Chapter 8

The Solar System

How was it formed• The Nebular Theory• Started as nebula about 5 billion years ago

– Composed of hydrogen and helium• Nearby supernova sent shock waves

through galaxy– caused gases to be pulled inward– supplied new elements

• Shrank to a spinning disk –10 billion kilometers across

• Gravity heated center to protostar - the sun

How was it formed

• Other matter spun around the new sun• gathered into clumps- protoplanets• Near the sun the light weight gases boiled

away– Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

• In those far away the gases did not boil away– Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune– the gas giants

How was it formed

• Around the protoplanets smaller clumps formed moons or satellites.

• Pluto is thought to be a moon of Neptune that broke away.

• Asteroid belt- clumps of rocks between Mars and Jupiter

• Jupiter’s gravity stopped a planet from forming• Oort Cloud- Near the edge clumps of matter-

home of comets.

The Origin of the Moon Giant Impact Hypothesis

A very large body crashed into the Earth. Debris from the impact made a moon.

• 4.6 byr ago -- Moon formed, possibly due to collision of Earth and a large, Mars-sized object.

• If Earth already differentiated, most material expelled would be mantle material, not iron core

• Rock at impact heated, losing volatile elements

• Some debris falls back to Earth, some forms Moon.

• Earth and Moon each pulled back into spherical shape by gravity.

Why Do We Think This?

• The moon has no iron– Earth’s iron had already

concentrated in the core by the time of the impact

– The iron core of the impactor melded with that of the Earth, leaving the moon with no iron of its own

• The moon and Earth share isotopes of oxygen that are not found on other planets or objects far from Earth

Surface Features on the Moon

Two types of Surfaces– Highlands

• More heavily cratered surface is older.

– Maria (“Seas”)• Less heavily cratered

surface is younger.

What causes tides?

2 Bulges from Gravitational Attraction & Centrifugal Force

Gravitational Attraction

• All masses are drawn to each other.• The moon because of its closeness to

the Earth exerts a greater gravitational effect on the Earth than the Sun, despite the fact that the Sun is much more massive than the Moon.

Centrifugal Force

• unequal masses of Earth and Moon – center of rotation lies beneath the Earth’s

surface.

• second tidal bulge– ocean shifts away from center of rotation

Special Features of the Planets

• Mercury

• Many Craters– no atmosphere– no erosion

• Slow rotation makes it hot and cold

Venus• Thick atmosphere of

carbon dioxide

• Sulfuric acid clouds

• Greenhouse effect– carbon dioxide traps

heat.– Makes Venus hotter

than Mercury

• Retrograde rotation - rotates backward

Mars

• Red planet- covered by iron oxide (rust)

• Mons Olympus -

• Largest volcano in the solar system

• Two ice caps– north - water -never melts– south -carbon dioxide

melts in summer

Two moons of Mars

PhobosDeimos

Jupiter

Jupiter

• Largest of the gas giants• Huge storms - red spot• Small solid core• Liquid metal layer makes a huge magnetic

field• Magnetosphere• Gives off more heat than it receives from the

sun• Thin ring

16 moons

• 4 seen by Galileo helped change science

Saturn

• Similar to Jupiter

• Clouds, magnetosphere, gives off heat

• Rotates in 10 hours - makes it bulge in the middle and flat at the poles

• Low density- would float in water

Saturn

• Many rings– complex system– made of water– weave in and out

Saturn

• Many moons -

• Titan- the largest is like the early Earth.

Uranus

• Twice as far from the sun as Saturn.

• Covered with ocean of superheated water

• Tilted on axis• Rings of methane ice• Many moons

Neptune

• Like Uranus• Hydrogen and

helium atmosphere

• Surface of water and methane

• Rings made of dust

• Eight moons

Triton

• Large moon

• Thought to be captured

• Retrograde revolution

• out of plane of Neptune’s rotation

Pluto• Moon sized• Made of methane • Pink atmosphere on

the sunny side• Moon Charon 1/2 the

size of Pluto• Scientists think it is a

moon broken away from Neptune– Orbit crosses

Neptune– Orbit not in plane

with other planets

The Sun• An average star

• Over 1 million earth’s would fit inside

• 1/4 the density of the Earth

• made of 4 layers

Corona- Outermost layer•Temp-1,700,000ºC•Few particlesChromosphere-middle of atmosphere•Temp-27,800ºC•1000’s of km thick

Photosphere-•Temp-6000ºC•550 km thick•Surface of the sun

Core-1,000,000ºC

15,000,000ºC

Activity on the Sun

• Storms on the sun• Prominences- Loops or arches of gas that rise

from the chromosphere• Solar Flares- Bright bursts of light, huge

amounts of energy released• Sunspots- Dark areas on the suns surface• in the lower atmosphere• Motion shows the rotation of the sun• Interferes with radio

Meteorites

• Leave a crater where they hit the ground

• Meteorite Crater in Arizona

• Evidence of meteorites from the moon and from Mars

Comets

• Chunks of dust and gas from the Oort Cloud that orbit the sun

• When it gets close to the sun it gets hotter

• Some of the gas and dust form a cloud around the head called the coma

• Solar wind pushes the gases away from the sun and make the tail

• Tail is pushed by the solar wind• Tail always points way from the sun

Solar wind

Nucleus

Coma

Tail