Transcript Formation of the Solar System

FORMATION OF THE
SOLAR SYSTEM
How did Earth form?
Collapsing Interstellar
Clouds
 Stars and planets form
from clouds of gas and
dust, called interstellar
clouds
 Consist of gas:
Hydrogen and Helium
 Usually low density, can
condense due to gravity
and form a star or a
planet.
 At first the collapse is slow, but it accelerates and
the cloud soon becomes much denser at its
center.
 It will spin faster and faster as it contracts (ice
skater pull arms to body to spin faster)
 Eventually slows and cloud
becomes flattened, becoming
a rotating disk.
Sun and Planet Formation
 The disk of dust and gas
that formed the Sun and
planets is known as the
solar nebula.
 Dense concentration at
center became the Sun.
 Temperature differed, Hotter at center and cooler at
edges of disk
 Due to temp differences different compounds were
able to condense depending on distance from Sun
 Condensed material accumulated to from larger
bodies.
 Planetismals – Space object built of solid particles
that can form planets through collisions and
merges
Overall result was
the planets
Early Planets
 Jupiter formed first, using much of the
material around it
 This is why Jupiter is the largest Planet
 The sun took most of the gas from the inner
planets
 This is why they are solid with few moons
Debris
 Most collided into planets or was sent out of the
solar system.
 The remnants remain in the asteroid belt
between Jupiter and Mars.
 Jupiter's gravitational force prevents them from
forming into a planet.
Asteroids
Rocky remnants of the early solar system
Most are less than 1 km in diameter, move slowly
 C – Type (Carbon)
 S – Type (Silica)
 M - Type (Iron-Nickel)
Asteroid Belt
(Between Mars
and Jupiter)
Meteoroid – asteroid that
begins to fall towards Earth
Meteor – Meteoroid that begins
to burn up in Earth’s
atmosphere
Meteorite – A meteor that does
not complete burn up in
atmosphere and strikes Earth’s
surface
Less than 100 m in diameter
Move at fast speeds
Comets
 Small bodies of rock and ice that have highly
eccentric orbits
 Periodic Comets – repeatedly return to inner
solar system
 Halley’s Comet (76 Years, last seen 1985)
 Kuiper Belt – Located Beyond Neptune
 Come very close to Pluto in Aphelion, near sun
at Perihelion
Parts of a Comet
 Coma
 Extended volume of
glowing gas
 Nucleus
 Small solid core of the
comet
 Tail
 Comet tails ALWAYS point away from sun
 When come within 3 AU of the sun begin to
evaporate
 Gas and dust pushed away by radiation from sun
 Meteor Shower – Earth intersects cometary orbit.
Particles burn up in atmosphere