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Published byEdwin Harrison Modified over 9 years ago
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#5 Introduction to the Solar System
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Just one star Not studying galaxies (billions of stars) or star clusters (millions of stars) yet, only our own solar system. Solar means “sun” so solar system = sun system Sun is a star, and is our only one!
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How to measure something so large? The distance between stars (and galaxies) is HUGE so we measure it in light years. Light Years is the distance light will travel in a year **very important**: a light year is not a time, but a distance! **very important**: a light year is not a time, but a distance!
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Astronomical Units Planets in our solar system are closer together, so we can use AU (Astronomical units) 1 AU=Average distance between the Earth and the sun (lazy scientists) Ex) Mercury is closer to sun (.39 AU) Ex) Pluto is further from sun (39.5 AU)
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The Planets Now have 8 planets orbiting the Sun Orbits are elliptical An ellipse is a shape that can be thought of as a "stretched out" circle or an ovalAn ellipse is a shape that can be thought of as a "stretched out" circle or an oval
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Two major planet groups The planets are divided into two major groups 1. Terrestrial Planets (Inner Planets)1. Terrestrial Planets (Inner Planets) 2. Gas Giants (Outer Planets)2. Gas Giants (Outer Planets) These two groups are separated in the middle by the asteroid belt
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Inner Planets Gas Giants Asteroid Belt
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Terrestrial Planets IIIInner Planets (closest to the sun) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars ““““Terrestrial” = “Land” Rocky (dirt-like and metal materials) Small Dense Few moons No Rings
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Mercury Venus Earth Mars
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MercuryThe Speediest Planet- Travels at 29.7 miles/sec. VenusThe Twin Planet- roughly the same size as Earth and visible from Earth without a telescope EarthThe Home Planet - only planet known to have an atmosphere that sustains life MarsThe Red Planet - an iron surface is blown around by storms Terrestrial Planets
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The Gas Giants OOOOuter Planets (Farthest from sun) Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune MMMMade of gas and liquid HUGE Low densities (Saturn floats in water) Lots of moons All of them have rings
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JupiterThe Giant Planet- All the other planets could be squeezed inside of it! SaturnThe Ringed Planet- has the most (and the largest) rings UranusThe Tilted Planet- orbits on its side NeptuneThe Windy Planet- fiercest winds blowing up to 1400 mi/hr. Blue color, Named for the Roman God of the Sea
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What about poor Pluto? Now considered a dwarf planet 2 nd largest dwarf planet we know of Eris is bigger, Ceres is anotherEris is bigger, Ceres is another Mass is about 1/5 that of our moon Made of Ice and Rock (Very Cold) Orbit is highly elliptical and sometimes dips into Neptune’s orbit
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The Dwarf Planets
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Here’s our solar system........
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So putting it all together.....
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