Origin of the Solar System

Spiral Galaxy
Star Birth, Orion Nebula

Beta Pictoris Solar Nebula

Formation of the Universe
 Origin of the Solar System

Historically there have been two competing

classes of hypotheses for origin of the solar
system.

1. Dualistic or Encounter Hypothesis

Le Clerc (Comte de Buffon) in 1745
T.C. Chamberlain in early 20th
century

2. Nebular Hypothesis
Descartes 1644
Immanuel Kant 1755
Laplace 1796
Dualistic Hypothesis
Nebular Hypothesis
 Beta Pictoris is a young
star about 20 million
years old that is located
63 light years away.

The Beta Pictoris disk

appears to be a young
planetary system in the
making. This image
supports the standard
model of solar system
birth, which supposes that
planets accrete from a
Beta Pictoris disk of dust and gas
This false-color image of the disk surrounding Beta Pictoris was surrounding a young star.
obtained at the European Southern Observatory by blocking
direct starlight and imaging the near-infrared light from the disk.
 At the heart of the Orion
Nebula lies a complex of
molecular clouds where
abundant star formation is
occurring today.

The clouds are illuminated by a

flood of ultraviolet light emitted
by four bright stars, collectively
called the Trapezium.

More than 150 protoplanetary

Orion Nebula, giant stellar disks have been found in this
nursery ~1600 light years away mosaic of HST images.
At the center of each
proplyd
(protoplanetary disk)
is a T Tauri star.

The disks surrounding

them are two to eight
times the diameter of
our solar system.
Solar Nebula with Bipolar Outflow
Nucleosynthesis
 Nucleosynthesis

Our Suns fusion only creates He, need red giant for heavier elements.
Chart of the Nuclides
 Nucleosynthesis

Elements heavier than Fe created by s- and r-processes in a supernova

Interplanetary Dust Grain
In this scanning
electron microscope
image, all the minerals,
organic compounds,
and amorphous
materials look the
same. However,
isotopic analysis
reveals that some
components of this dust
actually solidified in
interstellar space long
before our Sun and its
planets formed.
In-falling interstellar gas and dust is focused inward
towards the proto-sun.
Chondrules formed from
melted dust grains that
were flash-heated in the
inner solar nebula.
Planetesimal Growth
Proto-planet Formation
Temperature in the Solar Nebula
The Solar System
 Terrestrial Planets

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Terrestrial Planets
 Giant Planets

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Giant Planets
Habitable Zone in our Solar System
 Midterm #1 EPS 365

10

6
Frequency

0
40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Percent Score
Median 64
Mean 64
 Midterm #1 EPS 365
Normalized to High Score (88% or 29/33)
Blue Value
10

8
C B A

6
Frequency

0
40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Score
Median 73
Mean 72