Our

Solar
System

By: Sinead McCully

Table of contents
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune

Published in Petitcodiac Regional School

Dedicated to:
Mrs. Carter
Editors:
Bianca Melissa Emily and Laura McPhee
Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to all my editors.

Mercury
Mercury is the planet closest to the sun. That
means its extremely hot there! Humans would
never be able to live there because of that
reason. Mercury is also the smallest planet in
our solar system.

1. Despite being amazingly hot because of distance to the sun, mercury has ice. I
know it sounds crazy but there is ice, only in permanently shadowed craters,
where the sun cannot reach.
2. Some planets have moons, some dont. Mercury is a planet with no moons or
rings. In fact mercury has no atmosphere. Mercury atmosphere is there, its just
incredibly thin. Thinner than the atmosphere on mars!
3. Mercury has an extremely high temperature due to
proximity to the sun. The average temperature on
mercury varies from -173 to 427 degrees Celsius. Mercury
is super cold at night and beyond hot during the daytime.
4. If you weighed 100 pounds on earth you would weigh
38 pounds on mercury. Your weight is divided by 0.38.
5. Mercurys gravity percentages is much lower than earths gravity
percentages. Earth has 38% gravity compared to earth.
6. Mercurys surface is similar to the moons surface. The moon and mercury
have many craters. Mercury is the planet with the most craters in our solar
systems. A crater is a large bowl shaped cavity on the surface of a planet. Some
bigger than others.

Venus
Venus is my favorite planet for many reasons.
For example: its the only planet in our solar
system named after a female figure. Venus has
volcanos and is the hottest planet in our solar
system. It is also the brightest planet, you can
see it easily from earth.

1. Some people think Venuss land is melting because Venus is 30% closer to the
sun. Thats not the case. Venuss land is melting because of clouds of carbon
dioxide and sulfuric acid in its atmosphere.
2. Earth obviously has high levels of oxygen or else we would have a hard time or
not be able to breathe at all. One breath on earth is a years worth of air on
Venus.
3. Like mercury, Venus is another planet that has no moons. Venus and
mercury are the only two planets that have no moons.
4. Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system. At night
Venuss temperature is somewhere around -462 degrees
Celsius and during the day its around 863 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. The atmospheric pressure is incredibly strong! In Venus the
atmospheric pressure is 92 times stronger than earths. That is
equal to 1000km under the ocean!
6. Venus is the only planet in our solar system named after a female figure. The
Greek goddess Venus and the roman goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite and Venus
are both goddesses of beauty and love.

Earth
Earth is the only planet with life in our solar system.
Also the only planet where a substance can take form
of a solid, liquid and gas. Earth is a very interesting
and unique planet in our solar system and thats why
I think people need to know more about it.

1. The carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere have risen

dramatically since the 1960s. If there was no carbon dioxide in
our atmosphere earth would be one giant snowball. We need carbon dioxide in
our atmosphere but we have to be careful about how much is enough.
2. Earth is not the only planet with gravity. The gravity on earth is not distributed
equally. For example, Hudsons bay in Canada has less gravitational pull due to
land mass in that particular part of the planet.
3. Have you ever seen a coral reef? Theyre huge! In fact, coral reefs are the
largest living structure on earth!
4. You know how there are names for every phase of the moon? For example:
half-moon or full moon? Well, if you were standing on the moon you would also
see the earth go through phases.
5. The sun provides energy for earth every day. But how
long does it take for the light of the sun to reach earth?
It takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds for light to travel
from the sun to earth!

Earth
6. On planet earth there are an infinite amount of
living organisms. Some bigger than others an ones
you cant even see with the naked eye. Did you know
there are more living organisms in a teaspoonful of
soil than there are people on earth? Thats more than
7.125 billion living organisms!

7. Have you ever witnessed a total solar eclipse happen? Well if you have you
understand how amazing it looks! The earth is the only planet in our solar system
where a total solar eclipse can happen.

Mars
Do you know about the red planet? The one that NASA
recently discovered water on? Thats right, mars. The fourth
planet from the sun, and also the planet which is soon to be
an earth like world.

1. Earth is the only planet where water can take shape in all three forms (liquid,
solid, gas). On mars water cannot exist in liquid form, only a vapor or ice (gas or
solid).
2. We can grow many plants here on earth, you may have a garden yourself. If
you do you know everything tastes better out of the garden. Well, the soil on
mars is particularly good for growing asparagus.
3. On earth we only have one moon that comes out every night. It has a very
simple name (moon). On mars there are two moons named: Phobos and Deimos.
4. Believe it or not, mars has a flag. The flag is red, green and blue and was
designed by a NASA engineer named Pascal Lee. The colors of the flag represent
mars, exploration and transformation into an earth like world.
5. The average temperature on mars is -81 degrees Fahrenheit, -63 degrees
Celsius. Thats freezing! Imagine being in a cold temperature like
that all the time!
6. Scientist believe that 4 billion years ago mars had oxygen in its
atmosphere. Think about being able to enjoy being on mars!
7. Mars is populated by robots, 7 to be exact. Every year on
august 5th the mars rover sings happy birthday to itself. Must
get lonely.

Jupiter
Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar
system. The smallest being mercury. Jupiter
also has the most moons. Jupiters most
famous attraction is its size.

1. Jupiter is the planet with the most moons. This planet has 63
moons! The most popular are Lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
2. A year on Jupiter is equivalent to 11 earth years. Thats 4015 days a year!
Imagine waiting that long for your birthday or new years to come around!
3. Jupiter is enormous! Its the biggest planet in our solar system! Jupiters radius
is 69 911 km.
4. Even though the years are longer, the days are shorter on Jupiter. A day on
Jupiter is 10 hours. Thats less than half of the day we have here on earth.
5. Jupiter is home to the largest moon in our solar system! Its name is Ganymede.
Ganymede is 5462.4 km! Thats 0.413 earths wide!
6. Just like mercury, your weight size is different than it would
be on earth. If you weigh 100 pounds on earth you would
weigh 236 pounds on Jupiter your weight would multiply by

2.36.
7. On Jupiter is a huge red spot. The red spot is there due to
a storm that lasted 300 years! The red spot is so big it can be
seen through telescopes.

Saturn
Saturn is a very interesting and
unique planet. Saturn is not the only
planet with rings but is definitely the planet with
the most visible rings. Saturn is one of the planets
you can see with the naked eye.

1. Unlike mercury and Venus, Saturn has two moons. Not just one or two like
earth and mars. Saturn has 62 moons! Saturns biggest moon is titan.
2. One of the best known things about Saturn is its ring system. The rings one
Saturn are different from any other planet and they really stand out!
3. Saturn is a gas giant. That means the planet is made up of gas. In fact if you had
a large enough pool Saturn would be able to float in it.
4. Saturn is the planet with the fastest winds. The wind speed on Saturn can reach
up to 1118 mph! Thats much faster than any hurricane weve had here.
5. Here on earth a year is equal to 365 days. On Saturn a year is equal to 30 earth
years! Thats 10 950 days a year!
6. Because of the distance from the sun and Saturn, its much colder than earth.
The average temperature is around -178 degrees Celsius.
That distance from the sun and Saturn is 1.433
billion km!

Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun.
The name Uranus is most mistaken in
pronunciation. Also is a twin planet with
Neptune, Uranuss neighbor.

1. A summer on earth varies from 92 to 95 days

long. A summer on Uranus is equal to 42 earth years
long!
2. Like Saturn, Uranus has many moons. Not quite as many as Saturn
though. Uranus has 27 moons.
3. If you are a William Shakespeare fan you might be interested in this
fact. Most of the moons on Uranus are named after Shakespeares
characters. The rest are named after the poet Alexander Pope.
4. In our solar system, out of the eight planets, there are four gas
giants. Uranus is one of them. The others being Jupiter, Saturn and
Neptune.
5. Saturn is not the only planet with rings, theyre definitely the most
visible though. Uranus has thirteen known rings.

Neptune
Neptune is the planet furthest
from the sun. Neptune is also a
twin planet with Uranus, its
neighbor. Due to distance you

cannot see Neptune from earth.

1. Neptune is one of the 4 gas giants. Neptune is the smallest gas giant in the
group. The size of Neptune is 24 622 km.
2. Neptune is another planet that has moons. Neptune has 14 moons. Neptunes
biggest moon is Triton.
3. In the year of 1989 Neptune had its biggest storm. The storm lasted five years
and was named: the great dark spot.
4. Neptune is the eighth planet in our solar system. That
makes it the planet most distant from the sun. The
distance from the sun and Neptune is 4.498 billion km.
5. The gravity on Neptune is almost earth like.
Neptune is the planet with the closest gravity levels

to earth.

There are many solar systems in the universe.

Ours consists of 8 planets.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
Most people dont know the
wonders of our solar system,
and that is exactly the reason of
this book.