Solar System(Moon, Stars, Sun, Planets)

Amy Johnson and Cheri Scheer

Seventh Grade Science updated 2005

General Objective

• Objects and Their Motion in the Solar System– Strand 6, Concept 1 & 2 (GLE)

Concept Map

Concept Map

Tilt of the Earth and Dates

• Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours

• Axis is tilted at 23 1/2 degrees

• Earth revolves around sun every 365 1/4 days in an elliptical path

Seasonal Changes

Time Zone

practice

Moon

• Phases and Dates Quiz

• Lunar Landing (yes or no)

• Eclipses

• Other planets

practice

Eclipses

Planets

• INNER PLANETS• Mercury• Venus • Earth• Mars

• OUTER PLANETS• Jupiter• Saturn• Uranus• Neptune

• Pluto

INNER PLANETS

• Terrestrial

• Small

• Solid

MERCURY

• Slightly bigger than the Moon

• Covered with craters

• 1 Mercury day is 59 Earth days

• -180 to 400° C

• 1 Mercury year= 88 Earth days

VENUS

• Covered with thick clouds

• Atmosphere is almost all CO2

• Surface temperature 475 °

• 1Venus day is 243 Earth days

• 1 Venus year is 225 Earth days

• Retrograde Rotation

EARTH

• Changing weather patterns

• Key to life is water

• Perfect distance from the Sun to support life

MARS

• Thin atmosphere of CO2

• Water only polar caps

• Covered in volcanoes

• Dusty, barren surface appears red

• 2 moons: Phobos and Deimos

• 1 day-1day 1year =687 days

• ½ diameter, 1/10 mass of Earth

OUTER PLANETS

• Gas giants

• No solid surfaces

• Pluto not considered an outer planet

JUPITER

• Made primarily of hydrogen and helium

• Giant Red Spot is a storm/tornado system the size of 1½ Earths

• Largest planet (able to hold all other planets)

• 60 known moons

– Io, most volcanically active place in solar system

– 3 of 4 large moons have icy surfaces

• 1 day = @ 10 hours 1 year = 11.9 years

SATURN

• Second largest planet

• Made of hydrogen and helium

• Winds blow 900 mph

• 31 known moons– Titan is larger than Mercury

• Rings are a few hundred meters thick and are the largest

– Can be seen from Earth with telescope

– Three main with thousands of ringlets

• 1 day = @ 10 hours 1 year = 29.5 years

URANUS

• Featureless, blue-green • Mainly hydrogen, helium, and methane

– Absorbs red part of sunlight• Rotates on its side

– Possibly struck by massive object• Has 13 rings • Has 27 moons

– Miranda shows evidence of being struck, breaking apart, and collecting together again

• 1 day = 17 hours 1 year = 84 years

NEPTUNE

• Made similar to Uranus with cloud belts• Great Dark Spot similar to Great Red Spot• Looks like faint blue-green star• Set of very narrow rings• 13 known moons

– Triton is smaller than Earth’s moon

– Orbits opposite of Neptune’s spin

• 1 day = 18 hours 1 year = 165 years

PLUTO

• Smallest

• rock and nitrogen ice with thin methane atmosphere

• Only planet never visited by a mission

• Sometimes orbit path is inside Neptune’s orbit making Neptune outermost planet

• One moon

– Charon is more than half the size of Pluto

• 1 day = just over 6 days 1 year = 248 years

Project

Can I Sell You A Celestial Body?

Let’s Have FUN!

• Space Trivia

• Order Up!

• Adlib Story

MAP Assessment

MAP Assessment

Map assessment

• Explain why we are closer to the sun in the winter but still warmer in the summer?

Lesson SummaryLesson Summary

Summary

Citations, Credits, References

• http://www.worldtimezone.com• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astron

omy/planets/earth/Seasons.shtml/• http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/java/MoonPhase.

html• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/

astronomy/moon/Phases.shtml• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/

astronomy/activities/label/labelmoonphases.shtml

Citations, Credits, References

• http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/kids_space/answers_moon.html

• http://www.lunaranomalies.com/fake-moon.htm

• http://www.windows.ucar.edu

Career Areas

• Astronaut/Aerospace Engineer/Astrologer

• Farmer

• Meteorologist

• Oceanographer