THE OTHER MEMBERS OF

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

STRUCTURE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• The Solar System consists of the Sun as the Principal

Component.

• The Sun exerts very strong Gravitational attraction

over the planets and the celestial objects that orbit
around it.
• The other planets that orbit the Sun lie near the plane
of Earth’s Orbit called the Ecliptic
INNER SOLAR SYSTEM
• The Inner Solar System includes the FOUR Terrestrial
Planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

• They are referred to as such since they are composed

primarily of Rocks and Metals.
OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM
• The Outer Solar System Consists of the FOUR gaseous
planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

• These planets are composed of Gases like Helium,

Hydrogen, Methane, Carbon Dioxide, Ammonia and
Hydrogen Sulfide.
• Between the Inner and Outer Solar Systems is the
rocky Asteroid belt.

• The Outermost part of the Solar System, which is

beyond Pluto ( A Dwarf Planet ), is the Newly discovered
Region referred to as The
Kepler Belt and the Scattered
Discs.
 Johannes Kepler

In his Law of Planetary Motion,

Describes the Orbit of Planets as
Ellipses rather than Circles.
• Sometimes a Planet is Close to
the Sun; Such Closest Distance
from The Sun is Called
PERIHELION.

• Sometimes a Planet is father

from the Sun; Such Farthest
Distance is called APHELION.
Asteroids
Asteroids, also called miniature planets or planetoids,
are rocky celestial Bodies that vary in brightness, size,
shape, and composition. The term asteroid was coined
by Sir William Herschel who discovered the planet
Uranus. Most of themare situated in the main belt called
asteroid belt which extends from 255 to 600 million
kilometers and situated between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter.
Other Asteroids are located in different fields like the
Centaurs, Oort Cloud, Scattered Disc, and Kupler Belt.
Most asteroids orbit the Sun in the same manner as the
eight planets, but some asteroids have very eccentric
orbits. Their sizes range from dust-like to “Huge
Asteroids” whose diameter could be greater than a
kiloneter or even larger.
Origin of Asteroids

Several theories had been formulated to explain the

origin of the existence of Asteroids,. Wilhelm Olbers, an
amateur astronomers who discovered the asteroid
Vesta, suggested that asteroids were remnants of a
planet that had been shattered by an explosio. This is
know as the Exploded Planet Explanation. The sceond
explanation, know as the failed-planet explanation
contends that the asteroids are leftovers of original
materials that did not form into a planet
Classification of Asteroids

1. Composition

Asteroids fall into Three Categories: C Type, S Type And

M Type. The C Type asteroids are dark Asteroids or
because they are composed of Carbon. Almost 75% of
the asteroids are of this type. They are mostly found in
the outer belt Region (Beyond The Asteroid Belt.)
• 17% of the Asteroids are Classified as S Types Or
Stony.
They are light colored and Composed of a Mixture of
nickel, Magnesium silicates, and Iron similr to the
rocks that composed the earth

• The Remaining percent of the Asteroids belong to

the M Type. M type asteroids are bright asteroids
composed purely of iron and nickel and are
concentrated in the innermost region of the belt.
Orbital Characteristic

Orbital Characteristics refer to the locations where

asteroids revovle (Orbit) in the Solar System.

Asteroids are asteroids that are relatively close to Earth

While Trojans or Trojan Asteroids.
Apollo Asteroid are Asteroids that cross and spend most
of the Time Outside Earth’s Orbit

On the Contrary Atens AsteroidS Cross and Spend most

of the Time Inside Earth’s Orbit

The Asteroids That approach but do not cross the Earth’s

Orbit are the Armor Asteroids
The Trojan Asteroids are located Near Jupiter’s Orbit and
lie within the asteroid belt

The asteroids Hector, Diomedes, Agamemnon, Petrocius

Andd other Asteroids within this region circle the Sun for
12 years
Comets

Comets, sometimes referred to as “Dirty Snowballs” are

found to be mixtures of ice and dust.

The icy part of the comet is composed of water,

methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide

The large Majority of comets originate from the Oort

Cloud (named after Jan Oort, a Dutch Astronomer)
Which Is a large spherical cloud around the orbits of the
planets estimated to be 100,000 AU from the Sun.

Others come from another region closer to the Sun, lying

Roughly near Neptune and some distance beyond Pluto.
This region is called the Kuiper Belt (named after Gerard
Kuiper, an astronomer) which is 30-100 AU

Theoretically, the comets together with the asteroids

from the Oort cloud and Kuiper Belt where comets come
from.
Parts of a Comet

Comet are composed of three parts: Nucleus, coma, and

tail. The solid mass caled Nucleus is composed of ice,
frozen gas, rocks and dust.

A large Bright cloud of dust and gas called Coma

surrounds the Nucleus.

The Tail extends from the Nucleus and has Two

components.
The Dust tail forms as gases and plasma escape from the
nucleus and an ion tail, a long visible, glowing tail that
forms when the comet is near the sun.

The Ion tail forms when the gas and plasma that escape
from the Nucleus interact with the Solar wind.
Orbits of Comets

Most comets have highly elliptical and eccentric orbits.

Eccentric means the orbits are not confined to the plane

of the Solar System.

Comets are thus grouped into two types based on the

shape of their orbits: Short-period and long-period
comets.
Short-Period Comets comeplete their orbits in 200 years
or less,and they make several recorded returns

Halley’s Comet is the most popular and famous short-

period comet.

Long-period comets complete their orbits in more than

200 years, and their pass near the Sun is a once-in-a-
lifetime experience

Hale-Bopp Comet is an example of a long-period comet

Gravitational attractions from nearby stars and nearby
planets can disturb them where they are and cause
theme too e toward the inner solar system from any
direction in space.

As a comet moves from its origin toward the inner solar

system, the Sun heats it outer layers. The heat causes
the small, icy body to melt and evaporate, forming a
very bright coma followed by the formation of the
magnificent and prominent tail.
Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorited

Meteoroids are small chunks of outer space debris that

are attracted by Earth’s Gravity. When it travels at great
speed and vaporizes appearing as a bright streak of light
in the sky. This is called a Meteor or a “Shooting Star or
“Falling Star”. If the meteor survives the the frictional
heating the Earth’s atmosphere and strikes the ground, it
is called a meteorite
Meteorites, like asteroids and comets, are concrete
examples of the left over materials that form our solar
system. Many meteorites have struck Earth, and since
the most of them are small, they caused a very little
damage. However, large meteorites had also struck
Eart’s Surface in the Past. They had exploded when they
hit Earth’s surface, and the blast caused widespread
damage.
THATS ALL THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING