Solar System Formation

Your Parents Solar System

st 21

Century Solar System

The 21st Century Solar System

Sun Terrestrial Planets Asteroid Belt Jovian Planets

Kuiper Belt
Oort Cloud

The Solar System: List of Ingredients

Ingredient
Sun Jupiter Other planets Everything else

Percent of total mass

99.8% 0.1% 0.05% 0.05%

The Sun
A middle-aged, average star:
Mostly Hydrogen & Helium 99.8% of the Solar System ~4.6 billion years old

Shines because it is hot:

Surface Temp ~6000 C Mostly Visible, UV & IR light

Kept hot by nuclear fusion in its core:

Builds Helium from Hydrogen fusion. Will shine for ~12 billion years

The Sun dominates the Solar System

Terrestrial Planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars
Earth-Like Rocky Planets Largest is Earth Only in the inner solar system (0.4 to 1.5 AU)

Rocky Planets:
Solid Surfaces Mostly Silicates and Iron High Density: (rock & metal) Earth, Venus, & Mars have atmospheres

The Terrestrial Planets

Mercury Venus (0.055 M) (0.82 M)

Earth (1 M)

Mars (0.11 M)

The Jovian Planets

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune
Largest Planets: at least 15 times mass of Earth. Only in the outer solar system (5 to 30 AU) No solid surfaces (mostly atmosphere) Low density

Gas Giants: (Jupiter & Saturn)

Thick H/He atmosphere, liquid hydrogen mantle, ice core

Ice Giants: (Uranus & Neptune)

Ice/rock core & mantle, thin H/He atmosphere

The Jovian Planets

Jupiter (318 M)

Saturn (95 M)

Uranus Neptune (15 M) (17 M)

Dwarf Planets
Defined by the IAU in 2006 Dwarf Planets:
Ceres: first of the Asteroids, discovered in 1801 Pluto: trans-Neptunian object discovered in 1930 Eris: trans-Neptunian object discovered in 2005 Haumea (trans-Neptunian, suspected) Makemake (trans-Neptunian, suspected)

Dwarf Planets

The Giant Moons

Moon: any natural satellite orbiting a planet or dwarf planet Giant Moons:
Earth: The Moon (Luna) Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, & Callisto Saturn: Titan Neptune: Triton

Many smaller moons, both rocky & icy. Only Mercury & Venus have no moons.

The Giant Moons

Mimas Mercury

Iapetus

Io

Ariel

Umbriel

Moon
Pallas Proteus Miranda

Europa
Hygeia

Tethys Ganymede

Dione

Triton
Titan Vesta

Callisto Ceres

Oberon Pluto Charon

Rhea

Titania

Enceladus

Kuiper Belt
Class of icy bodies orbiting beyond Neptune.
Found only in the outer Solar System (>30AU) Densities of 1.2 to 2 g/cc (mostly ices)

Examples:
Pluto & Eris (icy dwarf planets) Kuiper Belt Objects (30-50AU) Charon, Plutos large moon Sedna & Quaor: distant large icy bodies

Kuiper Belt

Oort Cloud
Spherical cloud of comets.
Extends out to almost 50,000 AU (1 light-year) May contain trillions of comets The outer edge is the farthest reach of the Suns gravitational pull. There are no confirmed observations its existence is theoretical only.

Oort Cloud

The Leftovers (small bodies)

Asteroids:
Made of rock & metal (density 2-3 g/cc) Sizes: Few 100km to large boulders Most are found in the Main Belt (2.1-3.2 AU)

Meteoroids:
Bits of rock and metal Sizes: grains of sand to boulders

Comets:
Composite rock & ice dirty snowballs Longs tails of gas & dust are swept off them when they pass near the Sun.

Asteroids

253 Mathilde

951 Gaspra

243 Ida

Meteor burning up in the atmosphere.

Comet P/Halley

Comet P/Wilt

Is Pluto a Planet?

What to consider? Size? Shape? Orbit? What is it made of?

IAU Definition of a Planet

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) came up with the following definition of a planet:
orbits the Sun has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium shape (i.e., it is spherical), has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, is not a satellite

IAU Definition of a Dwarf Planet

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) came up with the following definition of a dwarf planet:
orbits the Sun has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium shape (i.e., it is spherical), has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, is not a satellite