Title: P1246990951miDzZ
1The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the
Sun at one focus, though all except Mercury and
Pluto are very nearly circular.
2Almost all are orbiting in close to the same
plane, which is not far off (7 degrees) the
Suns equatorial plane.
3All planets orbit in the same sense of rotation
4All planets orbit in the same sense, and
only Venus, Uranus, and Pluto have a retrograde
rotation
Obliquity is the angle between a planet's
equatorial plane and its orbital plane
5- Solar System Properties
- Patterns of Motion
- The planets all revolve around sun in same
direction CCW. This is the same sense as the
rotation of the Sun about its axis. - All the planets lie roughly within sun's
equatorial plane and the orbits of all the
planets lie within 18º of the plane of the
ecliptic ( plane of Earths orbit). - With a couple of exceptions the planets have a
prograde rotation (rotation in the same direction
as they revolve about the Sun) - Many, but not all, planets have moons and most
moons orbit in the same sense as planetary
orbits. - 99.8 of the mass in solar system is in the Sun
- 99 of total angular momentum in the solar
system is in planets
6Interstellar medium two phases diffuse
molecular cloud core Temper. 50 K 150
K Density 500 mol/cm3 108 mol/cm3
Each finger tip larger than our Solar
System Star light (UV) is evaporating these
placental clouds
60,000 AU
7The molecular cloud begins to collapse due to
gravitational instability
Nebula
As the cloud becomes smaller and denser 1)
rotation increases 2) flattens to disk 3) heats
up in the interior Obeys laws of angular
momentum
At disk center, temp. rises until 1 m degrees
enough to trigger nuclear fusion. For big stars
collapse continues until temp. reaches 10 m
degrees
8Nebular theory of Solar System Formation
- Gravitational collapse of the molecular cloud of
gas and dust - Rapid rotation to conserve angular momentum
(size, shape, rotation) - Formation of a hot core and protoplanetary disk
9Molecular Cloud Cold and dense
10Cloud fragment, 104 Au in size
Next frame
11Rotating object forms
12Rotating object begins to take shape
13100 Au across, protostar 1 Au
14(No Transcript)
15Orion nebula
active star formation, hundreds to thousands of
stars will be born here
16Young Stars Form in Groups
17UV may come from the environs and the central
star
Stellar UV
Artwork Space Telescope Science Inst.
18Giant planet formation by lumpy accretion of
gas? A new idea if so, very rapid (order
thousands of years)
19Accretion
Mechanisms must exist to go from fine dust less
than 1 micrometer in diameter to larger materials
that can begin to attract one another fractal
fluffy objects like this are thought to be key
20Planetisimal
Eventually leading to this, a planetesimal, in
this case preserved in the form of comet Wild-2
21- These planetesimals collided and grew into larger
proto-rocky planets - Collisions destroy the smaller ones but the
larger ones re-accrete - Runaway growth from large number of small objects
to small number of larger objects
22Accretion of the terrestrial planets
Final accretion --- dissipation of the nebula
Grains - planetesimals
Planetary embryos --- era of violent collisions
23Simulation of disk formation by planetesimal
collision
24Amino acids, the building blocks of life Where
do they come from? ISM? Made in the disk?
Definition A molecule of the general formula
NH2-CHR-COOH, where "R" is one of a number of
different side chains. Amino acids are the
building blocks of proteins.
25Chemistry of planets
- Hydrogen and oxygen are the most abundant and
chemically reactive elements in the universe - Planetary matter-mostly gas, ice, rock and metal
- Vaporization close to the sun results in rocky
planetary bodies composed of silicates (oxidizing
conditions) - At higher temperatures (mostly at the cores)
rocks undergo chemical and structural
transformation to form metals e.g. mercury is ¾
metal - Away from the sun, planets are made up of gas,
ice and some silicates (reducing conditions) - Rocks and metal are denser than gas and ice
26Interior of solar nebula heats up, external
regions stay cold
27Sun
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Pluto
28Planetary composition
29- SUMMARY
- Properties of Planets
- The inner planets are small, dense, rocky bodies
- (terrestrial planets)
- a. Volatile elements (e.g., water) have reached
the inner planets even though bulk compositions
of the planets suggest formation at high
temperatures - The outer planets are gaseous giants (Jovian
planets) - Atmospheres rich in H and He
- All giant planets have systems of regular
satellites, resembling miniature solar systems,
and rings - All 4 giant planets have 1 or more irregular
satellites
30- Solar System Properties requiring explanation
- Properties of small bodies
- Asteroids are rocky bodies that occupy a wide
belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. - Meteorites come from asteroids. Most are
primitive, undifferentiated (chemically
unequilibrated) rocks. - Some meteorites are igneous (differentiated)
rocks. - Almost all meteorites are very old, having
formation ages close to 4.6 billion years.
Planetary ages are consistent with this upper
limit. - Comets are small icy bodies that come from the
far reaches of the solar system. - Kuiper belt and Oort cloud
31- Solar System Properties requiring explanation
- Exceptions and miscellanea
- There are exceptions to the rules
- Retrograde motions, inclined axes.
- Spacing of planets is almost regular
- Exception is the asteroid belt
- Mars is undersized
- Number and size of moons varies extensively
- Earth-Moon system almost a double planet
- Isotopic irregularities in some elements are
widespread