6th Grade Chapter 14- solar system
- 1. The Solar system, Stars and Galaxy Chapters 24 & 25
- 2. The solar system People originally thought the Earth was the center of the solar system until Copernicus proved that the sun was the center and the earth revolved around it. The solar system is made of nine planets that all orbit the sun. These planets are pulled to the sun b/c it has immense gravitational pull due to the fact that it is 99.86% of the solar systems total mass.
- 3. Scientists believe that the solar system was formed when a cloud of gas and dust in space was disturbed, maybe by the explosion of a nearby star (called a supernova). This explosion made waves in space which squeezed the cloud of gas and dust. Squeezing made the cloud start to collapse, as gravity pulled the gas and dust together, forming a solar nebula, the cloud began to spin as it collapsed. . As the disk got thinner and thinner, particles began to stick together and form clumps. Some clumps got bigger, as particles and small clumps stuck to them, eventually forming planets or moon.
- 5. Planet Motion The planets do not revolve around the sun in a circle, the orbit in eclipses. Planets closest to the sun orbit the sun faster than those further away. H.W. pg 695 ques. 1-4
- 6. The inner planets They are: Mercury, Venus, Earth , and Mars. Mercury- is the planet closest to our Sun, and it is the eighth largest of the nine planets. Mercury is a small, rocky planet - much like our Moon. It is covered with craters and has changed very little from when it was first formed. One of Mercury's largest features is called the Caloris Basin . It is about 1300 km across.
- 8. The inner planets Venus- is the second planet from the Sun, and the sixth largest of all the nine planets. Venus probably once had large amounts of water like Earth, but it all boiled away. The same thing would have happened to the Earth had it been just a little closer to the Sun. Because Venus is so similar to our Earth, we sometimes call it Earth's "sister planet."
- 10. The inner planets Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the fifth largest of the nine planets. The Earth's surface is very young . This means that the Earth's surface has changed a lot from when it was first formed. Erosion and tectonic processes (like earthquakes) destroy, recreate and reshape most of the Earth's surface.
- 11. The inner planets Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest of the nine planets. Olympus Mons - The largest mountain in the Solar System! Olympus Mons rises a full 24 km (78,000 ft.) above the surrounding plain. It has a thinner atmosphere tan earth and has temps that range from 35-125 C. H.W. pg 701 ques 1-4.
- 13. The Outer Planets Include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest of all nine planets. Jupiter is more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined - It's 318 times bigger than the Earth! The swirls and bands we see when looking at Jupiter are the tops of clouds high in its atmosphere. The Great Red Spot is a high-pressure region whose cloud tops are much higher and colder than the surrounding areas.
- 15. The Outer Planets Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, and the second largest of the nine planets. Saturn's rings, unlike the rings of the other gas planets, are very bright. Though they look "solid" or continuous from the Earth, the rings are actually composed of many, many small particles circling Saturn at their own speeds.
- 17. The Outer Planets Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest of the nine planets. Uranus' blue color is the result of a gas called "methane" found in the planet's upper atmosphere. Uranus may have colored bands like Jupiter's, but they are hidden from view by the overlaying methane layer.
- 19. The Outer Planets Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the fourth largest of the nine planets. Neptune has rapid winds trapped in "bands" of large storms. Neptune's winds are the fastest in the solar system, reaching 2000 km/hour.
- 21. The Outer Planets Pluto is the farthest planet from the Sun and by far the smallest of the nine planets. To date, not much is known about the planet, Pluto. Pluto is so far away that even the Hubble Space Telescope can make out only the largest features on its surface. Has a moon called Charon
- 24. Other objects in the solar system H.W. pg 720 ques. 1-15 Comets- are dust and rock particles mixed with frozen water, methane, and ammonia. Halley’s Comet was discovered by Edmund Halley and it is seen every 75-76 years. Hale-Bopp comet- is the brightest comets man has seen. It was able to be seen in space for 18 months. A meteoroid- pieces of broken comets, when it burns up and enters Earth’s atmosphere it is than called a meteor, if it hits earth than it’s a meteorite. Asteroids are pieces of rock similar to the ones that formed planets. They lie between orbits of planets.