Solar System

1
The New
Solar System
Mike Foster
2
Topics

• Old Solar System
• IAU 2006 General Assembly
• New Solar System
• The Controversy Future

3
(No Transcript)
4
Old Solar System

• One central star, the Sun
• Nine planets
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
  Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto
• More than 60 moons
• Millions of rocky asteroids
• Billions of icy comets

5
Old Solar System

• Planet
• Originally described as wanders of the sky that
  moved against the relatively fixed background of
  star

6
IAU 2006 General Assembly

• Meet in Prague to discuss and vote on the
  following
• Resolution of planet
• Resolution of Pluto-class objects
• Why?
• Technology

7
New Solar System

• Planet-
• It must be in orbit around the Sun
• It must be large enough that it takes on a nearly
  round shape
• It has cleared its orbit of other objects

8
New Solar System

• One Central Star, the Sun
• Eight Planets
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
  Uranus, and Neptune
• Three Dwarf Planets
• Pluto
• Ceres
• UB313 (Xena)

9
(No Transcript)
10
Planets vs. Dwarf Planets.

• Similarities Both orbit the sun and have
  sufficient mass for self-gravity to make them
  round
• Differences Planets have cleared the
  neighborhoods around their orbits, while dwarf
  planets have not
• ex Pluto orbits through the icy debris of the
  Kuiper Belt

11
The Controversy Future

• Historic Cultural Issues
• New Horizons Mission
• Less than 5 of the worlds astronomers voted
• Vague Definition of Planet
• IAU 2009

12
Conclusion

• Old Solar System
• IAU 2006 General Assembly
• New Solar System
• The Controversy Future

13
References

• WWW.IAU.ORG
• WWW.NASA.GOV
• www.dswnet.com
• www.space.com
• News Week, Sep 4, 2006

14
Questions

• ??????