Transcript File

Earth Science
An overview of the
Solar System
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Definiton
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The family of celestial bodies grouped
around the (our) sun.
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Members
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Major: The Sun and the Planets and their
satellites
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Minor: Comets, Asteroids/Planetoids,
Meteors, Meteorites, Meteoroids
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Properties of the Solar System
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1. The orbits of all the planets are almost
in the same plane. This means that the
solar system is flat.
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2. The planetary orbits are nearly circular.
The elliptical orbits depart only slightly
from being a perfect circle.
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Properties of the Solar System
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3. The orbits of the planets are nearly in
the same plane as the rotation of the sun.
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4. The planets rotate in the same direction
as they revolve around the sun, with the
exception of Venus and Uranus.
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Properties of the Solar System
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5. The distances of the planets from the
sun can be expressed in a simple
relationship called BODE’S LAW named
after the German astronomer Johann
Bode (1747 – 1826).
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The calculated distances (using Bode’s Law)
and the observed distances of the planets
from the sun are almost the same with the
exception of Neptune and Pluto.
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Properties of the Solar System
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6. The satellite systems of Jupiter and
Saturn are nearly identical in their
arrangements with the solar system. The
distances of the satellites from the planets
follow the Bode’s Law.
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7. The satellites and planets contain
almost all the rotational motions of the
solar system.
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The Sun
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The sun is the
biggest, brightest, and
hottest object in the
solar system.
The sun is an
ordinary star.
The sun is made of
about 70% hydrogen
and 28% helium.
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Some Info on the Sun
Diameter: 1,140,000 km
 Volume: take in a million earths ++
 Period of Rotation: Equatorial - 25 days
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Polar - 33 days
 Sun’s Interior:
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Helium Core
 Radiative Zone
 Convective Envelop
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Some Info on the Sun
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Sun’s Atmosphere:
Corona
 Chromosphere
 Photosphere
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Some Facts on Planets
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1. All the planets revolve around the sun in
a counterclockwise direction as viewed
from Polaris. From an inside view, the
direction of revolution is west to east.
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2. All the planets, except for Uranus,
rotate in a counterclockwise direction as
viewed from Polaris.
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Some Facts on Planets
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3. The orbits of all the planets are ellipses,
with the sun at one of the foci.
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4. All the planets shine because they
reflect sunlight.
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5. All the planets have the shape of oblate
spheroids.
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Mercury
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Mercury is solid and
is covered with
craters.
Mercury has almost
no atmosphere.
Mercury is the eighth
largest planet.
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MERCURY
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The innermost and smallest planet
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Has a very high temperature and a very
low gravity
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Is seen as an evening star just after
sunset, and as a morning star just before
dawn
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Period of Rotation: 59 days
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Period of Revolution: 88 days
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Venus
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Venus is the sixth
largest planet. It’s
about three-fourths
the size of earth.
The surface is rocky
and very hot. The
atmosphere
completely hides the
surface and traps the
heat.
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VENUS
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Once considered as Earth’s twin due to
similarity in mass, size, and having an
atmosphere
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Findings of the PIONEER Probe
Venus is quite round
 Has a much smoother surface than Earth
(as revealed by VENERA also).
 No bulging at the equator and no flattening
at the poles
 Retrograde rotation (i.e. east to west
direction or clockwise) versus that of Earth
which is prograde (i.e. west to east
direction or counterclockwise)
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Findings of the PIONEER Probe
Has no moon or natural satellite; no water.
 Is a very hot planet (compared to Earth
and Mercury) due to its nearness to the
sun and the Green House Effect due to its
very thick atmosphere mostly clouds of
sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide.
 Due to the thickness of its atmosphere, it
is sometimes referred to as the “VEILED
PLANET.”
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VENUS
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Other surface features:
APHRODITE TERRA – the largest continent
on the surface
 ESTHAR TERRA – a volcano on the surface
 EVE – name of the crater on the surface
 M. LOMOSOV - discovered that Venus has
an atmosphere which is about 48 – 58 km
thick.
Period of Rotation: 243 days
Period of Revolution: 225 days
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Earth
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Earth is the fifth largest planet and the third from
the sun.
Liquid covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface.
The Earth has one moon.
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Moon
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Mars
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Mars is the fourth
planet from the sun.
Mars has a thin
atmosphere that
contains mostly
carbon dioxide.
Mars has two small
moons.
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MARS
Has a thin atmosphere
 VIKING space probe reveals the ff:
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Soil … contains peroxide
 Atmosphere … CO, CO2, N, Ar, O, O3, Kr, Xe,
clouds and fogs
 No liquid water … water in other forms in
atmosphere and beneath the surface
 Frozen carbon dioxide … found in thin mist
atmosphere and polar caps.
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MARS
MARINER 9 which orbited Mars revealed:
 Mar’s surface is heavily cratered in some
parts with ridges.
 Bright circular plains and deserts in the
remaining parts.
 Craters are shallow with very flat bottoms.
 Canals are actually chains of dark-floored
craters.
 Plains are result of the leveling effect of
winds and dust storms.
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Moons of Mars
Phobos (irregular in
shape)
Deimos (believed to be
a captured asteroid)
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MARS
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In the 1890’s, Percival Lowel, a US
astronomer, built an observatory at
Flagstaff, Arizona to specially observe
Mars and its surface
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OLYMPUS MONS – a volcano on Mars;
the largest in the solar system
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MARS
Is a red planet due to the presence of
Carbon suboxide, a foul smelling
compound which when struck by ultraviolet light imparts an orange or reddishbrown color.
 The bright pink sky of Mars is due to the
effect of the scattering of light when
radiation hit dust particles.
 The red dust of Mars is due to Iron (III)
oxide or rust.
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MARS
Exhibits changes in seasons due to its
angle of inclination of 25 degrees.
 The great ellipticity causes more unequal
heating of the northern and southern
hemispheres.
 Period of Rotation: 1.37 days
 Period of Revolution: 1.88 years
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Jupiter
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JUPITER
The largest planet with a diameter 11x of
Earth and a mass 2.5x that of all planets
put together.
 Rotates in less than 10 hrs. (2.4x faster
than Earth). The fast rotation causes the
equator to bulge and its poles to flatten
more than any other planets.
 Period of Rotation: 9.55 hours
 Period of Revolution: 12 years
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JUPITER
Surface is marked with light and dark
bands, and spots, streaks, plumes, swirls,
loops and irregular patches. These are
caused by high wind speeds and powerful
Coriolis Force.
 Zones – light bands; varies from white to
pale yellow in color and are regions of
rising gases.
 Belts – darks bands in various shades of
reddish brown and are regions of
descending gases.
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JUPITER
Coloration of band is due to ammonium
compounds and the organic and inorganic
compounds present in the atmosphere.
 The atmosphere contains Hydrogen,
Helium, Methane, and Ammonia.
 The Great Red Spot is the most prominent
feature, with a length of 30,000 km, a
width of 12,000 km and a height of 8 – 10
km; located along the south tropical zone
known as the “hurricane belt.”; has been
seen for 300 yrs; a huge and violent storm.
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Jupiter’s Red Spot
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The Great Red Spot,
a huge storm of
swirling gas that has
lasted for hundreds of
years.
Jupiter does not have
a solid surface. The
planet is a ball of
liquid surrounded by
gas.
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JUPITER
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Interior is believed to be made of a solid
iron-silicate core, an inner layer of liquid
metallic hydrogen, and an outer layer of
liquid molecular hydrogen. The inner layer
of hydrogen is believed to be the main
source of Jupiter’s large and powerful
magnetic field. Convection currents within
are deflected by rotation, generating
electric current and giving rise to a
magnetic field. Strong magnetic field
gives off strong radio signals into space.
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JUPITER
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Jupiter’s magnetic field is about 20 to 30
times stronger and larger than that of the
Earth.
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Has a thin ring believed to come from
volcanic eruptions in one of its natural
satellites named Io.
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Moons of Jupiter
Jupiter has four large Galilean moons,
twelve smaller named moons and twentythree more recently discovered but not
named moons.
We’ll take a look at the four large Galilean
moons which were first observed by
Galileo in 1610.
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Io
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Io is the fifth moon of
Jupiter. It’s the third
largest of Jupiter’s
moons.
Io has hundreds of
volcanic calderas.
Some of the volcanoes
are active.
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IO
Diameter: 3,130 km
 Circles Jupiter at an average distance of
421,600 km
 Probable Structure: sulfur and sulfur
dioxide crust, molten silicate interior, and
possible solid core.
 The surface is the youngest known in the
solar system.
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Europa
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Europa is the sixth of
Jupiter’s moons and is
the fourth largest.
It is slightly smaller than
the Earth’s moon.
The surface strongly
resembles images of sea
ice on Earth. There may
be a liquid water sea
under the crust.
Europa is one of the five
known moons in the solar
system to have an
atmosphere.
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EUROPA
Diameter: 3,130 km
 Circles Jupiter at an average distance of
670,900 km
 Probable Structure: ice crust, silicate
interior and possible solid core
 Is rocky, but most is covered with frozen
water
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Ganymede
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Ganymede is the
seventh and largest of
Jupiter’s known
satellites.
Ganymede has
extensive cratering
and an icy crust.
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GANYMEDE
Diameter: 5,270 km
 Orbit Jupiter at an average distance of
1,070,000 km
 Probable Structure: ice crust, convecting
water or soft ice mantle surrounding
silicate core.
 The largest moon of Jupiter and the
second largest in the solar system.
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Callisto
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Callisto is the eighth of Jupiter’s known satellites
and the second largest.
Callisto has the oldest, most cratered surface of
any body yet observed in the solar system.
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CALLISTO
Diameter: 4,850 km
 Orbit Jupiter at an average distance of
1,880,000 km
 Probable Structure: thick ice crust,
convecting water or soft ice mantle
surrounding silicate core
 The oldest of Jupiter’s moon
 Has a highly cratered surface
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OTHER MOONS OF JUPITER
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8 OUTER MOONS – are much smaller,
circle in retrograde direction of the inner,
Galilean moons; orbits are inclined 25 – 28
degrees from Jupiter’s equatorial plane;
could have been asteroids captured by
Jupiter’s gravitational field, or fragments of
two larger satellites that collided with
comets or asteroids.
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OTHER MOONS OF JUPITER
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3 OTHER MOONS – were discovered
during the Voyager 2 probe in 1979; are
timy satellites found closest to Jupiter;
were named 1979 J1 or Adrastea, 1979 J2
and 1979 J
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The rest of the moons of Jupiter were
discovered by the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Society through their
observatory
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Saturn
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Saturn is the second largest planet and the sixth
from the sun.
Saturn is made of materials that are lighter than
water. If you could fit Saturn in a lake, it would
float!
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Rings of Saturn
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Saturn’s rings are not
solid; they are
composed of small
countless particles.
The rings are very
thin. Though they’re
250,000km or more in
diameter, they’re less
than one kilometer
thick.
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Uranus
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Uranus is the third
largest planet and the
seventh from the sun.
Uranus is one of the
giant gas planets.
Uranus is blue-green
because of the
methane in its
atmosphere.
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Neptune
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Neptune is the fourth
largest planet and the
eight from the sun.
Because of the orbits,
from 1979 to 1999,
Neptune was the
ninth planet.
Like Uranus, the
methane gives
Neptune its color.
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Pluto
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Pluto in the past, was
the smallest planet
and usually the
farthest from the sun.
Pluto today has been
demoted and is no
longer considered as
a major planet.
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