Transcript Our Solar System

Our Solar System
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The
SunSun
is the –
center
our solar
The
ourofvery
ownsystem
star
The word “solar” means “of the sun”
Our sun is a medium-sized star
Our sun is medium-hot, and yellow
The Inner Planets
Spinning Planets
• Period of Rotation: amount of time that
an object takes to rotate once. (1 Day)
• Period of Revolution: time it takes an
object to revolve around the sun once. (1
year)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Ob0x
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Mercury
• On Mercury you weigh only
38% of what you weigh on
Earth.
• Fastest orbiting planet
• Planet nearest to the sun
• One side of the planet can be 800
degrees Fahrenheit when the
other can be -280 degree
Fahrenheit at the same time.
• Orbit Period 88 days
• Rotation Period 59 days
Venus
• On Venus you weigh only 91% of what you
weigh on Earth.
• Venus has 90 times the pressure of Earth
and it’s the hottest planet.
• Venus has volcanoes like Earth
• Rotates in the opposite direction of Earth.
• One time there were oceans before they
boiled away.
• Orbit Period 224 days
• Rotation Period 242 days
Earth
• 23 hours and 56 min=1 Earth day (rotation)
• 365 days =1 Earth year (revolution)
• Earth is warm enough to keep most of its
water from freezing and cold enough to
keep it’s water from boiling
• Temperature is between –13 degrees
Celsius and 37 degrees Celsius
Mars
• Air Pressure on Mars is the same as 30 km
above the Earth’s surface
• Mars is in the form of ice.
• Evidence that water was there at one time
• Volcanic history like Earth.
• It has the tallest mount of the planets (Olympus
Mons) 3x’s size of Mt. Everest.
• Orbital Period 687 days
• Rotation Period 24. 6 hours
Outer Planets
Jupiter
• Largest planet in the Solar System
• Has a Great Red Spot from a storm system
that is more than 400 years old
• Pressure is so great it would crush a
spaceship.
• Orbit Period 12 years
• 9 hours and 54 min=1 Jupiter day (shortest
day)
Saturn
• 2nd Largest planet in the Solar System
• 95 times more massive than earth.
• Saturn has the largest rings of any
planet, the rings are made of icy
particles.
• Most moons of any planets ( 47 known)
• Orbit Period 12 years
• Rotation Period 10 hours
Uranus
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Discovered in 1781
Uranus appears blue-green in color
It’s axis of rotation is tilted 90 degrees
Moons are named after Shakespearean
plays and formed from other broken
moons.
• Orbit Period 84 years
• Rotation Period 17 hours
Neptune
• Discovered in 1846
• The atmosphere appears blue and is
marked by large dark blue storms
• Neptune has visual belts of clouds
• It has a system of 5 rings and at least
13 moons
• Orbit Period 165 years
• Rotation Period 16 hours
Pluto
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Discovered 1930
Mystery Planet
Farthest from the sun
Recently changed from a
being considered a planet
to a dwarf planet.
• Orbit Period 248 years
• Rotation Period 6.4 days
st
21
Century Solar System
If you traveled on a shuttle that’s
going 28,000 mph it would
take…
Mercury 52d
• Venus 100d
• Mars 210d
• Jupiter 1.9yr
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Saturn 3.6yr
Uranus 7.3yr
Neptune 11.4yr
Pluto 15.1yr
Dwarf Planets
• A dwarf planet is a celestial body massive
enough to be spherical, in orbit around the
Sun, which are not satellites. The crucial
factor dividing a planet from a dwarf planet
is that a planet must have succeeded in
clearing the area of its orbit from debris and
other objects, whereas a dwarf planet has
not.
Dwarf Planets
Kuiper Belt
• Class of icy bodies orbiting beyond Neptune.
– Found only in the outer Solar System (>30AU)
– Densities of 1.2 to 2 g/cc (mostly ices)
• Examples:
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Pluto & Eris (icy dwarf planets)
Kuiper Belt Objects (30-50AU)
Charon, Pluto’s large moon
Sedna & Quaor: distant large icy bodies
Kuiper Belt
The Leftovers (small bodies)
• Asteroids:
– Made of rock & metal (density 2-3 g/cc)
– Sizes: Few 100km to large boulders
– Most are found in the Main Belt (2.1-3.2 AU)
• Meteoroids:
– Bits of rock and metal
– Sizes: grains of sand to boulders
• Comets:
– Composite rock & ice “dirty snowballs”
– Long tails of gas & dust are swept off them when
they pass near the Sun.
Meteoroid, Meteorite and Meteor
• A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our
solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10
metres in diameter (larger objects are usually referred to
as asteroids).
• A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the
Earth’s atmosphere is known as a meteor. If you’ve ever
looked up at the sky at night and seen a streak of light or
‘shooting star’ what you are actually seeing is a meteor.
• A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s
atmosphere and colliding with the Earth’s surface is
known as a meteorite.