1. The Solar System

3. How should we categorize the objects in the Solar System?

4. Our Star, the Sun

8. The Sun is the Largest Object in the Solar System The Sun contains more than 99.85% of the total mass of the solar system If you put all the planets in the solar system, they would not fill up the volume of the Sun 110 Earths or 10 Jupiters fit across the diameter of the Sun How big is the Sun?

9. If you were constructing a scale model of the solar system that used a Sun that was the size of a basketball (~ 12” diameter), which of the following lengths would most closely approximate the scaled distance between Earth and the Sun? 1. 3 feet (length of an outstretched arm) 2. 10 feet (height of a basketball goal) 3. 100 feet (height of an 8 story building) 4. 300 feet (length of a football field)

10. Comparisons among the nine planets show distinct similarities and significant differences

11. How should we divide the Solar System?

15. JupiterMercury

16. Jupiter

17. MercuryJupiter

18. Brilliant blue Neptune has a giant storm too Which of these is Earth-like? Which of these is Jupiter-like? Or are they the same (both Earth-like or Jupiter-like)?

19. Which of these is Earth-like? Which of these is Jupiter-like? Or are they the same (both Earth-like or Jupiter-like)?

20. How should we divide the Solar System?

21. The Inner Planets (Family Portrait)

22. The Outer Planets (Family Portrait)

23. Inner (Terrestrial) Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Characteristics –Small –Rocky –Very close to the Sun –Have few moons –Have no rings

24. Mercury

25. Photographs from Mariner 10 reveal Mercury’s lunar-like surface MercuryMoon

26. The surface of Venus is completely hidden beneath permanent cloud cover

27. The Venusian Surface

29. Venus is covered with gently rolling hills and numerous volcanoes

30. EARTH More on this planet later

31. Mars, as seen from Earth

32. Mars, as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope

33. Valles Marineris is as big as the entire United States of America Enormous shield volcanoes

34. Ice caps dominate the poles during different times of the year

35. Olympus Mons - the largest volcano in the solar system has a base larger than the state of Arizona

36. Early space probes to Mars found no canals but did find some controversial features

37. Surface features indicate that water once flowed on Mars Ohio River valley on Earth River channels on Mars

39. Viking I Lander Picture from 1976

40. 1999 Picture from the Mars Pathfinder Lander Note the remote- control rover, Sojourner, next to a Martian rock

41. Mars Water/Ice Discovered Prather Offerdahl Slater Activities Manual

42. The Martian meteorite found in Antarctica has not provided conclusive evidence about life on Mars

43. 2004 testing Opportunity Lander at JPL

44. 2004 “Opportunity” Landing Site – and tracks

45. 2004 “Opportunity” picture of Crater Wall

46. 2004 “Opportunity” drilling holes in crater wall with robotic

47. 2004 Spirit tracks back to landing site

48. Most asteroids orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter

49. In general, asteroids are small

50. Asteroid Ida and its tiny moon, Dactyl

52. Outer Planets Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto Enormous Gaseous Far from Sun Separated by large distances Have ring systems Have many moons Outer (Jovian) Planets

53. Inner planets are vastly different than outer planets in terms of orbital distances

54. The Outer Planets (Family Portrait)

55. Jupiter is the Largest of the Gas Giant Planets

56. Besides being the largest planet, Jupiter is probably best known for its Great Red Spot - a hurricane-like storms that has been observed ever since the invention of the telescope.

57. Jupiter has four large moons and tens of small ones

58. Io’s surface is sculpted by volcanic activity

59. Europa may harbor liquid water below its icy surface

60. Ganymede is larger than Mercury

61. Callisto wears the scars of a huge asteroid impact

62. Saturn has the most extensive ring system in the solar system

63. Saturn’s spectacular rings are composed of fragments of ice and ice-coated rock

64. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon

65. Titan has a thick, opaque atmosphere rich in nitrogen, methane and other hydrocarbons (including ethane, acetylene, ethylene, and propane)

66. Saturn and Jupiter share the same basic structure

67. Uranus has a hazy atmosphere with few clouds A system of rings and satellites revolves around Uranus

68. Uranus’ tilt gives it very exaggerated seasons

69. Uranus’ odd moon Miranda

70. Brilliant blue Neptune has a giant storm too

71. Neptune’s Rings

72. Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, was probably captured by Neptune’s gravity

73. Uranus and Neptune have similar interiors

74. And then, there is one planet unlike any of the others …..

75. Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 by comparing photographs taken a few days apart.

76. Pluto and its moon, Charon, are about the same size

77. PLANET “X”!!! In 2005, after a search of about half of the sky and the discovery of dozens of objects almost the size of Pluto, we found 2003 UB313, the first object larger than Pluto and the largest object found in the solar system since 1848

78. Collisions dominated the early solar system dust collects together into planetesimals planetesimals collect together into protoplanets Protoplanets gather up left over debris and became planets

79. The solar system formed from a cloud of cold gas and dust called the solar nebula about 4.6 billion years ago

81. The planets formed by the accretion of planetesimals and the accumulation of gases in the solar nebula

82. Vagabonds of the Solar System

83. Comet Kohoutek and Comet West

84. Comets have tow tails

85. Comets often have two tails: a thin ION tail and a curving DUST tail

86. ion tail dust tail coma The anatomy of a comet

87. Comets lack tails until they enter the inner solar system. A comet’s tails always point away from the Sun, no matter which way the comet is moving!

88. Anatomy of a comet

89. 15 km long by 8 km wide C omet Halley nucleus

90. Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the dusty tail debris left by a passing comet. Dust particles burn up as they enter Earth’s atmosphere, like bright light shooting from a single point in the sky.