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Download A Tour of our Solar System
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A Tour of our Solar System From the “middle” out. SOL Our Sun Our Sun is a star. It’s would take 109 Earths to get across the Sun. It has a mass that makes up 99.8% of the entire mass of the solar system. It produces 28 G’s of gravity at its surface. It is made mostly of hydrogen. SOL As time goes on, the hydrogen of the Sun slowly becomes heavier elements. The energy of the Sun’s fusion is balanced with its immense gravity. SOL Based on current calculations, the Sun still has about 5 to 7 billion years of hydrogen left. Bigger elements are harder to fuse so once it has used up the hydrogen the star will die. SOL When the Sun dies, it will become a red giant and expand. Then it will blow up and become a new nebula. SOL The Sun has magnetic storms on it called sunspots. They fluctuate in a pattern and are believed to be caused by the convection currents in the star. SOL There are huge explosions on the Sun called solar flares. They release huge amounts of radiation and can disrupt electrical instruments on Earth. SOL There will be a total solar eclipse this year on August 21. SOL There will be a total solar eclipse this year on August 21. https://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/images/ Inner Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Inner Planets All are made mostly of rock. 3 have atmospheres. Mercury Mercury is the closest planet, but not the hottest because it has virtually no atmosphere that doesn’t hold heat well. It is the smallest true planet and has a very short year of 88 days. Venus Venus is the hottest planet due to its thick atmosphere of greenhouse gases. It is very similar in size to Earth, but it has no moons. It is so cloudy that we cannot see its surface directly. Venus Venus is the hottest planet due to its thick atmosphere of greenhouse gases. It is very similar in size to Earth, but it has no moons. It is so cloudy that we cannot see its surface directly. Earth We’re on Earth. We’ve been studying Earth for a few months. You should know a lot about Earth. Luna Earth’s moon. It’s tidally locked so one face is always pointed at us. That’s because the heavy material coalesced on the side being pulled by gravity. Luna The back side wasn’t imaged until the Soviet Union sent a probe around the moon in 1959. Mars Mars is smaller than Earth, has no magnetic field, and has an extremely thin atmosphere. Mars had water on its surface in the past. Mars Mars has two small moons. It has polar ice caps. It has seasons. It has probes operating on its surface as we speak. Mars In the early 1900’s, people believed Mars was covered in canals and that there may be a vast alien civilization living on it. Better telescopes eventually deflated that idea. Mars It’s not the only time people were confused by low resolution. Mars It’s not the only time people were confused by low resolution. Asteroid Belt Asteroid Belt One hypothesis about the asteroid belt is that it was a layer of the disc that made the solar system that just didn’t have enough mass to coalesce into a planet. Asteroid Belt An asteroid is any rock between the size of a piece of dust and many hundreds of miles across orbiting the Sun. Unlike plantoids or planets, they are not round because they don’t have enough gravity. Asteroid Belt NASA and other space agencies have identified over 500,000 asteroids in the last 30 years. Most of them in the asteroid belt and most of them fairly small. Asteroid Belt The asteroid belt is actually very sparse with many thousands of miles between each large asteroid. Scientists are interested in finding all of them to watch for those that might move and hit the Earth. Asteroid Belt The asteroid belt is actually very sparse with many thousands of miles between each large asteroid. Scientists are interested in finding all of them to watch for those that might move and hit the Earth. Asteroid Belt The most recent serious asteroid event was the Chelyabinsk Event in Russia in 2013. Once an asteroid enters our atmosphere it is called a meteor. Outer Planets The outer planets are classified together because they are… - Large Made mostly of gas Jupiter The largest of any planet, Jupiter is made mostly of gas. However, it is so large and has so much gravity that the center is likely metallic in nature. Jupiter The red spot on Jupiter is a massive storm that has been going for hundreds of years. Jupiter The red spot on Jupiter is a massive storm that has been going for hundreds of years. It is larger than our planet. Jupiter Jupiter has very small rings. Jupiter Earth has one moon … How many does Jupiter have? Jupiter Jupiter has 63 moons! Jupiter Jupiter has 63 moons! Jupiter Jupiter has 63 moons! Saturn Saturn is similar to Jupiter in makeup. Mostly gas with a likely metallic core. Saturn Saturn is similar to Jupiter in makeup. Mostly gas with a likely metallic core. Saturn It has a total of 60 moons. Saturn Saturn's rings are made mostly of dust and rocks the size of a baseball or smaller. There has been a lot of study done to understand why they exist. The jury is still out, but there are ideas about gravity and Saturn’s magnetic field. Uranus Uranus is the coldest planet with very faint rings of its own. It is also a gas planet although it is more slush than gas. Uranus It has 27 moons. Uranus Uranus is the only planet which does not rotate on the same axis as the ecliptic. It is believed to be off kilter due to multiple impacts from asteroids during the formation of the solar system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= TQiDAlyAmMQ Neptune Neptune is the last gas giant. It has a storm on it like Jupiter, but much harder to see. Like Uranus, it is more of a slush planet than a gas planet. Neptune Neptune has 14 moons. Only one of them is big enough to be a sphere. Triton is the only moon in our solar system that orbits backwards. Pluto Pluto was only just visited 2 years ago and we are still studying and receiving the data that was sent back. Pluto Pluto isn’t considered a planet because it is small enough to fall into a class of objects now called planetoids or plutoids. Pluto Pluto has 5 moons. Only Charon is big enough to be roughly spherical. Kuiper Belt Kuiper Belt Discovered in 1992, this is a region full of planetoids like Pluto and small icy bodies. Kuiper Belt Studying the orbits of objects in the Kuiper Belt has led astronomers to believe there a 9th planet that is around 10 Earth’s in size out there with an orbit that may carry it into the Oort Cloud. Oort Cloud The Oort cloud is a sphere that surrounds the solar system. It is believed to be the remaining material that did not coalesce during the formation of the Solar System. Oort Cloud The Oort cloud is made mostly of frozen balls of ice, methane, and other gases. Occasionally one of these will fall in towards the sun. Oort Cloud When a piece of the Oort cloud or Kuiper belt falls towards the Sun, it becomes a comet as the material it’s made of sublimates away. Comparing the size of the planets by putting them at the same distance to us as the Moon.