The Solar System The Sun and the Celestial Bodies.
-
Upload
simon-moore -
Category
Documents
-
view
213 -
download
1
Transcript of The Solar System The Sun and the Celestial Bodies.
The Solar System
The Sun and the Celestial Bodies
Sun
• Typical medium-sized star• Radiation produced by nuclear fusion
Solar System
• Ten planets and their satellites• Asteroids• Comets• Meteoroids• Interplanetary dust & gas
Major Planets
• Inner planets– Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
• Outer Planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Quaoar
Major Planets
• Inner planets– small, rock and iron
• Outer Planets– mainly hydrogen, helium and ice
(Pluto*)
Movement of Planets
• Elliptical orbits around the sun• Counterclockwise direction around the sun
Discoveries of the Planets
• Mercury – Unknown• Venus – Unknown• Mars – Unknown• Jupiter – Unknown • Saturn – Unknown• Uranus – 1781• Neptune – 1846• Pluto – 1930• Quaoar - 2002
Quaoar, The Newest Planet
• Identified on June 4, 2002 • 800 miles in diameter • Almost perfectly circular 285-year orbit • About 6.3 billion km (4 billion miles) from the sun • Known by astronomers as 2002LM60
Origin
• Debate continues!