1. You Are Here Solar System Geology & Astrophysics

2. The Home Planet -Diameter: 7,973 miles (12,831 kilometers) -Distance from the Sun: 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) -Surface Temperature: 59ºF (15°C) -Length of Year: 365 days

3. The Home System 8 planets or 9? 8 planets or 9? 5 Terrestrial planets 5 Terrestrial planets 4 gas giants with rings 4 gas giants with rings 1 star wannabee 1 star wannabee Ice, rocks, dirt and....? Ice, rocks, dirt and....? Water, water everywhere Water, water everywhere

4. The Home System: Water Mercury – ice Luna (Earth) - ice Mars – ice, recent liquid Europa (Jupiter) – ice, liquid Titan (Saturn) – water or methane? Water flow formations on Mars Broken ice formations on Europa

5. The Home System: Moons Jupiter: 52 and counting! – U. of Hawaii: www.ifa.hawaii.edu/ifa/ Jupiter: 52 and counting! – U. of Hawaii: www.ifa.hawaii.edu/ifa/  4 Galilean moons:  Io (volcanic),  Europa (icy/watery),  Ganymede (icy),  Callisto (icy, dead) Saturn: 30 and counting! Saturn: 30 and counting!

6. The Home System: Exploration Current missions:  Galileo (Jupiter)  Cassini (Saturn)  Mars Global Surveyor  2001 Mars Odyssey  Genesis

7. The Home System: Exploration Mars Landers, scouts and sample returns Mars Landers, scouts and sample returns Messenger to Mercury Messenger to Mercury New Horizons to Pluto New Horizons to Pluto www.jpl.nasa.gov www.jpl.nasa.gov www.jpl.nasa.gov www.jhuapl.edu www.jhuapl.edu www.jhuapl.edu

8. The Home System: Newton’s Orbits Objects orbit the barycenter Barycenter moves as objects move Stars “wobble”

9. Other Systems 100 planets – 2 dozen in a single week! 100 planets – 2 dozen in a single week! 8 double-planet systems; 2 triples 8 double-planet systems; 2 triples One recent discovery: a star the same age as our Sun One recent discovery: a star the same age as our Sun www.space.com www.space.com

10. The Home Star: Sol 75% Hydrogen and 25% Helium by mass Average G2 star New Secrets:  Hairy sunspots  Dark canals www.spaceweather.com www.genesismission.org

11. Other Stars Sun is average size, age, density Sun is average size, age, density Color shows age & mass Color shows age & mass

12. Other Stars: Life Cycle Aging  red giant/planetary nebula  supergiant/super- nova Death  white dwarf  neutron star  black hole

13. The Home Galaxy http://adc.gsfc.nasa.gov/mw/mmw_MW.html

14. The Home Galaxy http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/gcenter/index.html Credit NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al.

15. The Center of the Home Galaxy (artist’s rendition from http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020626bhlight.html)

16. The Home Universe: Bang?

17. The Missing Universe 30% Dark Matter: pulling things together 65% Dark Energy: accelerating things apart 5% stuff we knew about already

18. Stellar Reading Stephen Hawking: Ill. Brief History of Time, Universe in a Nutshell, Theory of Everything and others Stephen Hawking: Ill. Brief History of Time, Universe in a Nutshell, Theory of Everything and others Brian Green: The Elegant Universe or Cosmology & String Theory Brian Green: The Elegant Universe or Cosmology & String Theory Richard Feynman: Six Easy Pieces (Essentials of Physics) Richard Feynman: Six Easy Pieces (Essentials of Physics)