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-other objects in solar system
-solar system chart
Planet
Orbital
Radius
(AU)
Radius
(Km)
Mass
(relative to
Earth)
Average
Surface
Temp (C)
Period of
rotation
(relative to
Earth 1
day)
Period of
Revolution
(relative to
1 Earth
Year)
Number of
Moons
Mercury
0.39
2440
0.05
179
58.90
0.24
0
Venus
0.72
6052
0.82
467
244.00
0.62
0
Earth
1.00
6373
1.00
17
1.00
1.00
1
Mars
1.52
3396
0.11
-63
1.03
1.88
2
Jupiter
5.20
71 490
317.8
-150
0.41
11.86
61
Saturn
9.54
60 270
95.2
-170
0.45
29.46
60
Uranus
19.18
25 560
14.5
-215
0.72
84.01
27
Neptune
30.06
24 765
17.1
-235
0.67
164.8
13
• Measuring distance from Space
• Why do we need special units for astronomy
• -we are dealing with a lot of space, large distances
(hard to relate to)
• Astronomical Units (AU); is a unit of measure
created by astronomers for measuring distances in
the solar system, it is equal to the ORBITAL
distance between the EARTH and SUN, about 150
million km
• Orbital Radium: The average distance between the
STAR (SUN) and the object orbiting the SUN, it is
expressed in AU’s
• Light-Year: the distance that light travels in a year,
about 9.5 x 1012 km
• Trans-Neptunian Objects:
• Objects that circle the sun beyond the orbit of
Neptune are called trans-Neptunian objects: they
are located in the KUIPER BELT, which is a discshaped group fo millions of small objects orbiting
the Sun. Astronomers theorize that the Kuiper
Belt is composed of leftovers from the formation
of the Solar System, think of it as the dust around
the edges of a patio after you sweep it.
• Why is Pluto considered a trans’Neptnian object?
• Sometimes it’s orbit crosses over Neptune’s orbit.
Pluto has 3 moons that orbit it however it is also
smaller than the largest Kuiper Belt object which
also has a moon orbiting it, so Pluto was demoted
to Dwarf Planet
• The Oort Cloud is a spherical cloud of small icy
fragments of debris at the farthest reaches of the
Sun’s gravitational pull. It is between 50000 AU
and 100 000 AU from the Sun and roughly 1/4 of
the distance between the sun and Proxima
Centauri, the nearest star.
• Comets:
• Most comets originate in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort
cloud at the farthest reaches of our solar system. Comets
are composed of ICE, Frozen Gases and Dust particles.
When a comet is pulled inward by the gravitational
force of the SUN, it either collides with the planet or is
pulled into the inner solar system and begins to orbit the
Sun. AS the comet approaches the Sun it melts as the
Suns radiation releases the gas and particles in the comet
and the wind from the sun pushes the gas and particles
away creating the tail. The comet has two tails and these
two tails do not always point in the same direction
because the dust tail is often slightly curved, it follows
the orbit of the comet, while the gas or ion tail is more
strongly affected by the solar winds and is pushed away
from the sun.
• Asteroids:
• Most asteroids originate in the asteroid belt, which
is found between mars and Jupiter. They are small,
non-spherical objects that are believed to be debris
left over from the formation of the universe
• They range in size from a tiny speck, like a grain
of sand to about 500 km wide. Some asteroids are
so large they have been promoted to a dwarf
planet and some even have their own moon.
• Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites
• A meteoroids is a piece of rock moving through space, they are
thought to be rocky chunks that have broken off asteroids and
planets. When meteoroids collide with Earth’s atmosphere they
burn up due to the atmospheric friction and form meteors. Many
people mistake meteors for shooting stars and in certain times of
the year Earth passes through an areas where there is a lot of
excess material, such as debris left over from a comet and a meteor
shower results.
• Meteor showers often seem to come from certain constellations
and are therefore named for those constellations, such as the
Lenoid meteor shower, seen in November and the Perseid meteor
shower seen in August (image is of the Perseids)
• If a meteor survives impact on Earth and reaches the ground it
becomes a meteorite, scientists estimate that about 100 000 tonnes
of material from meteorites reach Earth’s surface annually.
• Approximately 65 million years ago an asteroid the size of a
mountain struck Earth the result was a catastrophic change to
Earth’s atmosphere. Some scientists hypothesize that these
changes are responsible for global mass extinctions of
thousands of species, including the dinosaurs.
• Approximately 39 million years ago, an object 2 km in
diameter hit Devon Island; Nunavut. The crater left is known
as Haughton Crater. A second impact occurred approximately
40 000 to 50 000 years ago in Arizona.
• Most recently still, on June 30, 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia an
area the size of Kingston Ontario was destroyed when an
object entered Earth’s atmosphere. The object flattened
nearly 100 million trees and killed tens of thousands of forest
mammals, including several large herds of reindeer.
Scientists believe that the object was about 50 km in
diameter-no remnants of the object were found.
Questions
• Meteor to Meteorite:
• Comet and Asteroid:
• Difference between an Asteroid and
Meteoroid: