The Solar System

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The Solar System

• Whats in our neighborhood?

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An Inventory of the Solar System

• 1 Sun
• 8 Planets
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
  Uranus, Neptune
• 5 Dwarf Planets
• Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Makemake, Haumea
• 169 Moons (probably more)
• 7000 well-studied asteroids
• Countless meteoroids
• An unending supply of comets

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Planets vs. Dwarf Planets

• Planet
• A celestial body that orbits a star or stellar
  remnant that is massive enough to be bounded by
  its own gravity (round), is not massive enough to
  cause thermonuclear fusion (not a star), and has
  cleared its neighborhood of debris
• Dwarf Planet
• A celestial body that orbits a star or stellar
  remnant that is massive enough to be bounded by
  its own gravity (round), is not massive enough to
  cause thermonuclear fusion (not a star), has not
  cleared its neighborhood of debris, and is not a
  satellite

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Comparative Planetology
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Layout of the Solar System

• Sun
• Terrestrial Planets
• Asteroid Belt
• Jovian Planets
• Kuiper Belt
• Oort Cloud

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Planetary Motion

• Planetary orbits are very nearly circular
• Orbits lie roughly in the same plane (the
  ecliptic)
• Mercurys orbit is tilted 7 degrees
• Plutos orbit is tilted 17 degrees

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Terrestrial Planets

• Latin word terra land or earth
• Small, relatively low mass
• Solid surfaces
• Slow rotation
• Weak magnetic fields
• Few moons
• No rings

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Jovian Planets

• Roman god Jove Jupiter
• Large, gaseous
• Made up mostly of hydrogen and helium
• Fast rotation
• Strong magnetic fields
• Many moons
• All have rings

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Interplanetary Debris

• Asteroids
• Most are found in a region between Mars and
  Jupiter
• Generally rocky in composition
• Called meteoroids when smaller than 100m
• The total mass of all asteroids is less than that
  of Earths Moon
• Comets
• Generally icy rather than rocky
• Originate in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud
• Dust
• Formed from collisions of larger bodies
• Very dirty compared to interstellar space