The Solar System

1
The Solar System

• A journey through our neighboring planets

2
Learning Objectives

• Analyze the size and scale of our solar system.
• Explain events in the formation of the solar
  system.
• Compare the terrestrial (rocky) planets to the
  Jovian (gaseous) planets.
• Distinguish key characteristics of the planets
  and objects in our solar system.

3
Scale of the Solar System

• The size of the solar system is HUMONGOUS!
• Yet our solar system is a tiny speck when
  compared to stars in our galaxy, which is only
  one of billions.

4
Scale of the Planets

• The Sun makes up 99.86 of the entire mass of the
  entire solar system.
• Figure 2 from page 646 shows the scale size of
  the planets. Look at how tiny our planet is
  compared to the gas giants and especially the sun!

5
The NEBULAR THEORY

• The NEBULAR THEORY provides an explanation of how
  about 5 billion years ago our solar system was
  formed.
• See figure 3, page 647.

6
ASTRONOMICAL Units

• Astronomers use astronomical units, AU, to
  measure how far planets are from each other.
• AU is the distance from the Earth to the sun - a
  whopping 150,000,000km
• It would take 17 years to travel this far in a
  jet going the speed of a bullet 1,000km/hr!

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The Sun OUR STAR

• The sun is the biggest, brightest, and hottest
  object in the solar system.
• Diameter 1.4 million km
• Made of about 70 hydrogen and 28 helium.
• Could hold a million Earths inside.

8
Mercury

• Mercury is solid and is covered with craters.
• Diameter 4878km
• Mercury has almost no atmosphere.
• Mercury is the smallest true planet.

9
Venus

• Venus is the sixth largest planet. Its about
  three-fourths the size of earth.
• Diameter 12,104km
• The surface is rocky and very hot. The 97 CO2
  atmosphere completely hides the surface and traps
  the heat.

10
Earth

• Earth is the fifth largest planet and the third
  from the sun.
• A terrestrial planet with an atmosphere made of
  71 Nitrogen and 28 Oxygen
• Diameter 12,756km
• Liquid water covers 71 percent of the Earths
  surface.
• The Earth has one moon.

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Moon Luna
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Mars

• Mars is the fourth rocky planet from the sun.
• Diameter 6,794km
• Mars has a thin atmosphere that contains mostly
  carbon dioxide.
• Mars has two small moons.

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Moons of Mars

• Phobos
• Deimos

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Lets Review

• How was the solar system formed?
• What is an astronomical unit and why is it used?
• What are the name of the terrestrial planets?
• Which planets have no moons?

15
Jupiter The Giant Planet

• The largest of the planets. Can hold 1,300 and
  the rest of the planets.
• Diameter 143,884km
• Has hydrogen-helium atmosphere

16
Jupiters Red Spot

• The Great Red Spot, a huge storm of swirling gas
  that has lasted for hundreds of years and is the
  size of 3 Earths.
• Jupiter does not have a solid surface. The planet
  is a ball of liquid surrounded by gas.

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Moons of Jupiter

• Jupiter has four large Galilean moons, twelve
  smaller named moons and over 40 irregular
  satellites for a total of 63 moons
• Well take a look at the four large Galilean
  moons which were first observed by Galileo
  Galilei in 1610.

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Io

• Io is the fifth moon of Jupiter. Its the third
  largest of Jupiters moons.
• Io has hundreds of volcanic calderas. Some of the
  volcanoes are active.

19
Europa

• Europa is the sixth of Jupiters moons and is the
  fourth largest.
• It is slightly smaller than the Earths moon.
• The surface strongly resembles images of sea ice
  on Earth. There may be a liquid water sea under
  the crust.
• Europa is one of the five known moons in the
  solar system to have an atmosphere.

20
Ganymede

• Ganymede is the seventh and largest of Jupiters
  known satellites.
• Ganymede has extensive cratering and an icy crust.

21
Callisto

• Callisto is the eighth of Jupiters known
  satellites and the second largest.
• Callisto has the oldest, most cratered surface of
  any body yet observed in the solar system.

22
Saturn

• Saturn is the second largest planet and the sixth
  from the sun.
• Diameter 120,536km
• Saturn is made of materials that are lighter than
  water. If you could fit Saturn in a lake, it
  would float!
• Has 56 Moons

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Rings of Saturn

• Saturns rings are not solid they are composed
  of small countless particles.
• The rings are very thin. Though theyre 250,000km
  or more in diameter, theyre less than one
  kilometer thick.

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Uranus

• Uranus is the third largest planet and the
  seventh from the sun.
• Diameter 51,118km
• Uranus is blue-green because of the methane in
  its atmosphere.
• Has 27 moons

25
Neptune

• Neptune is the fourth largest planet and the
  eight from the sun.
• Diameter 50,530km
• Like Uranus, the methane atmosphere gives Neptune
  its color.
• Has 13 moons.

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Pluto

• Pluto is a dwarf planet and usually the farthest
  from the sun.
• Pluto is the only planet that has not been
  visited by a spacecraft.
• Diameter 2,300km

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Planet Movements

• Move in an elliptical orbit
• influenced by the sun gravity

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Period of Revolution

• the time it takes to go once around the sun
• one year on Earth (365.25 days)
• Mercury 88 days, Pluto 248 years
• Why is the revolution period longer for farther
  planets?

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What keeps them there?

• Law of inertia - objects motion wont change
  unless acted upon by an outside force.
• Wont change speed or direction
• Why do they curve?
• Gravity pulls them toward the sun

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What keeps them there?
SUN
31
Rotation

• Planets spin on their axes
• One rotation is a day
• Mercury 58 days, Jupiter 10 hours
• Why do you think rotation is faster for larger
  planets?

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Analyze This

• What trend do you notice within this graph?

33
Analyze This

• Notice the materials which make the planets.
  Which planets are more dense?
• Read page 648 to learn how gravity also
  influenced the structure and size of the planets.

34
Other Space Stuff

• Comets chunks of dust and gas that originate
  from the Oort cloud on the edge of the solar
  system.
• Asteroids chunks of planetlike material floating
  in space mostly between Mars and Jupiter.

35
Other Space Stuff

• Meteor the shooting star -the light you see the
  sky
• Meteoroid solid rocky objects circling the sun
• Meteorite When a meteor hits the ground
• Most dont reach the ground because they burn up
  in the atmosphere