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The Solar System• 1 star
• 9 8 planets
• 63 (major) moons
• asteroids, comets, meteoroids
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How are planet sizes determined?
Measure angular size on sky,
Then use geometry…..
The distances to planets are known from Kepler’s Laws
(once calibrated with radar ranging to Venus)
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Using angular size to
get actual size
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Masses - determined through observing the gravitational effect of the
planet on some nearby object (moons, nearby planets, satellites)
Density - divide mass by volume
• Planets orbit the
sun counter-
clockwise as seen
from the North
Celestial Pole.
• All planets are in
the same orbital
plane EXCEPT
Mercury and
Pluto.
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Terrestrial Planets
•Mercury, Venus, Earth
and Mars
•Close to Sun
•Small masses, radii
•Rocky, solid surfaces
•High densities
•Slow rotation
•Weak magnetic field
•No rings
•Few moons
Jovian Planets
•Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune
•Far from Sun
•Large masses and radii
•Gaseous surface
•Low densities
•Fast rotation
•Strong magnetic field
•Many rings
•Many moons
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Terrestrial planets
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• Surface of Venus as seen from Venera
probe
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Mercury
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Mars
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Exploration
Spirit and Opportunity- Launched in 2003
Mission was to detect signs of water
Spirit- currently inactive as of 2010
Opportunity- Still functioning presently
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Curiosity
• Launched August 2012:
• Has Detected Hematite On Mars
(indicative of oceans)
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Mission Implications
• Demonstrated the ability to land a very large, heavy rover to the surface of
Mars
• Demonstrated the ability to land more precisely in a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile)
landing circle
• Demonstrated long-range mobility on the surface of the red planet (5-20
kilometers or about 3 to 12 miles) for the collection of more diverse samples
and studies.
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Mars Long term Plans
• Determine whether Life ever arose on
Mars
• Characterize the Climate of Mars
• Characterize the Geology of Mars
• Prepare for Human Exploration
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Future Mars Time Table
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• Venus- Venera 13 Russian Launch
– Fails Minuets after landing
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Jupiter
• JUNO-
•Determine how much water is in Jupiter's atmosphere, which helps determine
which planet formation theory is correct (or if new theories are needed)
•Look deep into Jupiter's atmosphere to measure composition, temperature,
cloud motions and other properties
•Map Jupiter's magnetic and gravity fields- structure insight
•Explore and study Jupiter's magnetosphere near the planet's poles, especially
the auroras and atmosphere
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Saturn Cassini
Exploration of Saturn’s moons and
atmosphere on Saturn
The Huygens probe makes first landing on a moon in the outer solar system
(Titan)
Discovery of active, icy plumes on the Saturnian moon Enceladus
Saturn’s rings revealed as active and dynamic -- a laboratory for how planets
form
Titan revealed as Earth-like world with rain, rivers, lakes and seas
Studies of the great northern storm of 2010-2011
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Jovian planets (and earth)
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OTHER SOLAR SYSTEM
OBJECTS
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Dwarf Planet Qualifications
• Massive enough to be rounded by its own
gravity
• But has NOT cleared its neighboring
region of planetessimals
• Is not a satellite
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Trans Neptunian
• A transneptunian is dwarf planet beyond
the orbit of Neptune
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By the numbers
• Only 5 Dwarf Planets recognized so far
but there may be as many as 100
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Asteroids - rocks with sizes greater than 100m across
Most asteroids remain in the Asteroid belt between
Mars and Jupiter but a few have orbits that cross
Earth’s path.
Three asteroids
hit the Earth
every 1 million
years!
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Known asteroid impact sites
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Asteroid sizes range from 100m to about 1000km
They are composed of carbon
or iron and other rocky
material.
The Asteroid belt is a group of
rocks that appear to have never
joined to make a planet. Why do
we think this?
•Too little mass to be a planet
•Asteriods have different chemical
compositions
It’s all Jupiter’s fault…..
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Meteoroids –
interplanetary rocky
material smaller than 100m
(down to grain size).
•called a meteor as it burns
in the Earth’s atmosphere
•if it makes it to the ground,
it is a meteorite
Most meteor showers are
the result of the Earth
passing through the orbit of
a comet which has left
debris along its path
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Meteor crater near
Winslow, AZ - the
culprit was
probably 50 m
across weighing
200,000 tons!
Meteors are rocky - mainly iron and nickel
Some contain carbonaceous material - rich in organic material
Meteors are old - 4.5 billion years - based on carbon dating
Meteor showers:
Orionid – Oct 21/22
Leonid – Nov 18/19
Geminid – Dec 14/15
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• Asteroids can be large enough to ignore
atmosphere
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Comets
Dirty snowballs - dust and rock in methane, ammonia and ice
Halley’s Comet in 1986
All light is reflected from the Sun - the comet makes no light of its own
The nucleus is a few km in diameter
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•Cometary orbits take them far beyond Pluto
•Many take up to 1 million years to orbit the Sun once!
•Short period comets (< 200 years) (like Halley’s comet)
•Short period comets may have originated in the Kuiper belt
•Kuiper belt comet gets “kicked” into an eccentric orbit, bringing
it into the solar system
•These long period comets probably originate in the Oort cloud
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Jan Oort
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Formation of the Solar SystemAny theory to describe the formation of our Solar System must adhere to these facts:
1. Each planet is isolated in space
2. The orbits are nearly circular
3. The orbits of the planets all lie in roughly the same plane
4. The direction they orbit around the Sun is the same as the
Sun’s rotation on its axis
5. The direction most planets rotate on their axes is the same as
that for the Sun
6. The direction of a planet’s moon orbits is the same as that
planet’s direction of rotation
7. The Terrestrial planets are very different from the Jovian
planets
8. Asteroids are different from both types of planets
9. Comets are icy fragments that don’t orbit in the ecliptic plane
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Our sun and the planets began from a cloud of dust and gas (nebula)
As the cloud contracts under its own
gravity, the Sun is formed at the
center.
The cloud starts to spin and the
smaller it contracts, the faster it spins.
Conservation of angular momentum
Cloud forms a flattened, pancake shape.
Nebular Theory for Solar System formation
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We’ve seen these disks around other young stars!
Beta Pictoris
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Condensation Theory for Planet Formation
The gas in the flattened nebula would never eventually
clump together to form planets.
Interstellar dust (grain-size particles) lies between stars -
remnants of old, dead stars.
These dust grains form
condensation nuclei -
other atoms attach to
them to start the
“collapsing” process to
form the planets in the
gas cloud.
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What happened next…..
A flattened solar nebula disk exists
after cloud spins and contracts
Condensation nuclei form clumps
that grow into moon-size
planetesimals
Solar wind from star formation (Sun
forming) blow out the rest of the gas
Planetesimals collide and grow
Planetesimals form the basic planets
over hundred million years