OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

THE NEBULAR THEORY• The Nebular Theory is based off of observations of objects, such as comets,

asteroids, shape and size of our planets in our solar systems as well as stars outside our solar system.

• The theory states a gas cloud, mostly likely fro a supernova, was pulled inward by the force of gravity, creating a larger central mass that would eventually become our sun.

• The gas cloud then began rotating so quickly that it began to flatten into an accretion disk by the centripetal force.

• Then, matter began to pull the gas and dust into Planetisimal.

• The growth of the Planetisimals continued as the collisions of material merged to create larger bodies.

• The first planet to be generated was Jupiter through merging of light elements and ice. The other Jovian planets formed similarly. All Jovian planets that acquired a disk of matter along it equator, which eventually became the rings.

• The terrestrial planets formed from accretion of elements that resisted vaporization in the intense heat; such as rock and metal.

• Eventually all remaining materials either merged with planets through impacts, became icy comets with orbits or remained in the Asteroid Belt.

TERRESTRIAL PLANETS• The four inner planets

that are similar to Earth.• Have rocky bodies• Densities range

from 3.5-5.5g/cm3• A= Aphehelion is

the point furtherst from the sun

• P= Perihelion is point closest to the sun

MERCURY- THE GOD OF SPEED

• Diameter:3,029miles (1/3 size of Earth)• Distance from Sun: A= 43 mill, P=29 mill• Temperature:427C day, -173C• Number of Moons: 0• Atmospheric composition: Sodium and

Oxygen; deposited from the Sun• Rotation: 59 day• Revolution: 88 days

MERCURY:• Mercury lacks an atmosphere due to the intense

solar wind as well as very little gravity due to its small mass.

• Mercury’s interior consists of an extremely large nickel-iron core.

• Mercury’s small magnetic field demosntrates that the core is still molten.

• Surface of Mercury is covered in craters, due to lack of atmosphere for protection, as well as, cliffs called scarps.

• Recent images in 2012 have show that there has been evidence of lava and volcanic activity on Mercruy through volcanic vents.

VENUS- THE GODDESS OF LOVE AND BEAUTY• Diameter: 7,521 miles• Distance from Sun: A= 67.2 mill• Temperature: Average of 464°C

(Earth is 15C)• Number of Moons: 0• Atmospheric composition: 96.5%

Carbon Dioxide, 3.5% Nitrogen• Rotation: 243 days- it’s day is longer

than its year (most likely due to an impact°

• Revolution: 224.7 days

VENUS • Venus also has a very low tilt (2.6°), so even if it did cool, it would not have seasons.

• With the large amount of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, Venus suffers from extreme Greenhouse Effect, trapping of heat to the surface from CO2, so it averages over 800°F.

• Venus has an extremely large and dense cloud layer. These clouds are composed of sulfuric acid and the atmospheric pressure is equivalent to being under 3000 feet of water!

• Venus is too hot for liquid water now, however, new evidence found traces of oxygen and hydrogen in the Venusian atmosphere which suggests the planet was once rich in water, but must have been at a much cooler at the time.

• Venus has retrograde or backwards rotation. Meaning The Sun rises in the west and sets in the east on Venus.

EARTH• Diameter:7,926 miles• Distance from Sun: A- 93mill, P- 90

million miles • Temperature: Averaged 65°F, 15°C• Number of Moons: 1• Atmospheric composition: 78%

nitrogen, 21% oxygen• Rotation: 24 hours• Revolution: 365.25 days (leap

year)

EARTH • Have four distinct seasons due to 23.93° tilt

• Molten mantle, which allows for Plate Tectonics

• Plate Tectonics not only created and changed our surface but it volcanic eruptions created water on Earth!

• OZONE LAYER- protects life!• Only planet with specialized atmosphere

that protects the surface from impacts and radiation from sun.

• Extremely strong Magnetosphere.• Only Planet with LIFE!

MARS- GOD OF WAR • Diameter:4,213 miles• Distance from Sun: 141.6 million

miles• Temperature: -55°at night at 20°C

during the day• Number of Moons: (Deimos and

Phobos- asteroids)• Atmospheric composition: 95.3%

carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen• Rotation: 24.63 hours• Revolution:687 days

The ice on Mar’s poles is a carbon dioxide ice not H2O ice.

MARS’S SURFAC

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• Mars’s surface is reddish-brown due to high amounts of iron oxide (rust) in its soil.

• The southern and northern hemispheres differ in that the southern is heavily cratered while the north is covered in great plains.

• There is evidence of heavy lava flows, however, these volcanoes were created from hot spots rather than plate tectonics.

• Mar’s Olumpus Mons is larger than Colorado and three times larger than Mt. Everst!

• The Valles Marineris is a canyon 10 times longer than the Grand Canyon and was most likley formed from ANCEINT plate tectoncs 3 bya.

MAR’S ATMOSPHERE• The Greenhouse Effect exists on Mars as well but

Mar’s has a lot less atmospheric pressure.• Mars’s atmosphere is also extremely thin due to it

lower gravity.• Mars is believed to have had water however, the

above left image recently showed that Mars’s seasonal water evaporating from its landscape. Old rivers and valleys show that Mars may have been covered in rivers and NOW shows salt deposits, which means Mars’s salty water would have been able to resist freezing.

• As shown here, Mars also experiences planet-wide dust storms that cover the planet for weeks.

JOVIAN PLANETS• Jovian planets are the gas giants of

the solar system.• They range from 15 to 300 times

the mass of earth and are 4-10 times larger in diameter.

• They all have solid cores as well as rings with generally a large amount of satellites (moon) due to their strong gravities.

JUPITER- THE KING OF THE GODS• Diameter: 88,846 miles• Distance from Sun: 483.6 million miles,

the difference in miles between Aphelion and perihelion is 47.3 million miles

• Temperature: -166°F• Number of Moons: 63• Atmospheric composition: 89.8%

Hydrogen, 10.2% helium• Rotation: 99.6 hours (fast due to massive

gravity)• Revolution: 11.86 earth years

JUPITER’S ATMOSPHERE• Due to it’s rapid rotation, the shape of

the planet is distorted so the equator is 7 percent larger than the diameter of the poles.

• Also, the rapid rotation causes the clouds to flow rapidly creating bands called belts that alternate in light and dark colors.

• Jupiter also has the Great Red Spot, which is a hurricane-like storm that is three times larger than earth.

• Jupiter’s surface is a condensed gaseous plasma but has a solid, metal and rocky core.

JUPITER’S 4 MAJOR MOONS1. Io- most volcanic object in solar system, orbit is only 42.5 hours around Jupiter

2. Ganymede- largest moon in solar system, made of rock and carbon dioxide ice

3. Callisto- much brighter than our moon (ice reflects more sunlight) darker regions are rock

4. Europa- ice-covered ball of rock, average temp around -225°F, however, there is a very good chance of warm (by the cgravity pulsating) liquid water to be under the ice which could possilby have microscopic life

SATURN• Diameter: 74,898 miles• Distance from Sun: 888 mill miles• Temperature: -220°F• Number of Moons: 55• Atmospheric composition: 96.3%

Hydrogen, 3.7% helium• Rotation: 10.66 hours (fast due to

massive gravity)• Revolution: 29.46 Earth years

SATURN- GOD OF AGRICULTURE

• Saturn has an extremley low density, so much that it would float in water!

• Saturn can be observed from Earth with a naked eye 10 months out of the year. It appears pale yellow due to the thick cloud layers (3 distinct layers) that have crystallized ammonia at their tops.

• Saturn also experiences Auroras from the Sun’s solar wind that can been seen on its southern pole.

• Saturn's’ magnetic field is a 1000 X’s larger than the Earth’s!

SATURN’S RINGS• The rings are compsed of microscopic

particles to house-sized chunks.• There are 7 major rings and each ring is

made up of smaller rings called ringlets.• These particles reflect a lot of light

presenting a beautiful color display.• These rings change as the moons move

through them.• Saturn’s rings are paper thin, in

comparison to the size of the planet.• Origin of the rings is most likely an object

that was shattered by an asteroid or a moon broken apart by Saturn’s gravity.

SATURN’S MOONSTitan• Titan is unique because its

atmosphere is made up of elements that orginate carbon material such as nitrogen and methane.

• This is a very Earth-like atmosphere.

Enceladus• Enceladus is similar to Europa in that

there could be liquid oceans under the ice heated by the gravity pulsing creating heat.

• Crack in the ice and gysers support the idea of abundant surface liquid water.

URANUS-GOD OF THE SKY

• Diameter: 31,763 miles• Distance from Sun: 1.78 bill miles• Temperature: -353°F• Number of Moons: 27• Atmospheric composition: 82.5%

Hydrogen, 15.2% Helium, and 2.3% Methane (small amount of methane creates the pale blue color)

• Rotation: 17.24 hours (fast due to massive gravity)

• Revolution: 84 Earth years

URANUS • Uranus was first discovered accidently in 1781 when a bluish object was observed in the night sky.

• Uranus is 4 times larger and 15 times more massive than earth.

• Uranus has few clouds and they blend into the atmosphere.

• The interior is very similar to the other Jovian planets with a liquid interior and a rocky core.

• Uranus has a very faint ring system, however, the rings run vertically due to Uranus’s 98° tilt. (Most likely due to a large impact) Due to this tilt, each pole will spend 42 earth years in darkness and 42 years in the light.

• Uranus has five major rocky moons, shown above.

NEPTUNE- GOD OF THE SEA • Diameter: 30,760 miles

• Distance from Sun: 2.8 billion miles• Temperature: -320°F• Number of Moons: Was 13, now 14

(Hubble telescope recently spotted another moon)

• Atmospheric composition:79% Hydrogen, 18% Helium 3% Methane

• Rotation: 16.11 hours (fast due to massive gravity)

• Revolution: 164.9 years Earth yearsNeptune has a Great Dark Spot, similar to

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.

NEPTUNE • Before it was discovered in 1846, Neptune was predicted before it was discovered using Newton’s universal law of gravitation formula.

• Neptune is slightly smaller and denser than Uranus but also gains its blue color from the methane in its atmosphere.

• Neptune has six rigns composed of microscopic particles.

• Unlike Uranus, Neptune has very distinct and thick cloud layers with belts and a Great Dark Spot, similar to that of Jupiter. (however, the Great Dark Spot moves often and sometimes disappears.)

• Triton, Neptune’s largest moon has retrograde motion, which means it revolves backwards.

• Triton also has nitrogen gysers on its south pole that erupt when sunlight reaches its icy surface.

THE DWARF PLANETS• There are FIVE Dwarf Planets in our Solar

System; Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea (found in the Kupier Belt) and a very large asteroid called Ceres.

• What is a Planet?• In 2006 the International Astronomical

Union define a planet as an object that orbits the sun with sufficient mass and gravity.

• Dwarf Planets orbit the sun but do not clear their “neighborhood” and they are not a moon(satellite)

Ceres• Ceres is located in the Asteroid Belt. It was

discovered in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi

• Has a diameter of only 605 miles

• Orbits the sun every 4.5 years

• By far the most massive object in the Asteroid Belt, contains about one third of the belt’s total mass!

• Pluto is 14 times more massive than Ceres

Pluto• Average distance from Sun- 3.8 billion miles

• Temperature- -382°F

• Diameter- 1,432 miles

• 5 Moon- Charon (Diameter of 730 miles), Nix , Hydra, Vulcan and Kerberos. (Ask who voted to select the last two names of Pluto’s moons)

• Atmosphere- 99.97% Nitrogen

• Rotation= 6.38 days

• Revolution= 248.6 years

• Gravity- 1/8 that of Earth

• Orbit- Pluto has a more elliptical and titled orbit, one of the reasons its lost identification as a planet. This tilted orbit sometimes allows it to be closer to the sun than Neptune, making Neptune further than Pluto.

• Eccentricity: .25

Eris • Eris was discovered in 2003, this caused

the controversy of Pluto because these two objects were the same size

• Most likely large than Pluto (too far)

• White in color and 97 AU’s away

• Has 1 moon

• Eccentricity is .43

• Has a moon named Dysnomia

• Eris used to be named Xena- Warrior Princess

• Takes 557 years to orbit the sun!

Makemake Haumea• Makemake was discovered in

March 2005 by a team of astronomers led by Mike Brown.

• Makemake officially became a dwarf planet in July 2008

• Makemake is named after the Rapa people of Easter Island.

• Makemake officially became a dwarf planet in July 2008

• Haumea was classified as a dwarf planet in 2008

• It is a large Kupier Belt Object• It take 285 year to orbit the Sun• It has a diameter of 1,218 miles• Has two moons, Hiiaka and

Namaka• Haumea is named after the

Hawaiian goddess of fertility and childbirth

• Its fast spin caused it to become oval

CELESTIAL OBJECTS: ASTEROIDS, METEORS,

METEORITES AND COMETSA. Asteroids- large pieces of rocky debris, some larger

than our moon.

A. Most asteroids in our solar system are located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

B. Asteroids do not have a specific orbit, they cluster in the belt and are continuously knocked out or pulled in my Jupiter.

B. Meteors and Meteorites:

A. Meteors- pieces of rock that burn up in our atmosphere. (shooting star)

B. Meteorite- pieces of rock that survive burning up in our atmosphere and land on the surface of the Earth.

C. Comets- balls of ice and dust in a specific orbit in space.

A. Kuiper Belt and Orrt Clouds-these are two areas at the edge of our solar system where comets are located until knocked into a new, closer orbit.

Computer animated asteroid impact

Images of asteroids in space

Kuiper beltHalley’s Comet (Every 76 years)

Meteor Shower Meteorite