SES4U-B

Lesson

Structure of the Solar System

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revised January 25, 2012

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Lesson 5

Introduction
The universe is a big place, as you discovered in Unit 1. The distances to the stars, even
the nearest ones, are so great that people may never visit them. The local neighbourhood,
howeverthe solar systemis much more accessible, and the first steps toward exploring it
have been taken, both with probes and by sending people into earth orbit and to the moon.
For thousands of years, the planets have been a source of mystery and fantasy. No one knew
what they were made of or whether anything lived on them. But the planets are only part of the
story. As you will learn, there is much more to it. Besides the planets, there are asteroids and
comets, dwarf planets and giant moons, and clouds of dust, ice, and small rocks extending so
far outward that no one has been able to see them yet. Looking at the bigger structure of the
solar system allows for a better understanding of how it formed in the first place and how it
works now.

Planning Your Study

You may find this time grid helpful in planning when and how you will work through this
lesson.
Suggested Timing for This Lesson (hours)
Structure of the Solar System

Properties of Solar System Objects

Moons

Key Questions

What You Will Learn

After completing this lesson, you will be able to

explain the composition of the solar system and describe the characteristics of each
component

identify and explain the classes of objects orbiting the sun

identify the factors that determined the properties of bodies in the solar system

compare earth with other objects in the solar system with respect to properties such as
mass, size, composition, rotation, magnetic field, and gravitational field

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Structure of the Solar System

The solar system is the group of objects gravitationally dominated by the local star, the sun
(also called Sol). These objects include the planets, their moons, and asteroids and comets. The
arrangement of these objects within the solar system is not random, but structured by the way
the solar system was formed. In this section you will examine the layout of the solar system. In
later sections you will focus on the characteristics of each class of object within it. As so much is
known about the planets, an in-depth tour of the planets will be covered in Lesson 7.
The solar system is much bigger than just the area defined by the orbits of the planets. It
extends far outward into a cloud of dust and gas called the Oort cloud. This cloud contains the
remains of the material left over when the sun formed (Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1: The Oort cloud surrounding the sun defines the outer boundary of the solar system.
Source: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The solar system is layered into a series of zones surrounding the sun, like the layers of an
onion. You will briefly explore each zone, starting with the outermost, the Oort cloud. The
zones, arranged in order of farthest out to closest in:

Oort cloud

Kuiper belt

Jovian planets

Asteroid belt

Terrestrial planets

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The Oort cloud and Kuiper belt are sometimes called trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). You
will learn the characteristics of TNOs later in the lesson.

The Oort Cloud

The Oort cloud is perhaps the strangest, most mysterious, and most controversial part of the
solar system. In fact, theres a debate in the astronomical community as to whether the Oort
cloud even exists since it has never been seen directly. In 1950, Dutch astronomer Jan Oort
(pronounced ort) hypothesized that a large collection of ice dust and comets surrounded the
sun at an extreme distance from it (Figure 5.2). These bodies are so far away, about 5000 to
50 000 AU from the sun (up to one light year), that direct observation of them is very difficult.

Figure 5.2: An artists conception of the Oort cloud surrounding the sun. It defines the outer boundary of the
solar system.
Source: Wikimedia Commons. Azcolvin429. Reproduced under the GNU Free License.

Oort proposed the existence of this cloud to explain the presence of comets that appear very
rarely and with strange orbits, indicating that they are not in regular orbit around the sun.
He also proposed that the cloud is spherical in shape, instead of being flattened into a disk,
as is the case with most other zones in the solar system. The Oort cloud may also lie beyond
the reach of the solar wind, the stream of particles and ions continually ejected from the suns
surface. This means bodies in the Oort cloud, such as comets, could potentially act like time
capsules, preserving the mixture of elements and compounds present during the solar systems
formation.
Even though the Oort cloud has never been directly observed, there is a lot of theoretical
support for its existence. This happens quite often in science, where an object or process is
predicted by theory before it is observed in fact. A good example of this is the atom. Single
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atoms have been observed only in the past few decades since the invention of the electron
microscope. Theoretical justification for the existence of atoms, however, reaches back to the
early 1900s to Ernest Rutherfords gold-foil experiment, and Niels Bohrs work establishing
electron orbits.

The Kuiper Belt

The next major structure inward from the Oort cloud is the Kuiper belt (rhymes with hyper).
The existence of such a group of objects had been suggested by several astronomers before
Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper wrote about it in 1950. Its existence was confirmed in 1992.
The Kuiper belt stretches from roughly 30 to 55 AU (Figure 5.3). It encompasses the orbits
of Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto, and contains mostly ice particles of methane, ammonia, and
water. The particles are occasionally clumped together into larger objects called comets.

Figure 5.3: The dots represent relatively large ice objects in the Kuiper belt. Most lie in orbits beyond the planet
Neptune.
Source: Wikimedia Commons. Reproduced under the GNU Free License.

Like most zones in the solar system, the orbital planes of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) are close
to the plane of the solar system, forming a flat disk of spinning material orbiting the sun. It is
hypothesized that the Kuiper belt, along with the Oort cloud, is a source of objects that become
comets. Orbits of KBOs range from the nearly circular to elliptical (Figure 5.4). The geometry
of elliptical and circular orbits will be explored in more detail in Lesson 6.

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Two foci of the ellipse

Orbiting
object
Sun

Circular orbit

Sun

Elliptical orbit

Figure 5.4: Circular and elliptical orbits compared.

Some KBOs have highly elliptical orbits, which indicates that the ellipses two foci are very far
from each other. As a result, they sometimes travel very close to the sun and at other times
very far away from it. The highly eccentric orbits of these objects are caused by the influence of
Neptunes gravity on them. Astronomers call the group of KBOs with elliptical orbits scattered
disc objects (SDOs). Most KBOs have stable, nearly circular orbits that are not disturbed by the
gravity of Neptune, with only the SDOs showing unstable orbits.
Both the KBOs and SDOs are part of a category of objects smaller than planets that some
astronomers call trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Figure 5.5 shows some of the largest TNOs,
and their moons (if applicable), with the earth shown at the bottom for a comparison of size.

Figure 5.5: Size of eight of the largest known TNOs in relation to earth.
Source: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (ST Scl).

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The Case of Pluto

The solar system was until recently thought to contain nine planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto. By 2006, enough evidence had been
gathered about Plutos size and orbit to cause astronomers to drop it off the list of planets and
reclassify it as a dwarf planet (the largest KBO).
Just as with the Oort cloud and the atom, the existence of Pluto was theorized before it was
found. In the early 1900s, an American astronomer, Percival Lowell (Figure 5.6) was obsessed
with finding Planet X, whose existence he predicted based on the effect it was having on
Neptunes orbit.

Figure 5.6: Photograph of Percival Lowell (18551916) taken in 1904.

Source: J.E. Purdy/Library of Congress.

Plutos approximate position was calculated by examining irregularities in Neptunes orbit. This
indicated to Lowell where in the solar system to hunt for it, but it was a large area. Pluto was
finally observed in 1930, after Lowells death, by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, at an
observatory Lowell built primarily for the search for Planet X (Figure 5.7).

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Figure 5.7: An artists impression of Plutos surface showing a thin, volatile atmosphere of methane, its largest
moon, Charon, and a distant faint sun in the sky.
Source: Creative Commons Attribution. ESO/L. Calada

The discovery of Pluto made international headlines and even led to the naming of a famous
Disney cartoon dog. Since then, Pluto has been observed by telescopes on earth and in space.
Pluto has four moons, the last two of which were discovered in 2005 by the Hubble Space
Telescope. Its largest moon, Charon, is almost as large as Pluto itself (Figure 5.5).
As the details of Plutos orbit and composition were better understood over the next decades, it
became clear that it did not exactly fit the description of a planet:

Its orbit is much more elliptical than those of the other planets; sometimes it is closer to the
sun than Neptune, other times it is much farther away (its closest approach is 30 AU, and
its farthest retreat is 49 AU).

It is made primarily of ice.

Its orbit is tilted 17 to the orbital disk of planets around the sun, giving it a tilt larger than
any other planet (Figure 5.8).

30 AU
17

Pluto

Neptune

49 AU

Figure 5.8: Plutos orbit is tilted by 17 relative to the plane of the orbits of the other planets, such as Neptune.
Plutos orbit is also more elliptical than any other planets.

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The tilt of Plutos orbit suggests that it may not have formed from the same disk of material
as the other planets. If it had, then it would orbit within the same flat disk as the rest of the
planets. For these reasons, a scientific debate emerged whether to downgrade the status of Pluto
from a planet to something else.

Definition of a Planet
Pluto is no longer recognized as a planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Its
designation as a planet became controversial in the 1970s when it was discovered to be very
small (only 20% the mass of the earths moon) and that it shares its orbit with other large
objects. After much debate, Pluto was reclassified in 2006 as a dwarf planet, not a real planet.
This debate also led to a new definition of a planet. In 2006, the IAU formally defined a planet
as a celestial body

in orbit around the Sun

massive enough for its self-gravity to pull itself into a sphere

with a large enough gravitational pull to be able to clear its orbit of any other objects

Since Pluto had not cleared all the objects out of its orbit, it failed the planet test. The IAU
decided to create a new category of objects, called dwarf planets, that satisfy the first two of
the three points listed.

Jovian Planets
The eight true planets in the solar system can be divided into two broad categories: Jovian and
terrestrial (Table 5.1).
Planet similar to

Informal names

Formal name

Jupiter

gas giants, outer planets

Jovian planets

Earth

rocky planets, inner planets

terrestrial planets

Table 5.1: Categorization of solar system planets

The Jovian planets (Jovian means like Jupiter) are the large, mostly gaseous planets that
include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These planets orbit in the outer solar system,
in the zone between the outer edge of the asteroid belt (3.2 AU) and the Kuiper belt (30 AU)
(Figure 5.9).

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Kuiper belt
Neptune
Uranus
Saturn
Jupiter
Asteroid
belt
Inner solar
system

Figure 5.9: The four Jovian planets orbit outside the asteroid belt and just inside the Kuiper belt. (Diagram is not
to scale.)

Asteroid Belt
The asteroid belt is a band of material that surrounds the planets of the inner solar system
(Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars). It lies in a ring from 2.2 AU to 3.2 AU out from the sun
(Figure 5.9). It represents the dividing line between the Jovian and terrestrial planets. This
belt is made up of a very diffuse band of objects, called asteroids, ranging in size from a grain
of sand up to almost 1000 km across. Most are made of rock or metal. Though widely spread
out, there is not that much material in the asteroid belt. In fact, the total combined mass of all
asteroids is only about 4% of the mass of the moon.
The first asteroid discovered, Ceres, was found by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801.
It is the largest asteroid found so far, and is probably the largest object in the asteroid belt
(Figure 5.10). In fact, it is so large that it has been formed into a spherical shape by the force of
its own gravity.

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Figure 5.10: Ceres, the first asteroid discovered, as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. At almost
1000 km across, it is about a third of the diameter of the earths moon.
Source: NASA, ESA, J. Parker (Southwest Research Institute), P. Thomas (Cornell University), and L. McFadden (University of Maryland,
College Park).

The first really close-up look at an asteroid in space came in 1991 when the Galileo spacecraft
flew close by Gaspra, a large asteroid about 18 km across. This was the first asteroid to be
examined closely by a space probe. Close-up photography revealed it to be a dense rock
pockmarked with small impact craters (Figure 5.11).

Figure 5.11: Gaspra, a typical asteroid, is about 18 km at its longest dimension. This close-up picture was taken
by the Galileo spacecraft in 1991.
Source: NASA.

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Terrestrial Planets
The four terrestrial planets (from the Latin terra, meaning earth) are the innermost planets
in the solar system. They are called this because they are similar to earth in terms of size and
because they are made of rock, not of gas or ice like the Jovian planets. The terrestrial planets
are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (Figure 5.12).

Figure 5.12: The terrestrial planets, arranged in order of their position from the sun (left to right): Mercury, Venus,
Earth, and Mars.
Source: NASA.

The orbits of the terrestrial planets are fairly close to circular, with one major exception.
Mercury has an orbit that is the most elliptical (eccentric) of any planet. Recall that an elliptical
orbit means that the planet will vary in its closeness to the sun. At its closest approach to the
sun, called the perihelion, Mercury is only 0.31 AU away. At its farthest distance from the
sun, called the aphelion, Mercury is 0.47 AU away (Figure 5.13). (A mnemonic device used to
remember the difference between aphelion and perihelion could be A for away, P for pretty
close. Feel free to make up your own, however.)

Figure 5.13: Mercurys elliptical (eccentric) orbit. The depiction of the ellipse is exaggerated to
make it more obvious.

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Small Solar System Bodies

As you have learned, the small objects in the solar system have a variety of names, including
asteroids, KBOs, SDOs, TNOs, and Oort cloud bodies. To simplify things somewhat, small
solar system bodies (SSSBs) was created as an umbrella term to cover all these objects. To
astronomers, comets are the most interesting of these bodies because of what they can tell about
the early solar system.

Comets
Occasionally, a bright, fuzzy star-like object appears in the night sky, sometimes with a
dramatically long tail (Figure 5.14). Throughout history, the appearance of a new comet in the
sky was seen as a sign from the gods that a tragic event was about to happen, such as the death
of a monarch, an earthquake, or a plague.

Figure 5.14: A photograph of Halleys Comet taken in 1986, the last time it passed close to earth.
Source: NASA/W. Liller.

Today it is known that comets are not messengers from the gods but are large dirty snowballs.
You will learn more details about the properties of comets in the next section. Their irregular
occurrence is due to their very eccentric orbits around the sun. For example, the most famous
comet, Halleys Comet, has an orbital period of 75.3 years that is very eccentric. Its distance
from the sun ranges from 0.59 AU at perihelion (inside Venus orbit) to 35 AU at aphelion
(outside Neptunes orbit) (Figure 5.15).

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Neptune

Uranus

Halley
s
Comet

Saturn

Jupiter

Figure 5.15: The orbit of Halleys Comet around the sun is highly eccentric and very long.

Support Questions
Do not send your answers in for evaluation.
1.

Summarize the differences between the Oort cloud and the Kuiper belt by filling in the
following table.
Attribute

Oort cloud

Kuiper belt

Existence proven
Distance from sun
Exposure to solar wind
Shape

2.

Why is Pluto no longer considered a planet?

3.

What planets are found in the zone between the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt?

4. a) Why is the orbit of Mercury called eccentric?

b) What does it mean when astronomers say Mercury has reached its perihelion?

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Make a general sketch of the solar systems regions using concentric circles to show the
general location of each region. Be sure to include each of the following:

terrestrial planets

asteroid belt

Jovian planets

Kuiper belt

Oort cloud

Keep this diagram, as you will work on it further in Support Question 7 in the next
section.
There are Suggested Answers to Support Questions at the end of this unit.

Properties of Solar System Objects

In this part of the lesson, you will briefly survey the physical properties of the main solar
system objects: TNOs, Jovian planets, asteroid belt, and terrestrial planets. Since the sun
gravitationally dominates all the objects in the solar system and is the main source of energy,
it is no surprise that it has a large influence on the physical properties of the objects that orbit
it. (Note: In Lesson 7, you will examine the planets in more detail and take a tour of the solar
system using an online gallery.)

Trans-Neptunian Objects
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) include bodies in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. These
objects are so distant and small, only a few have been directly observed, so their properties are
not entirely known. Two of the best known TNOs are Pluto and comets.

Pluto
The TNO that has been observed most closely, the dwarf planet Pluto, is apparently made
mostly of ice, with a rocky core. Note that the term ice here applies to more than just solid
water: other ices are involved, such as methane and other hydrocarbons. These are normally
found as gases on earth, but exist as solids at the extremely low temperatures (40 K to 50 K)
typically found on TNOs such as Pluto.

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Figure 5.16: A proposed cross-sectional view of Pluto, which includes the best information available up to 2006:
1) thin layer of frozen nitrogen and methane; 2) thick layer of ice; 3) rocky core that occupies slightly more than
half of Plutos diameter.
Source: Wikipedia. Reproduced under the GNU Free License.

Comets
The Kuiper belt and Oort cloud are likely the sources for objects that become comets
(Figure 5.17).

Figure 5.17: The comet Hale-Bopp travelled close to earth in 1997, giving some observers spectacular views.
Source: Wikimedia Commons. Reproduced under the GNU Free License.

The current theory to explain the presence of comets in the inner parts of the solar system is
that, because of random gravitational interactions between bodies beyond Neptune, a comet
will occasionally be launched into the core of the solar system from these far-off zones at
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the outer limits of the solar system. So far, a comet has not yet been observed making a trip
from beyond Neptune to the inner solar system, so the theory has not been proven, but all the
evidence so far indicates that the theory is correct.
Comets are made up mostly of water ice, and some other frozen gases, under a layer of
dust. Many different organic molecules have been found in comets. You will learn why this
is important in Lesson 8 when you study the origin of life in the solar system. As a comet
approaches the sun, the frozen gases vaporize as it warms up and these gases are blown away by
the solar wind. The vapour blowing off the comet is called its tail. There are actually two tails,
but you usually need a telescope to see both. The one seen with the naked eye is thicker because
it is composed of dust and fine sand. It curves slightly away from the sun in response to the
solar wind. The other tail is usually thinner and so is hard to see. It is composed of ions from
the vaporized gas and always points straight away from the sun. Regardless of which way the
comet is moving, both tails always point away from the sun (Figure 5.18).

Figure 5.18: The path of a comet around the sun. Note that both tails always point away from the sun, regardless
of the direction of motion. The yellow tail represents the dust while the blue tail represents the ions of vaporized
gas, which are most affected by the solar wind.
Source: NASA.

Jovian Planets
The four Jovian planets are the largest in the solar system, with Jupiter being the largest of them
all (Figure 5.19).

Figure 5.19: A comparison of the size of the Jovian planets in relation to the sun. From left to right: Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The sun is the large object behind them.
Source: NASA.

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The Jovian planets contain similar elements and have a similar structure to the sun, suggesting
they were formed by nearly the same process. The dynamics of the formation of the solar
system will be examined in detail in a later lesson, but the main point to remember here is that
the Jovian planets can be thought of as failed stars. That is because they did not achieve the
minimum mass needed to generate the temperature required for fusion to begin, which is about
13 times the mass of Jupiter.
All Jovian planets share the following general features:

relatively large mass (between 14 and 320 times the mass of the earth)

relatively large diameter (four to 12 times the diameter of the earth)

no solid surface, just thick atmospheric gases of steadily increasing density with depth

made of mostly hydrogen and helium, with other elements and compounds present

dozens of moons, ranging from several kilometres to several thousand kilometres in

diameter

ring systems that consist of dust-grain-sized to house-sized pieces of ice and dust (Saturn
has the most prominent and famous rings)

orbits within two degrees of the plane of the solar system (called the ecliptic)

show swirling cyclonic storms that exist for tens or hundreds of years (Jupiters Great Red
Spot, Neptunes Great Dark Spot)

The four Jovian planets can be divided into two pairs based on their compositions: Jupiter and
Saturn, and Uranus and Neptune.

Jupiter and Saturn

Jupiter and Saturn have similar compositions because of their similar large sizes. Both
have small rock or metallic cores and are covered with a thick layer of hydrogen, which is
compressed due to the strong force of gravity (Figure 5.20).
Outer atmosphere
Atmosphere (hydrogen gas)
Mantle (liquid metallic hydrogen)
Core (metal of rock)

Figure 5.20: A cross-sectional view of Jupiter. The internal structure of Saturn is nearly identical.
Source: NASA/R.J. Hall.

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The thick layer of hydrogen is compressed so much by gravity that it acts like a metal, meaning
it can flow around the core and, as it flows, atoms are stripped of their electrons. This produces
electricity, which also generates a strong magnetic field. In these two planets, the magnetic
fields are extremely strong, giving rise to the polar auroras seen on them (Figure 5.21). These
auroras are similar to the northern lights, or aurora borealis, seen in Canada.

Figure 5.21: A colour-enhanced view of Saturns southern lights, or aurora, visible around its south pole (indicated
by the white arrow). The lights are produced by the intense magnetic field interacting with the solar wind.
Source: NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (ST Scl).

Uranus and Neptune

Uranus and Neptune are smaller, so their structure is somewhat different from that of Jupiter
and Saturn (Figure 5.22). The main difference is that Uranus and Neptune contain water,
ammonia, and methane ices in addition to hydrogen.

Figure 5.22: A cross-sectional view of Uranus. Neptune is similar in structure.

Source: Wikimedia Commons. Reproduced under the GNU Free License.

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A second difference is that they get less heat from the sun and so their atmospheres are a bit less
dynamic than those of Jupiter or Saturn. Uranus also has one unique feature: its axis of rotation
is tilted 90 to the ecliptic, which means its poles point toward (or away from) the sun. This sets
up large temperature differences between its hemispheres.
As you will learn later in the unit, during the formation of the solar system the solar wind
pushed the lighter elements like hydrogen gas out away from the sun. These light elements
collected in the outer solar system and coalesced to form the Jovian planets, leaving mostly rock
and metal behind. The rock and metal form a region called the asteroid belt.

Asteroid Belt
The asteroid belt is the dividing zone between the terrestrial and Jovian planets. Most asteroids
are made of rock or metal and none have atmospheres. They range from millimetre-sized
grains of sand to moon-sized rocks like Ceres (almost 1000 km across). When asteroids get
large enough, about 600 km across, their force of gravity is strong enough to squeeze the rock
into a round shape. Some asteroids, such as Ceres, are big enough for this to occur, but most are
not, resulting in some very irregularly shaped objects, as you can see from the pictures of Ida
and Eros in Figure 5.23 below.

Figure 5.23: Comparing the sizes of large asteroids. Mars is shown beneath them for comparison.
Source: NASA, ESA, A. Feild (ST Scl).

Terrestrial Planets
The terrestrial planets include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. All of the terrestrial planets
have solid rocky surfaces, and are large enough to have pulled themselves into spheres. They
are not exactly spherical, however. For example, the diameter of the earth is approximately
40 km larger at the equator than it is at the poles. This is because rocks and metals are not
entirely rigid and can flex and bend if placed under extreme forces. As the earth spins, it
generates a force that pushes material out at the equator and pulls it in at the poles.
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The internal structures of the terrestrial planets are very similar. All have a hot molten core
made of a dense metal like iron, surrounded by a mantle 100 km to 300 km thick and covered
in a thin crust (Figure 5.24).

Crust
Mantle
Core

Figure 5.24: Cut-away view of the interior of Mars shows a structure typical of all the terrestrial planets.
Source: NASA.

The differences among these planets lie in the relative thicknesses of their core and mantle. In
Mercury, the core occupies most of the planets volume. Earth, Venus, and Mars have a similar
structure, but their cores are smaller and their mantles are much thicker, relative to their size.
The importance of a molten metal core is that it can generate a magnetic field that surrounds
the planet. As you will learn in Lesson 8, this magnetic field can trap an atmosphere around the
planet, which is what allows earth to be hospitable to life.

Atmosphere layers
Surface
Crust
Upper Mantle
Mantle
Outer Core

Inner Core

Figure 5.25: Cut-away view of the interior of the earth and its atmosphere.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey.

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Atmospheres
The type of atmosphere present varies greatly among the four terrestrial planets, both in the
type of gases present and their concentration (Table 5.2). Mercury has a very thin atmosphere
but its surface is still incredibly hot because it orbits so close to the sun. Venus atmosphere is
exceptionally thick, and its extreme surface temperature (over 400C) is probably a result of a
runaway greenhouse effect caused by the high concentration of CO2. Mars has an atmosphere
thinner than earths and is colder than earth, but there is evidence that Mars once had an
atmosphere similar to earths and was warm enough to allow liquid water to flow on its surface.
Planet

Main gases in atmosphere

Atmospheric pressure at surface in

relation to Earth

Mercury

O2, Na, H2 (sometimes)

practically zero

Venus

CO2, N2, SO2

92

Earth

N2, O2, H2O

Mars

CO2, N2, Ar

0.006

Table 5.2: Atmospheres of the terrestrial planets

Support Questions
6.

Compare the Kuiper belt to the asteroid belt.

a) What is the approximate distance range (in AU) from the sun for each?
b) Describe one feature that objects in both of these regions have in common.
c) Describe one way in which objects from these regions are different from each other.
7.

On the sketch of the solar system you made earlier for Support Question 5, use different
colours to shade in regions dominated by each of the following:

a) icy objects
b) rocky objects
c) gaseous objects
8.

Explain why the ion tail of a comet always points directly away from the sun.

9.

Describe two differences between the pairs of Jovian planets.

10.

Explain why the surface of Venus is nearly 500C hotter than that of Mars even though
the atmosphere of both planets is similar, being made up mostly of nitrogen (N2) and
carbon dioxide (CO2).

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Moons
Moons vary a great deal throughout the solar system. Some are as small as a few kilometres
across while others are almost as large as Mercury. Some are icy while others are rocky (like the
earths moon). Some have volcanoes and deep craters while others are ice-covered and completely
smooth. Regardless of their size, moons tend to have circular orbits around their planets.
All planets in the solar system except for Mercury and Venus have large round moons orbiting
them. The Jovian planets tend to have many large moons each, with Saturn having the most
at nine. Jupiter has four huge moons along with dozens of tiny moons. The large gravitational
attraction of these two gas giants probably accounts for their ability to pull moons into their
orbit. The smaller moons were probably asteroids that got captured by the gravitational pull of
the planets.
Throughout the solar system, the larger moons are often like smaller versions of the planets
they orbit, usually because they were formed out of the same material at about the same time.
For example, the large moons around the terrestrial planets tend to be rocky (like their planets)
and the ones around the Jovian planets are often made of gas and ice. You will learn more about
the features of the large moons in Lesson 7.

Earths Moon
The moon has inspired countless songs, played dominant roles in many religions, and guided
many travellers at night. It is also the brightest object in the sky aside from the sun. You will
learn about the structure and origin of the moon in Lesson 7.
Earths moon is strange when compared to other moons in the solar system because it is so
large relative to the size of its planet. It is roughly 20% the diameter of the earth, or about as
wide across as North America. To get a sense of the size of the moon in relation to the earth,
it helps to relate its size to an everyday object you are familiar with. For example, imagine the
earth reduced to the size of a golf ball: how big would the moon be? To answer this you first
need to know the size of the earth and moon and calculate the ratio between them.

Diameter of earth = 12 740 km

Diameter of moon = 3480 km

Ratio moon/earth = 3480 12 740 = 0.273

Reduced to the size of a golf ball, earth would be about 4.3 cm in diameter. That means the
object used to represent the moon would have to be 0.273 4.3 cm = 1.2 cm in diameter. This is
about the size of a small marble or pebble, or a large chickpea.
If you wanted to get a sense for how far away the moon is from earth, how far apart would you
have to place the marble from the golf ball? First, you need to know how far the moon is from
earth: it is approximately 384 000 km. An easy way to work with this figure is to convert it
into earth diameters. Since the earth is 12 740 km in diameter, approximately how many earth
diameters are there between the moon and earth?

384 000 12 740 = 30.14, or about 30 earth diameters

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Lesson 5

If you place a golf ball on a table, how far away do you have to place the marble to represent the
relative distance to the moon? Since the golf ball is one earth diameter in size, you have to place
the marble 30 golf ball diameters away, or 30 4.3 cm = 129 cm away.

Other Moons in the Solar System

There are 19 moons in the solar system that are large enough to be round (Figure 5.26), and
dozens more that are small and shaped like asteroids.

Figure 5.26: Relative sizes of the 19 round moons in the solar system listed below the planet or large TNO they
orbit. Earth is shown for scale.
Source: NASA.

The earths moon is a relatively featureless rock with no atmosphere, but not all moons are this
uninteresting. Some have atmospheres and some, as you will learn in Lesson 8, may even be
capable of supporting extraterrestrial life.

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Earth and Space Science SES4U-B

Moons with Atmospheres

Two moons in the solar system have somewhat substantial atmospheres (Table 5.2).
Moon

Host planet

Main gases in
atmosphere

Thickness of
atmosphere

Titan

Saturn

N2, CH4

Thick

Triton

Neptune

N2

Thin

Table 5.3: Features of moons with substantial atmospheres

Support Questions
11.

Why do you think Jupiter and Saturn have the most moons of any planets in the solar
system?

12.

Explain why the moons around the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, tend to be made of gas
while the moons around earth and Mars are made of rock.

13.

If the earth were represented by a tennis ball 9 cm across, how big would an object have
to be to represent the moon at the same scale?

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Lesson 5

Key Questions
Save your answers to the Key Questions.
When you have completed the unit, submit them to ILC for marking.
(18 marks)
18.

Three regions of the solar system contain numerous small objects: the Oort cloud, the
Kuiper belt, and the asteroid belt.

a) What are the approximate inner and outer boundaries of each of these regions
(in AU) from the sun? (3 marks)
b) Describe one way in which objects from all three of these regions are similar.
(1 mark)
c) Describe two ways in which these objects are different from each other. (2 marks)
19. a) Briefly explain why the Jovian planets are considered failed stars? (2 marks)
b) Briefly explain why Jupiter and Saturn have polar auroras while Neptune and
Uranus do not. (2 marks)
20.

The asteroid belt could be seen as the dividing line between two very different regions of
the solar system. Using a diagram and a few sentences or points, show why this could be a
valid statement. (4 marks: 2 marks for diagram; 2 marks for reasoning)

21. a) If the earth were represented by a soccer ball 25 cm across, how big would an object
have to be to represent the moon at the same scale? (1 mark)
b) What type of everyday object could you use to approximately represent the moon if
the earth were represented by a soccer ball? (1 mark)
c) Explain why some moons are round and others have an irregular shape? (2 marks)

Now go on to Lesson 6. Do not submit your coursework to ILC until you have
completed Unit 2 (Lessons 5 to 8).

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