Download Solar System

Solar System
D. Crowley, 2008
Monday, May 22, 2017
Solar System
To understand how ideas of the solar system have changed
Solar System
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What do you know about our solar system? What planets are
there? Are they ordered? Do they have life on them?
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How big is our solar system? Is it bigger than a galaxy? Bigger
than the Universe?
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Discuss with your partner
anything you know about the
solar system and beyond…
Big
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The universe contains over 100 billion galaxies
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A galaxy is a group of billions of stars.
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Our own galaxy is called the Milky Way, containing ~100 billion stars
(including our Sun)
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The Sun is at the centre of our solar system, which contains many
different types of objects including: • A star (the Sun)
• Planets, orbiting the Sun
• Satellites, orbiting planets
• Smaller objects such as asteroids and comets
Stars & Galaxies
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Our Sun is a star - it seems much bigger than other stars, but this is
because it is so much closer than the others
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Most stars have planets orbiting them
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Galaxies contain many millions of stars (our galaxy is the Milky Way)
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The universe contains everything - billions of galaxies, each with
millions of stars (which usually have planets orbiting them)
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With billions of galaxies, each with millions of stars and planets
orbiting them, chances are we are not alone!
Solar System
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The idea that fits scientific observations, allowing us to predict the
movement of the planets is called the heliocentric model
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The Sun is at the centre of the solar system, and the Earth and
other planets orbit the Sun in ellipses
Planets
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Scientists have discovered some extra objects orbiting the Sun
that may be planets, but normally we assume that there are nine
planets in the solar system
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The planets in our solar system are: Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
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The order of the planets can be remembered by the phrase: “my
very efficient memory just stores up nine planets”
Size
Solar System
Star
Galaxy
Planet
Universe
Not to scale!
Solar System
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The heliocentric model which says the planets orbit the Sun fits our
observations, however we did not always believe this
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People used to think that the Earth was at the centre of the universe, with
everything going around it
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Your task (in groups of 4) is to research what the following scientists thought
about the solar system (each group member researchers one scientist): • Aristotle
• Ptolemy
• Copernicus
• Johannes Kepler
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Then as a group come up with a time line about how the key ideas of the solar
system have changed
Solar System Ideas
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Aristotle (~300BC) was a supporter of the geocentric model - he
believed the Sun and other planets orbited around the Earth.
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Ptolemy (83AD) refined this model slightly, suggesting that some
planets moved in little circles, at the same time as rotating around
the Earth (which was in the middle)
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Copernicus (1543) suggested the Earth and other planets orbited
the Sun in circles which Galileo (1564) agreed with - the
heliocentric model
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Kepler (1609) suggested the modern model, where the Earth and
other planets orbit the Sun in ellipses
Solar System
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Using the materials for
research, complete the solar
system worksheet
Solar System