Planets of our Solar System
Hello, my name is Khush and I will tell you about the Solar System. Do you know anything about the solar system? I am going to tell you tell you some facts and information that you may or may not know. So listen carefully and come to my space journey.
Let’s discover the history of our solar system. It all started 4.5 billion years ago when a cloud of interstellar gas and dust collapsed resulting in a solar nebula, a swirling disk of material that collided to form the solar system. So that was how the solar system was created or formed. It has 8 planets. Do you know where is the solar system? It is located in the Milky Way’s Orion Star Cluster. Did you know that only 15% of stars in the galaxy host planetary systems, one of those star is our star named the Sun.
Talking of the Sun let’s know some facts about the sun. The sun is our star in our solar system. The sun has been for the last 4.5 billion years ago. It is known that the sun’s temperature is estimated about 15 million celsius. The sun is about 93 million miles away from earth. Do you know how many earth’s can fit the sun? It can fit about more than a 100 earth’s in the sun! How cool! Let’s talk about the categories of our solar system. We have 2 categories in our solar system. One is terrestrial planets. They are the first 4 planets in our solar system. Second, Jovian Planets, they are the last 4 planets in our solar system. 2 of them are gas giants and the other 2 are ice giants, we will talk about them at the end of our report. Jovian Planets have rings. I have one question to you. Have you heard about the smallest planet on this solar system?
Yes, you might guess it. It is Mercury, the smallest and first planet to the sun. Mercury is fast, it takes 88 earth days a year for Mercury. But a day in Mercury is about 59 earth days. It travels 50 km per second. The surface of Mercury is similar than Earth’s Moon. The first spacecraft to Mercury was Mariner 10, it was launched at November 3, 1973. It had it imaged 45% of the surface. Mercury has no moons. Did you know how Mercury got it’s name? In ancient Roman gods, Mercury is the messenger of the gods. I forgot to say one more fact about Mercury. It’s temperature. Mercury’s temperature while facing the sun reaches about 430 celsius (800 fahrenheit), that’s hot! So what happens at nighttime? The temperature drops down to -180 degrees celsius (-290 degrees fahrenheit), I would not like to live in Mercury! Do you know what is the hottest planet in our solar system?
I think you might know it. It’s Venus. The hottest and 2nd planet from the sun. Venus spins the opposite direction to some of the planets. Venus is hot enough to melt Lead. Venus is named after Love and Beauty in ancient Roman gods. As Mercury, Venus has no moon. In 650 BCE, Mayan astronomers had detailed, watching Venus. In 1962, NASA sended Mariner 2 to Venus and releases Venus extraordinary surface temperature. It was the first spacecraft to send back information from a different planet.
A day in Venus is 243 Earth days. So what about the year in Venus, Venus is fast so the year is 225 earth days. Now the extreme temperature of Venus, lets see the graphics. The surface temperature is about 471°C (880°F). The average temperature of Venus is about 864°F (462°C) and Earth’s average temperature is 57°F, that’s about 14°C! Gravity on Venus is 91% as strong as Earth’s gravity. Venus’s atmosphere is mostly Carbon Dioxide (CO2) , with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. Venus also has mountains, valleys and hundreds of thousands of volcanoes. The highest mountain is named Maxwell Montes, it is 20,000 feet high, it is similar to Mount Everest in Nepal.
No man has been to Venus, but there has been some spacecrafts that had been to Venus’s surface, the spacecraft didn’t last long in Venus. All of the heat in Venus has overheated the electronics in the spacecraft in a really short time. So it means that it is really hard to live on Venus. Venus has a lot of Electric Field Strength, Venus has 10 volts, Earth has <2 (less than 2) volts. Sometimes Venus and Earth are called twins because of their similar sizes and similar mass (weight). Now let’s go to our own planet.
Earth, our own planet. Earth is the 3rd and the 5th largest planet in the solar system. Earth is the only living planet in the solar system. As talking about Venus’ and Earth’s size, Earth is slightly larger than Venus. Let’s talk about Earth’s rotation. A day for Earth is about 23.9 hours, so what about a year, we know what a year is 365 days in a year, but it is really 365.25 days in a year, it adds one quarter in the calendar because every 4 years we have a leap year.
As Venus, Earth has volcanoes, mountains and valleys. Earth’s crust (continental and oceanic), is divided into huge plates that are continuously moving. Example: the North American plate moves west to the Pacific Plate. The water covers up 70% of Earth’s surface. Most of Earth’s mountains are under Earth’s surface. In Hawaii, Mauna Kea is volcano is taller than the summit of Mount Everest.
The longest range of mountains is in South America named, the Andes. The length is 7,000 km long. The Andes goes through, Perú, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia. The highest point in the Andes is Aconcagua, it’s height is 6,962m high. Aconcagua is the highest mountain out of Asia.
The atmosphere of the Earth. Earth has 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% of other gases (argon, carbon dioxide, and neon).
Earth is the only planet with 1 moon. Our moon is the brightest and familiar object in the night sky. Do you know how the moon was made? When Earth was young, a huge chunk of rock smashed into Earth which made the Moon. The moon is the 5th largest moon in our Solar System (after Ganymede, Titan, Callisto and Io). The moon is far away than we seem. The Moon is estimated about 384,400 km away from Earth. That equals 30 Earth’s that could fit between Earth and the Moon. Let’s see the Red Planet.
The Red Planet, Mars. It is really hard to see Mars’ surface from Earth. Mars is really likely to find more life, and water might exist in polar caps. Mars is the last planet in the terrestrial planets. Mariner 4 is the first spacecraft to Mars. Mars is a rocky planet like the other terrestrial planets. The comparison. Let’s see the distance of Earth and Mars from the sun. Earth is 93 million miles away from the sun, Mars is 142 million miles away from the sun. Now the deepest canyon. Earth’s deepest canyon is Grand Canyon that has 1.1 miles deep. Valles Marinis is 4.35 miles deep. A day in Mars is 24 hours and 37 minute. A year in Mars is 687 Earth days. The highest mountain on Mars is Olympus Mons, which is the highest mountain. Earth’s mountain Mauna Kea is estimated about 6.34 miles high and Mars’ Olympus Mons is estimated about 16 miles high. Mariner 9 was the discovery of Olympus Mons. The largest crater in Mars is named Hellas Crater, it is 1,400 miles deep. Mars has 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos. Mars’ atmosphere is 96% Carbon Dioxide. Mars’ volume: 6 Mars’ could fit Earth. If your weight is 100 pounds (45.3kg) on Earth, on Mars your weight is about 38 pounds (17.2kg)! Mars is 1/10 of the mass of Earth. The average speed of Mars orbiting the sun is about 14.5 miles per second. Did you know that Mars is more tilted than Earth. Now that’s a lot of Mars, do you want to know about the largest planet in our solar system? So check this out. 
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system and the first planet of the Jovian Planets. Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth. If Earth was a size as a nickel, than Jupiter would be a size of a basketball. Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and pass Jupiter. If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth than you would weigh 253 pounds (114.7 kg) on Jupiter (you would get more fatter in Jupiter). As knowing the days and the years of each planet in the solar system, Jupiter has the shortest day in the solar system. A day is only 9.9 hours. Would you think that a year is also short? But no, a year is 4,333 Earth days (12 Earth years)! Jupiter’s atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, Great Red Spot had been created and a giant storm larger than Earth had been going on for hundreds of years. Jupiter has 53 conformed moons, there are 16 provisional moons. So there were about 69 known moons in Jupiter. Talking about the moons in Jupiter, I’ll tell you about the largest moons of Jupiter.
The largest, Ganymede. The largest moon of Jupiter and the solar system. Ganymede is larger than Mercury and Pluto, but it is slightly smaller than Mars. Ganymede would be a planet if it would orbit the sun. The 4 largest moons of Jupiter are, Ganymede, Io, Europa, and Callisto, that were discovered by Galileo Galilei. Jupiter means the king of ancient Roman gods. Jupiter is tilted 3 degrees. That means that Jupiter has no seasons. Scientists says that diamonds rain on Jupiter!
Do you think that Jupiter has rings? If your answer is no, you are wrong. Jupiter’s rings were discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1. In Jupiter’s ring system it has 3 main components, the first outer ring is called, Gossamer Rings, second Main Ring and third Halo. Let’s see the next planet after Jupiter.
Saturn. The second largest and second planet in the Jovian Planets. Saturn’s rings are made of chunks of ice and rock. Like Jupiter, Saturn is made of hydrogen and helium. It is confirmed that Saturn has 53 moons, but there are still 9 provisional moons. The moons like Enceladus, Europa, and Titan has many secrets. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon of Saturn. Titan is a bit bigger than Mercury. Titan is the 2nd largest moon after Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon.
Saturn rotates the same direction as Earth. Saturn is far but it is fast, it spins around the sun in 10.7 hours. Saturn’s axis is tilted 26.73 degrees, which is similar to Earth’s axis, 23.5 degrees. It takes about 29 Earth years or 10,756 Earth days to orbit the sun. Saturn doesn’t have a right surface. The planet is mainly gases and liquids. A spacecraft wouldn’t land on the surface of Saturn. The temperatures and pressures of Saturn would crush and melt the spacecraft, trying to fly around the planet. Saturn is 95 the mass of Earth. Saturn is 764 the volume of Earth. The wind of Saturn is about 1,100 mph (1,750 kph). Saturn’s temperature is about -178 degrees celsius (-288 degrees fahrenheit). Saturn is 1.4 billion kilometres away from the sun (886 million miles).
Saturn’s spacecraft ‘Cassini’ has been traveling for 20 years. Cassini has taken 22 orbits around Saturn. Let’s talk about the rings of Saturn.
Saturn’s rings are believed of pieces of asteroids, comets and broken tiny moon pieces. They are made of billions of small blocks of ice and rock. Some small pieces are as big as a house. Also some of the pieces are are large as a mountain! The rings would look mostly while from Saturn’s cloud tops. 
The rings are named alphabetically in order of their discovery. The main rings of Saturn are know as C, B and A. The Cassini Division is is the largest gap between ring B and Ring A. Did you know that there are more rings than A, B, and C.
Scientists have discovered the D, E, F, and G rings. The D ring is the closest ring to Saturn. It is really difficult to see the D ring. No one has seen the D ring from Earth, but it is seen from Voyager spacecraft in the 1980s. This is something weird but the E ring is the farthest ring from Saturn. From the view of the rings the E ring is much wider than the other rings. That’s a lot of talking about Saturn, now the next planet.
Uranus. Uranus is the 7th planet from the sun. Also Uranus is the 3rd largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus is cold and windy. Uranus is a ice giant. Uranus was found from a aid telescope, it was the first planet to be seen from a aid telescope. Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel. Before Uranus was discovered he thought that it was comet or a star. But after two years Uranus was officially a new planet. William Herschel tried to make a name for the new planet. But he couldn’t make one. After a few time he named the new planet, Uranus, meaning the Greek god of the sky. Uranus has 27 small moons orbiting Uranus. With size and diameter, Uranus is 4 times wider than Earth. Imagine if Earth was a size of a nickel, Uranus would be a size of a softball. The average distance of Uranus is about 2.9 billion kilometres (1.8 billion miles). One day in Uranus is 17 hours and 14 minutes. But a year is much longer, it is about 84 Earth years! That equals 31,025 days! Uranus is the other planet where it rotates the other direction, Venus and Uranus rotate the opposite direction to other planets. Most 80 percent of Uranus is made up of icy materials which includes, water, methane and ammonia. How about the core of Uranus? It is so hot that it reaches about to 4,982 degrees celsius or 9,000 degrees fahrenheit. Do you know how Uranus’ colour is blue-green? Methane gas in the atmosphere makes the colour blue-green. Uranus’ atmosphere is mainly helium and hydrogen. also it has some amount of methane, some parts of water and ammonia. The methane gives Uranus the blue colour. When Voyager 2 was flying by Uranus it saw a Great Dark Spot while passing by also it saw a small Dark Spot in 1986. Uranus’ minimum surface temperature is about -224.2 degrees celsius (49 Kelvin), it is quite colder than Neptune’s temperature. The wind of Uranus reaches about 560 miles per hour, that means 900 kilometers per hour. Uranus is not a good place for humans to live on. Now the rings of Uranus. Did you know that Uranus’ rings are wied? If you don’t know check this out. All of the Jovian Planets have west to east sides of rings, but Uranus is the only planet with north to south side rings. It is quite weird, right. The inner rings are mostly dark gray rings. Uranus has 2 outer rings, the most inner ring is dusty and reddish. The outer ring is blue like Saturn’s E ring. Let’s tell you the most weirdest things about Uranus. Do you know why Uranus’ rings is facing north to south? It is not the rings fault, but Uranus’ axis is tilted 98° degrees. That’s how the rings are facing north to south. When Voyager 2 was flying around Uranus in 1986, it released that Uranus’ magnetic field was also tilted, by 60 degrees! But Earth’s magnetic field was closely lining up to it’s axis. So Earth’s protective magnetic shield stables. Actually that is not for Uranus. Uranus’ magnetic field always moves around. This doesn’t happen to any other planet in the solar system. From Uranus’ magnetic tilt makes the magnetic shield unstable. Now let’s talk about the 8th planet and last planet in the solar system. 
Neptune. Neptune is the last planet in our solar system. From the mathematical calculations, the astronomers discovered Neptune the 8th planet in 1846. Also on the same year Neptune’s largest moon, Triton was discovered as well. In 1984 astronomers were trying to find if Neptune’s rings exist or not. In 1989 Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to visit Neptune, it flew 4,800 km above Neptune’s north pole. In 2011, Neptune passes the sun at its 165 year orbit from Neptune’s discovery in 1846. Neptune is about 4.5 billion miles away from the sun. Like Uranus, Neptune’s magnetic field is tilted, but it is just by 47 degrees. The magnetic field of Neptune is 27 times powerful than Earth. Neptune’s wind is 3 times stronger than Jupiter and 9 times stronger than Earth. Neptune has 6 known rings. Neptune has 13 known moons, 6 of the moons were discovered by Voyager 2. A new 14th moon was discovered in 2013. Triton, Neptune’s largest moon orbits the opposite directions to other moons of Neptune. Triton is extremely cold than other moons, on it’s surface goes down to -235 degrees Celsius (-391 degrees fahrenheit). Now let’s see how Neptune got it’s name. Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea. Did you though that was less information about Neptune. But Neptune has less information, but later in the future there will be heaps of information about Neptune. There are the facts and information of the planets of the solar system. Now let’s see the famous dwarf planet, Pluto.
Pluto. Before Pluto was named as a planet (the 9th planet). But in 2006 scientists declared that Pluto will be a dwarf planet. Pluto’s diameter is about ⅔ of Earth’s moon. But Pluto’s mass is about ⅙ of Earth’s moon. Pluto is 49.3 astronomical units away from the sun. One astronomical unit is the distance from Earth to the sun. From 1979 to 1999 Pluto was much closer to Neptune. In 1989, Pluto was 29.8 astronomical units away from the sun. Pluto’s largest moon, Charon is ½ the size of Pluto, that was discovered in 1978. Charon takes 6.4 Earth days to take a orbit of Pluto. Pluto’s orbit takes about 249 Earth years. Let’s wrap up the information report. 