Transcript The Solar System

The Solar System
Advanced Space Academy
U.S. Space & Rocket Center
Formation of the System
-Solar nebula
-Collapse
-Increasing
temperature and
pressure
-Formation of solar
system bodies
SOLAR SYSTEM PROFILE
Life-scale…………………………...4.5 billion years
Diameter……………………………..…3 light years
Diameter of planetary zone………...7.4 billion miles
Known planets…………………….………..………9
Satellites…………………………………..at least 63
Known life-bearing planets……………...…………1
Largest planet……………………………..….Jupiter
Smallest planet…………………….……..…….Pluto
Planet with the fastest spin…….Jupiter (9:55.05 hrs)
MERCURY
Eccentric Mercury
-Mercury’s orbit around
the sun forms a wide
ellipse partly due to
the gravitational pull
on it by the other
planets
-Mercury rotates on its
axis three times while
going around the sun
twice
Missions to Mercury
Mariner 10
-Launched Nov. 3, 1973
-Fly-bys on Mar. 29, 1974; Sep.
21, 1974; and Mar. 16, 1975
MESSENGER
-Launch windows are Mar 3. –
Apr. 6 and Aug. 2 – Aug. 16,
2004
-Fly-bys during July 2007 and
April 2008
-Insert into Mercury orbit in
April 2009
VENUS
Backwards Venus
-Relative to the other planets in the solar system,
Venus spins backwards on its axis. Early on,
when the planets were forming, Venus may have
been hit by a massive object that reversed its spin.
Venus spins east to west, so the Sun rises there in
the west and sets in the east.
-Venus takes 243 days to turn once on its axis and
225 days to go around the Sun. It is the only
planet that takes longer to turn than to orbit.
Missions to Venus
Mariner 2 –
Launched: Aug. 27, 1962
Arrived: Dec. 14, 1962
Mariner 5 –
Launched: June 14, 1967
Arrived: Oct. 19, 1967
Mariner 10 –
Launched: Nov. 3, 1973
Arrived: Feb. 5, 1974
Pioneer Venus –
Orbiter Launched: May 20, 1978
Arrived: Dec. 4, 1978
Multiprobes –
Launched: Aug. 8, 1978
Arrived: Dec. 9, 1978
Magellan –
Launched: May 4, 1989
Arrived: Aug. 10, 1990
EARTH
The Moon
Diameter: 2,160 miles (3,476
kilometers)
Time to Orbit Earth: 27.3
Earth days
Surface Temperature: 253°F
to -387°F (123°C to 233°C)
Distance from Earth: 238,850
miles (384,392 km)
The Moon’s name: Luna
Missions to the Moon
-Pioneer
-Ranger
-Surveyor
-Lunar Orbiter
-Apollo
-Clementine
-Lunar Prospector
Mars
Mars
Mars is similar to Earth
in it’s axial tilt – so it
has days and seasons.
It even has a thin
atmosphere and
clouds.
Water on Mars?
Is there evidence?
Mars
There are currently thirtythree known Martian
meteorites.
They have been found on all
continents except
Australia.
Four of them were actually
observed to fall to the
Earth between 1815 and
1962.
Mars Meteorite Homepage:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/index.html
Present Missions to Mars
Mars 2001 Odyssey
-Launched 4-7-01
-Arrived 10-24-01
Mars Global Surveyor
-Launched 11-7-96
-Arrived 9-11-97
The goal of both missions is to do a complete
mapping of Mars and analyze its atmosphere and
composition.
The Asteroid Belt
-located between Mars and
Jupiter
-rocky fragments left over from
the formation of the solar
system or a planet that was
unable to form due to
Jupiter’s gravitational pull
-In 1802 astronomer William
Herschel first used the word
“asteroid”, which means
“starlike” in Greek, to
describe these celestial
bodies
Jupiter
Jupiter’s Moons
Galileo discovered
Jupiter’s first moons in
1610
-Europa
-Io
-Callisto
-Ganymede
-As of Jan. 3, 2003, 40
moons have been
spotted
Jupiter’s Moons
-Outer moons are
most likely
asteroids that
Jupiter has caught
-Some of them even
orbit backwards
which is called
retrograde rotation
Missions to Jupiter
Past Missions to
Jupiter:
Pioneer 10
Pioneer 11
Voyager 1
Voyager 2
Ulysses
Present Missions to
Jupiter:
Galileo
Future Missions to
Jupiter:
Europa Orbiter
Saturn
Weird Saturn
Saturn is the only planet in the solar
system that is less dense than water
- Saturn is the most flattened planet in
our solar system
- There is nowhere on Saturn that
could be described as a planetary
surface
-
Saturn’s rings
The Cassini spacecraft was launched October 15,
1997 and will insert into Saturn’s orbit on July 1,
2004.
-The Cassini spacecraft is designed to do a detailed
study of Saturn, its rings, its magnetosphere, and
its icy satellites.
-The Huygens probe, supplied by ESA, will
scrutinize the clouds, atmosphere, and surface of
Saturn’s moon Titan.
Uranus
Oddball Uranus

Sideways tilt - Uranus currently
moves around the Sun with its
rotation axis nearly horizontal
with respect to the ecliptic
plane. This unusual orientation
may be the result of a collision
with a planet-sized body early
in the planet’s history, which
apparently changed Uranus’s
rotation radically. Uranus’s
magnetic field is unusual in that
the magnetic axis is tilted 60
degrees from the planet’s axis
of rotation and is offset from
the center of the planet by onethird of the planet’s radius.
Rings & Moons of Uranus
Mission to Uranus
Voyager 2
-Launched: 8-20-77
-Uranus Encounter: 1-24-86
-flew by Uranus at a distance
of 107,000 kilometers
(66,500 miles) from the
planet's center, threading
through a broad ring system
of dust- to boulder-sized
particles. Ten new moons
were imaged, in addition to
the five moons already
known.
Neptune
Hot Neptune
Neptune has yet to give up its greatest secret: the source of
the heat that rises from the planet’s center to drive
storms in its atmosphere.
The young planets were very hot, and have been cooling
since their formation. As Neptune cools, it contracts and
grows denser: This process releases heat. The warmth
of the blue planet is actually a relic of the newborn solar
system.
Also materials within the interior have yet to fully separate
out – the planet’s gravity is still dragging heavier matter
toward the core, creating friction that in turn generates
heat.
Rings & Moons of Neptune
Mission to Neptune
Voyager 2 –
Launched: Aug. 20, 1977
Neptune Encounter:
Aug. 24 & 25, 1989
Pluto
Mission to Pluto
New Horizons – A
Pluto-Kuiper Belt
Mission Study
The Pluto-Kuiper Belt
Mission will launch in
2006, fly by Pluto and
Charon between 2016 and
2018, and pass the Kuiper
Belt Objects by 2026.
Comets
“I came in with Halley’s Comet in
1835. It is coming again next
year [1910], and I expect to go
out with it.”
– Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)
-Comets are dirty-ice leftovers
from the formation of our
solar system over 4.6 billion
years ago
-Comets are the least
unchanged bodies in the
solar system
-Missions
-Deep Space 1
-Stardust
-Deep Impact
-CONTOUR
Meteoroids
-Meteors or “shooting stars” are bits of material
falling through Earth’s atmosphere; they are
heated to incandescence by the friction of the air
and will vaporize before reaching Earth’s surface
-Meteoroids are the bits material hurtling through
space
-Meteorites are large pieces that do not completely
vaporize and reach the surface of the Earth
The Future of the Solar System
The Sun will swell into a red giant engulfing
Mercury and burning at least the surfaces of
Venus and the Earth. The Sun will then
cool and shrink into a dim white dwarf.
Shifted into new orbits, the fiercely altered
planets will still revolve around the dying
Sun. Possibly, on a few favored moons,
there is a chance that life could spring forth
anew.
Credits
-Secrets of the Universe card collection
-Images and information:
http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/homepage.htm
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome.htm
http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/