Solar System Overview
Facts about our Planetary System
Goals & Outcomes
• Learn some simple astronomical nomenclature/terminology.
• Learn about some problems astronomers and astrophysicists
are trying to solve, and understand the methods scientists are
using to try to solve these problems
• Develop a sense of what scientists know about the overall
universe, its constituents, and our location
• Understand the link between the composition and location of
the constituents in the solar system
• Compare the characteristics of the planets and major moons of
the Solar System
• Compare and contrast the terrestrial, jovian, and uranian
planets.
• Explain the climatic conditions of the inner planets
Sun
• __________ of solar system’s mass
• __________________________________
– Universe: ____________________________
• ______ powered: ___________________
– ____________________________________.
• Sunlight  most ____________________
in solar system
• __________________ comes off the Sun.
– _____________________, fast.
– Causes _____________________________
• aurora borealis/australis
– Affect atmospheres, electronics, magnetism
• Sun ______________________________
Sun
The picture shown to the
right is taken using the
Hydrogen 3  2 transition
(red colored, called H-alpha
Solar System (cont)
•
•
•
•
The Sun is ________ of the solar system.
Everything else is ___________.
“_________________”
If we were really learning the solar system,
you’d only learn ___________________!
Finding patterns
See also page 210
• Examine motions of the planets to look for
trends. We’ll examine 3 properties:
– __________________________________”
– Planet’s ____________________________
– ________________________________ orbit)
• In graphs that follow, I called the ______
_______________ because it’s like the
inner planets.
• The book left Pluto out. ___________
these graphs so you can see why Pluto is
no longer a planet.
California Elementary School
Science Standards for solar system
•
From California Science Standards, grade 5
– Students know the Sun, an average star, is
the central and largest body in the solar
system and is composed primarily of
hydrogen and helium.
– Students know the solar system includes
the planet Earth, the Moon, the Sun,
eight other planets and their satellites,
and smaller objects, such as asteroids
and comets.
•
Satellites = moons
California Elementary School
Science Standards for solar system
•
And from the high school standards:
–
–
–
–
Students know the evidence indicating that the planets
are much closer to Earth than the stars are.
Students know the Sun is a typical star and is
powered by nuclear reactions, primarily the
fusion of hydrogen to form helium.
Students know the solar system is located in an outer edge
of the disc-shaped Milky Way galaxy, which spans 100,000
light years.
Students know galaxies are made of billions of stars and
comprise most of the visible mass of the universe.
•
Not true anymore. Most visible mass seems to be located in the
center of galaxy clusters.
Inclination of orbits
• Pattern
• Exceptions
Orbit tilt relative to Earth
(degrees)
• Implication
Planet orbit inclination
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Planet Number
7
8
9
10
Tilts of planets
• Pattern
Planet's Tilt
• Implication
Tilt (degrees)
• Exceptions
200.0
150.0
100.0
50.0
0.0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Planet Number
7
8
9
10
Orbit Eccentricity (how elliptical)
• Pattern
• Implication
• Exceptions
Eccentricity (0 = circle)
Planet Eccentricity
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Planet Number
7
8
9
10
Summary of Motions (p. _____)
• Orbits – _____________________________
• Orbit Directions – __________________, most in the
_________________________________________
• Rotations – ____________________________, also
_________________________________________
• Most moons’ orbits line up with planets’ rotation
• Motions are very organized. What does that tell us?
– ______________________________________________
• What about Pluto?
• More clues come from planets…
Finding patterns
• Examine characteristics of the planets to look
for trends.
– Location
• Further planets should be …
– Size
– Density
– Reflectivity
• We’ll discuss other traits with a scary table.
• Start with location: pages 210-211, or bottom
of any page: 214-223. What do you see?
Temperatures & distances
Predictions based
on the distance to
the Sun.
Planet Temperatures
Predicted Average Temperatures
• Pattern
Observed daytime temperatures
800
• Implication
Temperature (K)
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
• Exceptions
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Planet Number
7
8
9
10
Sizes -- radius
• Pattern
Planet Radius
80000
• Implication
Radius (km)
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
• Exceptions
0
1
2
3
3.5
4
5
Planet Number
6
7
8
9
Sizes -- Mass
• Pattern
• Exceptions
Planet Mass (Earth = 1)
• Implication
Planet Masses
1000.000
100.000
10.000
1.000
0.100
0.010
0.001
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Planet Number
7
8
9
10
Densities of planets (what is density?)
Planet Density
• Pattern
• Implication
Density (g/cc)
6
5
4
3
2
1
• Exceptions
0
1
2
3
3.5
4
5
Planet Number
6
7
8
9
Reflectivity (Albedo)
• Pattern
Planet Reflectivity (Albedo)
Percent
• Implication
• Exceptions
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Planet Number
7
8
9
10
Planet characteristics
• Here comes the long chart
• Summary of the major trends / differences
2 types of planets
Characteristic
Location
Temperature
Spacing
Size & mass
Outside composition
Interior
Density
Summary
Moons
Rings
Magnetic field
Rotation rate
(see also pages 224-225)
Calif. Elementary School Science
Standards for atmospheres
•
From California Science Standards,
grade 5
– Students know that the Earth's
atmosphere exerts a pressure that
decreases with distance above
Earth's surface and that at any point it exerts
this pressure equally in all directions.
•
So pressure INCREASES with
depth.
Terrestrial planets
All “nine” planets
Sun & planets
Asteroids, Meteoroids, and Comets
Leftovers
• Asteroids – __________________________.
– Radius = ________________________ or less
– Most in the ______________________
• Between _______________________________
• ________________ – ____________________
– __________________________________________
– ______________ – _________________________
• Also called: shooting stars, falling stars. They’re _________!
– ______________ – __________________________
• Comets – ____________________________
– Frozen except when _______________.
– Tails ______________________________________
– Two locations: ___________________________ &
______________________________________
Brief History of Solar System
formation
• Based on the patterns we saw…
• Orbits & rotations tell us…
– Solar system formed from a ______________
rotating cloud of _____
• Sun formed. Everything else is ________.
• _________________________________
__________ formed from these ________.
• ___________________ formed from the
_______________________________.
• Stay tuned to chapter 8 for more details.
Largest Bodies in Solar System – memorize
these (not necessarily in order). In order:
You will also need to memorize the “parent” object and one thing about each
moon that’s unusual.
Features of the worlds
• The next few slides give a BRIEF
description of each world.
N
o
d
a
t
a
Mercury
Small planet orbiting a big star.
November 8, 2006
•
•
•
•
Mercury
_______________ planet
_______________ planet (except ___________)
_____________________________ orbit
_________________________________________
– ______________________________________________
• ___________________________
• ________________________________________
– Caused by ______ rotation, caused by ________.
– 1 year has _____ days.
• Hard to see because __________. Visited ____ so far
– Messenger launched in 2004.
– Took neat pictures earlier in 2008, 2009. Search APOD or Photojournal.
– Orbits in 2011.
• Made mostly of _______________
– Most _________________________
– ___________________________
Venus
Rotation Movie
Venus
• ____________ size _____________________
• _______________________. 1 year = __ days
• ________________. (____ Earth’s pressure = ______
underwater)
• ___________________ – _______________
with visible light
• ___________________
– ________________________________________
– ________________________________________
• _________________ – active? All ________?
• ________________________features.
– Why “like”?
Earth and The Moon
Earth
• ____________________ Terrestrial planet
• _______________ terrestrial planet rotation.
1 year = 365 days
• __________________ planet
• Only atmosphere with _________________
___________] and ____________________
• ___________________________ on surface
• ___________________________ surface
– __________________________________
• Some _____________________ causes…
– ___________________________________
• ____________________________________
Rotation movie
Mars
Mars
•
•
•
•
Size: _____________ radius. ________Earth’s mass.
___ rotation. ________________. 1 yr = 668 “sols” ( = 686 Earth days)
_____ atmosphere (___) – _______ on top of ______
_________________________________
– Probably ___________________. (Where is asteroid belt?)
•
•
•
•
•
Gets ______________________ … new spacecraft!
_______________, but ______________________!
Visited with _______________ of robot spacecraft
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Mars news: hot off the press!
• Discovered in Jan 2009:
– Mars “belched” (released) significant amounts of
methane (CH4) in 2003.
– Solar UV light destroys methane
– The observed methane must be CURRENT
biological OR geological activity. Don’t know which.
• More studies are coming. Stay tuned!
• Show QuickTime methane movie in My Pics 
Mars
Jupiter
Show the New Horizons rotation QuickTime movie!
Jupiter
• ________________________________ & 300x MEarth
• Density = 1.3 g/cc (barely sinks in water)
• ____________________________________ interior.
– Gas ____________________________________________
• Like all Jovian planets (& Sun): primarily __________.
• _____________________ from Sun.
– _______________!
• _______________ = _________________________,
_____________size of Earth!
• ___________________. You know all about them…
• That’s enough…
Saturn
Show the Cassini ring movie!
Saturn
• _______________. Weigh the ________ Earth!
• Counting rings, 30x REarth =
________________
– _________________________. Others hard to see.
• Rings = _____________ dust-sized to buildingsized. Average _________________________
– ________________________________________
•
•
•
•
Density = 0.7 g/cc (_____________________)
______________________________________
10 AU away. That’s _____________________!
____________________. Lots of small moons.
Uranus
Uranus
•
•
•
•
Pronounced YUR-uh-nus
_________________ radius, 15x Earth’s mass
20 AU away. Colder. 1 year = 84 Earth years.
_____________________________________,
______________ (makes it look blue).
• _______________, probably from _________
– Unusual ________________ from 98 degree tilt
• ____ big moons, but has _____ (also “on side”)
• Only visited by ____ spacecraft (___________)
• ____________________________________,
_______________! (Magnetic north near “LA”)
Neptune
Neptune
• Similar to __________________________________
__________________________________________
• Like Uranus, _______________________________.
• __________________________ based on deviations
in Uranus’ orbit. Observed soon afterwards.
• 1 Neptune year = 165 Earth years.
– Hasn’t had one full orbit since discovery (1846)
• Also only visited by Voyager 2
• ______________ large moon: ______________
• ___________ (past tense) a Great Dark Spot.
Disappeared around 1994. (Was seen in 1989)
• All Jovian planets have _________________.
Pluto &
Pluto-like
worlds
Pluto-like worlds
• Currently called “dwarf planets” ______________
– _______________look like nearby (Kuiper belt) comets
– There are 1000+ Kuiper Belt Objects similar to Pluto
– Pluto is no longer biggest one. Eris (2005). New, even
bigger, one coming in the news very soon.
• Pluto facts:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Size: ____________ REarth and 0.2% of MEarth
Orbits in ___________________. Discovered in 1930
Distance 30-50 AU. ______________________________.
Knew about 1 moon (Charon). Discovered 2 more!
Charon/Pluto __________________________________.
_______________________. New Horizons flies by in 2015.
Section 7.3 – spacecraft visits
• We have sent many spacecraft to the
planets & Moon.
• Any questions?
Summary
• Things that will be on the test:
– What Sun made of, its power source, solar wind
– What the similarities of the planets are (motions)
• Exceptions usually have explanations
– Differences between Terrestrial & Jovian planets
– What are asteroids, comets, meteoroids?
– 17 largest objects, “parent”, 1 neat fact for each
– Other major characteristics of the planets
• Not everything on each planet PowerPoint slide is “major”
– MAKE FLASHCARDS to study.
– Can bring a handwritten notecard, as always.