Our Solar System

Our Solar System

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Learning Objects
What are the major features of the Sun
and planets?
What theory best explains the features of
our solar system?
Determining the age of the Solar System

Our Solar System

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Planets are very tiny compared to

distances between them

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What Hubble Taught Us about The

Planets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w45p3fyhExM

Our Solar System

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Our Solar System

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Notable Features of our Solar System

Motion of Large Bodies
All planetary orbits are nearly
circular and lie nearly in the same
plane
All planets orbit the Sun in
counterclockwise direction as
viewed from high above Earths
North Pole
Most planets rotate in the same
direction in which they orbit. The
Sun also rotates in this direction

Our Solar System

Most of the solar systems large

moons orbit in their planets
equatorial plane in the same
direction that the planet rotates

Notable Features of our Solar System Two

Major Planet Types

Our Solar System

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Most of the Solar Systems planets:

A. Are made of rocks and
minerals
B. Are made of gas
C. Revolve (orbit) around the
Sun in the same direction
D. Rotate in the same direction
as they orbit the Sun
E. C and D

66%

17%
10%
3%
A.

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3%
B.

C.

D.

E.

Which of the following is not a

characteristic of Jovian planets?
A. They all have many moons.
B. They have a higher density than
terrestrial planets.
C. They are larger than terrestrial
planets.
D. They are farther from the Sun
and farther apart from each
other than the terrestrial
planets.
E. They have deep atmospheres
made of hydrogen, helium, and
hydrogen compounds.
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62%

15%
4%

A.

15%

4%

B.

C.

D.

E.

Notable Features of our Solar System

Swarms of Smaller Bodies
Rocky asteroids reside in
Asteroid Belt; icy comets
are found in Kuiper Belt
and the Oort Cloud.

Our Solar System

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Notable Features of our Solar System

Exceptions
Rotational axis of Uranus is ~
90o tilted from the ecliptic

Earths unusually large moon

Neptune has a large moon that

orbits in the opposite direction of
the planets rotation

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Venus rotates backward, etc.

Learning Objects
What are the major features of the Sun
and planets?
What theory best explains the features of
our solar system?
Determining the age of the Solar System

Our Solar System

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What theory best explains the features

of our solar system?
According to the
nebular theory, our
solar system formed
from a giant cloud
of interstellar gas.
(nebula = cloud)

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Conservation of Angular Momentum

Rotation speed of the
cloud from which our
solar system formed
must have increased as
the cloud contracted. It
is the same reason a
skater speeds up as she
pulls in her arms.

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Formation of Circular Orbits

INSERT Formation_Circular_Orbits.jpg

Collisions between gas

particles in a cloud
gradually reduce
random motions.

Collisions between particles in the cloud

caused it to flatten into a disk.

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The spinning cloud flattens as it shrinks

Conservation of Energy

As the cloud
contracts due to
gravity, it heats up.

How did the planets form?

As gravity causes the cloud to
contract, it heats up.

Inner parts of the disk are

hotter than outer parts.

Rock can be solid at much

higher temperatures than ice.
Inside the frost line: Too hot for hydrogen compounds to form ices
Outside the frost line: Cold enough for ices to form
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 Inner parts of the disk are

hotter than outer parts.
Rock can be solid at much
higher temperatures than ice.