there life beyond the solar system? Intelligent life?
- Is life a rare and unusual or even unique event in the evolution of the universe or is it adaptable, widespread and common?
ALL PLANETS
 |  |  |  |  |
Planets 689 x 434 - 14k - jpg pavilion.co.uk | .wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet 513 x 649 - 38k - jpg hoover-web.lausd.k12.ca.us | Planets 6032 x 3395 - 1292k - jpg askville.amazon.com | Planets With size 2912 x 1908 - 432k - jpg shairy.com | Planet picture 831 x 545 - 48k - jpg students.umf.maine.edu |
 |  |  |  |  |
And the other planet says, 336 x 306 - 18k - jpg tippinthescales.wordpress... | What Planet am 520 x 600 - 61k - gif lepmfi.gsfc.nasa.gov | in new planets discovery 479 x 383 - 37k - jpg st-andrews.ac.uk | planet 468 x 377 - 40k - jpg dailymail.co.uk | NEW PLANETS! 630 x 389 - 27k - jpg blog.lib.umn.edu |
 |  |  |  |  |
Planet definition approved 622 x 267 - 14k msnbc.msn.com | Colors of the planets. 559 x 321 - 14k - jpg qrg.northwestern.edu | Planets Influence 398 x 312 - 21k - jpg starsnu.org | the Earth vs Other Planets 385 x 650 - 41k - jpg onlyfunnyjokes.com | planets: 972 x 600 - 63k - jpg lubbockclaytons.blogspot.com |
 |  |  |  |  |
The planets 560 x 353 - 63k - jpg science.uwaterloo.ca | Artist's rendition of planets 1875 x 1250 - 1796k - jpg science.psu.edu | giant planets with stable 1280 x 800 - 32k - jpeg psc.edu | massive planets colliding 450 x 347 - 97k spacescan.org | planets of our solar 460 x 347 - 7k - jpg fas.org |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
