Name: ______Date: ______Period: ______
PowerPoint Notes – The Solar System
Formation of the Solar System
Most scientists believe the solar system started out as a large ______of gas, dust, and ice, which eventually ______out into the shape of a disc.
1. A ______forced clouds of gas, dust, and ice together.
2. The cloud of matter and gas started to ______faster and faster.
3. The spinning motion flattened the dust to form an accretion disc of dust and ______.
4. As matter, gas, and planetesimals collided in the disc, larger bodies took shape, eventually forming ______.
The star in the solar system eventually has enough compression due to gravity that nuclear ______to begin, and the star starts to burn. Dust and gases continue to be incorporated into the planets, satellites, and star.
The Planets
The Inner Terrestrial Planets
The inner planets are ______and ______. Most of their original gases were burned away by the sun leaving terrestrial masses.
The inner planets are ______, Venus, Earth, and ______.
The Outer (Gas Giant) Planets
The outer planets are ______, Saturn, Uranus, ______.
A gas giant is a massive planet with a ______and a ______or other solid matter.
Gas giants can be subdivided into different types. The "traditional" gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, are composed primarily of ______and ______.
Uranus and Neptune are sometimes considered a separate subclass called ______, as they are mostly composed of water, ammonia, and methane; the hydrogen and helium in Uranus and Neptune is mostly in the outermost region.
Rotation and Revolution
Rotation is the time it takes a planet to ______. It represents the ______(and night) of a planet. All planets have a different rotation time. Revolution is the time it takes a planet to make ______. It represents the ______of a planet. All planets have a different revolution time.
Mercury
Rotation time: ______
Revolution time: ______
Satellites: ______
Venus
Rotation time: ______
Revolution time: ______
Satellites: ______
Earth and Venus are called the “sister planets” because of their similarity in ______. Venus is covered by thick layers of clouds made of ______.
Earth
Rotation time: ______
Revolution time: ______
Satellites: ______
Mars
Rotation time: ______
Revolution time: ______
Satellites: ______
Olympus Mons is the largest ______not only on Mars, but in the solar system.
Asteroid Belt
An asteroid belt is found between ______and ______. Asteroids are small rocky bodies that orbit the sun and range in size from dust to small planets.
The asteroid belt formed at the ______the other planets where forming. Between Mars and Jupiter, however, gravitational disturbances from Jupiter caused the small rock pieces to have too much orbital energy for them to form into a planet. Collisions became too violent, and instead of sticking together, the rock pieces shattered.
Jupiter
Rotation time: ______
Revolution time: ______
Satellites: ______
All of the outer gas giants have ______. Jupiter’s rings are ______and were not visible until the Voyager mission sent back pictures of the planet. Usually the satellites (moons) of the gas giants are ______in the rings. A big debate is due to the particle sizes of the rings. What size constitutes a particle in the ring and when is it considered a satellite?
Jupiter is thought to have approximately ______satellites. The four largest are called the Galilean moons – ______, ______, ______, and ______. These moons were visible by Galileo with his simple ______.
The giant red spot on Jupiter is actually a large ______that is at least ______times larger than the earth.
Saturn
Rotation time: ______
Revolution time: ______
Satellites: ______
Saturn has a very extensive ______. Like Jupiter, most of the planet’s satellites are imbedded within the rings making it difficult to tell how many satellites Saturn actually has.
Saturn has approximately ______moons some of which are imbedded into the rings.
Uranus
Rotation time: ______
Revolution time: ______
Satellites: ______
Uranus has a thin ring system and about ______satellites. Uranus also has a strange axis tilt. It is ______.
Only one space mission has ever flown by Uranus, the ______. Launched in 1973, actually 16 days before the Voyager 1, the probe passed by Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus on a modified version of NASA’s Grand Tour. Nine years later, it successfully reached Uranus. Some of the most important discoveries are: highly inclined magnetosphere, 10 satellites (with more discovered later from the same data) and a ring system.
Neptune
Rotation time: ______
Revolution time: ______
Satellites: ______
Neptune also has a giant atmospheric storm (______) that is about the size of the earth. There is also a smaller white storm called The ______.
Neptune has approximately ______moons. Neptune’s largest moon is ______.
Neptune has a thin ring system that extends much further away from the planet than the other gas giants. One of the rings appears to be ______according to Voyager pictures.
Only one space mission, the Voyager 2, has ever flown by Neptune. Launched in 1973, the probe passed by Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, finally reaching Neptune ______after its launch. Despite a problem with its radio system, Voyager 2 was a very successful launch. All of its experiments acquired useful and interesting information; no equipment malfunctioned. Some of the most important discoveries of Neptune are: a highly inclined magnetosphere, 6 satellites, auroral zones, two new rings, and extensive storms in atmosphere.
Objects Beyond the Outer Planets
The disk-shaped ______is located outside Neptune’s orbit and contains thousands of icy bodies, known as “Trans-Neptunian Objects (______’s)”. Some measure more than 1000 km and some move in highly elliptical orbits.
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-largest known ______in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-largest body observed directly orbiting the Sun. Originally classified as a planet, Pluto is now considered the largest member of a distinct population called the Kuiper belt.
Like other members of the Kuiper belt, Pluto is composed primarily of ______and is relatively small: approximately a fifth the mass of the Earth's Moon and a third its volume. It has an eccentric and highly inclined orbit that takes it from 30 to 49AU (4.4–7.4 billionkm) from the Sun. This causes Pluto to periodically come ______to the Sun than Neptune.
Pluto and its largest moon, ______, are sometimes treated together as a ______system because they orbit around an empty point in space. The IAU (International Astronomical Union) has yet to formalize a definition for binary dwarf planets, and until it passes such a ruling, they classify Charon as a moon of Pluto. Pluto has two known smaller moons, ______and ______, discovered in 2005.
Kupier Belt, Oort Cloud, and Comets
Much further beyond the Kuiper Belt, a vast number of icy ______nuclei form the ______, a spherical halo around the solar system. The comets we observe in the inner solar system originally come from within the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud.
The Oort Cloud extends out approximately 50,000 AU.
Comets are large chunks of ______and ______particles surrounded by ______which originated in the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud and orbit the sun.
A comet’s nucleus can range in size from about 100 meters to more than 40 kilometers across. They are composed of rock, dust, water ice, and frozen gases such as carbon monoxide, ______, methane and ammonia. Because of their low mass, a comet nucleus does not become spherical under its own gravity, and thus have irregular shapes.
As a comet nears the sun, the ______(high energy particles from the sun) will sweep the tail of the comet away from the sun. On occasion, the comet’s tail can be completely swept away.
Halley’s comet is the best-known of the short-period comets, and is visible from Earth every ______years. Halley is the only short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and the only naked-eye comet that might appear twice in a human lifetime. Halley's Comet has probably been in its current orbit for 16,000 to 200,000 years. The comet is due back to Earth on July 28, ______.
Hale-Bopp was arguably the most ______comet of the twentieth century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18months from in 1997.
Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites
Meteoroids are chunks of rock that are ______from the formation of the solar system. A meteoroid becomes a meteor when it enters the earth’s ______and begins to burn. Most meteors are only specks of ______.
When the meteor hits the earth, it is considered a______.
Meteor showers occur when the ______passes through a band of dust. These bands of dust are usually the remains from a recently passed comet. Meteors can happen at any time, but meteor showers occur at ______during the year. These showers are named after the ______which they “appear” to come from.