THE SOLAR SYSTEM

1. THE SOLAR SYSTEM

3. What is the Solar System ? • Consists of the Sun and celestial objects bound to it by gravity. • 8 planets ,166 moons, 4 dwarf planets and • billions of small bodies, including asteroids, • icy Kuiper belt objects, comets, meteoroids • and interplanetary dust. • Planets orbiting Sun are • Mercury , Venus , Earth , Mars , • Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus , Neptune

4. THE SUN • Star at the centre of the Solar System • The Earth and Celestial objects i.e., planets, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and dust orbit the Sun • Energy in the form of sunlight and heat, supports almost all life on Earth

5. MERCURY • is the innermost and smallest planet in the solar system • orbiting the Sun once every 88 days. • It can only be seen in morning and evening twilight. • first spacecraft to approach Mercury was Mariner 10 • The second was the MESSENGER spacecraft

6. VENUS • is the second-closest planet to the Sun • orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. • Venus reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset for which reason it is often called the Morning Star or the Evening Star.

7. THE EARTH • is the third planet from the Sun. • Scientific evidence indicates that the planet formed 4.54 billion years ago and life appeared on its surface within a billion years. • biosphere has significantly altered the atmosphere and other abiotic conditions on the planet

8. MARS • pronounced is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. • Also known as ‘red planet’ • is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere • rotational period and seasonal cycles are likewise similar to those of Earth. • changes its colour during different season

9. JUPITER • is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. • It is two and a half times as massive as all of the other planets in our Solar System combined. • The planet was known by astronomers of ancient times. • the third brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus.

10. SATURN • is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System. • The planet Saturn is composed of hydrogen, with small proportions of helium and trace elements. • The interior consists of a small core of rock and ice, surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen and a gaseous outer layer. • Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800 km/h, significantly faster than those on Jupiter.

11. URANUS • or is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third-largest and fourth-most massive planet in the solar system. • Sir William Herschel announced its discovery on March 13, 1781, expanding the known boundaries of the solar system for the first time in modern history. • This was also the first discovery of a planet made using a telescope.

12. NEPTUNE • is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. • It is the fourth largest planet by diameter, and the third largest by mass. • its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 Earth masses and less dense. • Unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led astronomers to deduce the gravitational perturbation of an unknown planet. • There only one space craft is able to reach that is voyager 2, on August 25, 1989.

13. STARS • is a massive, luminous ball of plasma. • The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. • Other stars are visible in the night sky. • all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were created by fusion processes in stars. • Astronomers can determine the mass, age, chemical composition and many other properties of a star by observing its spectrum, luminosity and motion through space. • Other characteristics of a star are determined by its evolutionary history, including the diameter, rotation, movement and temperature.

14. THE END THANK YOU By : aaryadevarla