Download Other Bodies in the Solar System

Smaller Bodies in
the Solar System
By Kynsey Creel
http://www.agdesktop.
com/wallpapers\space\
stars\star-0005.jpg
•Asteriod Belt
Topics
•Pictures
•History of Discovery
•Kuiper Belt
•Theories
•Comets
•Meteoroids
•Meteors
•Merteorites
•The Difference Between the three
http://www.astronomy.co
m/asy/objects/images/hu
bble-galaxysilhouettejpg.jpg
The Asteroid Belt
• The Main Belt
• Located roughly between Mars and Jupiter
• Comprised of asteroids and minor planets
– Half the mass in 4 bodies
• Ceres (smallest Dwarf Planet) 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas, 10
Hygiea
– Diameter more than 400 m
• Smallest bodies range down to dust particles
• Asteroids can be classified by spectra
– carbonaceous (C-type), Silicate (S-type), Metalrich (M-type)
http://upload.wiki
media.org/wikipedi
a/commons/f/f3/In
nerSolarSystemen.png
http://2.bp.blogspot.
com/__e2VLp6gwyk/
SUaIeuNzilI/AAAAAA
AABm8/wu2sJGWes
PE/s320/275pxPallasHST2007.jpg
http://upload.wiki
media.org/wikipe
dia/commons/f/fc
/Ceres_optimized.
jpg
2 Pallas
Ceres
http://www.johns
tonsarchive.net/a
stro/gallery/Vesta
.jpg
4 Vesta
10 Hygiea
http://4.bp.blogspot.co
m/_5PcuUnvp1a4/SfzS3
GYRNyI/AAAAAAAAAW0
/warXj5RyD4w/s400/hyg
iea.jpg
History of Observations
Giuseppe Piazzi
• In 1800 astronomer Franz
Xaver von Zach assembled the
Celestial Police
• Searching for “the missing
planet” between mars and
Jupiter
• Based off Predictions by
Johann Daniel
Titius vonWittenburg
• In 1801 Giuseppe Piazzi
discovered the planet “Ceres”
• William Herschel categorized
Ceres and the other dwarf
planets as asteroids , “star
like”
http://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/
9/92/Giuseppe_Piazzi.jpg
Kuiper Belt
• Lays outside Neptune’s orbit
• Similar to Asteroid belt except much larger
• Comprised of frozen volatiles
– Methane, ammonia, water (ice)
– Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
• Discovered in 1992 after the discovery of Pluto
(might not be alone)
http://upload.w
ikimedia.org/wi
kipedia/commo
ns/8/81/Outers
olarsystem_obje
ctpositions_labe
ls_comp.png
History and Theories
• Fredrick Leonard: First
Astronomer to suggest
outer Neptunian bodies
• Kenneth Edgeworth:
hypothesized that the
region beyond Neptune
was too widely spaced
for Planets
• Gerard Kuiper:
suggested a “disk”
outside Neptune
http://upload.wi
kimedia.org/wiki
pedia/commons
/0/0b/GerardKui
per.jpg
Gerard Kuiper
Comets
• Small Solar System bodies that orbit the sun
– Orbital periods take up to hundreds of thousands
of years
– Short period comets originate in the Kuiper Belt
– Thrown out of the belt by gravitational pulls
•
•
•
•
Coma (fuzzy “atmosphere”) and a tail
Ice, dust, rocky particles
Range from a few km- 10 km across
3,648 known comets (increasing)
http://en.wikipedi
a.org/wiki/File:Co
met-Hale-Bopp29-031997_hires_adj.jp
g
http://en.
wikipedia.
org/wiki/Fi
le:060227c
omet.jpg
http://en.wikip
edia.org/wiki/F
ile:17pHolmes_
071104_eder_
vga.jpg
http://en.wikipe
dia.org/wiki/File:
Jupiter_showing
_SL9_impact_sit
es.jpg
Meteoroids/Meteors/Meteorites
• Meteoroids- sand (micrometeoroids) to
boulder size, part of meteor showers
– Orbit the sun at various velocities
– Collide with Earth if in retrograde motion at
speeds ~70km/s
• Meteoroids that enter earth’s atmosphere are
meteors
• Meteors that reach Earth’s surface are
meteorites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
ki/File:IMG_8505n3.JPG
http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/File:Meteo
r_burst.jpg
Summary
Asteroid Belt/Main Belt
Mars and Jupiter
Discovery by Guiseppe Piazzi
Kuiper Belt
theories behind it (Gerard Kuiper)
Comets
Meteoroids/Meteors/Meteorites
http://jzholloway.files.
wordpress.com/2008/
07/jupitermilkyway070
108-sb-1b.jpg
The End
Complements to
wiki