PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE

INNER PLANETS
FOUR INNER PLANETS
FOUR INNER PLANETS

• called the "terrestrial" planets because of their proximity

to Earth ("Terra" in Latin) and their similarity as compact
solid bodies with rocky surfaces

• developed from small grains of dust that collided and

stuck together to form pebbles, boulders, kilometer- and
mile-sized planetesimals, and larger planetary embryos
and protoplanets)

• made up mostly of heavy metals such as iron and

nickel.
FOUR INNER PLANETS

• formed in the inner portion of the protoplanetary

disk located closer to the developing Sun during the
first 100 million years of the System's birth, where it
was too warm for the four developing protoplanets to
agglomerate water and more volatile ices and bulk up
sufficiently in gravitational might to hold onto the
abundant but lightest gases of the Solar nebulae
(hydrogen and helium) to become "gas giants."
SIMILARITIES OF INNER
PLANETS

• closer to the Sun

• smaller (approximately relative sizes)

• rockier

• surfaces are solid

• called terrestrial planets

10 THINGS ABOUT MERCURY
10 THINGS ABOUT MERCURY
10 THINGS ABOUT MERCURY
10 THINGS ABOUT MERCURY
MERCURY

History
• has been known since ancient
times because it can be seen
without advanced telescopes.

• has been visited by two

spacecraft: Mariner 10 and
MESSENGER.
MERCURY

Contains:
• oxygen

• sodium

• hydrogen

• helium

• potassium
MERCURY

Formation
• Mercury formed about 4.5
billion years ago when gravity
pulled swirling gas and dust
together to form this small
planet nearest the Sun. Like its
fellow terrestrial planets,
Mercury has a central core, a
rocky mantle and a solid crust.
MERCURY

Size and Structure

• the smallest planet in our solar
system.

• second densest planet, after

earth

• has a thenous atmosphere

(Exosphere)
MERCURY

Size and Structure

• has large metallic core with a

radious about 1,289 miles
(about 85% of the planet’s
radius)
• There is evidence that it is partly molten, or liquid.
Mercury's outer shell, comparable to Earth's outer shell
(called the mantle and crust), is only about 400 kilometers
(250 miles) thick.
• Mercury's surface resembles that of Earth's moon

• Bright streaks are called CRATER RAYS- formed when

an asteroid or comet stikes the suface

• Extreme temperature- hot and cold (800 to 290 degrees

F)
MERCURY
Size and Distance
• With a radius of 1,516 miles (2,440
kilometers), Mercury is a little more than
1/3 the width of Earth.

• If Earth were the size of a nickel, Mercury

would be about as big as a blueberry.

• From an average distance of 36 million

miles (58 million kilometers), Mercury is
0.4 astronomical units away from the Sun.

• From this distance, it takes sunlight 3.2

minutes to travel from the Sun to Mercury.
MERCURY
Time
• A day on Mercury lasts 59 Earth
days.

• takes the planet as close as 47 to 70

million kilometers from the sun.

• A year on Mercury lasts 88 Earth

days (speed around the sun)

• travels through space at nearly 29

miles per second

• fastest planet
MERCURY
Time

• One Mercury Solar Day (one full

day-night cycle) = 176 Earth
Days
MERCURY

Orbit and Rotation

• Mercury's axis of rotation is
tilted just 2 degrees with respect
to the plane of its orbit around
the Sun. That means it spins
nearly perfectly upright and so
does not experience seasons
like many other planets do.
 MERCURY
Significant Events:

• 1631: Thomas Harriott and Galileo Galilei observe Mercury with the
newly invented telescope.
• 1631: Pierre Gassendi uses a telescope to watch from Earth as
Mercury crosses the face of the Sun.
• 1965: Incorrectly believing for centuries that the same side of
Mercury always faces the Sun, astronomers using radar find that
the planet rotates three times for every two orbits.
• 1974-1975: Mariner 10 photographs roughly half of Mercury's
surface during three flybys.
 MERCURY
Significant Events:

• 1991: Scientists using Earth-based radar find signs of ice locked in

permanently shadowed areas of craters in Mercury's polar regions.
• 2008-2009: MESSENGER observes Mercury during three flybys.
• 2011: MESSENGER begins its orbital mission at Mercury, yielding a
treasure trove of images, compositional data and scientific
discoveries.
• 2015: MESSENGER is deliberately crashed into Mercury after
expending all its propellant, ending its mission.
• 2018: BepiColombo launches with a target date for Mercury orbit
insertion of 2025.
10 THINGS ABOUT VENUS

1. Earth Sized
2. Second Rock
3. A Day Longer than a year
4. Diverse Terrain
5. Moonless and Ringless
6. Greenhouse Effect
7. Water on Venus
8. Many Visitors
9. Life on Venus
10. Super Rotating Atmosphere
VENUS

• Even though Venus isn't the

closest planet to the sun, it is still
the hottest. It has a thick
atmosphere full of the greenhouse
gas carbon dioxide and clouds
made of sulfuric acid. The gas
traps heat and keeps Venus
toasty warm. In fact, it's so hot on
Venus, metals like lead would be
puddles of melted liquid.
VENUS
History
• named for the ancient Roman
goddess of love and beauty,
who was known as Aphrodite to
the Ancient Greeks.

• has been visited by several

spacecraft: Mariner 2, Mariner
5, Mariner 10, Pioneer Venus 1,
Pioneer Venus 2, and an orbiter
called Magellan.
VENUS
History
• was once considered a twin
planet to Earth, until
astronomers discovered its
surface is at a lead-melting
temperature of 900 degrees
Fahrenheit (480 degrees
celcius)
VENUS

Contains:

• carbon dioxide

• nitrogen

• clouds of sulfuric
acid droplets
VENUS
Size and Structure
• is the hottest planet in our solar
system.
• With a radius of 3,760 miles
(6,052 kilometers), Venus is
roughly the same size as Earth
— just slightly smaller.
• has a thick atmosphere. It traps
heat and makes Venus very hot.
VENUS
Size and Structure
• has an active surface, including
volcanoes
• spins the opposite direction of Earth
and most other planets.
• From an average distance of 67
million miles (108 million kilometers),
Venus is 0.7 astronomical units
away from the Sun.
• It takes sunlight 6 minutes to travel
from the Sun to Venus.
VENUS
Time
• A day on Venus lasts 243 Earth
days. (Venusian day)

• A year on Venus lasts 225 Earth

days. (an orbit around the sun)

• Venus 1 Day & Night Cycle= 117

Earth Days

• backwards rotation

• 3 degrees axial tilt

VENUS
Neighbors
• no moons and rings

• the second planet to the sun.

• Mercury and Earth are Venus

Neighboring plaents

• Currently being visited by

European Space Agency’s
Venus Express Spacecraft
10 THINGS ABOUT EARTH
10 THINGS ABOUT EARTH
10 THINGS ABOUT EARTH
EARTH

• Our home planet Earth is a

rocky, terrestrial planet. It has a
solid and active surface with
mountains, valleys, canyons,
plains and so much more. Earth
is special because it is an ocean
planet. Water covers 70% of
Earth's surface.
EARTH
History
• It is the third planet from the sun
and the fifth largest planet in the
solar system

• The name Earth is at least 1,000

years old. All of the planets,
except for Earth, were named
after Greek and Roman gods and
goddesses. However, the name
Earth is a Germanic word, which
simply means “the ground.”
EARTH

Contains

• nitrogen

• oxygen
EARTH
Size and Structure
• Earth's atmosphere is the right
thickness to keep the planet
warm so living things like us can
be there.
• It’s the only planet in our solar
system we know of that supports
life.
• It is mostly nitrogen, and it has
plenty of oxygen for us to
breathe.
EARTH
Size and Structure

• has one moon

• no rings
EARTH

Time
• A day on Earth lasts a little
under 24 hours.

• One year on Earth lasts 365.25

days. That 0.25 extra means
every four years we need to add
one day to our calendar. We call
it a leap day (in a leap year).
EARTH
Neighbors
• has just one moon. It is the only
planet to have just one moon.

• has lots of spacecraft watching

it.

• is the third planet from the Sun

in our solar system. That means
Venus and Mars are Earth’s
neighboring planets.
EARTH

• There’s a small fleet of orbiters

and rovers at Mars right now,
including the large NASA
Curiosity rover that landed in
2012
10 THINGS ABOUT MARS
10 THINGS ABOUT MARS
MARS

• Mars is a dusty, cold cold desert

world with a very thin
atmosphere

• Mars is sometimes called the

Red Planet. It's red because of
rusty iron in the ground.

• one of the most explored bodies

in our solar system.
MARS
• Like Earth, Mars has seasons, polar ice
caps, volcanoes, canyons, and weather. It
has a very thin atmosphere made of carbon
dioxide, nitrogen, and argon.

• There are signs of ancient floods on Mars,

but now water mostly exists in icy dirt and
thin clouds. On some Martian hillsides, there
is evidence of liquid salty water in the
ground.

• Scientists want to know if Mars may have

had living things in the past. They also want
to know if Mars could support life now or in
the future.
MARS

History

• Several missions have visited

Mars. And Mars is the only
planet we have sent rovers to.
They drive around Mars, taking
pictures and measurements.
MARS

Contains

• carbon dioxide

• nitrogen

• argon
MARS
Size and Structure

• Mars has a thin atmosphere.

• Mars has an active atmosphere,
but the surface of the planet is
not active. Its volcanoes are
dead.
MARS

Time
• One day on Mars lasts 24.6
hours. It is just a little longer
than a day on Earth.

• One year on Mars is 687 Earth

days. It is almost twice as long
as one year on Earth.
MARS
Neighbors

• Mars has two moons. Their

names are Phobos and Deimos.

• Mars is the fourth planet from

the Sun. That means Earth and
Jupiter are Mars’ neighboring
planets.
REFERENCES

• https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-earth/en/

• https://www.universetoday.com/34577/inner-and-
outer-planets/

• https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/
End