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Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Science 10-O2+
Space Unit
Booklet #1
This booklet belongs to:
__________________________
Spring 2014
Page 1 of 30
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 2 of 30
The Big Bang
Most astronomers (scientists who study space) believe the
Universe began in a Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. At
that time, the entire Universe was inside a bubble that was
thousands of times smaller than a pinhead, called a
singularity. It was hotter and denser than we can imagine.
Then it suddenly exploded. The Universe was born. Time, space and matter all began with
the Big Bang. In a fraction of a second, the Universe grew from smaller than a single atom to
bigger than a galaxy. It is still expanding today.
As the Universe expanded and cooled, pure energy changed into
particles of matter called protons and neutrons started to form. This
began when when the Universe was about one second old.
Over the next three minutes, the temperature dropped below 1 billion
degrees Celsius. It was now cool enough for the protons and neutrons
to come together, forming hydrogen and helium nuclei (a nucleus is the center of an atom).
After 300 000 years, the Universe had cooled to about 3000oC.
Atomic nuclei could finally capture electrons to form atoms. The
Universe filled with clouds of hydrogen and helium gas. The universe
produced a glow (the glow can still be detected today).
About 400 million years after the Big Bang, the gases began to clump together and collapse
inward due to the growing gravity caused by the mass of the gas collecting. This was
beginning of the first stars and galaxies.
Our solar system is estimated to have been born about 9 billion years after the Big Bang,
making it about 4.6 billion years old. Our sun is just an simple, mid-sized star. In fact, it is
just one of more than 100 billion stars in our galaxy, known as the Milky Way galaxy. Our
sun is not even near the center of our galaxy .
Many scientists think the sun and the rest of our solar system was formed from a giant,
rotating cloud of gas and dust known as the solar nebula. As gravity caused the nebula to
collapse, it spun faster and flattened into a disk. During this phase, most of the material was
pulled toward the center to form the sun.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 3 of 30
Check Your Understanding #1
1) Astronomers are scientists who study _________________________________.
2) The Universe is about 14 ______________________ years old.
3) Before the Big Bang, the entire Universe existed as a ______________________; a
point smaller than the head of a pin.
4) _____________, ________________ & _________________ all began with the Big
Bang.
5) One second after the Big Bang, the Universe was already bigger than a __________.
6) Shortly after the Big Bang, pure energy changed into ________________________.
7) After 300 000 years, the Universe was about __________________________oC.
8) About _______________ millions years after the Big Bang, the clouds of gases began
to collapse due to the increasing g_________________. This was the beginning of
_______________________ & ________________________.
9) Our Solar System was born about ______________________ years after the Big Bang.
10) Our Solar System is about ________________________ years old.
11) The name of our galaxy is: ___________________________________.
12) Our galaxy contains ___________________________billion stars.
13) Describe what this article says about our Sun:
______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 4 of 30
The Universe
The Universe is everything we can touch, feel, sense, measure or detect. It includes living
things, planets, stars, galaxies, dust clouds, light, and even time. Before the birth of the
Universe, time, space and matter did not exist.
The Universe contains billions of galaxies, each containing millions or billions of stars. The
space between the stars and galaxies is largely empty. However, even places far from stars
and planets contain scattered particles of dust or a few hydrogen atoms per cubic
centimeter. Space is also filled with radiation (e.g. light and heat), magnetic fields and high
energy particles (e.g. cosmic rays).
The Universe is incredibly huge. It would take a modern jet fighter more than a million years
to reach the nearest star to the Sun. Travelling at the speed of light (300,000 km per
second), it would take 100,000 years to cross our Milky Way galaxy alone.
No one knows the exact size of the Universe, because we cannot see the edge – if there is
one. All we do know is that the visible Universe is at least 93 billion light years across. (A
light year is the distance light travels in one year – about 9 trillion km.)
The Universe has not always been the same size. Scientists believe it began in a Big Bang,
which took place nearly 14 billion years ago. Since then, the Universe has been expanding
outward at very high speed. So the area of space we now see is billions of times bigger than
it was when the Universe was very young. The galaxies are also moving further apart as the
space between them expands.
The Bounce Theory
Many scientists believe that this might not be
the 1st Big Bang that ever occurred. It is thought
that our universe will continue to expand
outward to some unknown point and then it
will reverse and begin to contract back into that
single point (the Singularity) again. This is
known as the Bounce Theory. Once it becomes
a singularity again it will be ready to experience
another Big Bang.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 5 of 30
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 6 of 30
Check Your Understanding #2
1) List 6 things that are included in our Universe: ________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2) Name 3 things are did NOT exist before the birth of the Universe:
_____________________________________________________________________
3) How many galaxies exist in the Universe? ___________________________________
4) How many stars exist in each galaxy? ________________ or ____________________
5) Space is filled with: ________________________________ & ___________________
& ________________________________________.
6) If you could fly to the nearest star in a fighter jet, how long would it take? _________
7) If you could travel at the speed of light, how long would it take to cross our own
galaxy, The Milky Way? __________________________________________________
8) Describe what is meant by a "light year". ____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
9) Describe The Bounce Theory:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
10) Look up the lyrics for the theme song for "The Big Bang Theory" show by the Bare
Naked Ladies. Do the lyrics agree with the Bounce Theory? Explain how you know.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 7 of 30
The birth of galaxies
As millions of years passed, the dense areas pulled in
material because they had more gravity. Finally,
about 100 million years after the Big Bang, the gas
became hot and dense enough for the first stars to
form.
New stars were being born at a rate 10 times higher than today. Large clusters of stars soon
became the first galaxies.
Galaxies
Nearly all stars belong to gigantic groups known as galaxies. The Sun is one of at least 100
billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. And there are billions of galaxies in the Universe.
Everywhere we look in the sky
there are galaxies of different
shapes and sizes. Some are
spirals, with curved arms wrapped
around a bright central core.
Some have a bar of stars across
the centre, with arms attached at
either end. Others have no
recognisable shape at all
(irregular). The largest galaxies
look like squashed balls (elliptical).
They contain up to 10 million
million stars, but they have very
little gas or dust. Nearly all galaxies have a super-massive black hole at the centre.
Galaxies were born only a few hundred million years after the Universe was created. At that
time, about 13 billion years ago, the galaxies were small and much closer together.
Collisions were common. As the galaxies smashed into each other they grew in size and
changed shape.
Since then, the Universe has been expanding. Most galaxies are moving apart at high speed,
except in galaxy clusters where they dance around each other.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 8 of 30
Check Your Understanding #3
1)
How long after the Big Bang was it before stars first formed? ____________________
2)
Large clusters of stars are known as ________________________________________.
3)
Our galaxy called ____________________________ contains _______________ stars.
4)
What strange structure exists are the center of most galaxies? ___________________
5)
Are most galaxies moving toward each other or away from each other? ___________
6)
Identify the following galaxies as either: spiral, barred spiral, elliptical or irregular:
Galaxy Picture
1
2
3
4
5
Type of Galaxy
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 9 of 30
Solar System Formation
Scientists believe that the solar system was formed
when a cloud of gas and dust (step 1 in the image)
in space was disturbed, maybe by the explosion of
a nearby star (called a supernova). This explosion
made waves in space which squeezed the cloud of
gas and dust. Squeezing made the cloud start to
collapse, as gravity pulled the gas and dust
together, forming a solar nebula (step 2 in the
image).
Just like a dancer that spins faster as she pulls in
her arms, the cloud began to spin as it collapsed.
Eventually, the cloud grew hotter and denser in the
center, with a disk of gas and dust surrounding it that was hot in the center but cool at the
edges. As the disk got thinner and thinner, particles began to stick together and form
clumps (step 3 - 4 in the image). Some clumps got bigger, as particles and small clumps
stuck to them (in the same way that a small snowball can be grown into a giant snowman
by rolling it through the snow. Eventually this formed the planets or moons (step 5 in the
image).
Near the center of the cloud, where planets like Earth formed, only rocky material could
stand the great heat. Icy matter settled in the outer regions of the disk along with rocky
material, where the giant planets like Jupiter formed. As the cloud continued to fall in, the
center eventually got so hot that it became a star, the Sun, and a strong stellar wind blew
most of the gas and dust of the new solar system to the outer region. By studying
meteorites, which are left over from this early phase of the solar system, scientists have
found that the solar system is about 4600 million years old (4.6 billion years old)!
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 10 of 30
Check Your Understanding #4
1)
What violent event might have disturbed the gas cloud that formed our Solar System to
start to collapse? ________________________________________
2)
What is the condensed cloud of dust and gas that form solar systems called?
_________________________________________
3)
How does the speed of the spin change as the cloud of dust collapses? ____________
____________________________________________________________________
4)
Name 4 rocky planets: __________________________________________________
5)
Name 4 gas giants: _____________________________________________________
6)
What "space rock" do astronomers use to figure out the age of the solar system?
________________________________________.
7)
Starting from the Sun, list all the planets and space "bodies" out to the edge of our
Solar System:
The Sun
1. M
2. V
3. E
4. M
5. A
6. J
7. S
8. U
9. N
10.P
11.K
12.C
+M
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 11 of 30
Life Cycle of a Star
Like people, stars are born, they grow old and
they die. Their birth places are huge, cold clouds
of gas and dust, known as 'nebulas'. The most
famous of these is the Orion nebula, which is just
visible with the unaided eye.
These clouds start to shrink under their own
gravity. As the cloud gets smaller, it breaks into
clumps. Each clump eventually becomes so hot and dense that nuclear reactions begin.
When the temperature reaches 10 million degrees Celsius, the clump becomes a new star.
After their birth, most young stars lie at the centre of a flat disc of gas and dust. Most of this
material is eventually blown away by the star’s radiation. Before this happens, planets may
form around the central star.
Dwarfs and supergiants
Our Sun is a star. Like most stars, the Sun is a ball of very hot gas that gives off huge
amounts of light, heat and other radiation. This radiation is produced by nuclear reactions
in the core. It is like millions of hydrogen bombs exploding every second.
There are many different types of star. Red stars are the coolest, with surface temperatures
of around 2500oC. Blue-white stars are the hottest, reaching a sizzling
40 000 oC. Yellow stars like the Sun are in-between, with surface temperatures of about
5500 oC.
Stars come in many sizes. Our Sun is medium-sized. It burns its hydrogen fuel fairly slowly,
so it can keep shining for 10 billion years. Some stars are much bigger and hotter than the
Sun. The red supergiant Antares is 800 times wider than the Sun. If it was at the centre of
our Solar System, it would swallow up all of the inner planets, including Earth. Like gas
guzzler cars, these supergiants use all of their hydrogen and helium fuel very quickly. After
perhaps 500 million years, they die in a supernova explosion.
The coolest, slowest burning stars are red dwarfs. These can survive for more than 10
trillion (10 000 billion) years. Even cooler and smaller are brown dwarfs. These are 'failed
stars'. They are so cool – sometimes only a few hundred degrees at the surface - that their
nuclear furnaces never start to burn.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 12 of 30
Check Your Understanding #5
1)
Describe what is meant by a nebula: ________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2)
Which nebula can we see with our own eyes up in the night sky? _________________
3)
What temperature is required for a cloud to become a new star? ________________
4)
What type of reactions take place at the centers of stars? ______________________
5)
What is the name of the star that is closest to Earth? __________________________
6)
List the star colours from coolest to hottest, include the temperatures:
Star Colour
Temperature
Coolest
Hottest
7)
What is the colour and temperature of our Sun? ______________________________
8)
How long will medium-sized stars burn (live) for? _____________________________
9)
How long can supergiants live for? _________________________________________
10)
What is the process by which supergiants die? _______________________________
11)
What is the name of the coolest, slowest burning stars? ________________________
12)
How long can Red dwarfs live? ____________________________________________
13)
What type of star is even cooler and smaller than Red Dwarfs? __________________
14)
What is another name for a brown dwarf star? _______________________________
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 13 of 30
Star death
Most stars take millions of years to die. When a star like the Sun has burned all of its
hydrogen fuel, it expands to become a red giant. This may be millions of kilometres across big enough to swallow the planets Mercury and Venus.
After puffing off its outer layers, the star collapses to form a very dense white dwarf. One
teaspoon of material from a white dwarf would weigh up to 100 tonnes. Over billions of
years, the white dwarf cools and becomes invisible.
Stars bigger than eight times the mass of the Sun end their lives very suddenly. When they
run out of fuel, they swell into red supergiants. They try to keep alive by burning different
fuels, but this only works for a few million years. Then they blow themselves apart in a huge
supernova explosion.
For a week or so, the supernova outshines all of the other stars in its galaxy. Then it quickly
fades. All that is left is a tiny, dense object – a neutron star or a black hole – surrounded by
an expanding cloud of very hot gas.
The elements made inside the supergiant (such as oxygen, carbon and iron) are scattered
through space. This stardust eventually makes other stars and planets.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 14 of 30
Check Your Understanding #6
1)
What will happen when our Sun burns away most of its fuel away? ______________
_____________________________________________________________________
2)
What will happen to Mercury and Venus when our Sun begins to run out of its fuel?
_____________________________________________________________________
3)
Once our Sun has puffed out all its outer layers, what will it become? _____________
______________________________________________________________________
4)
How much would 1 teaspoon of a white dwarf weigh? _________________________
Would that be more or less dense than Earth? How do you know? _______________
_____________________________________________________________________
5)
What size does a star have to be to die in a supernova? ________________________
6)
What are swollen massive stars called? _____________________________________
7)
What is left when a massive star explodes in a supernova? ______________________
______________________________________________________________________
8)
What elements, once inside the massive star, are scattered into the surrounding
space? ________________________________________________________________
9)
What is "star dust"? _____________________________________________________
10)
Sketch a diagram that shows what happens to stars of differing sizes as they die.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 15 of 30
Supernovas
Every now and again our Milky Way galaxy is lit up by a huge
explosion. This is a supernova and it represents the death of a
supergiant – a heavyweight star many times bigger than the
Sun.
The images of supernovas show a shredded ring of material that moves away from the site
of the explosion at incredibly high speeds. Some of the material is moving at about 50
million km/hr (fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 30 seconds!).
Supernovas are important because they spread star material across the galaxy. Almost
everything on Earth (including us!) is made of elements (such as carbon and iron) that came
from this stardust.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 16 of 30
Black Holes
Black holes are the strangest objects in the Universe.
A black hole does not have a surface, like a planet or
star. Instead, it is a region of space where matter has
collapsed in on itself. This collapse results in a huge
amount of mass being concentrated in an incredibly
small area. The gravitational pull of this region is so
great that nothing can escape – not even light.
Although black holes cannot be seen, we know they
exist from the way they affect nearby dust, stars and
galaxies. Many of them are surrounded by discs of material. As the discs swirl around them
like a whirlpool, they become extremely hot and give off X-rays.
Most galaxies, including the Milky Way, have supermassive black holes at their centres.
These may be millions or billions of times heavier than our Sun. Supermassive black holes
also power active galaxies and ancient galaxies known as quasars. Quasars may be
hundreds of times brighter than even the largest ordinary galaxies.
Quasars
Quasars, or quasi stellar objects (quasi means "sort of like" and "stellar" means "star"), are
named that way because they look somewhat like stars. However, they differ from stars in
that they are much brighter than the brightest stars.
It has now believed that Quasars are most likely the centers of Active Galaxies. In the
center of many galaxies there are supermassive Black Holes. Gigantic disks of matter swirl
into the black holes. This matter is heated to unimaginably high temperatures and hence
shines so bright that some Active Galactic Nuclei outshine their all the other stars in that
galaxy.
Black Holes also form jets of matter that shoot
out from the center of the galaxy. These jets
can shoot out for Millions of Light-Years.
Quasars are special Active Galactic Nuclei that
have their jets lined up with our line of sight.
So we are looking straight down the jet and it
seems extraordinarily bright.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Check Your Understanding #7
1)
Describe a black hole.
2)
Draw a diagram of a black hole?
3)
Explain what is meant by a quasar?
4)
Draw a diagram of a quasar?
Page 17 of 30
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 18 of 30
Journey Through our Solar System
The Sun
1. The sun is a star. A star does not have a solid surface, but
is a ball of gas (92.1 percent hydrogen (H2) and 7.8
percent helium (He)) held together by its own gravity.
2. The sun is the center of our solar system and makes up
99.8% of the mass of the entire solar system.
3. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would
be about the size of a nickel.
4. Since the sun is not a solid body, different parts of the
sun rotate at different rates. At the equator, the sun spins once about every 25 days,
but at its poles the sun rotates once on its axis every 36 Earth days.
5. The solar atmosphere (a thin layer of gases) is where we see features such as
sunspots and solar flares on the sun.
6. The sun is orbited by eight planets, at least five dwarf planets, tens of thousands of
asteroids, and hundreds of thousands to three trillion comets and icy bodies.
7. The sun does not have any rings.
8. Spacecraft are constantly increasing our understanding of the sun -- from Genesis
(which collected samples of the solar wind and returned the particles to Earth) to
SOHO, STEREO, THEMIS, and many more, which are examining the sun's features, its
interior and how it interacts with our planet. .
9. Without the sun's intense energy there would be no life on Earth.
10.The temperature at the sun's core is about 15 million degrees Celsius.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 19 of 30
Mercury
1. Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system - only
slightly larger than the Earth's moon.
2. It is the closest planet to the sun at a distance of about 58
million km or 0.39 AU.
3. One day on Mercury (the time it takes for Mercury to
rotate or spin once) takes 59 Earth days. Mercury makes a complete orbit around the
sun (a year in Mercury time) in just 88 Earth days.
4. Mercury is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet. Mercury has a solid,
cratered surface, much like Earth's moon.
5. Mercury's thin atmosphere, or exosphere, is composed mostly of oxygen (O2), sodium
(Na), hydrogen (H2), helium (He), and potassium (K). Atoms that are blasted off the
surface by the solar wind and micrometeoroid impacts create Mercury's exosphere.
6. Mercury has no moons.
7. There are no rings around Mercury.
8. Only two spacecraft have visited this rocky planet: Mariner 10 in 1974-5 and
MESSENGER, which flew past Mercury three times before going into orbit around
Mercury in 2011.
9. No evidence for life has been found on Mercury. Daytime Temperatures can reach
430 degrees Celsius and drop to -180 degrees Celsius at night. It is unlikely life (as we
know it) could survive on this planet.
10.Standing on Mercury's surface at its closest point to the sun, the sun would appear
more than three times larger than it does on Earth.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 20 of 30
Venus
Venus is only a little smaller than Earth.
1. Venus is the second closest planet to the sun at a
distance of about 108 million km or 0.72 AU.
2. One day on Venus lasts as long as 243 Earth days (the
time it takes for Venus to rotate or spin once). Venus makes a complete orbit around
the sun (a year in Venusian time) in 225 Earth days.
3. Venus is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet. Venus' solid surface is a
cratered and volcanic landscape.
4. Venus' thick and toxic atmosphere is made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2) and
nitrogen (N2), with clouds of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) droplets.
5. Venus has no moons.
6. There are no rings around Venus.
7. More than 40 spacecraft have explored Venus. The Magellan mission in the early
1990s mapped 98 percent of the planet's surface.
8. No evidence for life has been found on Venus. The planet's extreme high
temperatures of almost 480 degrees Celsius make it seem an unlikely place for for life
as we know it.
9. Venus spins backwards (retrograde rotation) when compared to the other planets.
This means that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east on Venus.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 21 of 30
The Earth
1. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would
be the size of a nickel.
2. Earth is the third planet from the sun at a distance of
about 150 million km (93 million miles) or one AU.
3. One day on Earth takes 24 hours (this is the time it takes
the Earth to rotate or spin once). Earth makes a complete orbit around the sun (a
year in Earth time) in about 365 days.
4. Earth is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet, with a solid and dynamic
surface of mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. What makes Earth
different from the other terrestrial planets is that it is also an ocean planet: 70
percent of the Earth's surface is covered in oceans.
5. The Earth's atmosphere is made up of 78 percent nitrogen (N2), 21 percent oxygen
(O2) and 1 percent other ingredients -- the perfect balance for us to breathe and live.
Many planets have atmospheres, but only Earth's is breathable.
6. Earth has one moon (named Luna). Another name for a moon is satellite.
7. Earth has no rings.
8. Many orbiting spacecraft study the Earth from above as a whole system and together
aid in understanding our home planet.
9. Earth is the perfect place for life.
10.Earth's atmosphere protects us from incoming meteoroids, most of which break up in
our atmosphere before they can strike the surface as meteorites.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 22 of 30
Mars
1. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door,
Earth would be the size of a nickel, and Mars
would be about as big as an aspirin tablet.
2. Mars orbits our sun, a star. Mars is the fourth
planet from the sun at a distance of about
228 million km or 1.52 AU.
3. One day on Mars takes just a little over 24 hours (the time it takes for Mars to rotate
or spin once). Mars makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Martian time) in
687 Earth days.
4. Mars is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet. Mars' solid surface has been
altered by volcanoes, impacts, crustal movement, and atmospheric effects such as
dust storms.
5. Mars has a thin atmosphere made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen (N2)
and argon (Ar).
6. Mars has two moons named Phobos and Deimos.
7. There are no rings around Mars.
8. More than 40 spacecraft have been launched for Mars, from flybys and orbiters to
rovers and landers that touched surface of the Red Planet. The first true Mars mission
success was Mariner 4 in 1965.
9. At this time in the planet's history, Mars' surface cannot support life as we know it. A
key science goal is determining Mars' past and future potential for life.
10.Mars is known as the Red Planet because iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize, or
rust, causing the soil -- and the dusty atmosphere -- to look red.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 23 of 30
The Asteroid Belt
1. If all of the asteroids were combined into a ball, they
would still be much smaller than Earth's moon. If the
sun was as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be
the size of a nickel, the moon would be about as big as
a green pea and Ceres (the largest object in the main
asteroid belt) would be as small as a sesame seed.
2. Most Asteroids orbit our sun, a star, in a region of space
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter known as the Asteroid Belt.
3. Days and years vary by asteroid. A day on asteroid Ida, for example, takes only 4.6
hours (the time it takes to rotate or spin once). Ida makes a complete orbit around
the sun (a year in this asteroid's time) in 4.8 Earth years.
4. Asteroids are solid, rocky and irregular bodies.
5. Asteroids do not have atmospheres.
6. More than 150 asteroids are known to have a small companion moon (some have
two moons). The first discovery of an asteroid-moon system was of asteroid Ida and
its moon Dactyl in 1993.
7. Asteroids do not have rings.
8. More than 10 spacecraft have explored asteroids. NEAR Shoemaker even landed on
an asteroid (Eros). The Dawn mission is the first mission to orbit (2011) a main belt
asteroid (Vesta).
9. Asteroids cannot support life as we know it.
10.Ceres, the first and largest asteroid to be discovered (1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi) and
the closest dwarf planet to the sun, encompasses over one-third of the estimated
total mass of all the asteroids in the asteroid belt.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 24 of 30
Jupiter
1. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door,
the Earth would be the size of a nickel and
Jupiter would be about as big as a basketball.
2. Jupiter orbits our sun, a star. Jupiter is the fifth
planet from the sun at a distance of about 778
million km or 5.2 AU.
3. One day on Jupiter takes about 10 hours (the
time it takes for Jupiter to rotate or spin once).
Jupiter makes a complete orbit around the sun
(a year in Jovian time) in about 12 Earth years
(4,333 Earth days).
4. Jupiter is a gas-giant planet and therefore does not have a solid surface. However, it
is predicted that Jupiter has an inner, solid core about the size of the Earth.
5. Jupiter's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He).
6. Jupiter has 50 known moons, with an additional 17 moons awaiting confirmation of
their discovery -- that is a total of 67 moons.
7. Jupiter has a faint ring system that was discovered in 1979 by the Voyager 2 mission.
8. Many missions have visited Jupiter and its system of moons. The Juno mission will
arrive at Jupiter in 2016.
9. Jupiter cannot support life as we know it. However, some of Jupiter's moons have
oceans underneath their crusts that might support life.
10.Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm (about the size of two to three Earths)
that has been raging for hundreds of years.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 25 of 30
Saturn
1. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, the
Earth would be the size of a nickel and Saturn
would be about as big as a basketball.
2. Saturn orbits our sun, a star. Saturn is the sixth
planet from the sun at a distance of about 1.4
billion km or 9.5 AU.
3. One day on Saturn takes 10.7 hours (the time it
takes for Saturn to rotate or spin once). Saturn
makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in
Saturnian time) in 29 Earth years.
4. Saturn is a gas-giant planet and does not have a
solid surface.
5. Saturn's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He).
6. Saturn has 53 known moons with an additional 9 moons awaiting confirmation of
their discovery.
7. Saturn has the most spectacular ring system of all our solar system's planets. It is
made up of seven rings with several gaps and divisions between them.
8. Five missions have been sent to Saturn. Since 2004, Cassini has been exploring
Saturn, its moons and rings.
9. Saturn cannot support life as we know it. However, some of Saturn's moons have
conditions that might support life.
10.When Galileo Galilei looked at Saturn through a telescope in the 1600s, he noticed
strange objects on each side of the planet and drew in his notes a triple-bodied
planet system and then later a planet with arms or handles. The handles turned out
to be the rings of Saturn.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 26 of 30
Uranus
1. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door,
Earth would be the size of a nickel and Uranus
would be about as big as a baseball.
2. Uranus orbits our sun, a star. Uranus is the
seventh planet from the sun at a distance of
about 2.9 billion km or 19.19 AU.
3. One day on Uranus takes about 17 hours (the
time it takes for Uranus to rotate or spin once).
Uranus makes a complete orbit around the sun
(a year in Uranian time) in about 84 Earth
years.
4. Uranus is a gas giant and therefore does not have a solid surface. The bulk (80
percent or more) of the mass of Uranus is made up of a hot dense fluid of "icy"
materials (water (H2O), methane (CH4). and ammonia (NH3)), above a small rocky
core.
5. Uranus has an atmosphere which is mostly made up of hydrogen (H2) and helium
(He), with a small amount of methane (CH4).
6. Uranus has 27 moons. Uranus' moons are named after characters from the works of
William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
7. Uranus has faint rings. The inner rings are narrow and dark and the outer rings are
brightly colored.
8. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus.
9. Uranus cannot support life as we know it.
10.Like Venus, Uranus has a retrograde rotation (east to west). Unlike any of the other
planets, Uranus rotates on its side, which means it spins horizontally.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 27 of 30
Neptune
1. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door,
the Earth would be the size of a nickel and
Neptune would be about as big as a
baseball.
2. Neptune orbits our sun, a star. Neptune is
the eighth planet from the sun at a distance of about 4.5 billion km or 30.07 AU.
3. One day on Neptune takes about 16 hours (the time it takes for Neptune to rotate or
spin once). Neptune makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Neptunian
time) in about 165 Earth years (60,190 Earth days).
4. Like the other gas giants, Neptune does not have a solid surface. Neptune is mostly
made of a very thick, very hot combination of water (H2O), ammonia (NH3), and
methane (CH4) over a possible heavier, approximately Earth-sized, solid core.
5. Neptune's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2), helium (He) and methane
(CH4).
6. Neptune has 13 confirmed moons (and 1 more awaiting official confirmation of
discovery). Neptune's moons are named after various sea gods and nymphs in Greek
mythology.
7. Neptune has six rings.
8. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune.
9. Neptune cannot support life as we know it.
10.At times during the course of Neptune's orbit, dwarf planet Pluto is actually closer to
the sun, and us, than Neptune. This is due to the unusual elliptical (egg) shape of
Pluto's orbit.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 28 of 30
Dwarf Planets
1. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be the size of a nickel and
dwarf planets Pluto and Eris, for example, would each be about the size of the head
of a pin.
2. Dwarf planets orbit our sun. Most are located
in the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects
beyond the orbit of Neptune. Pluto, one of the
largest and most famous dwarf planets, is
about 5.9 billion km or 39.48 AU away from
the sun. Dwarf planet Ceres is in the main
asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
3. Days and years vary on dwarf planets. One day
Known dwarf planets are
on Ceres, for example, takes about nine hours
smaller than Earth's moon.
(the time it takes for Ceres to rotate or spin
once). Ceres makes a complete orbit around
the sun (a year in Ceresian time) in about 4.60 Earth years.
4. Dwarf planets are solid rocky and/or icy bodies, The amount of rock vs. ice depends
on their location in the solar system.
5. Many, but not all dwarf planets have moons.
6. There are no known rings around dwarf planets.
7. Dwarf planets Pluto and Eris have tenuous (thin) atmospheres that expand when they
come closer to the sun and collapse as they move farther away. It is possible dwarf
planet Ceres has an atmosphere.
8. The first mission to a dwarf planet is Dawn (to Ceres).
9. Dwarf planets cannot support life as we know it.
10.Pluto was considered a planet until 2006. The discovery of a similar-sized worlds
deeper in the distant Kuiper Belt sparked a debate that resulted in a new official
definition of a planet that did not include Pluto.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 29 of 30
Comets
1. If the sun were as tall as a
typical front door, Earth
would be the size of a nickel,
dwarf planet Pluto would be
the size of a head of a pin
and the largest Kuiper Belt
comet (about 100 km across,
which is about one twentieth
the size of Pluto) would only
be about the size of a grain
of dust.
2. Short-period comets (comets
that orbit the sun in less than 200 years) reside in the icy region known as the Kuiper
Belt beyond the orbit of Neptune from about 30 to 55 AU. Long-period comets
(comets with long, unpredictable orbits) originate in the far-off reaches of the Oort
Cloud, which is five thousand to 100 thousand AUs from the sun.
3. Days on comets vary. One day on comet Halley varies between 2.2 to 7.4 Earth days
(the time it takes for comet Halley to rotate or spin once). Comet Halley makes a
complete orbit around the sun (a year in this comet's time) in 76 Earth years.
4. Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust.
5. A comet warms up as it nears the sun and develops an atmosphere, or coma. The
coma may be hundreds of thousands of kilometers in diameter.
6. Comets do not have moons.
7. Comets do not have rings.
8. More than 20 missions have explored comets from a variety of viewpoints.
9. Comets may not be able to support life themselves, but they may have brought water
and organic compounds -- the building blocks of life -- through collisions with Earth
and other bodies in our solar system.
10.The tail of the comet always points
away from the sun.
Ms. Bowie
Science 10-O2
Page 30 of 30
The Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud
1. The Kuiper Belt and the Oort
Cloud are regions of space. The
known icy worlds and comets
in both regions are much
smaller than Earth's moon.
2. The Kuiper Belt and the Oort
Cloud surround our sun, a star.
The Kuiper Belt is a doughnutshaped ring, extending just
beyond the orbit of Neptune
from about 30 to 55 AU. The
Oort Cloud is a spherical shell,
occupying space at a distance
between five thousand and
100 thousand AU.
3. Long-period comets (which take more than 200 years to orbit the sun) come from the
Oort Cloud. Short-period comets (which take less than 200 years to orbit the Sun)
originate in the Kuiper Belt.
4. There may be are hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 100 km (62 miles)
and an estimated trillion or more comets within the Kuiper Belt. The Oort Cloud may
contain more than a trillion icy bodies.
5. Some dwarf planets within the Kuiper Belt have thin atmospheres that collapse when
their orbit carries them farthest from the sun.
6. Several dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt have tiny moons.
7. The are no known rings around worlds in either region of space.
8. The first mission to the Kuiper Belt is New Horizons. New Horizons will reach Pluto in
2015.
9. Neither region of space is capable of supporting life as we know it.
10.Both the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud are named for the astronomers who
predicted their existence during the 1950s: Gerard Kuiper and Jan Oort.