The Solar System By: Angela Chen 5EP
Contents Introduction e Sun - Our Star Venus - Earth’s Twin Mercury - e Roman Messenger Mars - e Red Planet Earth - Our Home Jupiter - e Giant Saturn - Ringed World Uranus - Tilted in Angle Neptune - e Replica “Blue Planet” Pluto - e Dwarf Glossary About the Author
Mercury
Venus Sun Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Introduction e Solar System
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
was formed over 4
.5 billion years ago, when rocks, ice, d dust, caused by gr irt, and clouds of avitational pull, w as crushed in toge ther to form the p revolving about a lanets, which were much larger planet , which is known to day as the Sun. began to form them e planets slowly selves, spinning on their axis while re volving around th planets are known e Sun. ese today as Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mar s, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune. e last Uranus, and “planet” is not real ly a planet because it’s too small. It’s planet”, and is now named “dwarf known as Pluto. is book will tell you all about the So lar System and the bodies inside. Hap py reading!
The Sun - Our Star
White spots on the Sun are hotter than the other parts of the Sun’s surface.
ese are sunspots. ese dark patches are cooler than the others.
e Sun is our star, and our source of survival. e Sun still has about 5 billion years before it dies - when a star dies, it would turn red and swell, turning into a red giant, before exploding as a supernova. e bigger the star is, the shorter its life - some big stars can only live for about 100 million years, but some smaller stars can live for 200 billion years, but the Sun is just right, and it'll probably survive for 10 billion years. e Sun's surface is mostly made out of hydrogen and helium. e hydrogen atoms on the star cause forming of helium because the Sun's core's so hot. e Sun's surface is about 10,000˚F (5,500˚C), and its core's about 25,000,000˚F (14,000,000˚C) e Sun also has other hot facts! ere are white spots, which are hotter than the rest of the parts of the surface, and black spots, which are cooler than the rest of the surface - the spots are not permanent, they moved around. e Sun also lets off winds into space, and some of the winds get trapped by the Earth's gravity to the North and South Poles - which creates colorful light, which is known by humans the northern lights, aurora borealis.
Venus -‐ Ear+h’s Twin
Venus
Venus Venus is the second planet closest to the Sun after Mercury. Venus spins really slowly on its axis - once every 243 days! Despite its slow rotation time, Venus takes 255 days to make one orbit around the Sun, really near to its rotation time. Venus is really catching and bright. Venus is seen in the early morning while the Sun's not up, and in night, when the Sun's down - that why Venus is called the "e Morning Star" and "e Evening Star". Because of this, earlier Romans named this beautiful planet 'Venus', Roman Goddess of Beauty and Love. Venus has many features. It is 7,521miles (12,104km) in diameter. Venus spins the opposite direction of any other planet, so on Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
Venus is really bright, and you can see it clearly in the night sky.
Mercury - The Roman Messenger
is is the Caloris Basin, Mercury. Mercury is the first planet, the planet closest to the Sun. Mercury has no atmosphere, and being the closest to the sun and not having an atmosphere is a hard life. Because that it has no atmosphere, the side facing the sun is boiling and the side turning away from the sun is freezing. Mercury is counted as the fastest planet to circle the Sun once. It takes 88 days to circle the Sun, also 59 days to spin once while Earth takes 365 days to make one rotation. Because of its fast revolving time, Mercury is named after the Roman Messenger of Gods. Mercury is the smallest planet, not counting the dwarf planet Pluto, but it has many attracting sights. e Caloris Basin is one of the largest craters in the Solar System. It's about 807miles (1,299km) in diameter, and the whole state of Texas can fit into it!
t e n a l P d e R e h T s r Ma
e Olympus Mons on Mars, is the biggest volcano in the Solar System.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. Its called the Red Planet because of it's red color. It's named after the Roman god of War because red is the color of blood and battle. Mars and Earth have a lot in common. It makes one spin for about 24 hours, just like Earth. It also has seasons, polar icecaps, water, volcanoes, and it even has thin clouds, morning mists, and frosts. Mars has other features too. One of Mars's volcanoes, Olympus Mons is one of the biggest volcanoes in the Solar System. It takes 687 days for Mars to make one revolution.
Earth – Our Home eres no place like home. Earth's the third planet from the Sun, and our home planet. Its core's made of iron and nickel metal. Earth provides living sources for us, and we could not live without it. e Earth's atmosphere's made out of different layers. e layer of atmosphere closest to the ground (the first layer) is called the troposphere - it's contains the air to breathe and most of the planet's weather. e second layer is the stratosphere. e stratosphere also contains a layer called the ozone layer, which protects us from the ultraviolet rays from the Sun - gas that humans let off into the atmosphere is slowly erasing the ozone layer, causing greenhouse warming. en after the mesosphere, comes the last layer of the thermosphere, which stretches about 53 miles (85 km), and then outer space begins. It may be hard to believe, but the Earth's continents are slowing drifting apart. It happens really slow, maybe a meters in hundreds and thousands of years. Scientists guessed that it moves about two or three cm every year.
Jupiter - The Giant SPACEY FACT e Great Red Spot of Jupiter can hold almost three Earth’s inside!
Jupiter is the biggest planet in the Solar System, not counting the Sun, which is a star. It's also the most massive planet too - three times the mass of all the other planets put together, and you can put about 1,300 Earths in it. Maybe because of its largeness, it is named after the King of Roman Gods, because its diameter is 89,000 miles (143,000 km). Jupiter has many features, from naked eyes to strong telescopes. Jupiter can be seen in the night sky with naked eyes - it does not twinkle like a star, but it has a steady glow. Jupiter also holds the most biggest storm ever observed yet - the Great Red Spot. Jupiter's orbital and rotational time is really strange. Jupiter takes almost 12 years to make one orbit around the Sun! Although it takes so long to make one orbit, Jupiter takes only nine hours fifty minutes to make one spin on its axis!
Saturn - Ringed World
SPACEY FACT Saturn’s mass is not so big for such a huge planet. Unlike Earth, It’s mass is pretty spread out. If you put Saturn in a swimming pool it would float!
Saturn's the second biggest planet after Jupiter. It's named after the Roman God of agriculture, also the father of Jupiter. Saturn makes one revolution around the Sun in 29 years and 167 days, but only takes 10 hours 39 minutes to make one rotation! Saturn's rings are one of the most recognizable sights in the Solar System. Saturn's rings are formed maybe from bits and pieces from when a body smashed into the surface of Saturn or one of it's moons, which are sucked into Saturn's strong gravitational orbit. Saturn's rings are so beautiful - that Saturn was actually named the “Jewel of the Solar System”.
Uranus - Tilted in Angle Uranus has an interesting moon - Miranda: it seems like it is half ice and half rock, and it looks like a irregular jigsaw.
Uranus is unique from the other planets of the Solar System. Uranus is tilted on its side - scientists think that a body of rock crashed into Uranus long ago, throwing Uranus into a 98-degree tilt. Because of this strange tilt, one pole would be bathed in sunlight for a long period of time, while the other would be sinking into complete darkness – it take 17 hours and 14 minutes for Uranus to make one rotation, and 84 years to circle the Sun once, so each season will last for 21 years. Uranus has many attracting features too. Its atmosphere is mostly made out of hydrogen, helium, and methane - the methane reflects o sunlight, giving Uranus it's beautiful blue color. Uranus has rings too, but not as recognizable as the pretty rings of Saturn - Uranus has nine brighter rings, and a few fader ones. Uranus has other facts. It's named after the Roman God of the Sky, grandfather of Jupiter and father of Saturn.
Neptune - The Replica “Blue Planet”
e Great Dark Spot on Neptune. Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun. It takes 165 years to make an orbit around the Sun - humans have known Neptune for 150 years, so this means Neptune hadn't made an orbit since we discovered it. Neptune is named after the Roman God of the Sea because it's blue color. Neptune hold a storm called e Great Dark Spot. It got its name after Jupiter's Great Red Spot. e Great Dark Spot could hold Earth. Neptune has interesting facts. It takes only around 16 hours to make one rotation. Neptune has the fastest winds in the Solar System - about 2,000kph.
Pluto - Th e Dwarf A lot of people studied Pluto. Hundreds of years ago, an astronomer named Percival Lowell predicted that there was a planet affecting Uranus and Neptune, and he was right, but he didn't live to see the discovery. Another
Pluto is the last body from the Sun. e reason why it's not a planet is because that in 2006
astronomer named
scientists realized that Pluto was too small to be a planet and does not really reach the
Clyde Tombaugh
criteria of the other eight planets. Pluto moves in a more oval orbit than any other planet. It
discovered a body of rock after Neptune, too big to be a
sometimes crosses into Neptune's orbit, making Neptune the last planet in the Solar System
meteorite. After it's discovery, a 11-year-old girl named Venetia
for a 20 year period once every 248 years. Pluto has an interesting moon, Charon. Earlier,
named the former planet “Pluto”, the Roman God of
scientists looked at Pluto and saw a circular shape projecting out from Pluto's side, but later
Underworld, because Pluto's so small and dark, and other people
clearer telescopes show that Pluto has a moon that's half its size. Charon is the largest moon
agreed not only because of Venetia's idea, but that Pluto first
when compared to the planet it's orbiting, because before Charon was discovered with Pluto,
two letters were initials of Percival Lowell.
the biggest moon in comparison to its planet was the Moon, which was 1/4 the size of Earth.
Glossary Astronomer - a type of scientist which studies stars and space Atmosphere - a layer of gas, sucked into a planets orbit Core - the center of a planet or a star Diameter - the length measured from the middle line Gravity - a force that sucks things into orbit Helium - a type of gas that is light enough to let a balloon float Orbit - the path that a planet takes to go around a star, or a moon for a planet Planet - heavenly bodies that circle (orbit) a star Revolution - same definition for “orbit” Rotation - one spin on it’s axis for a planet Spin - same definition for “rotation” Star - a ball of hot gas with incredible gravity forces Telescope - a device to make things bigger and clearer to see
About the Author
Angela Chen is an art, writing and nature lover. Her hobbies are drawing, reading, and researching. She has a younger sister called Teresa. Angela is currently in fifth grade, Mr. Paci’s class. She has a massive interest in the world of language, literacy, and pen on paper. Angela is a creative girl, and she appreciates excellence and artwork. She also reads books in her free time. She chose this topic for the book because she is inspired in the world of nature outside, especially space. She has large fascination in the Solar System.
e Sun is our star. Mercury is the fastest planet. Venus is not as beautiful as it looks. Earth is our home. Mars is a bloody planet. Jupiter is the large one. Saturn is a jewel. Uranus is a tilted world. Neptune’s blue doesn’t explain everything. Pluto isn’t even a planet anymore. And this is just the beginning. Aren’t you interested? All you have to do is just flip open the cover and discovered the brilliant world within. Good luck!