Our solar system consists of the Sun and objects that orbit it, including 8 planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and dust. The Sun contains over 99% of the mass in the solar system. The 8 planets are divided into terrestrial planets like Earth and Mars that are rocky, and gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. Terrestrial planets have fewer or no moons while gas giants have many moons. Other objects in the solar system include asteroids that orbit in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, comets that have highly elliptical orbits, and meteoroids which are small pieces of debris.

1. Our Solar System Rebecca Haywood Central Michigan University EDU 290

3. Our Solar System Our Solar System consists of: -the Sun -8 planets and their moons -dwarf planets -asteroids -Kuiperbelt objects -Oort Cloud -comets -meteoroids -interplanetary dust

4. The Sun The largest object in the solar system Contains 99.8% if the Solar System’s total mass 4.6 billion years old It’s strong gravitational pull holds all the planets in orbit

5. The Planets 8 total Mars, Venus, Earth, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Two categories Terrestrial Planets Jovian Planets

6. The Terrestrial Planets “Earth-like” Mars, Venus, Earth, and Mercury

7. The Jovian Planets “Jupiter-like” Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

8. Moons Terrestrial Planets Mercury- 0 moons Venus- 0 moons Earth- 1 moon Mars- 2 moons Jovian Planets Jupiter- 63 moons Saturn- 61 moons Uranus- 27 moons Neptune- 13 moons

9. Asteroids Rocky, metallic objects that orbit the Sun Too small to be considered planets Can range in size from 1,000 km to the size of pebbles Most asteroids are found in the Asteroid Belt Between Mercury and Jupiter

10. Comets Made of frozen gas and frozen water Invisible except when near the Sun Their orbits take them far outside the orbit of Pluto Most are located in the Oort Cloud

11. Meteoroids Little chunks of rock and debris in space Become meteors (shooting stars) when the fall through a planet’s atmosphere. Chunks that hit the ground are called meteorites

12. Interplanetary Dust Formed in the chemical reactions of interstellar molecular clouds Nitrogen and deuterium enrichments

13. References http://www.aerospaceguide.net/solar_system/index.html http://space.about.com/od/solarsystem/ss/visualtourss.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/environment_earth_universe/astronomy_space/revise2.shtml http://www.universetoday.com/50287/terrestrial-planets/ http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/aklypin/WebSite/new_page_10.htm http://www.solarviews.com/eng/asteroid.htm http://nineplanets.org/comets.html http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Meteors http://presolar.wustl.edu/work/idp.html