Objective 05/9/2012 Describe how the solar system formed. Intro How do you think our solar system formed? DO NOW - Check and Hand in Missing Assignments!
Solar System
Solar System Solar nebula Solar system A small part of a nebula where the clouds of gas and dust create our solar system Consists of a star (or stars) with planets and other objects orbiting around it
Solar System Formation of our solar system Solar nebula begins to collapse Gas and dust particles begin to collide to create planetismals (tiny planets) Planetismals grow larger to become planets
Solar System Sun begins nuclear fusion and remaining gases and dust particles are blown out of the system
Solar System Rocky planets Gas planets The denser, heavier dust particles and planetismals “sink” towards the Sun’s gravity creating the four rocky planets The lighter, gaseous particles did not “sink” easily towards the Sun and created our gas planets
Solar System Order of Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
Solar System Asteroid belt Chain of large rocky objects orbiting the sun Between Mars and Jupiter Believed to have once been a planet trying to form, but Jupiter’s strong gravity prevented its creation
Solar System Why is Pluto not a planet anymore? All the planets keep their same orbital positions Pluto’s orbit brings it closer to the Sun than Neptune All the planets are on the same plane Pluto’s plane is either above or below the planetary plane
Solar System Why is Pluto not a planet anymore? (continued) All dense, rocky material is closer to the Sun and lighter, gaseous material farther away Pluto is dense and rocky, but it’s farther out than the gas planets Beyond Pluto there are hundreds of other Pluto-like objects If we call Pluto a planet, than we must call all the hundreds of other objects planets too
Solar System So what is Pluto? Dwarf planet 2 theories Moon of Neptune that got bumped out of Neptune’s orbit Giant asteroid that was captured by Sun’s gravity
Solar System Beyond Pluto Oort cloud & Kuiper belt Cloud of icy, rocky objects that surround our solar system in all directions Comets originate here
Objective 05/9/2012 Describe how the solar system formed. Outro After going over the facts, do you believe Pluto should still be considered a planet? Why or why not?