Lecture 12: The Solar System Briefly

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Lecture 12: The Solar System Briefly"

Carol Berry
8 years ago
Views:

1 Lecture 12: The Solar System Briefly

2 Formation of the Moonhttp:// =related Formation of our Solar System Conservation of Angular Momentum Why are the larger, gaseous planets farther away and the smaller, rocky planets that are closer? How do we have an estimate of our solar system s age? What makes something a dwarf planet? The IAU says it is a celestial body orbiting the Sun a) massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity b) has not cleared its orbit of planetesimals.

gaseous planets farther away and the smaller, rocky planets that are closer?

3 Collisions dominated the early solar system (What is the key force here?) dust collects together into planetesimals planetesimals collect together into protoplanets Protoplanets gather up left over debris and became planets

4 The solar system formed from a giant cloud of rotating, cold gas and dust called the solar nebula about 4.6 billion years ago

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

7 Which planet formed at the furthest location from the Sun where it was hot enough to boil water? A. Mercury B. Mars C. Jupiter D. Neptune E. None of the above

8 How should we categorize the objects in the Solar System?

9 Discuss size of Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury & Moon Venus is nearly same diameter as Earth Mars is nearly half the Earth s diameter Moon is about ¼ Earth s diameter Mercury is smaller than Mars, about size of Saturn s moon T itan and Jupiter s moon G anymede

diameter Moon is about ¼ Earth s diameter Mercury is smaller

10 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 together, 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?

85% of the total mass of the solar system If you put all the planets in the

11 The Sun has a diameter of approximately 1.4 million kilometers. Roughly how many Earths would fit across the diameter of the A. 10 B. 100 C D. 10,000 E. 1 million Sun? 80% 3% 3% 6% 8% million

12 Where are the asteroid belts and what are their names? What is the name of the largest asteroid in the Main Asteroid belt? Discuss the VUP s. What is the name of the largest asteroid in the Kuiper belt?

13 Main Asteroid Belt

14 How should we divide the Solar System?

15 How should we divide the Solar System?

16 How should we divide the Solar System?

17 How should we divide the Solar System?

18 Mercury Jupiter

19 Mercury Jupiter

20 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)?

21 How should we divide the Solar System? By Density?

22 The Inner 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 a central metallic core, mostly iron, the Moon is similar, but lacks an iron core

24 The Outer Planets (Family Portrait)

25 Outer (Jovian) Planets Jupiter Saturn Uranaus Neptune Characteristics Large Gaseous Far from the Sun Have many moons Have rings Have magnetic fields thick atmosphere and a dense molten core

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

27 The Venusian Surface

28 Venus is covered with gently rolling hills and numerous volcanoes

29 EARTH The Privileged Planet

30 Mars, as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope

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

32 Ice caps dominate the poles during different times of the year

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

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

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

37 Viking I Lander Picture from 1976

38 1999 Picture from the Mars Pathfinder Lander Note the remotecontrol rover, Sojourner, next to a Martian rock

39 Mars Water/Ice Discovered North Pole only None found on South Pole only CO2 dry ice Activities Manual Prather Offerdahl Slater

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

41 Most asteroids orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter

42 In general, asteroids are small

43 Asteroid Ida and its tiny moon, Dactyl

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

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

46 The Outer Planets (Family Portrait)

47 Jupiter is the Largest of the Gas Giant Planets

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

49 Jupiter has four large moons and tens of small ones

50 Saturn has the most extensive ring system in the solar system

51 Saturn s spectacular rings are composed of fragments of ice and ice-coated rock

52 Titan is Saturn s largest moon

53 Saturn and Jupiter share the same basic structure

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

55 Uranus tilt gives it very exaggerated seasons

56 Brilliant blue Neptune has a giant storm too

57 Neptune s Rings

58 Uranus and Neptune have similar interiors

59 Main Asteroid Belt & Kuiper Belt Dinosaurs

60 Vagabonds of the Solar System

61 Comet Kohoutek and Comet West

62 Comets have two tails

63 The anatomy of a comet ion tail coma dust tail

64 Anatomy of a comet

65 Comets often have two tails: a thin ION tail (in a line) and a curving DUST tail (dust deviates)

66 NOTICE the colors are off, they should be: The blue tail should always be the ion (gas) tail as it fluoresces and it should be straight in a line away from the Sun. Thus the dust tail is (dang) curved and should be whitish to whitish-yellow. 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!

67 15 km long by 8 km wide Comet Halley nucleus

68 Meteor showers occurs 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.

69 Taken by an amateur astronomer, this picture shows the comet taken on October 1 as a bright green glow in the sky. The Deep Impact spacecraft will pass a mere 435 miles (702 kilometers) from Comet Hartley 2 on November 4 th, 2010 about 6:50 am PT.

70 Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites & Tektites

Solar System Overview

Solar System Overview Planets: Four inner planets, Terrestrial planets Four outer planets, Jovian planets Asteroids: Minor planets (planetesimals) Meteroids: Chucks of rocks (smaller than asteroids) (Mercury,