The document provides descriptions of the planets in our solar system. It begins by explaining that the solar system comprises the Sun and objects that orbit it, including 8 major planets. It then provides 3 sentence descriptions of each planet - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - detailing their size, composition, notable features, and in some cases moons and naming conventions. The document concludes by listing the names of each planet in Braille.
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The solar system
1. UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA
ESCUELA DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIN . ECEDU
DIDCTICA
UNIDAD DIDCTICA: EL UNIVERSO
TRABAJO PRESENTADO POR:
JORGE ELIECER FERNNDEZ
ALBERTO MORENO
JOHN JADER CARMONA
JAIME PULGARN
BLMER ANTONIO GARCA
2. THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SOLAR SYSTEM comprises the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly. Of
those objects that orbit the sun directly, the largest eight are the planets that form the planetary
system around it, while the remainder are significantly smaller objects, such as dwarf planets and
small solar system bodies such as comets and asteroids.
3. THE SUN
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System and is by far the most important source
of energy for life on Earth. It is a nearly perfect spherical ball of hot plasma, with internal
connective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. Its diameter is about
109 times that of Earth, and it has a mass about 330000 times that of Earth, accounting for
about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Chemically, about three quartes of the
Sun卒s mass consists of hydrogen, whereas the rest is mostly helium, and much smaller
quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.
4. MERCURY
Mercury is the smallest and closest to the Sun of the eight planets in the Solar System,
with an orbital period of about 88 Earth days. Seen from Earth, it appears to move around
its orbit in about 116 days, which is much faster than any other planet in the Solar System.
It has no known natural satellites. The planet is named after the Roman deity Mercury, the
messenger to the gods.
5. VENUS
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has no natural
satellite. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the
brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of 4.6, bright
enough to cast shadows. Because Venus is an inferior planet from Earth, it never appears to
venture far from the Sun: its elongation reaches a maximum of 47.8属.
6. EARTH
Earth, also called the worldand, less frequently, Gaia (and Terra in some works of science
fiction) is the third planet from the Sun, the densest planet in the Solar System, the largest of
the Solar System's four terrestrial planets, and the only astronomical object known to
accommodate life. The earliest life on Earth arose at least 3.5 billion years ago. Earth's
biodiversity has expanded continually except when interrupted by mass extinctions. Although
scholars estimate that over 99 percent of all species that ever lived on the planet are extinct,
Earth is currently home to 1014 million species of life, including over 7.3 billion humans who
depend upon its biosphere and minerals. Earth's human population is divided among about
two hundred sovereign states which interact through diplomacy, conflict, travel, trade and
communication media.
7. MARS
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System,
after Mercury. Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred to as the "Red Planet"
because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance. Mars is a
terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the
impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth. The
rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt
that produces the seasons. Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and second-
highest Known Mountain in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest
canyons in the Solar System. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40%
of the planet and may be a giant impact feature. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos,
which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids.
8. JUPITER
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the Solar System. It is a giant
planet with a mass one-thousandth of that of the Sun, but is two and a half times that of all
the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is a gas giant, along with Saturn
(Uranus and Neptune are ice giants). Jupiter was known to astronomers of ancient times. The
Romans named it after their god Jupiter. When viewed from Earth, Jupiter can reach an
apparent magnitude of 2.94, bright enough to cast shadows, and making it on average the
third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. (Mars can briefly match
Jupiter's brightness at certain points in its orbit.)
9. SATURN
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter.
It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. Although only one-eighth
the average density of Earth, with its larger volume Saturn is just over 95 times more massive.
Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture, its astronomical symbol () represents the
god's sickle.
10. URANUS
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-
largest planetary mass in the Solar System. Uranus is similar in composition to Neptune, and
both have different bulk chemical composition from that of the larger gas giants Jupiter and
Saturn. Therefore, astronomers increasingly place them in a separate category called "ice
giants".
11. NEPTUNE
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is the fourth-
largest planet by diameter and the third-largest by mass. Among the gaseous planets in the
Solar System, Neptune is the most dense. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly
more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times the mass of Earth, and not as dense
as Neptune.