• ​The root word of terrestrial is terr, which means "earth" or "land"

• Terrestrial means "Earth-like"

• The first four planets in our solar system are the terrestrial planets.

• They all have similarities to Earth.

• Today we will explore these 4 planets.

Terrestrial

science notebook

Materials

• describe the main features of each of the inner planets

• compare each of the inner planets to Earth and to one another

What we will learn...

Lesson Objectives

Mercury

Venus

Mars

​These are 3/4 of the inner planets. Since we have already explored Earth, we will focus on these 3 inner planets today.

Mercury

• ​1st planet in solar system and closest to the sun

• Looks very similar to the moon with lots of craters.

• fastest planet to orbit sun.

• No atmosphere due to low gravity.

• 3.032 miles in diameter

• mass compared to Earth-0.0553

• Distance from sun= 0.4AU

• Length of day= 59 earth days

• Length of year= 88 earth days

• Temperature- -290 to 800 degrees F

• No moons

Mercury (bolded facts should be in notes)

Venus

• ​2nd planet in solar system

• considered Earth's twin due to similar size

• Has yellow appearance due to carbon dioxide in atmosphere.

• The carbon dioxide creates large amounts of sulfuric acid that damages probes.

• 7,521 miles in diameter

• mass compared to Earth-0.815

• Distance from sun= 0.72AU

• Length of day= 243 earth days

• Length of year= 225 earth days

• Temperature: 900 degrees F due to sun's heat getting trapped in

• No moons

Venus (bolded facts should be in notes)

Mars

• ​4th planet from the sun

• Known as "Red Planet" due to color from rust and dust on the surface.

• Largest canyon system in solar system, 2500 mile long Mariner Valley

• The carbon dioxide creates large amounts of sulfuric acid that damages probes.

• 4,221 miles in diameter

• mass compared to Earth-0.107

• Distance from sun= 1.5 AU

• Length of day= 24 hours 37 minutes

• Length of year= 687 earth days

• Atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide, argon, nitrogen, water

• Temperature: -225 to 70 degrees F

• 2 moons

Mars (bolded facts should be in notes)

​They are all rocky in nature with defined solid surfaces.

​They are all relatively small as seen in the image of all eight planets.

They are all relatively dense because they are made of rock and metal.

​How are the 4 inner planets all similar?

• ​3rd planet from the sun

• 7.296 miles in diameter

• mass 1.00

• Distance from sun= 1 AU

• Length of day= 23 hours 56 minutes

• Length of year= 365 earth days

• Atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide, argon, nitrogen, oxygen

• Temperature: -128 to 134 degrees F

• 1 moons

Earth(bolded facts should be in notes)

Let's Review

What did we learn today...

• features and characteristics of Mercury, Venus, and Mars; and

• the characteristics of the terrestrial planets.

If you want to hear some music inspired by the planets, click on the link on the next page.