Lecture 3

28 September 2016

The Solar System

Not to
scale

PLUTO
(Dwarf Planet)

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are the inner planets.

They are also known as terrestrial planets.

NEPTUNE
URANUS

1 star
9 8 planets
63 (major) moons
asteroids, comets,
meteoroids

SATURN
MARS
EARTH
VENUS
MERCURY

SUN

JUPITER

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,

Neptune, and Pluto are
the outer planets.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune are also
known as gas giants or
Jovian planets.
Pluto is a big ball of ice.

Between Mars and Jupiter there is a

large number of rocks orbiting the sun.
Each rock is known as an ASTEROID.
COMETS OR METEOROIDS

This ring of rocks is called the Asteroid

Belt.

Terrestrial Planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth
and Mars
Close to Sun
Small masses, radii
Rocky, solid surfaces
High densities
Slow rotation
Weak magnetic field
No rings
Few moons

Jovian Planets
Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune
Far from Sun
Large masses and radii
Gaseous surface
Low densities
Fast rotation
Strong magnetic field
Many rings
Many moons

Asteroids

Asteroids are either rocky or metallic objects

that orbit the Sun. They are too small to
considered planets but are sometimes called
planetoids.
They can be anywhere from the size of a
pebble (greater than 100m) up to a 1000km
(620 miles) in diameter; the asteroid Ceres is
an example of an asteroid that is this large.
They have been found inside Earths orbit and
all the way out past Saturns orbit. Most
asteroids, however, are located in the asteroid
belt which exists between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter.

They are composed of carbon or iron and other

rocky material.

Asteroid Belt

Meteoroids interplanetary rocky material smaller

than 100m (down to grain size).
called a meteor as it burns in the Earths atmosphere
if it makes it to the ground, it is a meteorite
Most meteor showers are the result of the Earth
passing through the orbit of a comet which has left
debris along its path
Meteors are rocky - mainly iron and nickel
Some contain carbonaceous material - rich in organic
material
Meteors are old - 4.5 billion years - based on carbon
dating

Comets
Comets - small, fragile, irregular-shaped body composed of a
mixture of non-volatile grains and frozen gases.

Components
of Comets

Their orbits are elliptical (oval) or parabolic (U-shaped). The

orbit brings them in very close to the Sun and swings them far
out into space, sometimes out past Pluto.

As comets approach the Sun, radiation from the Sun evaporates

the ice and gases, creating the lone tail. The closer to the Sun,
the longer the tail of the comet. The tail of the comet always
faces away from the Sun because of the solar wind coming from
the Sun.

Nebular Theory for Solar System formation

Our sun and the planets began from a cloud of dust and gas (nebula)

As the cloud contracts under its own

gravity, the Sun is formed at the
center.
The cloud starts to spin and the
smaller it contracts, the faster it spins.
Conservation of angular momentum

Cloud forms a flattened, pancake shape.

Condensation Theory for Planet Formation

The gas in the flattened nebula would never eventually
clump together to form planets.
Interstellar dust (grain-size particles) lies between stars remnants of old, dead stars.
These dust grains form
condensation nuclei other atoms attach to
them to start the
collapsing process to
form the planets in the
gas cloud.

What happened next..

A flattened solar nebula disk exists
after cloud spins and contracts

Condensation nuclei form clumps

that grow into moon-size
planetesimals
Solar wind from star formation (Sun
forming) blow out the rest of the gas
Planetesimals collide and grow
Planetesimals form the basic planets
over hundred million years