1. THE CREATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM Nina Mascheroni Dylan Hey Shea Anderson

2. Planets that Revolve The closer you are to the sun, the faster you will revolve. Thus, as planets get closer to the sun they change acceleration. Uranus revolves every decade. Every planet revolves counter clockwise.

3. Planets that Rotate Every planet rotates counter clockwise, except Venus because it goes the other way. Outer planets have a faster rotation than inner planets. There is no pattern with rotations in respects to revolutions.

4. Planets that Orbit All planets orbit on an ecliptic plane except Pluto because Pluto is on crack. Pluto is on a 15 degree angle from every other orbit.

5. How old is our solar system? Astronomers think that the solar system was created around 4.6 billion years ago They find out by completing radioactive dating on meteorites on the Earth’s surface Radioactive dating is when scientists compare the different decay rates of different elements in the meteorites and by comparing their ratios, they find the age of the meteorites By studying hundreds of meteorites, scientists have dated the meteorites all the way back to 4.6 billion years ago, thus determining the age of the solar system

6. How was it formed? The solar system formed when a cloud of dust and gas was disturbed by a nearby supernova The energy from the supernova made the cloud start to squeeze itself The cloud started to shape itself into a disc, the middle was very hot and the edges were cool (like a bowl of soup) This caused a solar nebula which made the disc start to spin, as it spun, the particles started to stick together and form the planets and moons Scientists believe that the solar nebula lasted 2 million years The asteroids were formed towards the sun where they could withstand the heat The comets were formed towards the edges where they could withstand the freezing cold Finally, the middle got so hot it formed into a star, the Sun and it blew a stellar wind into the universe that helped pull all the planets, moons and asteroids into orbit of the sun The parts of our solar system are planets, moons, the sun, asteroids, comets and meteorites.

7. What are comets? Comets are icy rock particles that travel through the solar system as remnants of the creation of the universe Comets can be anywhere from the size of a baseball all the way to 1/3 of the size of the moon The number of comets has lessened over time because the comets either crash into other planets, asteroids or each other Comets do not touch the Earth because if they make it through the atmosphere they become meteorites When comets burn up in the atmosphere, they show up as what we call “shooting stars”

8. What are asteroids? Asteroids are small celestial bodies that orbit the sun The largest asteroid is Ceres which has a diameter of 580 miles wide Every year, asteroids are discovered and they are classified by a universal number and they each get their own unique name Most asteroids are in the Asteroid Belt, which is located between Mars and Jupiter, within the asteroid belt, most asteroids travel in groups within the belt Asteroids turn into meteorites when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere

9. What are meteorites? A meteorite is a piece of rock or metal that makes it through the Earth’s atmosphere A meteorite can be as small as a grain of sand and can get up to any size When they break through the atmosphere they leave a bright streak as they burn through it and then they crash onto the Earth Sometimes, a meteorite can travel up to 7 miles per hour Most meteorites are formed from comets or from debris when two asteroids collide Most meteorites land in the ocean and go unnoticed but they can land anywhere on the Earth, most people find them in the desert because they can be most easily found

10. Bibliography www.universetoday.com/15575/how-old-is- the-solar-system/ www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_syste m/formation.html neat.jpl.nasa.gov/neofaq.html www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-asteroid.htm www.nhm.ac.uk/nature- online/space/meteorites-dust/intro- meteorites/index.html