Overview of the Solar System

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Overview of the Solar System
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What is wrong with this picture?
http//www.wpclipart.com/space/solar_system/solar_
system_large.png
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Our solar system, from the top
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Terrestrial Planets
http//photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/ jpegMod/PIA03103
_modest.jpg
http//photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01252
http//solarviews.com/cap/venus/venusvis.htm
http//apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap950622.html
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Asteroids
Ceres
Ida and Dactyl
http//apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990807.html
http//hubblesite.org/newscenter/ archive/releases
/2005/27/
Mathilde
http//www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/spacesci/near/eros.h
tm
http//apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970630.html
http//www.alcyone.de/POrbits/english/asteroidsbel
t.html
http//lasp.colorado.edu/bagenal/3750/ClassNotes/
Class23/Class23.html
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Giant Planets
http//photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/ catalog/PIA01492
http//photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/ images/Uranus.gi
f
http//photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01509
Ice Giants
http//photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02225
Gas Giants
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Comets
Halley (1910)
Hyakutake
http//www.solarviews.com/cap/comet/haldet.htm
http//www2.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/hyakutake/gif/burge
r2.jpg
Comet Tempel 1 (7/4/05)
Halleys nucleus
http//www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link/comets/Kuip
er_belt.html
Deep Impact
http//apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap961210.html
Viewed from afar
http//photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02137
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How big is the solar system?

• If the solar system would fit into this room, how
  big would the Sun be?
• If the Sun is actually only 3 mm (1/10th inch) in
  our model, how big would the Earth be? Jupiter?
• IN ONE WORD, how would you describe most of the
  space in the solar system?

http//antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990505.html
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The closest star

• Alpha Centauri, the brightest star in the nearest
  star system, is very much like the Sun.
• In our model, with the stars the size of small
  balls, how far away do you think would we find
  Alpha Centauri?

http//www.solstation.com/stars/cent2.jpg
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So Where are we?

• What is this?
• What is the difference between the solar system
  and a galaxy?

http//antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050104.html
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http//www.terremoto.ca/images/milky_way.jpg
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Our neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy
http//antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021021.html
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A look at the nearby universe
http//antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040309.html
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Guiding Questions

• In what sense is the solar system flat?
• List some ways in which the solar system is an
  orderly place.
• Name some disorderly characteristics of the
  solar system.
• Why do astronomers draw such a clear distinction
  between the inner and outer planets?
• Name at least three important differences between
  the terrestrial planets and the giant planets.
• Why are astronomers so interested in
  interplanetary matter?
• In a word, how would you describe most of the
  space in the solar system?
• How do the sizes of the planets compare to the
  space between them?
• Differentiate between our solar system and our
  galaxy.