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The Layout

The Layout. Inner Rocky Planets Asteroid Belt Outer Gas Giants Kuiper Belt Oort Cloud. Planets. “Wandering Stars” or “Wanders” (Greek) Discovery of Uranus (1781) and Neptune (1846) Discovery of Pluto (1930) later reclassified as a dwarf planet

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The Layout

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  1. The Layout • Inner Rocky Planets • Asteroid Belt • Outer Gas Giants • Kuiper Belt • Oort Cloud

  2. Planets • “Wandering Stars” or “Wanders” (Greek) • Discovery of Uranus (1781) and Neptune (1846) • Discovery of Pluto (1930) later reclassified as a dwarf planet • Discovery of Eris (2003) later reclassified as a dwarf planet

  3. Planets • International Astronomical Union (IAU) 2006 definition: • a planet is a celestial body that • is in orbit around the Sun, • has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape), and • has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

  4. Rocky Planets • Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars Images: www.nasa.gov

  5. Asteroids • Orbit between Mars and Jupiter • Rocky objects too small to be called planets

  6. Images: www.nasa.gov

  7. Gas Giant Planets • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune Images: www.nasa.gov

  8. Kuiper Belt • Disk-shaped region past Neptune 30-50 AU from the Sun • Similar to asteroid belt, but much larger—20 times as wide and 20–200 times as massive • Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs): Icy “asteroids”

  9. Poor Pluto? Images: http://web.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/dwarfplanets/

  10. Dwarf Planets • A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that • is in orbit around the Sun, • has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, • has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and • is not a satellite. International Astronomical Union (IAU) 2006

  11. Dwarf Planets • Orbits in the Asteroid Belt: • Ceres • Orbits in the Kuiper Belt: • Pluto • Eris • MakeMake • Haumea Image: www.nasa.gov

  12. Comets • “dirty snowballs” • Highly elliptical orbits around the Sun • As they get close to the Sun, the ices “melt” and trail out behind the comet making a “tail” • “tails” always point away from the Sun Image: http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/phonedrmarc/2004_january.shtml

  13. Images: www.nasa.gov

  14. Oort Cloud • Proposed in 1950 by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort • Spherical shell of icy bodies surrounding the solar system • Origin of “long period” comets (200+ years)

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