Our Solar System

Rebecca HaywoodCentral Michigan University

EDU 290

Our Solar System

• Our Solar System consists of:-the Sun -8 planets and their moons -dwarf planets -asteroids-Kuiper belt objects -Oort Cloud -comets -meteoroids -interplanetary dust

The Sun

• The largest object in the solar system

• Contains 99.8% if the Solar System’s total mass

• 4.6 billion years old• It’s strong gravitational

pull holds all the planets in orbit

The Planets

• 8 total• Mars, Venus, Earth, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn,

Uranus, Neptune• Two categories– Terrestrial Planets– Jovian Planets

The Terrestrial Planets

• “Earth-like”• Mars, Venus, Earth, and Mercury

The Jovian Planets

• “Jupiter-like”• Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

Moons

Terrestrial Planets• Mercury- 0 moons• Venus- 0 moons• Earth- 1 moon• Mars- 2 moons

Jovian Planets• Jupiter- 63 moons• Saturn- 61 moons• Uranus- 27 moons• Neptune- 13 moons

Asteroids

• Rocky, metallic objects that orbit the Sun

• Too small to be considered planets

• Can range in size from 1,000 km to the size of pebbles

• Most asteroids are found in the Asteroid Belt– Between Mercury and

Jupiter

Comets

• Made of frozen gas and frozen water• Invisible except when near the Sun• Their orbits take them far outside the orbit of

Pluto• Most are located in the Oort Cloud

Meteoroids

• Little chunks of rock and debris in space• Become meteors (shooting stars) when the fall

through a planet’s atmosphere. • Chunks that hit the ground are called

meteorites

Interplanetary Dust

• Formed in the chemical reactions of interstellar molecular clouds

• Nitrogen and deuterium enrichments

References• http://www.aerospaceguide.net/solar_system/index.html • http://space.about.com/od/solarsystem/ss/visualtourss.htm• http://

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/environment_earth_universe/astronomy_space/revise2.shtml

• http://www.universetoday.com/50287/terrestrial-planets/• http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/aklypin/WebSite/new_page_10.htm• http://www.solarviews.com/eng/asteroid.htm• http://nineplanets.org/comets.html• http://

solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Meteors• http://presolar.wustl.edu/work/idp.html