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Exploring the Solar System: A Stellar Perspective

Dive into the Solar System's wonders to gain insights on stars, galaxies, and beyond. Discover size scales, planetary distances, and facts about the Sun. Unveil the mysteries of Saturn, Voyager spacecraft, and more.

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Exploring the Solar System: A Stellar Perspective

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  1. The Solar System in a Stellar Context How can the study of the solar system help us better understand stars, galaxies, etc.

  2. Overview of the solar system Question: where is Saturn, etc?

  3. Size scales in the solar system • Basic unit: 1 meter • 1 kilometer = 1000 meters = 0.6214 miles • Diameter of Earth: 12756 kilometers (~ LA to Sydney) • Closest object in space: Moon, 384,000 km average distance • Most prominent object in astronomy: Sun, 149.6 million kilometers; 1 Astronomical Unit demo

  4. The Earth and Moon in Space

  5. The Terrestrial Planets

  6. The Earth and Mars

  7. Let’s go further out…Jupiter and others

  8. …and further still

  9. The Jovian Planets

  10. The Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn

  11. A piece of Iowa in the distant solar system: the Voyager spacecraft Voyagers launched in 1977; V1 at 103.75 au from Sun, V2 at 83.67 au. Both spacecraft still functioning

  12. Back to inner solar system: the dominant object in the solar system The nearest star

  13. Facts about the Sun • Distance: 149.6 million kilometers = 1.496E+11 meters = 1 astronomical unit • Radius = 695,990 kilometers = 6.960E+08 meters (109 times radius of Earth) • If Earth were scaled to 1 foot globe size, the Sun would extend from goal line to 30 yard line at Kinnick stadium • The Sun, not the planets (including Earth) is the dominant object in the solar system

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