Unit 16: Astronomy Assignment 1- The Solar
System.
What is the definition of the solar system? The solar system is a
collection of eight large planets and five dwarf planets along with
their moons in course around the sun together with smaller bodies in
the form of comets, asteroids and meteoroids. The solar system
consists of the following planets which are, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Mars, Neptune, Venus, Earth and Mercury. The solar system is found
in the Milky Way galaxy.
Figure 1 above shows the solar system with the different planets,
and other bodies for instance asteroids and comets.
A.P.1: Table of the large planets in our solar system.
Name of Picture of planet. Facts about Age of
planet. Jupiter. Planet
.
,Jupiter Is the largest planet in Jupiter is
the solar system. 4.603
Jupiter is covered in billion
thick red, brown, years
yellow and white old.
clouds. It is the 5th
planet from the sun. It
has a large spot on its
surface. It has three
thin rings that are
difficult to see. NASAS
Voyager 1 spacecraft
discovered the rings in
1979. The rings are
made up mainly of
dust. Jupiter takes 12
earth years to make
one revolution
therefore one year on
Jupiter is equivalent to
12 years on Earth.
Mars Mars is also known as Mars is
the red planet. It 4.603
radius is 3,390km. The billion
average distance from years
the sun is two old.
hundred and twenty
eight million km. The
Surface temperature is
-153 degree celcius to
20 degrees celcius.
Mars orbital speed is
24km/s. The day
length is 24.6 hours.
One year is equal to
687 Earth days. Mars
has two moons. It is
also known as the
terrestrial. The planet
, is made up of 96% of
carbon dioxide. It
contains small
amounts of oxygen,
water vapour and
nitrogen. Mars has no
water on its surface.
Mars can be seen with
the naked human eye.
It was known about
4,000 years ago. Mars
years are much longer
than of Earth. It is the
fourth planet from the
Sun. It moves at
24kilometeres per
second which is
slower than earth.
Venus Venus is the hottest Venus is
planet in the solar 4.503
system. Its surface can billion
reach up to 462 years
degrees celcius. Venus old.
has no water on its
surface. It has the
longest days of any
planet in the system. A
full rotation takes two
hundred and forty
three earth days.
Venus atmosphere is
made up of carbon
dioxide and small
amounts of nitrogen.
The clouds on Venus
are made up mostly of
sulphur dioxide. Venus
has no moons. Venus
spins clockwise on its
axis unlike other
, planets. Venus is the
second brightest
object in the night sky
after the moon. Its
distance from the sun
is 67,067,248km.
Venus was the first
planet to be explored
by spacecraft NASA
Mariner 2 successfully
flew by and scanned
the cloud on
December 14 1962.
Saturn Saturn was known to 4.503
ancient people billion
years.
including Babylonians.
Saturn orbits the sun
once every 29.4 earth
days. It has more than
30 rings surrounding
it. It has 150 moons
these include, titan,
Enceladus, lapetus and
rhea. The surface
temperature is -139
degrees celcius. It is
mostly made up of
hydrogen. Four
spacecraft have visited
Saturn these include,
voyager1 and 2,
pioneer 11 and Cassini
Huygens. Saturn has
the most number of
moons than any other
planet.
, Uranus Uranus is the coldest Uranus
planet in the solar is
system. One season 4.503bill
on Uranus lasts ion
42years. Uranus is the years
second dense planet. old.
Uranus has no rings. It
has twenty seven
moons and most of
them are small
moons. The
atmosphere contains
ices. Uranus orbits the
sun on its side with a
tilt where one of the
poles will be inclined
towards the sun. It
was the first planet to
be discovered in the
modern times.
Earth It is the only planet Earth is
that can support 4.543
human life. 70% of the billion
earth’s surface is years
covered in water. The old.
earth’s atmosphere is
mostly made up of
nitrogen (78%) and
oxygen which is (21%).
It takes 23 hours, 56
minutes and 4seconds
for earth to rotate
once on its axis. The
earth only has one
moon. Earths distance
from the sun is
91,524,219km. It is the
fifth largest planet in
the solar system. It is
the only planet with
