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Formation of Our Solar System

Explore the formation of our solar system using data from the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Learn about planet orbits, rotations, and differentiation, and discover how the solar nebula evolved into our diverse planetary system over billions of years. Engaging images and activities for teacher workshops included.

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Formation of Our Solar System

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  1. Formation of Our Solar System By the Lunar and Planetary InstituteFor Use in Teacher Workshops Image: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

  2. Some data to explain: 1. Planets isolated 2. Orbits ~circular / in ~same plane 3. Planets (and moons) travel along orbits in same direction…. same direction as Sun rotates (counter-clockwise viewed from above) Lunar and Planetary Institute image

  3. Some more data to explain: 4. Most planets rotate in this same direction Mercury 0° Venus 177° Earth 23° Mars 25° Jupiter 3° Saturn 27° Uranus 98° Neptune 30° NASA images edited by LPI

  4. And some more data to explain: 5. Solar System highly differentiated: Terrestrial Planets (rocky, dense with density ~4-5 g/cm3) Jovian Planets (light, gassy, H, He, density 0.7-2) Images: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

  5. How Did We Get a Solar System? Image: LPI Huge cloud of cold, thinly dispersed interstellar gas and dust – threaded with magnetic fields that resist collapse Hubble image

  6. How Did We Get a Solar System? Image: LPI Concentrations of dust and gas in the cloud; material starts to collect (gravity > magnetic forces) Hubble image

  7. How Did We Get a Solar System? Gravity concentrates most stuff near center Heat and pressure increase Collapses – central proto-sun rotates faster (probably got initial rotation from the cloud) Image: LPI

  8. How Did We Get a Solar System? • Rotating, flattening, contracting disk - solar nebula! Equatorial Plane Orbit Direction NASA artwork

  9. How Did We Get a Solar System? • After ~10 million years, material in center of nebula hot enough to fuse H • “...here comes the sun…” NASA/JPL-Caltech Image

  10. How Did We Get a Solar System? • Metallic elements (Mg, Si, Fe) condense into solids at high temps. Combined with O to make tiny grains • Lower temp (H, He, CH4, H2O, N2, ice) - outer edges Planetary Compositions Hubble photo

  11. How Did We Get a Solar System? Inner Planets: • Hot – Silicate minerals, metals, no light elements, ice • Begin to stick together with dust  clumps Image: LPI

  12. How Did We Get a Solar System? • Accretion - particles collide and stick together … or break apart … gravity not involved if small pieces • Form planetesimals, up to a few km across Image: LPI

  13. How Did We Get a Solar System? • Gravitational accretion: planetesimals attract stuff • Large protoplanets dominate, grow rapidly, clean up area ( takes ~10 to 25 My) Image: LPI

  14. How Did We Get a Solar System? Outer Solar System • Cold – ices, gases – 10x more particles than inner • May have formed icy center, then captured lighter gases (Jupiter and Saturn first? Took H and He?) Image: LPI

  15. How Did We Get a Solar System? The Asteroid Belt ? Should have been a planet instead of a debris belt? Jupiter kept it from forming Eros image

  16. How Did We Get a Solar System? Beyond the Gas Giants - Pluto, Charon and the Kuiper Belt objects Chunks of ice and rock material Little time / debris available to make a planet – slower!!

  17. Play Doh Activity

  18. Early in the Life of Planets • Planetesimals swept up debris • Accretion + Impacts = HEAT • Eventually begin to melt materials • Iron, silica melt at different temperatures • Iron sank – density layering Image from LPI

  19. Pause to recall the Play Doh accretion activity But wait, there’s more …. We can differentiate!

  20. When did Our Solar System Form … How do We Know? Image: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

  21. When Did the Solar System Form? • 4.56 billion years ago • How do we know? (evidence for formation) • Lunar samples - 4.5 to 4.6 Ga • Meteorites - 4.56 Ga • Earth – 3.9 (or 4.4 Ga) Lunar meteorite Meteorite photo by Carl Allen

  22. How Do We Know How Our Solar System Formed?

  23. Solar System SamplesMeteorites

  24. Earliest history of Solar System - chemical and physical info about formation and building blocks of planets (rest of stuff was pulled into the Sun or other planets….) Sample Return 1/15/2006 • Stardust Passed through Comet Wild 2 Coma 1/2004 Stardust image

  25. We Can Also Look Around …. Close-up of "Proplyds" in Orion Thanks Hubble! Hubble images

  26. Comets • Dirty snowballs - small objects of ice, gas, dust, tiny traces of organic material

  27. Comet Parts Image credit: K. Jobse, P. Jenniskens and NASA Ames Research Center Nucleus, Coma Dust tail – white, “smoke,” reflects sun. 600,000 to 6 million miles long Ion tail – Solar UV breaks down CO gas, making them glow blue. 10’s of millions of miles

  28. Naming Comets NASA/ JPL image of Comet Halley

  29. Where do Comets Originate?

  30. What’s in a Tail? Image credit: K. Jobse, P. Jenniskens and NASA Ames Research Center

  31. Comet – Planet Interactions

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