Solar System Formation Solar System Comprised of a star and the planets that orbit the star Binary Two stars at center of system Eclipsing is when one star orbits the other Tertiary Three stars at center What is the name of our star? Sun Solar Nebulas Interstellar clouds made up of gas and dust Building blocks of the solar system Each solar system is recycled from older solar systems Solar Nebula Gravity pulls the mass of the cloud together Pressure pushes the particles away from each other If these forces balance out, nebula will not form solar system Gravity must condense cloud for solar nebula formation Solar System How does gravity overcome pressure? Nebulas crash into each other Star explodes Compression of the cloud Solar Nebula 3 Things happen as Nebula Collapses Heating Temp of Nebula Increases as more collisions occur Spinning Objects closer to center rotate faster Flattening Collisions allow disk to flatten Solar Nebula Accretion Process of growth by colliding and sticking Planetesimals Small pieces of planets Collisions form planets and capture gases Residual dust forms asteroids, ice forms comets Asteroid Belt (Mars), Moons, Pluto?, Kuiper Belt Solar Nebula Based upon Density Heavier objects are near the center of the solar system Less dense objects are further away Where are the rock planets located? Gas Planets? Star Clusters Arrangement of stars in space Open cluster = younger Globular = older Galaxies A huge group of stars, clusters, systems, dust and gas Spiral = extending arms w/ young stars Elliptical = round of flattened ball, old stars Irregular = young stars Quasars = active young galaxies Andromeda = nearest galaxy Ages of Space Universe 14 Billion years old Solar System 4.6 Billion years old Earth 4.55 Billion years old