By Julia Miller!

Weather and Terrain on the Planets

MERCURY

Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, has a core made of liquid iron that surprisingly takes up about ¾ of the planet’s diameter, it is as big as our moon, and it takes up 70% of its weight.

Its mantle is made of silica.It has a rocky crust made of silicate rocks.

It is about 350 miles thick and it is covered with many craters and dents.

Mercury’s atmosphere is composed of very small amounts of hydrogen, oxygen, helium and sodium.

Mercury’s Terrain and Composition

Core¾ of Mercury’s Total diameter.Made of liquid iron

Mantle – made of silica

Crust350 milesThick . Made of Silicate rocks

Even though Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, it is not the hottest. Its atmosphere is very thin and it cannot trap solar heat.

Mercury’s hot side (the side that is facing the Sun) experiences the most extreme temperatures. It can reach temperatures as high as 700° Kelvin.

Mercury receives 6.5 times the amount of sunlight that the Earth does.

Weather on Mercury

On the dark side of the planet, temperatures can fall to as low as 100° K, making it the coldest of all the inner planets

Researchers think there are craters dotting the north and south poles that have temperatures as low as 90°K.

The average temperature of Mercury averages to around 452°K!

Weather on Mercury Continued…

VENUS

Venus is one of the brightest things in the sky (besides the sun and moon). If you know where to look, you can see it at daytime.

Venus’ atmosphere is composed of 96% carbon dioxide and 4% nitrogen, and is 90% denser than Earth’s.

The pressure is the same as the pressure if you were a kilometer below sea-level on Earth, which is not survivable for humans.

The interior of Venus is composed of a central iron core and a molten rocky mantle, similar to the composition of Earth.

Venus’ Terrain and Composition

The surface of Venus may have been formed by a lot of volcanic activity. It is said to have 167 volcanoes that measure up to 100 km across.

Venus is sometimes referred as Earth’s sister planet because not only is Venus similar in size to Earth, but scientists think that a long time ago, Venus had tectonic plates and liquid water. Venus may have become the way it is by having a massive greenhouse gas affect, vaporizing all of the water and messing up the tectonic plates.

Venus’ Terrain and Composition Continued…

Core- Made of iron. 3,000 km across

Crust-50 km thick.

Mantle-3,000 km thick

Venus’ atmosphere being so dense results in a severe greenhouse affect making Venus the hottest planet in our solar system

The average surface temperature of Venus is 735° Kelvin

Venus’ very slight axial tilt means that it receives the same amount of energy from the Sun no matter what time of year it is so it is always HOT.

Weather on Venus

The atmosphere is covered in clouds made up of sulfuric acid and other corrosive substances resulting in acid rain.

Along with extreme heat and acid rain, Venus can have winds at speeds of 100 meters per second!

Weather on Venus Continued…

MARS

Mars lacks a magnetic field and because of this it is constantly bombarded by radiation

The Martian core is solid and is thought to be 2,960 km in diameter.

The mantle is believed to be fairly soft, kind of like a rock paste. No one knows how thick it is.

Its crust is basalt and contains just enough iron oxide to give it its reddish hue.

Mars’ Terrain and Composition

Core-Mostly made ofSulfur and iron

Mantle-Made of a Rock paste

Crust-Made of basalt and iron oxide

Average temperature: -67 °FOn summer days, it can be around 20 degrees

Celsius then plummet to -90 C at nightEven at the equator, the night time

temperatures fall well below zero. Has seasons because its axial tilt is similar to

oursMars’ atmosphere is over 96% carbon

dioxide. If the planet could retain heat, the carbon dioxide would cause a greenhouse effect and the planet would end up like Venus

Weather on Mars

JUPITER

Its atmosphere resembles that of the sun, made up mostly of hydrogen and helium.

Jupiter could hold more than 1,300 Earths.Jupiter's gargantuan magnetic field is the

strongest of all the planets in the solar system at nearly 2,000 times the strength of Earth’s.

Jupiter’s rocky iron core is surrounded by a helium-rich layer of fluid metallic hydrogen, wrapped up in an atmosphere primarily made of molecular hydrogen.

There isn’t really any terrain because it is gas

Jupiter’s Terrain and Composition

The colorful bands of Jupiter are arranged in dark belts and light zones that are created by strong east-west winds in the planet's upper atmosphere , which travel more than 400 miles per hour.

The white clouds in the zones are made of crystals of frozen ammonia.

Darker clouds of other chemicals are found in the belts.

The deepest visible level holds blue clouds

Weather on Jupiter

The Great Red Spot is a giant storm that has lasted for more than 300 years. At its widest, the Great Red Spot is 3 times the diameter of Earth. Its color which usually varies from brick red to slightly brown, may come from small amounts of sulfur and phosphorus in the ammonia crystals in Jupiter's clouds.

Every now and again, the Great Red Spot seems to fade entirely.

Weather on Jupiter Continued…

JUPITER’S MAIN MOONS

Io is the most volcanically active body is the solar system

3rd largest of Jupiter’s moons.The volcanic plumes rise 300 km (190 miles)

above the surface Io is constantly renewing its surface filling in

any impact craters with molten lava lakes Know one knows what the volcanos spew out.Sulfur dioxide is the primary thing in Io’s thin

atmosphereIt has no water.

Io

Slightly smaller that Earth’s moonEuropa is thought to have a iron core, a rocky

mantle and on its surface, a salt water ocean. The ocean is deep enough to cover the

surface of the entire planet but since it is far from the sun, it is frozen over.

The ocean could possible support life forms

Europa

It has a inner rocky core which is surrounded by a large icy mantle.

Callisto is twice as bright as our own Moon.Callisto is the most heavily cratered object in

our solar systemIt has a surface is 4 billion years oldIt has no atmosphere or tectonics

Callisto

It’s larger than Mercury and PlutoThought to have a thin oxygen atmosphere.

It’s not thick enough to support life thoughIts core is metallic metal. Its mantle is made

of rock, and the crust is made of ice. The ice sheet is thought to be 800 km thick might contain some rock as well

Ganymede

SATURN

96% of the planet is made of hydrogen. The other 4 percent is oxygen and other stuff.

61 moons knownDivided into layers

The first layer has ammonia crystals. Right bellow it is water and ammonium hydro-sulfide.

Under that, pressure can so high, the hydrogen is compressed into a liquid

Under that is metallic hydrogenPeople think the core is made of rock and metal

elements, but they don’t know for sure

Saturn’s Terrain and Composition

Mostly made of water ice, chemicals, and dust particles

Size of particles range from a few micrometers to a few meters big.

5 rings:D ring- closest ring to Saturn, 7,500 km wideA ring- There are 2 gaps within the A ring: Encke

gap and Keeler gapC ring-Very faint, made of darker materialsB ring-Largest and brightest, 25,500 km wide.F ring-Outermost ring, estimated 30-500km thick

Saturn’s rings

SATURN’S MAIN

MOONS

Saturn’s largest moonFrozen version of EarthOccasionally forms clouds and rainsDeveloped an orange haze of smogHas erosion from liquidSurface shaped by rivers and lakes

Titan

Surface covered with clean iceReflects 100% of the light that hits itHas an atmosphereInterior of the moon is thought to be liquidHeated by a tidal mechanism

Enceladus

Composed of water ice and a little rockAverage temperature is -305 degrees

FahrenheitSmall moon

Tethys

One side is dark and has a slight reddish color

The other side is brightThink the dark side is material that oozed

from Iapetus’s insides

Iapetus

URANUS DON’T LAUGH!

Third largest planet in the solar systemNot visible the naked eyeIt doesn’t really have any terrainMade of various ices, like water, ammonia

and methanePeople think it has a solid coreRegions of the core experience pressure of 8

million bars, and have a temperature of 5,000 Kelvin

Uranus’ Terrain and Composition

If you tried to land a spaceship of Uranus you would fall through the upper atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, and into the liquid icy center.

Has large amounts of methane it its atmosphere

Uranus’ Terrain and Composition Continued…

Has an most extreme axial tilt of 98° so it has seasons

Each pole has 42 Earth years of light and 42 Earth years of darkness

Has an unusually cold temperatureAverage temperature on Uranus is -224°

CelsiusHas huge wind storms, with wind speeds

reaching as much as 900 km/hr

Again, DON’T LAUGH

Weather on Uranus

Neptune

The atmosphere in Neptune is composed of 80% hydrogen 19% helium, and 1% methane.

Blue because the methane absorbs the color redUpper-level of Neptune has methane cloudsIf the pressure is more than 5 bars, ammonium

sulfide, hydrogen sulfide and water clouds may form. Clouds of water-ice may form at 50 bars of pressure.

Has no terrainA spaceship would sink right through Neptune and

hit its coreHas very faint rings

Neptune’s Terrain and Composition

The core is made of ice and rock.

Neptune’s Terrain and Composition Continued…

The mean temperature of the planet is 73° K (-200° Celsius

The temperature of Neptune can reach as low as 55° Kelvin

The temperature at South Pole are -10° C warmer than the rest of the planet because it is currently titled towards the Sun.

At the core temperatures reach 7000° CThe difference in temperature between the

core and the surface cause winds as fast as 2100 km/hr.

Weather on Neptune

What do you get if you cross Santa Clause with a space ship?

What is an astronaut's favorite part of a computer?

How do we know Saturn has married more than once?

What do you call a crazy moon?Why did the robot cross the road

RANDOM JOKES!!!!!

"24 X 7." JUPITER â FactMonster.com�� . Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.factmonster.com/dk/science/encyclopedia/jupiter.html>.

Baquedano, Elizabeth. Aztec, Inca & Maya. New York: Knopf, 1993. Print.

"Jet Propulsion Laboratory." Cassini Solstice Mission: About Saturn & Its Moons. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/index.cfm?SciencePageID=73>.

"Jupiter, Largest Planet of the Solar System." Space.com. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.space.com/7-jupiter-largest-planet-solar-system.html>.

"Planet Facts â Fun & Interesting Information About the Nine ��Planets." Planet Facts â Fun & Interesting Information About the ��Nine Planets. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://planetfacts.org>.

"Royal Museums Greenwich: Sea, Ships, Time and the Stars : RMG." Royal Museums Greenwich: Sea, Ships, Time and the Stars : RMG. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.rmg.co.uk/server/show/conMediaFile.3932>.

"Space and Astronomy News." Universe Today. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.universetoday.com>.

Bibliography

"Iapetus, A Moon of Saturn." Views of the Solar System. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.solarviews.com/eng/iapetus.htm>.

"Space Jokes!" Puzzle Pixies : Free Kids Painting, Coloring, Games, Puzzles and Activities. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.puzzlepixies.com/jokes/jokes/space-jokes.html>.

Bibliography Continued..

Now, I’m going to talk about Earth and Pluto and all of Neptune’s moons!

Just kidding

That’s All Folks

62nd SLIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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