Download The Solar System - Academic Resources at Missouri Western

 What is the Solar System?
 “The Players”
 An Overview of the Solar System
 Classification
 Size, density, & atmosphere
 Terrestrial – Earth like
 Giant (Jovian) – Jupiter like
 Table 15.1 (p. 382)
 AU (Astronomical Unit) = 93 million miles
 Inclination to ecliptic
 Period of Rotation
 Period of Revolution
 Mass
 Relationship of distance and revolution
 Mercury – “The Winged Messenger”
 Small planet
 8th largest
 Seen as a “morning star” or “evening star”
 Fig. 15.3 p. 382
 Heavily cratered
 Very very hot
 825 degrees F
 Very very cold
 -320 degrees F
 Weak gravitational pull (mass)
 No atmosphere
 No natural satellites (moons)
 Mercury

Venus – The “Goddess of Beauty”



Earth’s “sister planet”
Evening & Morning star
Brightest of all planets




Day vs. Year



Rotates – 243 days
Revolves – 225 days
Tilt of axis (177 degrees)



A “blueish” color
Thick dense atmosphere
Phases
Rising & setting of the Sun (west to east)
Retrograde rotation
High atmospheric pressure

100x that of Earth




1,070 lbs/sq. in.
CO2 (97%)
Massive “greenhouse effect”
Rains sulfuric acid
 Venus
 Mars – The “God of War”
 Very Earth like
 Distinct “reddish” color
 Interesting features:
 The plains
 The “channels”
 Dried river beds
 Martians and other good stories
 Seasonal changes
 Polar ice caps
 Frozen CO2
 Olympus Mons volcano
 15 mi. high
 370 mi. wide
 The size of Texas
 Atmosphere
 95% CO2
 Phobos & Deimos (The Gods of Fear & Panic)
 Small in size
 Irregular in shape
 Mars
 Olympus
Mons
 Phobos
 Demos
 Jupiter – King of the Gods
 By far the largest planet in the Solar System
 318 x’s that of Earth
 11x’s the diameter
 Interesting features:
 Great Red Spot
 25,000 mi dia.
 A Jovian storm
 Colorful bands (Fig. 15.9)
 39 satellites
 Galilean Satellites

Io



Europa
Callisto
Ganymede
 Erupting volcano
 Atmosphere
 H & He
 Ring structure
 Jupiter
 Moons
of
Jupiter
 Saturn – God of Agriculture
 Visible in the night sky
 The planet with “ears”
 Interesting Features:
 A system of rings (Fig. 15.12 p. 391)
 Pieces of frozen CO2, rock, etc.
 2nd largest planet in the Solar System
 The end of the “Ancient Planets”
 Saturn
 Saturn – Rings edge
on
Titan, Saturn's largest moon,
looks small next to the gas giant in
this Cassini spacecraft view. Titan
(3,200 miles across) is in the upper
right. (USA Today – 3/5/12)
 Uranus & Neptune
 Twin planets
 The “Ice Giants”
 Atmosphere – H & He
 Uranus – God of the Sky
 A bit of history
 Discovered in 1781
 William Hershel – a comet hunter
 Neptune – God of the Sea
 A bit of history
 Discovered in 1846
 Adams & Leverrier
 Noticed variations in orbital path
 Uranus
 Neptune
 Pluto – God of the Underworld
 Discovered in 1930
 American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh
 Interesting Features:
 Moon discovered in 1978
 Charon
 Named for the boatman who ferried dead souls across the river Styx
 Very inclined orbit – 17 degrees
 Asteroids, Meteors & Comets
 Comets
 Cosmic “ dirty snowballs”
 Highly eccentric orbits
 Head or Coma & a tail
 Tail always points away from the Sun
 Force of solar wind
 Between Mars & Jupiter sublimation begins
 Years to complete 1 orbit
 Best known
 Halley’s Comet
 76 yr orbital period
 Form in what is known as Oort’s Cloud
 30 AU – 1 ly
 Comets give birth to meteors (Shooting Stars)
Bayeux Tapestry
Battle of Hastings
1066 AD
 Asteroids
 Know as the Asteroid Belt
 Located between Mars & Jupiter
 Vary in size
 Average ~ 30 mi.
 Meteoroids, Meteors, & Meteorites
 Location, Location, Location
 By product of comets
 “Shooting Stars”
 Meteor showers
 Table 15.5 p. 392
 Interact (friction) with upper layers of atmosphere and burn up
 Composition of Meteors
 Iron
 Stone
 Iron-stone
Bode’s Rule
(0 + 4) / 10
(3 + 4) / 10
(6 + 4) / 10
(12 + 4) / 10
(24 + 4) / 10
(48 + 4) / 10
(96 + 4) / 10
(192 + 4) / 10
(384 + 4) / 10
(768 + 4) / 10
Number
0.4
0.7
1.0
1.6
2.8
5.2
10.0
19.6
38.8
77.2
Planet
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
?????
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
T.D. (AU)
.39
.72
1.0
1.5
2.78
5.20
9.58
19.2
30.1
39.5
 Protoplanet Nebular Model
 5 billion years ago
 Born out of the death of ancient stars
 “cosmic dust” & debris begins to concentrate in a
cloud-like (Nebula) environment
 Concentrated mass begins to rotate
 Central area gives birth to a new star (Sun)
 Cosmic debris begins to concentrate as planets begin
to take shape