Lesson 2: Origin of the

Solar system
 Lesson Objectives:
1.Identify/ enumerate the members of the solar system

2.Discuss the different hypothesis explaining the formation of

the solar system; and

3.Compare and contrast the different hypothesis explaining

the origin of the solar system.
Introduction
This lesson discusses the origin, members and new
discoveries about the solar system. We will discuss the
hypothesis regarding its origin in terms of claims,
evidences weakness and acceptability of the ideas. We will
also discuss what makes up our solar system such as its
star, planets, planetoids, satellites comets and other stuff.
 A.Engage
Can you identify the names of the planets in the Solar System in order?

Some terms related to solar system formation

Accretion- Accumulation of dust and gas into larger bodies.

Aphelion- The point in its orbit where a planet is farthest from the Sun.

Perihelion- The point in its orbit where a planet is closest to the Sun.

Apogee- The point in orbit farthest from the Earth.

Perigee- The point in the orbit closest to the Earth.

Nuclear fusion- A nuclear process whereby several small nuclei are

combined to make a larger one whose mass is slightly smaller than the sum
of the small ones. The difference in mass is converted to energy by Einstein’s
famous equivalence E=mc2. This is the source of the Sun’s energy and,
ultimately, of (almost) all energy on Earth.

Jovian planet- Any of the four outer, gaseous planets: Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune.

Interplanetary magnetic field (IMF)- The magnetic field carried with the
solar wind.
Satellite- A body that revolves around a larger body.

Siderial rotation – Rotation time measured with respect to the fixed stars
rather than the Sun or body orbited.

Umbra- The dark central region of a sunspot.

Penumbra- The outer filamentary region of a sunspot.

 B.Explore
Let’s talk first some of the important ideas about the planets of the Solar
System
1. Mercury is hot, but not too hot for ice

A planet closest to the Sun have ice on its surface. It’s

interesting to hear, but the ice was found in permanently
shadowed craters, these are areas that never receive any
sunlight. It was believed that comet’s impact created this ice
to Mercury’s surface. As evidence, NASA’s MESSENGER
spacecraft not only found ice at the north pole, but also found
organics, which are indicators of life formation. Mercury is
way too hot and has no air for life as we know it, but it shows
wide distribution of elements across the Solar System.
2. Venus doesn’t have any moons, and we
aren’t sure why.

Mercury and Venus got no moons, well in fact dozens

of these were scattered around the Solar System.
There are about 60 moons in Saturn, however, some of
them were captured asteroids, which may also have
happened to Mars’ two moons. So what made these
planets different? No one can surely explain why
Venus doesn’t have any, but one study showed that it
could have one in the past.
3. Mars had a thicker atmosphere in the past.

There are many conditions happening in the inner solar

system: In Mercury there is no atmosphere, while in Venus,
massive greenhouse effect occurring on its thick surface. A
conducive environment for all living things found on Earth
while a thin layers of atmosphere observed on Mars.
However, evidence of water was found in the channels of
this planet. Atmosphere is required when there is water, that
means Mars has water in the past. But where is it now?
Other scientists said that it is due to Sun’s energy pushing
the smaller or lighter molecules away from its atmosphere
millions of year ago making thinner and thinner over time.
4. Jupiter is a great comet catcher.

Jupiter as the largest planet, It has a greater impact on its

history and about 318 times larger than the Earth you
will realize that any asteroid passing near it will get
caught or diverted to a different direction. Perhaps
planet Jupiter will also be blamed on the massive
showering of asteroids in the Solar system when it was
still young causing craters on the Moon’s face as you can
see it today. Just like what happened on 1994, where
astronomers around the world were disturbed by a rare
sight of a comet Shoemaker –levy 9 which was attracted
by the Jupiter’s gravity and slammed to Earth’s
atmosphere.
5. No one knows how old Saturn’s rings
are

A far like structure that encircle Saturn is made up

of ice and rock debris. Results of telescope images
in 1600s create few confusions: did that planet
have ears, or moons or what? In the later part of
their study, it made to realize that there were
chains of small bodies encircling this gas giant
planet. There is a possibility that a single moon was
tore apart and turn into dust and cloud of the
planet as ring because of its strong gravitational
attraction.
6. Uranus is stormier than we thought.

In 1980, when scientist launch a voyager 2 going to

Uranus, they saw a featureless blue ball and think
that there is no much activities going on this
planet. However, they had gathered data that
showed interesting movement in the southern
hemisphere of the planet. It becomes closer to the
sun in 2007 and recently telescope proving showed
that there are some storms going on. You may ask
if what is really happening in that planet, but it is
difficult to answer by now because there is no
other mission yet scheduled for that planet.
8. You can see Earth’s magnetic field
at work during light shows.

In Earth, we are more concern about natural

calamities like hurricane, but it is non comparable
to what is happening in Neptune. In its highest
altitudes, based on NASA’s report wind blows
more than 1,100 miles per hour (1,770 kilometer
per hour) in other words it is faster than the
speed of light in Earth at sea level. Questions like,
why does Neptune’s wind is so harsh? This
remain a question, considering that the sun’s light
is so little in here.