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Space Flight to the Stars. Celestial Objects. “ Celestial” means sky Objects we can see in the sky such as the Sun, Moon, Earth and other planets are all examples of celestial objects. Solar System.
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Celestial Objects • “Celestial” means sky • Objects we can see in the sky such as the Sun, Moon, Earth and other planets are all examples of celestial objects
Solar System • The Sun together with all the planets and other celestial objects that are held by the Sun’s gravitational attraction and orbit around it.
Inner Solar System • The planets in order from the Sun are: • Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, (Pluto) • You can easily remember the order using this mnemonic device: “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas” • Planets of the Inner Solar System include: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
Outer Solar System • The planets that make up the Outer Solar System are: • Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Other Celestial Objects • Star – a hot ball of plasma; the Sun is a star in which nuclear fusion reactions occur to produce enormous amounts of energy • Asteroid Belt – past Mars there is a region of rocky debris that forms a ring around the Sun • Moons • Comets • Minor Planets - Pluto
Measurements in Space • Astronomical Units – measures distances in space. 1 AU = average distance between the Sun and Earth (about 150 million km) • Light-year (ly) – the distance that a beam of light can travel through space in 1 year. It is about 63 000 AU or 9000 billion km. • At the speed of light you can travel around the Earth 7 times in 1 second!
Stars • Supernova – occurs when a star explodes • Nebula – large cloud of dust and gas; “star nurseries”, because stars develop from their dust and gas