1. Introduction to Astronomy
Introduction to Astronomy
Naxxar Cubs
Naxxar Scouts
Narrated by Nicholas Bajada
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2. Our Solar Sy
Presented by Alessandro Bajada
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3. There are 8 planets in our Solar
System.
• Mercury • Jupiter
• Venus • Saturn
• Earth • Uranus
• Mars • Neptune
kaa
rama bagheera
Pluto 3

4. Tiny Mercury is the planet closest to the sun.
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5. The surface of
Mercury is a lot like
the surface of our
Moon.
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6. Venus is
sometimes
called the
morning or
evening
star, because it
is so bright in
the sky.
However, Ven
us is not a star.
It is the 2nd
planet from
the Sun. 6

7. Our Earth is the only planet in the solar system that we
know can support life. It has only one moon.
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8. The moon is the only
other body in the solar
system that has been
visited by humans.
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9. Curiosity
Mars is the most explored planet in the solar system
– besides Earth! 9

10. Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
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11. Mars has two
moons – Phobos
and Deimos.
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12. This photo shows the surface of Mars
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13. The next four planets are called the “Jovian” planets.
They are also known as the gas giants.
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14. Jupiter is the Jupiter
largest planet in
the Solar System.
It is very much
like the sun, being
made mostly of
hydrogen and
helium. It is the
fastest rotating
planet, spinning
once on its axis
every 10 hours. Earth
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15. This picture of
Jupiter, taken by the
Cassini
spacecraft, shows the
wind patterns in the
atmosphere.
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16. The Great
Red Spot on
Jupiter.
Scientists
believe that it
is a giant
storm that is
more than
300 years old.
This storm is
bigger than
our entire
planet. 16

17. There are at
least 63
moons
around
Jupiter.
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18. These are four of the
largest Moons of Jupiter. 18

19. Jupiter’s moon Io Io’s VolcanoesI
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20. Jupiter’s moon Europa
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21. Saturn
Lord of the rings 21

22. Saturn is most
famous for its
beautiful rings.
They are made
mostly of water
and ice. 22

23. Saturn has many
moons. Scientists
have identified
more than 63 so
far.
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24. Uranus is the 7th
planet from the
sun. It has an
atmosphere of
mostly hydrogen
and methane,
which gives it a
blue color. So
far, we have
found at least 27
moons around
Uranus.
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25. Uranus actually
rotates almost on
its side. Scientists
think that this may
be because Uranus
was hit by another
celestial body
sometime early in
its history, which
knocked the
planet on its side.
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26. Neptune is the 8th
planet from the sun.
Like Uranus, it has
an atmosphere that
is mostly hydrogen
and methane, which
gives the planet its
blue color. There
are at least 13
moons around
Neptune. 26

27. Asteroid Belt
Between Mars and the Jupiter there is the Asteroid Belt
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28. Comets
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29. There are many small pieces of
broken comets and asteroids
floating in the solar system. We
call them meteoroids. When they
enter our atmosphere, they heat
up and leave a trail of
luminous, or glowing gas. We
call them shooting stars, or
meteors. If they survive their trip
through the atmosphere and land
on the surface of the earth, they
are called meteorites. 29

30. Tails get longer the
closer a Comet gets
to the Sun.
Tails are always directed
away from the Sun.
Orbit of Comet
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31. Equinox we get the same equal daylight and night time hours
Solstice we get the longest day and shortest night hours
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32. Equinox and Solstice
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33. Lunar Eclipse Geometry
Umbra is when we have a Total Eclipse of the Moon
Penumbra is when we get a Partial Eclipse of the Moon
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34. Lunar Eclipse
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35. 35

36. Solar Eclipse
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37. So what keeps all of
these planets and their
moons together, and
keeps them from drifting
away into space?
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38. The solar system stays together
because of our star, the sun.
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39. Our Sun is really far away - 93 million miles.
If we had a special car that could work in
space and we started driving at 100 mph and
didn’t even stop to go to the bathroom, it would
take more than 100 years to get to the Sun.
Even the closest stars are much, much farther away.
Using that same magic car, it would take almost 3
million years to get to the nearest star! 3 million
years ago we still had mammoths and saber-tooth
tigers here on Earth. 39

40. The sun is the
hottest place in our
solar system. The
part that we see is
about 11,000
degrees F. The
hottest your oven
will get is only
about 500 degrees F.
The Centre reaches
more than 27
million degrees F.
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41. Temperatures in the corona are more than 1 million
degrees. The corona can only be seen when there is a
solar eclipse, when the moon is directly between the
earth and the sun.
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42. Charged particles constantly pour out of the Sun, in a
steady stream and in occasional bursts called coronal
mass ejections. 42

43. This is a close-up picture of sunspots taken through a
telescope using a special filter and camera.
Look at the size of these sunspots compared to our
Earth 43

44. The sun’s heat makes it like a pot of boiling soup.
Sometimes, some gas escapes from the sun in the form
of solar flares.
Earth Solar
Flare
Look at the size of a Solar Flare compared to our Earth. 44

45. Solar Flares
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46. What is Aurora Borealis or the
Northern Lights ?
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47. Northern Lights are
formed from charged
particles from Solar
Radiation hitting our
magnetic field
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48. Positive and negative ions
hit each other to create this
beautiful Light Show
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49. What else is up there ?
: Nebula
: Planetary Nebula
: Galaxies
: Black Holes
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50. We have 88 Constellations
Try and find the Constellation Orion.
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It is one of the easiest one to find.

51. The Night Sky
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52. Star Clusters
Globular Cluster
Open Cluster
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53. Our Milky Way
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54. Upper view
Where
are we
in the
Milky
Way
Side View 54

55. 55

56. Astronomy as a Hobby
• Start with your eyes
• Next get a pair of binoculars or a
good, inexpensive telescope
• Save your money for a nice
telescope
• Never look at the sun
without special equipment!

57. The End
North
West East
South
Naxxar Scouts are the best 57