Began 5 billion years ago when ____ and ________ condensed
Fun Facts about the Planets
Mercury- biggest _____________ difference. 441 to 279 degrees F, one day is ______ of its year, covered in craters
Venus- volcanoes, huge ______________ effect, rains __________ acid, day is longer than a year and rotates backwards
Earth- well you know about that!
Mars- ________ from iron oxide! evidence of water erosion
Asteriod Belt- rocky fragments of a failed _________ that circle the sun. Never formed into a planet due to gravitational pull from Jupiter
Jupiter- failed sun (brown planet), _______ times the mass of all the other planets combined!, belts of colored clouds, day is 9 hours! Great ______Spot- red swirling hurricane.
Saturn- rings are failed moon, so light it ________ on water
Uranus- blue planet, rotates on its _____
Neptune- blue planet.
Pluto- dwarf planet, not a real planet because small, rocky and has ________ orbit, switches with Neptune for ____th planet.
2 Types of Planets
Terrestrial-
Jovian/ Gas Giant-
My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas!
Other Objects in the Solar System
Moons- orbits planets
Comets- dirty ___________
frozen gas-
highly tilted orbit
tail of comet is pushed by solar _________ (charged particles)
opposite the sun
Meteor- rocky particle that enters our atmosphere. A
__________ star!
Meteor shower-
Meteorite- a meteor on the __________
Asteroid- large meteor
pea sized rock hits our atm every ___________
grapefruit size twice a year
1/2 football field size every ________ years
1 mile wide- every 200,000 years
6 miles wide- every 100 million years
The universe is all the matter, energy, and space everywhere. It formed 10-17 billion years ago.
The universe began with the "Big Bang." The Big Bang
was an incredible explosion. Before
the explosion occurred, all the mass in the universe was in a
very small area. The universe is
now expanding.
How do we know that the universe is expanding?
Electromagnetic Energy has varied wavelengths, as seen in page
14 of your earth science
reference tables. Blue visible light has a much shorter wavelength
than red visible light. If an
object is moving toward you, the electromagnetic energy that the
object gives off will stack up. This is called the Blue shift,
because the wavelength decreases, similar to blue light. If an
object is moving away, the waves get stretched. This is called
a red-shift. All stars outside of our galaxy show a red shift
indicating they are moving away from us.
What galaxy are we in?
We are in the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy.
What is a star?
A star is a large ball of plasma held together by gravity.The
gravity is pulling the gasses together, and this forces a
nuclear reaction to occur.
The energy that is released causes incredible temperatures and electromagnetic energy.
How was the moon formed?
The moon was probably formed due to Earth's collision with a large asteroid.
What causes the phases of the moon?
They are caused by the Earth's perspective of the moon. At any one time one half of the moon is lit, but from the Earth we can only see the part of the Moon that is facing us. As the moon revolves around the Earth, our perspective of the moon changes in which we may only partially see the lit side. When the moon is on the far side of the Earth, from the Sun, the moon phase is Full. (It is also the arrangement of the celestial bodies for the Lunar Eclipse.
Why is the moon important?
The moon is important because it is the primary cause of our tides.
The earth spins 15 degrees per hour. The sky appears to also spin at 15 degrees per hour.
An observer will see the sun rise, move 15 degrees in the sky
per hour, until it sets.
What causes the seasons on the Earth?
The seasons of the Earth are caused by the revolution of the Earth around the Sun on an angular , 23.5 degree tilt. When the North Pole is tilted toward the sun, we are experiencing summer. The suns rays become more concentrated on the Northern Hemisphere resulting in more hours of daylight and hotter temperatures.
What causes the northern lights?
Solar wind is sent out during magnetic solar storms. When this ionized energy hits the magnetosphere it lights up in dazzling curtains of dancing colors. The different colors are a chemical reaction between the varing gasees in the atmosphere and the solar wind.