Intro to the Solar System

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Intro to the Solar System

• I. How did the solar system form?

• A. First, the sun formed from its nebula.

• 1. Refer to star formation notes for more
  details.

• B. All material from the nebula were not drawn
  into the sun.

• 1. Left over material collided together making
  larger objects.

• 2. These objects became the planets.

• 3. Everything else became moons, comets,
  asteroids, meteoroids.

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C. Two Types of Planets Formed.

• 1. One type is called the inner planets.
  (Terrestrial)

• 2. Inner planets-

The solid iron core, close to the sun, rocky
planets. Planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
are classified as inner planets.

• 3. The other type is called the outer planets
  (Jovian).

The light gas planets, furthest away from the
sun. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune are
classified as outer planets. Which planet is not
an outer planet? (Pluto)

• 4. Outer Planets-

• 5. All planets orbit the sun in an elliptical
  orbit. (Ellipse is egg shaped.)

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The Inner Planets

• Mercury-

The closest planet to the sun.

• 1. Looks like earths moon.

• 2. Craters and cliffs are Mercurys dominant
  feature.

• 3. 2nd smallest.

• 4. No atmosphere.

• 5. Temperatures get as high as 450 degrees
  Celsius during the day, and fall to -185 degrees
  Celsius at night.

• 6. Named after the Roman Messenger God.

• 7. One day 59 earth days, one year 88 earth
  days.

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• B. Venus Earths Sister Planet

• 1. The hottest planet in the solar system.

• 2. Temperatures stay constant around 480 degrees
  C. (900 degrees F)

• 3. Its thick CO2 atmosphere causes the high
  temperatures.

• 4. CO2 in the Venus atmosphere causes the Green
  House Effect.

A.) Radiation from the sun enters Venus
atmosphere and is absorbed by the ground.
B.) The radiation turns into heat or Infrared
radiation.
C.) Heat then tries to escape from the planet.
D.) CO2 absorbs all of the heat trying to escape.
E.) The planet keeps getting warmer warmer.
F.) Almost the same way a green house stays warm.

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• Venus Continued

• 5. Venus rotates clockwise.

• 6. Named after the Roman Goddess of Love and
  Beauty.

• 7. One day 243 earth days, One year 225 earth
  days.

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C. Earth Our Planet

• 1. The only planet that can support human life.

• 2. Only planet that has all states of H2O on it.

A.) Solid Ice
B.) Liquid Water
C.) Gas Water Vapor

• 3. Has one moon.

• 4. The only planet with live plate tectonics.

• 5. Larger than four planets and smaller than four
  planets.

• 6. One Day 24 hours, One Year 365.24 days.

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D. Mars The Red Planet

• 1. Mars looks red because its surface soil has
  iron in it.

• 2. When iron reacts with O2 you get rust.

• 3. The largest volcano in the solar system exists
  on Mars. ( Olympus Mons )

• 4. Named after the Roman God of War.

• 5. Mars has two moons revolving around it.

A.) Phobos - Larger moon.
B.) Deimos - Smaller moon.

• 6. One Day 24.6 hours, One year 687 earth
  days.

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The Outer Planets

• I. Outer Planets

• A. Jupiter The Largest Planet

1. Patterns of colorful clouds are Jupiters
dominant feature. Lightning storms continually
occur. (The Great Red Spot is the most
spectacular.)
2. Under the clouds, scientists think, lies a
huge ocean of liquid hydrogen.
3. Under the ocean there is a solid core.
4. Jupiter has at least 60 moons.
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• 5. The Galilean Moons, the four largest moons,
  are named after Galileo. He discovered them with
  his first telescope.

A.) Ganymede
The Largest moon in the solar system.
Larger than Mercury Pluto.
B.) Callisto
2nd largest of Jupiters moons.
C.) Io
Most famous moon of Jupiter
Active volcanoes cover the surface.
Red Yellow sulfur erupts 180 miles high
into Ios sky.
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Jupiter Continued
D.) Europa
Covered by a thick layer of H2O ice.
Under the ice may be some liquid water.
Scientists and science fiction artists have
speculated that if that is true, there may be
forms of life in this water!

• 6. Jupiter is named after the Roman King of the
  Gods.

• 7. Has a dark narrow ring system.

• 8. One day 9hours, 51 minutes, One year 11.9
  years.

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• B. Saturn The Ringed Planet

1. 2nd largest planet.
2. Has a large ring system going around the
planet.
A.) What is a ring?
They are made of small pieces of ice and rock.

They are not solid.
B.) How did they form?
Scientists believe that moons of Saturn may
have wondered to close to it.
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Then Saturns gravity pulled the moon apart.

Roche Limit -
The distance away from the planet a moon must be
before being torn apart.
All of Saturns rings are inside this limit. .

3. Has a very low density. (Would float on
water.)
4. Has at least 30 moons.
5. Titan Largest moon of Saturn. (2nd largest)

A.) larger than Mercury and Pluto.
B.) Its atmosphere resembles Earths. Made mostly
of Nitrogen.
C.) Has very large oceans of liquid methane.
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• C. Uranus The Sideways Planet

1. Uranus was plotted on a star chart at one
time.
2. Made mostly of Helium and Methane. (these
gases give the planet its blue-green color.)
3. Spins on its side. (Possibly struck by another
object and flipped on its side.)
4. Has a very small, dark ring system.
5. Has at least 25 moons.
6. 3rd largest planet
7. Named after the father of Saturn.
8. One day 17.2 hours, One year 84 years.

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• D. Neptune The Blue Planet

1. Last of the gas giant planets.
2. Made mostly of Methane. (This gas gives the
planet its blue color.)
3. Has a very small, dark ring system.
4. Has at least 13 moons.
5. Triton is its largest moon.
Triton has the coldest surface temperature in
the solar system. (-435 degrees F or -260 degrees
C.)
Has active geysers spewing out liquid methane
and H2O Ice.
6. Named after the Roman God of the Sea.
7. 4th largest planet.
8. One day 16.1 hours, One year 164 years.

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• E. Pluto The Smallest Planet

1. The furthest from the sun.
2. Crosses Neptunes orbit and becomes the 8th
planet closest to the sun for some of its
revolution.
3. Smaller than our moon.
4. Has one moon called Charon. More than half the
size of Pluto.
5. May be part of the Kuiper Belt.
A belt of icy, rocky objects that are orbiting
the sun beyond Neptunes revolution.
6. Named for the Roman God of the Dead.
7. One day 6.4 days, One year 248 years.

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Comets, Meteoroids, Asteroids

• I.. Comets

1. Comet -
Is composed of dust and rock particles mixed with
H2O, Methane and Ammonia.
2. Where do comets come from?
Large collection of comets, that lies in a cloud,
completely surrounding the solar system.
A.) Oort Cloud -
B.) This cloud orbits the sun beyond the orbit of
Pluto.
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• II. Structure of Comets

1. A comet starts off as a round ball of dust and
rock mixed with frozen water methane ammonia.
A.) This is the comets nucleus.
2. As it travels closer to the sun the water,
methane and ammonia starts to melt.
3. A cloud of gases form around the ball.
A.) This is the comets Coma.
4. The sun then pushes the coma in the opposite
direction.
A.) This forms the comets tail.
B.) As the tail forms, pieces of the comet break
away and drift off into space. .
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• 5. As the comet is heading away from the sun it
  will eventually freeze up into a simple nucleus
  again.

• 6. After many trips around the sun the comet will
  eventually die.

• III. Asteroids, Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites

• 1. Asteroids -

A piece of rock that is similar to the material
that formed our planets.
A.) Most are located between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter.
B.) This area is called the asteroid belt.
C.) Asteroids range in size from small dust like
particles to large rocks 900-1000 km wide.
D.) Ceres is the largest asteroid ever found.
(940km wide)
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Small pieces of rock that travel through space.

• 2. Meteoroids-

A.) Most are found to be pieces of a comet that
broke away during its orbit around the sun, or
the result of an asteroid collision.
B.) When a meteoroid passes through the path of
the earths atmosphere it is then referred to as
a meteor.

• 3. Meteor-

A meteoroid that burns up in the earths
atmosphere.

• 4. Meteorite-

A meteoroid so large that it does not burn up the
entire way and strikes earths surface.