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Solar System Overview

Solar System Overview. FYI … Distance Not To Scale …. The Sun. At the Center (and we do go around it …..) 99.85% mass of Solar System 92% H / 8% He Source of solar wind and space weather. Inner Planets. “Terrestrial Planets” Rocky Dense Metal cores (iron).

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Solar System Overview

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  1. Solar System Overview FYI … Distance Not To Scale …

  2. The Sun • At the Center (and we do go around it …..) • 99.85% mass of Solar System • 92% H / 8% He • Source of solar wind and space weather

  3. Inner Planets • “Terrestrial Planets” • Rocky • Dense • Metal cores (iron)

  4. Encountered on Aug 28th, 1993 by the Galileo Spacecraft, en route to Jupiter Asteroids Dactyl • “Minor planets” or “planetoids” or “planetesimals” less than 1000 km across • Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter • Occasionally run into Earth and other planets (oops) Ida

  5. Asteroids • Asteroids -> Meteoroid -> Meteor -> Meteorite 1000-10 km -> 10m-100 µm -> space rock trapped by gravity (burning up) -> space rock that actually hits the surface of a planet

  6. Meteoroid fragment discovered in Argentina; on display at the Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada

  7. Barringer Crater (Canyon Diablo) 1.2 kilometers wide 170 m deep ~ 50 000 years ago Used by NASA during the 1960’s to prepare for moon landing Winslow , Arizona

  8. Outer Planets • Large! • Gases and liquids • No solid surface • May have a small solid core • Tumultuous atmospheres - rapid winds, large storms • Rotate relatively quickly

  9. Kuiper Belt • Disk of debris at the edge of our Solar System • Pluto is a KB Object (sorry!) • Source of short-period comets

  10. Oort Cloud • A hypothesized sphere of comets surrounding the inner solar system and the kuiper belt • ~50 000 AU from the Sun • Helps in explaining the regularity of comets within the Solar System

  11. Inner Planets!

  12. Mercury #1, Coffee Bean • Smallest planet (0.4 Earth diam) • Closest to Sun, moves around fastest (88 days) • Surface -173 to 427 ºC • ? Ice Caps – no tilt of axis so poles are cold • No atmosphere • Mariner 3 fly-bys in 1974 and 1975 – 40% of surface mapped

  13. What are these? How did they form?

  14. Venus #2, Large Blueberry • Nearly the same size as Earth (.95) • Slowest rotation of any planet (243 days) • Spins backwards • Surface temp 377 to 487 C • Cloud covered – radar observations • Dry! • Very thick atmosphere mostly CO2 • Surface pressure is 100 times higher than Earth’s • Runaway greenhouse Can see it in the night sky without a telescope!

  15. Why is Venus hotter than Mercury?

  16. Earth #3, Cherry 7900 mile (12756 km) diameter 23.5 degree axis tilt (seasons!) Surface temps –73 to 48 C Thick atmosphere, mild greenhouse effect Liquid water – lots! - at surface Can see it without a telescope!

  17. Geologically active? Core, mantle, crust Magnetic field?

  18. Who Cares About a Magnetic Field? We do!

  19. Aurora Borealis

  20. Aurora Austrailus

  21. Mars#4, Pea 6794 km diameter (4,220 miles) – about ½ of Earth’s 25 degree axis tilt (seasons!) Rotates once every ~24 hours and orbits the Sun once every 687 days Very cold -83 to -33 C (-117 to -27 F) Thin atmosphere, 95% CO2, & 3% N Iron Oxide covers its surface (RED) Two small moons - Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror) Hosting 5 functioning spacecrafts: Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconaissance Orbiter, Mars Rover: Opportunity and Curiosity Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, except at the lowest elevations for short periods Can see it in the night sky without a telescope!

  22. North

  23. South

  24. The Gas Giants

  25. Jupiter #5, Small Cantaloupe • 89,000 miles (143,000 km) diameter – 11x Earth • 2x mass of all other planets combined (318 x Earth); 100 pounds on Earth = 254 on Jupiter • 90% H and 10% He (75/25% by mass) • Methane, water, ammonia, rock • Rocky core – liquid metallic hydrogen – electrical conductor, generates magnetic field • Similar to Solar Nebula

  26. Jupiter • Cloud-tops average = -153°C = -244°F. • 10 hour rotation / 12 year orbit • Fly-bys: Pioneer 10, 11, Voyager 1, 2, Ulysses, Cassini • Orbiter: Galileo – 8 years (recently “visited” the planet), Probe Can see it in the night sky without a telescope!

  27. Storms on Jupiter Giant Red Spot – at least 300 years old 3 x size of Earth Winds up to 400 km / hr “Jr”

  28. Why Doesn’t Jupiter Blow Up?

  29. Saturn #6, Large Orange • 9x the size of Earth • 75% hydrogen and 25% helium • Water, methane, ammonia and "rock“ • Rocky core • Winds up to 500 m / second • -290 F • Rings – 185,00 miles wide / /2 mi thick • Water ice in rings • 56 moons and counting • 11 hour rotation / 29 year orbit • Pioneer / Voyager Fly-by / Cassini/Huygens!

  30. HST image; 1999

  31. False Color Rather chilly in the rings Red: -261 F Blue -333 F Green -298 F Dirty Snow Turquoise= water ice Red = “dirty”

  32. Titan! Clues to Early Earth?

  33. Earth Titan

  34. TitanClues to Early Earth? Average surface temperature –179C Atmosphere of N (>90%), CH4, Ar Hydrocarbon-rich rivers/seas (ethane – C2H6) Water ice Atmosphere 1.5 x Earth

  35. Uranus # 7, Kiwi First planet discovered with a telescope!

  36. Uranus • 4x the size of Earth • 15% H, little helium – mostly ices • Uniform through out; no rocky core • Blue from methane absorption of red light (atmosphere) • atmosphere has mostly hydrogen and helium • 11 rings, 27 satellites • -350 F at surface • 18 hour rotation, 84 year orbit • Spins on an axis inclined almost 90 degrees • Voyager fly-by

  37. Neptune #8, Apricot or nectarine

  38. Neptune • Ices and rock - 15% H and little He • H, He, methane atmosphere (blue!) • Uniform through out; small rocky core? • Had storm “Great Dark Spot” MIA since Voyager 2 • Pretty Good White Spot (Scooter) zipped around every 16 hours…. • 4 Rings – unknown composition • 13 moons • 18 hour rotation / 165 year orbit • Voyager (1989)

  39. PlutoGrain of Rice

  40. Pluto • Diameter - 1,413 miles (2274 km) - 2/3 size of Earth’s Moon • Rotation: 6 1/3 days • Orbit: 248 years highly elliptical • Sometimes is inside Neptune’s orbit (20 yrs) • Light from Sun takes 5.5 hours to reach it • Surface of water and methane ice, frozen nitrogen • When closer to the Sun, heat produces an atmosphere

  41. Is Pluto a Planet? What Makes a Planet a Planet? • Orbits a star • Round • Not a star or a moon • “Cleared Out”/ “Dominates” its orbit

  42. Is Pluto a Planet?

  43. August 24th, 2006

  44. New Horizons:Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission • January 2006 Launch! • July 2015 – Pluto! • 2016-2020 – Kuiper Belt

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