Lecture 12: The Solar System…Briefly

1. Lecture 12:The Solar System…Briefly

2. Formation of the Moon- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpOKztEiMqo&feature=related • Formation of our Solar System • Conservation of Angular Momentum • Why are the larger, gaseous planets farther away and the smaller, rocky planets that are closer? • How do we have an estimate of our solar system’s age? • What makes something a dwarf planet? The IAU says it is a celestial body orbiting the Sun a) massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity b) has not cleared its orbit of planetesimals.

3. Collisions dominated the early solar system(What is the key force here?) • dust collects together into planetesimals • planetesimals collect together into protoplanets • Protoplanets gather up left over debris and became planets

4. The solar system formed from a giant cloud of rotating, cold gas and dust called the solar nebula about 4.6 billion years ago

6. The planets formed by the accretion of planetesimals and the accumulation of gases in the solar nebula

7. Which planet formed at the furthest location from the Sun where it was hot enough to boil water ? • Mercury • Mars • Jupiter • Neptune • None of the above

8. How should we categorize the objects in the Solar System?

9. Venus Earth Discuss size of Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury & Moon _______ is nearly same diameter as _______ _____ is about ¼ Earth’s diameter Mercury is smaller than Mars, about size of Saturn’s moon T___ and Jupiter’s moon G_______ ________ is nearly half the Earth’s diameter Mars Moon itan anymede

10. The Sun is the Largest Object in the Solar System • The Sun contains more than 99.85% of the total mass of the solar system • If you put all the planets in the solar system together, they would not fill up the volume of the Sun • 110 Earths or 10 Jupiters fit across the diameter of the Sun How big is the Sun?

11. The Sun has a diameter of approximately 1.4 million kilometers. Roughly how many Earths would fit across the diameter of the Sun? • 10 • 100 • 1000 • 10,000 • 1 million

12. Where are the asteroid belts and what are their names? What is the name of the largest asteroid in the Main Asteroid belt? Discuss the VUP’s. What is the name of the largest asteroid in the Kuiper belt?

13. Main Asteroid Belt

14. How should we divide the Solar System?

15. How should we divide the Solar System?

16. How should we divide the Solar System?

17. How should we divide the Solar System?

18. Mercury Jupiter

19. Mercury Jupiter

20. Brilliant blue Neptune has a giant storm too • Which of these is Earth-like? • Which of these is Jupiter-like? • Or are they the same (both Earth-like or Jupiter-like)?

21. How should we divide the Solar System? By Density?

22. The Inner Planets(Family Portrait)

23. Inner (Terrestrial) Planets • Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Characteristics • Small • Rocky • Very close to the Sun • Have few moons • Have no rings • a central metallic core, mostly iron, the Moon is similar, but lacks an iron core

24. The Outer Planets(Family Portrait)

25. Outer (Jovian) Planets • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranaus • Neptune • Characteristics • Large • Gaseous • Far from the Sun • Have many moons • Have rings • Have magnetic fields • thick atmosphere and a dense molten core

26. The surface of Venus is completely hidden beneath permanent cloud cover

27. The Venusian Surface

28. Venus is covered with gently rolling hills and numerous volcanoes

29. EARTH • The Privileged Planet

30. Mars, as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope

31. Enormous shield volcanoes Valles Marineris is as big as the entire United States of America

32. Ice caps dominate the poles during different times of the year

33. Olympus Mons - the largest volcano in the solar system has a base larger than the state of Arizona

34. Early space probes to Mars found no canals but did find some controversial features

35. Ohio River valley on Earth River channels on Mars Surface features indicate that water once flowed on Mars

37. Viking I Lander Picture from 1976

38. Note the remote-control rover, Sojourner, next to a Martian rock 1999 Picture from the Mars Pathfinder Lander

39. Mars Water/Ice Discovered North Pole only None found on South Pole – only CO2 – dry ice Activities Manual Prather • Offerdahl • Slater

40. The Martian meteorite found in Antarctica has not provided conclusive evidence about life on Mars

41. Most asteroids orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter

42. In general, asteroids are small

43. Asteroid Ida and its tiny moon, Dactyl

44. Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto Enormous Gaseous Far from Sun Separated by large distances Have ring systems Have many moons Outer Planets Outer (Jovian) Planets

45. Inner planets are vastly different than outer planets in terms of orbital distances

46. The Outer Planets(Family Portrait)

47. Jupiter is the Largest of the Gas Giant Planets

48. Besides being the largest planet, Jupiter is probably best known for its GreatRed Spot - a hurricane-like storm that has been observed ever since the invention of the telescope.

49. Jupiter has four large moons and tens of small ones

50. Saturn has the most extensive ring system in the solar system