Transcript Views of the Solar System

Views of the Solar System
Sun and Planets
Planet
Planet means to wander.
 Planets change position against the
background of motionless stars.
 Planet- the largest object in the solar
system that independently orbit the Sun
 There are 8 known planets in our solar
system.
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Retrograde Motion
The apparent backward motion of a
planet.
 Occurs because Earth is lapping the
planet during its revolution.
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Inner vs. Outer
Planets
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Inner Planet
*small
*close to the sun
*solid surface
*thin atmospheres
*no rings
*few or no moons
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Outer Planets
*large
*far from the sun
*gas surface
*thick atmosphere
*have rings
*many moons
Why are the Inner Planets different
from the Outer Planets?
The solid Inner planets formed near the
Sun because the solar wind drove off
lighter elements.
 The gases pushed away by the solar wind
came together to form the gaseous Outer
Planets.
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What separates the Inner and
Outer Planets?
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Asteroid Beltthousands of rocks
that orbit the Sun
between the orbits of
Mars and Jupiter.
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Earth and Moon
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Saturn’s Rings
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto “the odd ball”
Pluto does not fit into the Outer Planet
characteristics.
 *It is small and solid.
 *Has a moon that is over half its size.
 *A unique orbit.
 *If Pluto was discovered today it would not
be considered a planet.
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Pluto and Charon
Pluto and Its Satellite, Charon
Comets “The Dirty Snowball of
Space”
*They are primarily dust and ice.
 *They have very elongated orbits.
 *As the comet approaches the Sun, some
of the ice gets vaporized producing light.
 *Solar wind then pushes these gases
outwards producing a glowing tail.
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Meteoroids, Meteors and
Meteorites…. Oh My!!!
Meteoroids- fragments of rock or ice
traveling in space
 Meteors- “shooting stars”, are streaks of
light caused by meteoroids passing
through our atmosphere
 Meteorites- a meteoroid that is large
enough to reach Earth’s surface
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Impact Craters
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Large holes left by a meteorite, comet or
asteroid collision with Earth.
*Caused extinction of dinosaurs.
Why are there so few craters on Earth?
1. Erosion
2. Vegetation
3. Plate Tectonics
4. Oceans and Lakes
5. Earth’s Atmosphere
Barringer Meteor Crater
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Barringer Meteor Crater, Arizona diameter: 1.186 kilometers (.737
miles); age: 49,000 years
Chicxulub, Yucatan Peninsula,
Mexico; diameter: 170 km; age:
64.98 million years
Wolfe Creek, Australia
diameter: 0.875 kilometers (.544 miles); age:
300,000 years
Manicouagan, Quebec, Canada
diameter: ~100 kilometers (62 miles); age:
212 million years
Clearwater Lakes Canada: 290mya
West Lake-20 miles diam.
East Lake-13.7 miles diam.
Wolfe Creek, Australia
diameter: 0.875 kilometers (.544 miles); age:
300,000 years
Aorounga, Chad, Africa
diameter: 17 kilometers; age: 200 mya
Bosumtwi, Ghana
diameter: 10.5 kilometers ; age: 1.3
million years