Chapter IV The Solar System

Ancient astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, and
that the sun and all the other stars revolved around the Earth. Copernicus proved that
Earth and the other planets in our solar system orbit our sun. Little by little, we are
charting the universe, and an obvious question arises: Are there other planets where life
might exist? Only recently have astronomers had the tools to indirectly detect large
planets around other stars in nearby solar systems.
What is Solar System?
Solar System - refers to a star and all the objects that travel in orbit around it. Our solar
system consists of the sun - our star - eight planets and their natural satellites (such as
our moon); dwarf planets; asteroids and comets. Our solar system is located in an
outward spiral of the Milky Way galaxy.
Milky Way - is a bar-shaped structure composed of over 400 billion stars. The closest
large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way is the Andromeda galaxy, which is larger at 220,000
light years across. It is 2.7 million light years away.
How did the solar system form?
The solar system is a pretty busy place. Its got all kinds of planets, moons,
asteroids, and comets zipping around our Sun. But how did this busy stellar
neighborhood come to be?
Our story starts about 4.6 billion years ago, with a wispy cloud of stellar dust. This
cloud was part of a bigger cloud called a nebula. At some point, the cloud collapsed
possibly because the shockwave of a nearby exploding star caused it to compress. When
it collapsed, it fell in on itself, creating a disk of material surrounding it. Finally the
pressure caused by the material was so great that hydrogen atoms began to fuse into
helium, releasing a tremendous amount of energy. Our Sun was born! Even though the
Sun gobbled up more than 99% of all the stuff in this disk, there was still some material
left over. Bits of this material clumped together because of gravity. Big objects collided
with bigger objects, forming still bigger objects. Finally some of these objects became big
enough to be spheresthese spheres became planets and dwarf planets. Rocky planets,
like Earth, formed near the Sun, because icy and gaseous material couldnt survive close
to all that heat. Gas and icy stuff collected further away, creating the gas and ice giants.
And like that, the solar system as we know it today was formed. There are still leftover
remains of the early days though. Asteroids in the asteroid belt are the bits and pieces of
the early solar system that could never quite form a planet. Way off in the outer reaches
of the solar system are comets. These icy bits havent changed much at all since the
solar systems formation.
In fact, it is the study of asteroids and comets that allows scientists to piece
together this whole long story.
What can we find in Solar System?

The solar system consists of the Sun and those bodies orbiting around it: 9 planets
and their satellites, countless asteroids and comets and the vast interplanetary medium.

Sun - The sun is a star, a hot ball of glowing gases at the heart of our solar
system. Its influence extends far beyond the orbits of distant Neptune and Pluto.
Without the sun's intense energy and heat, there would be no life on Earth. And
though it is special to us, there are billions of stars like our sun scattered across the
Milky Way galaxy.

Facts about the Sun

- contains 98 percent of the mass of the entire solar system
- 4.5 billion years old
- made mostly of hydrogen and helium
Nikolai Copernicus (1543) believed that the sun is the center of our solar system,
this is called as the heliocentric model, named after the Greek god Helios.
The Planets - They were all part of a big cloud of gas and dust. Gravity collected lots of
material in the center to create the sun. The left over stuff swirled around the forming
sun, colliding and collecting together. Some would have enough gravity to attract even
more gas and dust, eventually forming planets.
Characteristics of Planets
- it has to orbit around the sun
- it must be big enough to have enough gravity to force it into a spherical shape
- it must be big enough that its gravity cleared away any other objects of a similar size
near its orbit around the Sun.
2 Distinct categories base on their density
- the inner or Terrestrial planets have rocky compositions and densities greater than 3
grams per cubic cm.
Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

- the outer or Jovian planets are large objects with densities less than 2 grams per cubic
cm.
Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Mercury - is the smallest planet in our solar system. Its just a little bigger than
Earths moon. Mercury is one of the rocky planets. It has a solid surface that is
covered with craters. It has a thin atmosphere, and it doesnt have any moons.
Mercury takes 59 Earth days to make one full rotation. It completes one revolution
around the sun in just 88 Earth days.

Venus - Even though Venus isn't the closest planet to the sun, it is still the hottest.
It has a thick atmosphere full of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and clouds
made of sulfuric acid. Venus looks like a very active planet. It has mountains and
volcanoes. Venus is similar in size to Earth. Earth is just a little bit bigger. Just like
Mercury, Venus doesnt have any moons. Venus is unusual because it spins the
opposite direction as Earth and most other planets. And its rotation is very slow. It
takes about 243 Earth days to spin around just once. Because it's so close to the
sun, a year goes by fast. It takes 225 Earth days for Venus to go all the way around
the sun. That means that a day on Venus is a little longer than a year on Venus.

Earth - Our home planet Earth is a rocky, terrestrial planet. It has a solid and
active surface with mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. Earth is
special because it is an ocean planet. Water covers 70% of Earth's surface. Our
atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe.
A day on Earth lasts a little under 24 hours. One year on Earth lasts 365.25 days.
That 0.25 extra means every four years we need to add one day to our calendar,
we call it a leap day in a leap year. We have one moon called Luna, were the only
planet to have just one moon.

Mars - is a cold desert world, it is a terrestrial planet, it is small and rocky. It is half
the size of Earth. Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet. It's red because of rusty
iron in the ground. Like Earth, Mars has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes,
canyons, and weather. It has a very thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, and argon. Mars has two moons, their names are Phobos and Deimos.
One day on Mars lasts 24.6 hours. One year on Mars is 687 Earth days.

Jupiter - is the biggest planet in our solar system. Jupiter is a gas giant made
mostly of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter has a very thick atmosphere. Jupiter has 50
confirmed moons and 17 unconfirmed moons. One day on Jupiter goes by in just 10
hours. One year on Jupiter is the same as 11.8 Earth years. It is covered in swirling
cloud stripes. It has big storms like the Great Red Spot, which has been going for
hundreds of years. Jupiter also has rings, but they're too faint to see very well.

Saturn - Saturn isnt the only planet to have rings, but it definitely has the most
beautiful ones. Saturn has a lovely set of seven main rings with spaces between
them. Saturn is a gas giant like Jupiter. One day on Saturn lasts 10.7 hours. One
year on Saturn is the same as 29.5 Earth years. Saturn has a thick atmosphere.
Saturn has 53 moons.

Uranus Uranus is an ice giants (instead of a gas giant). Uranus was discovered in
1781 by William Herschel in Great Britain. It is mostly made of flowing icy materials
above a solid core. Uranus is surrounded by set of 13 rings. Uranus has a thick
atmosphere made of methane, hydrogen and helium. One day on Uranus lasts a
little over 17 hours. One year on Uranus is the same as 84 years on Earth. Uranus

is the only planet that spins on its side. Uranus spins the opposite direction as
Earth and most other planets. Uranus has 27 moons.

Neptune - Neptune is dark, cold, and very windy. Neptune is the coldest planet in
solar system. It's the last of the planets in our solar system. Neptune is very similar
to Uranus. It's made of a thick soup of water, ammonia, and methane over an
Earth-sized solid center. Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen, helium, and
methane. The methane gives Neptune the same blue color as Uranus. Neptune has
six rings, but they're very hard to see. One day on Neptune goes by 16 hours. It
has a long journey around the sun it takes 164 Earth years to go around once.
Neptune was discovered in 1846 by Urbain Le Verrier, John Coach Adams and
Johann Galle. Neptune has 13 moons and one unconfirmed moon.

Asteroid, Comet and Meteors

Asteroid - a small rocky body orbiting the sun. Large numbers of these, ranging in
size from nearly 600 miles (1,000 km) across (Ceres) to dust particles, are found
(as the asteroid belt ) especially between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, though
some have more eccentric orbits, and a few pass close to the earth or enter the
atmosphere as meteors.

Comet - A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the
Sun, heats up and begins to outgas, displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and
sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are due to the effects of solar radiation
and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet.

Meteor - A meteor, known colloquially as a "shooting star" or "falling star", is the

visible passage of a glowing meteoroid, micrometeoroid, comet or asteroid through
the Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air
molecules in the upper atmosphere,[8][20][21] creating a streak of light via its
rapid motion and sometimes also by shedding glowing material in its wake.
Meteors typically occur in the mesosphere at altitudes from 76 to 100 km (47 to 62
mi).[22] The root word meteor comes from the Greek meteros, meaning "high in
the air .
NASA - stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA was
started in 1958 as a part of the United States government. NASA is in charge of
U.S. science and technology that has to do with airplanes or space.
What Does NASA Do?
NASA does a lot of different things. NASA makes satellites. The satellites help
scientists learn more about Earth. NASA sends probes out into space. NASA
scientists study things in the solar system, and even farther away. A new program
will send humans to explore asteroids, Mars and beyond. People at NASA work on

ways to make air travel better for everyone on Earth, too. People at NASA also
share the things they learn with others. This can help make life on Earth better.

Reference/s:
NASA. July 11, 2016. NASA Space Place Explore Earth and Space!. Retrieved from
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/
Dunbar, B. (NASA). July 11, 2016. NASA Kids Club. Retrieved from
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html#.V4iKSbZ97VQ
NASA/JPL. 2016. Solar System. Retrieved from
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system
Clifford, T. (n. d.). Space. Lets Explore Science. (pp. 1-30). China. Rourke
Publishing.
Prepared by:
Veronica T. Nabuab