The Solar System

Solar System Formation

Protostellar Disks

Types of Planets The type of planet formed depends on the substances: heavy and light elements “metals” and “non-metals” and their temperatures. Temperature is related to distance from the sun of the planet’s formation.

Planet Formation

Planet Formation

Planet Formation Gravity caused earth and other planets to become layered; more dense matter sinks to the center.   In our solar system, “terrestrial” planets are found close to the sun; the volatile substances were driven off by solar radiation.

Formation of Large Planets Jovian planets, found at much greater distances, are much more massive because gases were too cold to be driven off by solar radiation. They have much larger atmospheres than the terrestrial planets. A rocky core similar to earth is likely.

Smaller Stuff Dwarf Planets – a new designation, includes Pluto-Charon, Ceres (a large asteroid in the asteroid belt), Eris Characteristics of dwarf planets: a) orbit around sun, not a planet – not a moon! b) has a near spherical shape (hydrostatic equilibrium) c) has not cleared orbit of debris

Moons Moons are large bodies that orbit planets. There are at least 75 of these, all but three of which orbit the Jovian planets. The most significant – our moon, the four “Galilean” moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganyemede (larger diameter than Mercury), Callisto; Saturn's Titan has a thick atmosphere; both Ganyemede and Titan are 2x our moon.

Asteroids Asteroids are smaller objects, up to 1000 km in diameter. The space between Mars and Jupiter is filled with them – a “failed” planet?? They are not close together, however. Some asteroids have eccentric orbits that can cross the earth's orbit. Occasional impacts of large asteroids (>1 km in diameter) have caused mass extinctions in the past.

Comets Comets are chunks of ice that originate far from the sun in an area called the Oort Cloud, which is a hollow sphere of material that surrounds the solar system. Their orbits are highly eccentric. Their tails (evaporated water, dust, gases) always face away from the sun. At great distances from the sun, there is no tail, only a nucleus. As a comet approaches the sun, it begins to “glow” forming a coma (fuzzy ball surrounding nucleus). The tail can be millions of km long!

Meteoroids Meteoroids are fragments of rocks or ice traveling in space. Meteors, or shooting stars, pass through atmosphere at high speed, and burn up. Most meteoriods are small, the size of a grain of sand. Meteorites are larger rocks that reach the earth's surface. Meteor showers happen when the earth passes through a comet's debris field.

Meteoroids

Perseid Meteor Shower

Chelabinsk Meteor (Superbolide)

Solar System Power Point Project You will be randomly assigned an object, large or small, that is a member of our solar system. Construct a short powerpoint presentation (3-5 slides) about it using internet sources. Include several pictures of your object; cutting and pasting is OK.

Guidlines A few words of advice: keep to a maximum of four sentences per slide, less if there is a picture. No compound sentences!

Answer the following questions using a word document How large is your object? Comparisons to other objects, such as earth, are helpful Where in the solar system is it located? Is it orbiting the sun, or something else? How hot or cold is it? If it has an atmosphere, describe it. Any unique features – show them!

When finished, email me your powerpoint and word documents as attachments.