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11.2 – The Sun and its Planetary Systems

11.2 – The Sun and its Planetary Systems. To be a planet, 3 criteria must be met: Must orbit one or more stars Must be large enough that its own gravity holds it in a spherical shape Must be the only body occupying the orbital path. THE PLANETS.

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11.2 – The Sun and its Planetary Systems

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  1. 11.2 – The Sun and its Planetary Systems

  2. To be a planet, 3 criteria must be met: • Must orbit one or more stars • Must be large enough that its own gravity holds it in a spherical shape • Must be the only body occupying the orbital path THE PLANETS

  3. This distance between planets is SO large that we don’t measure in kilometres! • Astronomical Unit (AU): equal to the average distance between the Sun and Earth (about 150 million km) • Earth = 1 AU from the Sun • Jupiter = 5.27 AU from the Sun

  4. Also known as “satellites” • All planets except Mercury and Venus have 1 or more orbiting companions • Earth’s satellite is named the Moon • More than 150 moons have recognized in our solar system 1. MOONS

  5. Small bodies believed to be leftover remains from the formation of the solar system • Most orbit the Sun in a band between Mars and Jupiter • Can be as small as grains of sand or up to 1000km wide (ex. Ceres) 2. ASTEROIDS

  6. Composed of ice, rock, and gas • Originate from the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud • Can get bumped into the inner solar system • Can see a trail of gas/dust when effected by sunlight 3. COMETS

  7. Objects that circle the Sun beyond Neptune’s orbit • Kuiper Belt • A flat disk of millions of small bodies orbiting the Sun • Believed to be made of fragments of material left over from the solar system’s formation • Dwarfs planets, similar in composition/size to Pluto, orbit in this belt • Believed to be 23 objects in the Kuiper Belt that may be considered planets 4. TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECTS

  8. A spherical cloud of small icy fragments • Located at the farthest reaches of the Sun’s gravitational influence • Believed to be a source of comets • Roughly 50,000-100,000 AU from the Sun 5. OORT CLOUD

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