Our Solar System
Image: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=178
FYI … Distance Not To Scale …
The Sun
• A main sequence star
• At the center of our Solar System
• We go around it (revolution)
• Made of gases
Image:http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03149
Inner PlanetsMercury, Venus, Earth & Mars
• Terrestrial Planets - made of Rock
• Dense• Metal cores (iron)
Images: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=178
Asteroids
Image: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2093
• “Minor planets” or “planetoids” • Large pieces of rock• Asteroid Belt is located between Mars and Jupiter
Outer PlanetsJupiter, Saturn,
Uranus & Neptune
• Large!
• Jovian – made of gases
• Gases and liquids
• No solid surface
• Dangerous atmospheres - rapid winds, large storms
Image: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=178
•Smallest planet
•Closest to Sun
•Moves around the fastest
•No atmosphere
•1 side hot/1 side cold
Mercury
Image: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/ss_tour/slide_2.html
Venus• The same size as Earth
(Earth’s Sister)
• Slowest rotation of any planet
• Spins backwards (clockwise)
• Cloud covered – radar observations (evidence)
• Dry!
• Very thick atmosphere mostly CO2
• Runaway greenhouse
• HOT! CO2 in the atmosphere traps in HEAT Can see it in the night sky
without a telescope!
Magellan image from http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/image5.html
Where Do Atmospheres Come From?
Image from LPI: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/timeline/gallery/slide_33.html
All Planets with Volcanism –Including Earth!
Volcanism - Volcanic action(gases and dust rising intothe air from deep inside earth)
Images from LPI: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/timeline/gallery/slide_17.html and http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/timeline/gallery/slide_47.html
Earth
• Thick atmosphere
• Liquid water
• Humans
• Oxygen
Can see it without a telescope!
•The Red Planet •Very cold• Thin atmosphere•Largest mountain - – Olympus Mons
MarsCan see it in the night sky without a telescope!
NASA image from http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=205 0
Artwork from http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/artwork/emerging_br.html
Outer PlanetsThe Gas Giants: Jovian
PlanetsJupiter, Saturn, Uranus &
Neptune
Image: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=178
Image at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02873
• Gas Giant• Great Red Spot - a giant storm larger
than Earth• Largest planet• Atmosphere – hydrogen & helium
Jupiter
Image from http://pds-rings.seti.org/jupiter/galileo/PIA00657.html
Rings! Rocky particles, no ice
Jupiter Moons
Image from http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2099
Giant Red Spot
Storms on Jupiter
Hubble images of Great Red Spot athttp://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/solar%20system/jupiter/1999/29/image/a/results/20/
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=849
•Gas giant
•High winds
•Rings made of ice and dust
Saturn
Can see it in the night sky without a telescope!
Cassini image at: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1383
Hubble image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/47/image/b/
UranusFirst planet discovered with a telescope!
Images from http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01360
Uranus•Gas giant - mostly ice•Blue from methane •11 rings•Spins on an axis that is tilted to the side (NOT LIKE THE OTHER PLANETS)
Voyager 2 Image from: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01977
Uranus
Hubble Image from: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01280
Hubble Image from: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/solar%20system/uranus/1998/35/image/a/results/20/
Image from: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02245
Neptune
Image from http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02223
Neptune
•Ice and rock
•Blue – from Methane gas
•Has a storm “Great Dark Spot”
•4 Rings
Comets
• Dirty snowballs - small objects of ice, gas, dust, tiny traces of organic material
Image from: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000805.html
Meteoroid/Meteors
• Meteoroid – a small object thought to be the leftover parts of a comet
• Meteor – a bright trail of light that appears in the night sky (also called a shooting star)– Occurs when a meteoroid enters
Earth’s atmosphere
Our Solar System
Photo montage from: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2167