THE SOLAR SYSTEM

AGE: 4.568 billion years

LOCATION: Local Interstellar
Cloud, Orion–Cygnus Arm,
Milky Way
SYSTEM MASS: 1.0014 solar
masses
NEAREST STAR: Proxima
Centauri (4.22 ly), Alpha
Centauri system (4.37 ly)
NEAREST KNOWN
PLANETARY SYSTEM:
Alpha Centauri system (4.37 ly)
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• consists of the Sun

and the other celestial
objects gravitationally
bound to it: the eight
planets, dwarf planets
(Ceres, Pluto,
Haumea, Makemake,
Eris)
and their 165 known
moons.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Origin (solar nebula theory)

• basis of modern theory of

planet formation.
• proposed in 1755 by
Immanuel Kant and
independently formulated by
Pierre-Simon Laplace.
• planets form at the same
time from the same cloud as
the star.
• sun and our solar system
formed ~ 5 billion years ago.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• the sun and solar system

formed from the collapse
of a cloud of gas and dust.
• the cloud was slowly
rotating, so centrifugal
force made it into a disk
transferring matter to the
center.
• Conservation of angular
momentum made it rotate
more quickly.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• instabilities
in the disk
may have
formed smaller
sub-disks
where giant
planets formed
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• dust, rock and ice

condense and stick
together to make small
bodies called
planetesimals.

• heat from the forming

sun only allowed certain
elements to condense
nearby. Ices could only
condense far away.
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 THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Characteristics

1. All of the planets orbit in the

same direction and in the same
plane. (Within a few degrees)
This plane corresponds with the
equator of the sun.
Exceptions: Mercury (7 degrees),
Pluto (17 degrees)
Mercury 0° Venus 177° Earth 23° Mars
25° 2. Most of the planets rotate in the
same direction and have their
equators roughly aligned with the
plane of the solar system.
Exception: Venus rotates in the
opposite direction (retrograde).
Exception: Uranus and Pluto
highly tilted (~90 degrees) with
respect to the plane of solar system.
Jupiter 3° Saturn 27° Uranus 98° Neptune
30°
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THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

3. Orbits of moons
around planets are
in the planet’s
equatorial plane.
Exception:
Earth’s moon
rotates in plane
of the solar
system
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4. Two types of
planets
Small rocky
planets (Mercury,
Venus, Earth,
Mars)
Large gaseous
planets (Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune)
Terrestrial Planets Jovian (Gas Giant) Planets
THE SOLAR SYSTEM