Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Sample-return mission wikipedia , lookup
Planets beyond Neptune wikipedia , lookup
Kuiper belt wikipedia , lookup
Jumping-Jupiter scenario wikipedia , lookup
Space: 1889 wikipedia , lookup
Heliosphere wikipedia , lookup
Scattered disc wikipedia , lookup
Definition of planet wikipedia , lookup
Planets in astrology wikipedia , lookup
History of Solar System formation and evolution hypotheses wikipedia , lookup
SCIENCE The Heliosphere ESO level 1 Apendix 2 THE SOLAR SYSTEM The Solar System consists of the Sun and the celestial objects bound to it by gravity , all of which formed from the colapse of a giant molecular cloud aproximately 4,5 billions years ago. The Sun´s retinue of objects circle it in a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic plane, most of the mass of which is contained whithin eight relatively solitary planets whose orbits are almost circular. The four smollar inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, also called the terrestial planets, are primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, also called the gas giants, are composed lagerly of hydrogen and helium and they are far more massive than the terrestrial. The Solar System is also home to two main belts of small bodies. The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars ans Jupiter, is simillar to the terrestrial planets as it is composed mainly of rock and metal. The Kuiper belt (and its subpopulation, the scatered disc) which lies beyond Neptune´s orbit, is composed mostly of ices such as water, ammonia and methane. Within this belts, five individual objects: Ceres, Pluto, Francisco González Moreno [email protected] Francisca Jurado Lorente [email protected] CEIP DUNAS DE DOÑANA MATALASCAÑAS (HUELVA) 1 SCIENCE The Heliosphere ESO level 1 Apendix 2 Haumea, Makemake and Eris are recognised to be large enough to have been sorounded by their own gravity, and are thus termed dwarf planets. The hypothetical Oort cloud, which acts as the source for long-period comets, may also exsit at a distance roughly a thousand times beyond these regions. Within the Solar System, several populations of small bodies, such as comets, centaurs and interplanetary dust, freely travel between these regions, while the solar wind, a flow of plasma from the Sun, creates a bubble in the interstellar medium known as the heliosphere, which extends out to the end of the scatered disc. Six of the planets and three of the dwarf planets are orbited by natural satellites, usually termed “moons” after the Earth´s Moon. Each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles. (Adapted from the English Wikipedia) Francisco González Moreno [email protected] Francisca Jurado Lorente [email protected] CEIP DUNAS DE DOÑANA MATALASCAÑAS (HUELVA) 2