Solar System Overview

1
Solar System Overview
How is the Solar System Organized? How did
the Solar System form? When? How do we know?
FYI Distance Not To Scale
http//www.solarviews.com/cap/misc/ss.htm
2
Solar System Overview
How is the Solar System Organized? How did
the Solar System form? When? How do we know?
http//www.solarviews.com/cap/misc/ss.htm
3
The Sun

• At the Center (and we do go around it ..)
• 99.85 mass of Solar System
• 92 H / 8 He
• Source of solar wind and space weather
• Genesis Mission 9/8/2004!

http//photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03149
4
Inner Planets

• Terrestrial Planets
• Rocky
• Dense
• Metal cores (iron)

http//www.solarviews.com/eng/solarsys.htm
5
Asteroids
Ida

• Minor planets lt1000 km across
• Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter
• Occasionally run into Earth and other planets
  (oops)

http//www.solarviews.com/eng/asteroid.htm
6
Outer Planets

• Large!
• Gases and liquids
• No solid surface
• May have a small solid core
• Tumultuous atmospheres - rapid winds, large
  storms
• Rotate relatively quickly

http//www.solarviews.com/eng/solarsys.htm
7
Kuiper Belt

• Disk of debris at the edge of our Solar System
• Pluto may be a KB Object (sorry!)
• Source of short-period comets

8
Oort Cloud

• Sedna!
• 3x farther than Pluto
• Part of Oort Cloud?
• Sphere of widely spaced comets, dust
• 30 trillion km from Sun
• Long-period comets (random time and direction)

http//www.nineplanets.org/sedna.html
9
(No Transcript)