| The Planets | |||||||
| Rotation | time it takes for a planet to go once on its axis | Astronomical Unit | distance between the sun & Earth (93 million miles) | ||||
| Revolution | time it takes a planet to go once around the sun | Light Year | distance light travels in one year | ||||
| Planet | Rotation/ Revolution | Surface | Atmosphere | Temperature (in Fahrenheit) | Moons | Myth | |
| KNOWN AS THE INNER OR TERRESTRIAL PLANETS | Mercury | 58.65 days | Covered with craters | Thin atmosphere that is constantly destroyed by solar winds | -334° - 840° | None | Named after the messenger of the gods |
| .24 years | |||||||
| Venus | 243 days | Has volcanoes, mountains, canyons, & valleys. 65% of surface has plains | Covered in dense clouds of sulfuric acid. Atmosphere is 90x's heavier than Earth | 855° | None | Named after Venus the goddess of love & beauty | |
| 224.7 days | |||||||
| Earth | 23.93 hours | 71% of the Earth is covered in liquid water. | Able to support life | -128° to 136° | 1 moon | Comes from the Old English word eorthe meaning ground or soil | |
| 365.26 days | |||||||
| Mars | 24.6 hours | Dry & rocky Has permanent ice caps | Has 1% of Earth's atmosphere | -200° to 32° | 2 moons Phobos = fear Deimos = panic | Mars was the Roman god of war | |
| 1.88 years | |||||||
| Planet | Rotation/ Revolution | Surface/ Atmosphere | Temperature (in Fahrenheit) | Rings | Moons | Myth | |
| KNOWN AS THE GAS GIANTS | Jupiter | 9.8 hours | No solid surface. It becomes denser the farther you go | -101° | Three dark rings made of rocks | 63 moons Four largest are call the Galilean moons. All moons are named after Zeus's girlfriend. | Jupiter was the king of the gods. |
| 12 years | Has clouds that are arranged in bands or zone. Has a huge storm- the Great Red Spot | ||||||
| Saturn | 10.67 hours | least dense no solid surface | -274° | Seven groups of rings, each of which are made of 1000's of smaller rings. The rings are made of ice and are very thin. | 54 moons named after the mythological Greek Titans | Saturn is the god of agriculture, justice, and strength He was Jupiter's father & Uranus's son. It is the root word of Saturday. | |
| 29.5 years | Bands of swirling gas & wind | ||||||
| Uranus | 17.24 hours | No solid surface. Has a solid methane core, surrounded by H2 & He gas | -328° | Nine rings surrounded by fine dust | 27 moons named after characters created by the playwrights Shakespeare and Pope | Uranus was the ancient Greek god of heavens, and was the father of Saturn. | |
| 84 years | Has bands of clouds | ||||||
| Neptune | 17.24 hours | Similar to Uranus | -346° | Has four main rings, some are twisted. Made of dust & rocks, so they can't reflect light. | 13 moons named after oceanic characters in Greek & Roman mythology | Neptune was the Roman god of the seas. | |
| 165 years | Striped patterns of clouds Has a Great Dark Spot | ||||||