The Solar System

1. Part 1: Solar System Formation The Solar System

2. How long would it take to drive? (The famous ‘are we there yet?’ question….)

3. How long would it take to ‘beam’?At the speed of light (300,000km/s or 186,000 mi/s)

4. The Solar System • Includes our sun, its planets, and all the other objects that revolve around the sun.

5. The Nebula Theory • The Nebula Theory of Formation states that the solar system began as a huge cloud of dust and gas called a nebula, which later condensed to form the sun and its eight planets. Artist's concept of a protoplanetarydisk; NASA

6. The Nebula Theory • About 5 billion years ago heavy elements from a nearby supernova became part of the nebula that would become our solar system. • The slowly spinning nebula began to collapse as the shockwave created by the supernova disrupted it. Artist's concept of a protoplanetarydisk; NASA

7. The Nebula Theory • Gravity pulled matter toward the center of the nebula. • As the matter condensed the nebula spun faster, gradually transforming the cloud into a disk shape. Artist's concept of a protoplanetarydisk; NASA

8. The Nebula Theory • The protosun at the center finally became so massive and hot that nuclear fusion began as hydrogen began to fuse into helium; our sun was born. • But the process continued… Artist's concept of a protoplanetarydisk; NASA

9. The Nebula Theory • As they spun around the new star, gases and other matter continued to be gathered into clumps by gravity. • Small clumps gradually joined with other clumps to form larger clumps; the largest became protoplanets. Artist's concept of a protoplanetarydisk; NASA

10. The Nebula Theory • Protoplanetsnear the sun became so hot that most of their lightweight gases burned away leaving only metals and rocky materials. • These became the inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. (left to right in picture) Source: NASA

11. The Nebula Theory • Protoplanetsfarther from the sun retained their lightweight gases and became very large. • These are now the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. From top to bottom: Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter (not to scale) Source: NASA

12. The Nebula Theory • Smaller clumps of matter around the planets became satellites, or moons. • Some smaller clumps became dwarf planets. • Other smaller clumps became asteroids, primarily found in the region of space between Mars and Jupiter known as the asteroid belt. This composite image shows the comparative sizes of eight asteroids. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JAXA/ESA

13. The Nebula Theory • Beyond the farthest planet it is believed that icy matter formed a huge spherical cloud and that this is where many comets originate. An image of Halley's Comet taken June 6, 1910. From The Yerkes Observatory