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Our Solar System includes:1. The Sun (our one star)2. Eight planets and their natural satellites

a)Mercuryb)Venusc)Earthd)Marse) Jupiterf) Saturng) Uranush) Neptune

3. Asteroids4. Comets5. Meteors, Meteoroids6. Dwarf Planets

Our Solar System

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There are two main groups of planets in our Solar System:1. Terrestrial Planets2. Jovian Planets

Terrestrial Planets – Earth like

1. The first 4 planets from the Sun2. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars3. These are the smaller planets4. These planets are more dense5. These planets are made of solid

rock. (You can stand on them)

Jovian Planets – Gas Giants

1. The next 4 planets2. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune3. Does not include Pluto4. These are very LARGE planets5. These are low density planets6. These planets are made of GAS7. You cannot stand on them8. These planets have very thick

atmospheres

Pluto is not in either group.

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Mercury

1. The innermost planet2. The smallest planet3. Has no atmosphere4. Has a lot of craters5. Is very dense6. Rotates slowly7. Revolves quickly8. Day temps are @ 800ºF9. Night temps are @ -280ºF

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Venus1. Very similar to the Earth as far as size and density.2. Has a very thick atmosphere of over 97% carbon dioxide.3. Surface temperature is 90 times hotter than Earth.4. Has a runaway greenhouse effect because of the high amount of

CO2.5. The surface was mapped and showed that 80% of the surface was

once volcanic.6. There are very few impact craters. Why? _________________

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Mars1. The Red Planet2. The atmosphere is 1% as dense as the Earths.3. The small atmosphere is mostly CO2.

4. Has visible polar caps of frozen water and CO2.

5. Very dry planet with many large dust storms.6. Numerous extinct volcanoes (Olympus Mons-largest in our Solar System)

7. The tectonic plates are not moving like Earth’s are.8. No running water (only frozen on the caps)9. There are stream drainage patterns found on the planet from

running water at some point long ago.

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Jupiter1. Largest planet.2. 2.5 times greater mass than all of the other items on our solar

system combined.3. If it grew only 10x larger, it would have become a star (we will

learn about this when we discuss stars)4. Rotates in 10 hours.5. Multicolored atmosphere caused by the thick gasses swirling

around.6. Has the Great Red Spot, the largest storm in our Solar System.7. Surface may be an ocean of liquid hydrogen (not rocky)8. Has a ring system.9. Has many moons, but two are promising for life.

a) Europa – Has a cracked icy surface, which means that it may have life in a warmer ocean underneath

b) Io – Very volcanically active (cooling lava creates steam, which can create water, which can hold life)

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Io

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Saturn1. Very similar to Jupiter as far as atmospheric conditions.2. Most prominent ring system (about 1000 rings)

a) the total ring thickness is 40,000 kmb) each ring is about 100 m thickc) particles in the ring are mostly icy particles, the size of buses.

3. Rings were discovered by Galileo in 1610.4. The Cassini spacecraft traveled through the rings

in July 2004. 5. Has at least 21 moons (Titan is the largest moon in our Solar

System)6. Enceladus, another Moon, is geologically active.

It is spraying water vapor and ice into space. This was discovered in December 2005.

Enceladus

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Uranus NeptuneUranus and Neptune are considered the twin planets

1. Rotates on it’s side (it istipped over)

2. Also has a ring system3. Many large moons4. Very thick atmosphere

1. Very thick atmosphere2. Has the Great Dark Spot, which

is a large storm3. One Moon (Triton) revolves

opposite to rest of our Solar System members. It also has thelowest temp. in the Solar System.

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What is Pluto now?

Click here tolearn about thefuture mission to Pluto

1. Is not visible to the naked eye.2. Highly elliptical orbit, which causes

it to travel into the orbital path of Neptune.

3. Pluto is now classified as a "dwarf planet" 4. Pluto might be a captured old comet or a previous moon of

Neptune.5. The average temp. on Pluto is -210ºF6. Pluto’s main moon Charon is almost the same size as itself.

Pluto

Charon

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Now Charon will continue to be considered Pluto's satellite, and the three other worlds will be dubbed "dwarf planets" rather than full-fledged planets. The planets are drawn to scale, but without correct relative distances.

Ceres? Charon? Eris (2003 UB13)?

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The 2006 definition of "planet" by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) states that, in the solar system, a planet is a celestial body that:

1. is in orbit around the Sun 2. has sufficient mass so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium

(nearly round) shape 3. has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit

A non-satellite body fulfilling only the first two of these criteria is classified as a "dwarf planet", whilst a non-satellite body fulfilling only the first criterion is termed a "small solar system body" (SSSB). The definition was a controversial one, and has drawn both support and criticism from different astronomers.

According to the definition there are currently eight planets and three dwarf planets known in the solar system.

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UB313 (ERIS) - an icy body that lies beyond the planet Neptune. It is about three times as far from the Sun as is Pluto.

Eris is now considered a ‘Dwarf Planet”

Scientists determined 2003 UB313's diameter is about 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers), which is 435 miles (700 kilometers) larger than Pluto.

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It was once believed that another planet, called Planet X, resided out there. But that has been disproved. However, there is an object orbiting around the Sun in a nearly perfect circular orbit, called Quaoar. It is more than 1 billion miles past Pluto. It is 1300 km (800 miles)in diameter and definitely part of out solar system

Quaoar – a cold new world

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Kuiper BeltThe Kuiper Belt is an area in our Solar System that is similar to the Asteroid Belt. It is very far away and yet is hold many larger objects. Some of these objects are not much smaller than the size of Pluto. The Kuiper Belt is a disk-shaped region past the orbit of Neptune extending roughly from 30 to 50 AU from the Sun containing many small icy bodies. It is now considered to be the source of the short-period comets.

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AsteroidsThe Asteroid Belt, which is where most of the asteroids are, lies between Mars and Jupiter.

One of the largest in our Solar System is 620 miles in diameter.

Asteroids tend to have very eccentric orbits and irregular shapes.

Asteroids have always collided with the Earth. This does not happen very often, because most are very far away.Every once in while, the orbit of an asteroid comes pretty close to the Earth’s orbit. (The closest has been double the distance to the Moon from Earth… that is pretty close)

It is believed that the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species was caused by an asteroid impact of some sort, 65 million years ago. A huge undersea crater off of Mexico is believed to the the impact site. A great deal of an element called Iridium was found around it. Iridium is found on the surface of the Earth. It is found in space rocks.

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Comets

Comets are sort of like“large dirty snowballs”

Comets are composed of frozen gases that cover rocky materials.

Comets develop a tail that points away from the Sun. This is caused by blowing solar winds and/or partial melting when the comet gets closer to the Sun.

Comets tend to have very eccentric orbits.

The most famous comet is “Halley’s Comet”. It has an orbital period of 76 years. It was last here in 1985. It will return in 2061.

Another famous comet is “Hale Bopp” (It was here in 1997).

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Meteors and MeteoroidsMeteors are pieces of space rock that enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

Meteoriods are pieces of space rock that make it to the ground.

When you see a shooting star, you are looking at a meteor that has entered the Earth’s atmosphere as it burns up.

Meteor showers occur when the Earth enters the path of a comet or other space debris, during it’s orbit around the Sun.

The Leonid Meteor Shower is very popular and a great time to go out at night and look for shooting stars. This happens every November.

Shooting stars are really the size of a nickel, give or take a few centimeters.

Most meteors are made of iron and nickel. Others are made of carbon. This helps us determine what is inside the Earth’s core and what is in the rest of our Solar System.

Mrs. Degl 19Meteor Crater Arizona

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The Oort cloud is an immense spherical cloud surrounding the planetary system and extending approximately 3 light years, about 30 trillion kilometers from the Sun. This vast distance is considered the edge of the Sun's orb of physical, gravitational, or dynamical influence.

Oort Cloud

The statistics imply that it may contain as many as a trillion comets. Unfortunately, since the individual comets are so small and at such large distances, we have no direct evidence about the Oort Cloud.