Sun – Internal Structure – Atmosphere

Table of Contents
 1 Sun
o 1.1 Sun – Internal Structure – Atmosphere
 1.1.1 Photosphere
 1.1.2 Chromosphere
 1.1.3 Sunspot
 1.1.4 Solar Wind
 1.1.5 Solar flares
 1.1.6 Solar prominence
 1.1.7 Corona
 1.1.8 Plasma
 1.1.9 Aurora
Sun

 Age => 4.6 billion years

 Diameter => 13,91,785 km (~1.3 million km)
 Temperature => 6000 C on surface and 16 million C in core
 Density => 1.41 times that of water
 Period of rotation => 25 days 9 hrs
 Speed of rotation => 7179.73 km/hr (Earth’s rotational velocity => 1675Km/hr)
 Equivalent to 3,32,900 Earth masses.
 Compared to the majority of stars in the Milky Way, the Sun is rather large and bright.
 Sun are rare, whereas substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, are
common, making up 85% of the stars in the galaxy.
 Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only about 2% of the
angular momentum due to the differential rotation within the gaseous Sun.
 The Sun, which comprises nearly all the matter in the Solar System, is composed of
roughly 98% hydrogen and helium. Jupiter and Saturn, which comprise nearly all the
remaining matter, possess atmospheres composed of roughly 99% of these elements.
Sun – Internal Structure – Atmosphere

 The solar interior, from the inside out, is made up of the core, radiative zone and
theconvective zone.
 The solar atmosphere above that consists of the photosphere, chromosphere, and
the corona.
 Beyond that is the solar wind, an outflow of gas from the corona.

Photosphere

 The photosphere is the bright outer layer of the Sun that emits most of the radiation.
 The photosphere is an extremely uneven surface.
 The effective temperature on the outer side of the photosphere is 6000°K (11,000°F).
Chromosphere

 Just above the photosphere is the chromosphere.

 It is relatively a thin layer of burning gases.
Sunspot

 A dark patch on the surface of the Sun is known as sunspot.

  Sunspots appear as dark areas because they are about 1500° cooler than the surrounding
chromospheres.
 The individual sunspot has a lifetime ranging from a few days to a few months.
 Each spot has a black center or umbra, and a lighter region or penumbra, surrounding it.
 It has been suggested that the Sun is 1% cooler when it has no spot, and that this variation
in solar radiation might affect the climates of the Earth.

Solar Wind

 Stream of energized, charged particles, primarily electrons and protons, flowing outward
from the Sun at speeds as high as 900 km/s and at a temperature of 1 million degrees
(Celsius).
 It is made of plasma.
  As the solar wind approaches a planet that has a well-developed magnetic field (such as
Earth, Jupiter and Saturn), the particles are deflected.
 This region, known as the magnetosphere, causes the particles to travel around the planet
rather than bombarding the atmosphere or surface.
 The magnetosphere is roughly shaped like a hemisphere on the side facing the Sun, then
is drawn out in a long trail on the opposite side.
 The boundary of this region is called the magnetopause, and some of the particles are
able to penetrate the magnetosphere through this region by partial reconnection of the
magnetic field lines.
 The solar wind is responsible for the overall shape of Earth’s magnetosphere.
 Moreover, planets with a weak or non-existent magnetosphere are subject to atmospheric
stripping by the solar wind.
 Venus, the nearest and most similar planet to Earth in the Solar System, has an
atmosphere 100 times denser than our own, with little or no geo-magnetic field. This is
an exception.
Solar flares

 Produced due to magnetic anomalies.

  A magnetic storm on the Sun which appears to be a very bright spot and a gaseous
surface eruption.
 The high magnetic fields in the sunspot-producing active regions give rise to explosions
known as solar flares.
 As solar flares push through the corona, they heat its gas to anywhere from 10 to 20
million K.
Solar prominence

 An arc of gas that erupts from the surface of the Sun.

 Prominences can loop hundreds of thousands of miles into space.
 Prominences are held above the Sun’s surface by strong magnetic fields and can last for
many months.
 At some time in their existence, most prominences will erupt, spewing enormous
amounts of solar material into space.
Corona

 A corona is a distinctive atmosphere of plasma that surrounds the Sun and other celestial
bodies.
 The Sun’s corona extends millions of kilometres into space and is most easily seen during
a total solar eclipse
Plasma

 One of the four fundamental states of matter, the others being solid, liquid, and gas.
 Plasma is simply ionized gas [convert (an atom, molecule, or substance) into an ion or
ions, typically by removing one or more electrons]
 Lightning and electric sparks are everyday examples of phenomena made from plasma.
 Neon lights could more accurately be called “plasma lights”, because the light comes
from the plasma inside of them.
Aurora

 An aurora is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high
latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions. [This is due to magnetic field lines of earth]
 Auroras are caused by charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, entering the
atmosphere from above causing ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents,
and consequent optical emissions.
 Solar System – Planets – Outer Planets

able of Contents
 1 Outer Planets
o

 1.0.1 Jupiter
 1.0.2 Saturn
 1.0.3 Uranus
 1.0.4 Neptune
 1.0.5 Pluto and Charon
 1.0.6 Kuiper belt
 2 Other Solar System Objects
o 2.1 Comets
 2.1.1 Meteorite
 3 Solar System – Relevant Facts
o

 3.0.1 Planets
 3.0.2 Distance from Sun; Distance in Astonomical Units(AU)
o 3.1 Relative size of Planets
 3.1.1 Planet
 3.1.2 Inclination angle to Ecliptic
 3.1.3 Orbital Velocity in km/s
 4 Other related concepts
o 4.1 Heliocentric vs Geocentric
o 4.2 Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
o 4.3 Why is Venus sometimes called Earth’s twin?
o 4.4 However, Venus and Earth are also very different
o 4.5 Mars Compared to Earth
o 4.6 Ecliptic Plane
o 4.7 Important fact
o 4.8 The Moon
Outer Planets

 The four outer planets, called the gas giants, are substantially more massive than the
terrestrials.
 The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium;
the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are composed largely of substances
with relatively high melting points (compared with hydrogen and helium), called
ices, such as water, ammonia and methane, and are often referred to separately as
“ice giants”.
 Outer Planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planet – Pluto.
 The four outer planets, or gas giants (sometimes called Jovian planets), collectively
make up 99% of the mass known to orbit the Sun.
 All four gas giants have rings, although only Saturn’s ring system is easily observed
from Earth.
 The term superior planet designates planets outside Earth’s orbit and thus includes
both the outer planets and Mars.
Jupiter

 Surface gravity: 1 kg = 2.53 kg.

 It is composed mostly of gas and liquid swirling in complex patterns.
 Jupiter has no solid surface and hence no record of a geologic history.
 Its moons are, however, solid planetary bodies that contain geologic wonders.
 Number of moons = 67. Planet with highest number of moons.
 Jupiter’s four large moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto), called the Galilean
satellites because they were discovered by Galileo in 1610
Saturn

 Surface gravity: 1 kg = 1.07 kg.

 It is composed mostly of hydrogen, and helium.
 Saturn’s rings for long have been considered as its most dramatic feature.
 The rings are probably made up of billions of particles of ice and ice-covered rocks
  Titan, the second-largest moon in the Solar System, is larger than Mercury and the
only satellite in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere. (Our Moon is the
fifth largest natural satellite. Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, is the largest natural
staellite in this solar system. At 5,268 km at the equator, it is larger than Mercury,
the dwarf planet Pluto, and three times larger than the Moon orbiting Earth.)
 Number of Moons = 62.
Uranus

 Surface gravity: 1 kg = 0.92 kg.

 No solid surface.
 Enveloped by a thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium.
 In contrast to all other planets in the solar system, it is tipped and spun on its sides,
that is its axis of rotation lies nearly the plane of its orbit.
 Moons = 27.
Neptune

 1 kg = 1.18 kg
 Uranus and Neptune are called the twins of the outer solar system.
 Surrounded by thick atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and methane.
 Moons = 13.
Pluto and Charon

 1 kg = 0.30 kg.
 The dwarf planet Pluto (39 AU average) is the largest known object in the Kuiper
belt.
 When discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the ninth planet; this changed in
2006 with the adoption of a formal definition of planet.
 Pluto was moved into the list of Dwarf Planets along with Ceres and Eris.
 Charon, Pluto’s largest moon.
Kuiper belt

 The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but consisting
mainly of objects composed primarily of ice.
 It extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun.
Other Solar System Objects

Comets

 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.
 Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt or its associated scattered disc,
which lie beyond the orbit of Neptune.
 Comets, composed of ice and dust, originated outside our solar system. Their
elliptical orbit brings them close to the Sun and into the inner Solar System.
 Comets are among the most spectacular and unpredictable bodies in the solar
system.
 They are made of frozen gases (water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide)
which hold together small pieces of rocky and metallic minerals
 One of the larger comets is the Halley’s Comet. The orbit of Halley’s Comet brings
it close to the Earth every 76 years. It last visited in 1986.
Meteorite

 Any solid debris origination from asteroids or comets or from outer space that fall to
the Earth, the Moon, or another planet in the solar system.
 Meteor is a body of matter travelling at a great speed through space which becomes
luminous when enters into the atmosphere (mesosphere) at about 200 km above the
Earth’s surface, because it is heated by friction. Generally, this latter process
dissipates the material into meteoric dust.
  A meteor is popularly termed a ‘shooting star’ or ‘falling star’.
 Largest Meteor Crater: A meteor crater in Arizona (USA) is 4,200 ft (1,300 m) deep
is the largest meteor crater in the world. It was formed over 10,000 years ago.
Solar System – Relevant Facts

Distance from Sun; Distance in

Astonomical Units(AU)
Planets Diameter in kms;
1 AU = Distance between Sun
and Earth = 149.6 milliom kms

Mercury 4,878 = 0.38 57.9 mkm = 0.38

Venus 12,104 = 0.96 108.2 mkm = 0.72

Earth 12,576.3 = 1 149.6 mkm = 1

Mars 6,794 = 0.54 227.9 mkm = 1.52

Jupiter 143,884 = 11.44 778.4 mkm = 5.22

Saturn 120,536 = 9.58 1.426 mkm = 9.57

Uranus 51,118 = 4 2.87 mkm = 19.26

Neptune 50,538 = 4 4.498 mkm = 30.18

Relative size of Planets

Planets in the ascending order of

Temperature in °C
proximity to sun

Mercury +427

Venus +480

Earth +22

Mars -23

Jupiter -150

Saturn -180

Uranus -214

Neptune -220
The reason that Venus is hotter than Mercury is because it has an atmosphere made of carbon
dioxide; it also has clouds of acid inside its atmosphere.

Planets in the ascending

Period of Rotation Period of Revolution
order of proximity to sun

Mercury 58 days 87 days

Venus 243 days 224 days

Earth 23:56 hrs 365d, 5:48

Mars 1.05 days 687 days

Jupiter 9 hrs 11.86 years

Saturn 10 hrs 29.46 years

Uranus 17 hrs 84.01 years

Neptune 16 hrs 164.8 years

Planets in the ascending

Density relative to water
order of proximity to
(Taking, density of water = 1)
sun

Mercury 5.43

Venus 5.24
 Earth 5.51

Mars 3.94

Jupiter 1.33

Saturn 0.70

Uranus 1.3

Neptune 1.76

Planets No of Known Moons

Mercury 0

Venus 0

Earth 1

Mars 2

Jupiter 67

Saturn 62

Uranus 27

Neptune 13
Planets Rank according to size

Mercury 8

Venus 6

Earth 5

Mars 7

Jupiter 1

Saturn 2

Uranus 3

Neptune 4

Orbital
Planet Inclination angle to Ecliptic Velocity in
km/s

Mercury 7° 47

Venus 3° 35

Earth 23° 29

Mars 1° 24
Jupiter 1° 13

Staurn 2° 9

Uranus 0° 6

Neptune 1° 5

Pluto (Dwarf planet) 17° 4

Other related concepts

Heliocentric vs Geocentric

 Heliocentric system is an astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve
around a relatively stationary Sun at the center of the Solar System. [Remember the
name of the man who first suggested this model?]
 Geocentric model (Earth the centre) was proposed by Ptolemy.
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion

1. The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
2. A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal
intervals of time.
3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-
major axis of its orbit.
Why is Venus sometimes called Earth’s twin?

 almost the same size,

 have about the same mass (they weigh about the same), and
 have a very similar composition (are made of the same material).
 They are also neighboring planets.
However, Venus and Earth are also very different

 Venus has an atmosphere that is about 100 times thicker than Earth’s and has
surface temperatures that are extremely hot.
 Venus does not have life or water oceans like Earth does.
 Venus also rotates backwards compared to Earth and the other planets.
Mars Compared to Earth

 53% the diameter of Earth

 10% the mass of Earth
 surface gravity on Mars is only 38% the gravity on Earth
 A day on Mars lasts 1.03 Earth days
 axial tilt on Mars is 25.19 degrees. Very close to Earth’s 23.5 degree tilt
 a year on Mars lasts about twice as long as an Earth year, the seasons are twice as
long.
 The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1% the thickness of Earth’s atmosphere.
Furthermore, it’s made up of 95% carbon dioxide
Ecliptic Plane

 Most large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of Earth’s orbit, known
as the ecliptic. The planets are very close to the ecliptic, whereas comets and Kuiper
beltobjects are frequently at significantly greater angles to it.
Important fact

All the planets except VENUS and URANUS rotate in anti-clockwise direction.

The Moon

 The moon is the only natural satellite of the earth.

 It is now generally believed that the formation of moon, as a satellite of the earth, is
an outcome of ‘giant impact’ or what is described as “the big splat”.
 A body of the size of one to three times that of mars collided into the earth sometime
shortly after the earth was formed. It blasted a large part of the earth into space.
 This portion of blasted material then continued to orbit the earth and eventually
formed into the present moon about 4.44 billion years ago.
 Its diameter is only one-quarter that of the earth.
 It is about 3, 84,400 km away from us.
 The moon moves around the earth in about 27 days. It takes exactly the same time to
complete one spin. As a result, only one side of the moon is visible to us on the
earth.
 Neil Armstrong was the first man to step on the surface of the moon on 29 July
1969.
 Star Formation – Stellar Evolution – Life Cycle Of A Star

Table of Contents
 1 Star Formation-Stellar Evolution-Life Cycle Of A Star
o

 1.0.1 Nebula
 1.0.2 Protostar
 1.0.3 T Tauri star
 1.0.4 Main sequence stars
 1.0.5 Red giant
 1.0.6 Planetary Nebula
 1.0.7 Supernova
 1.0.8 Nova
 1.0.9 White dwarf
 1.0.10 Black dwarf
 1.0.11 Brown Dwarfs
 1.0.12 Neutron stars
 1.0.13 Black holes
o 1.1 Practice Questions

Outlined below are the many steps involved in a stars evolution, from its formation in a
nebula, to its death as a white dwarf or neutron star.

1. Nebula
2. Protostar
3. T Tauri Star
4. Main Sequence Star
5. Red Giant
6. Supernova
7. White dwarf, Neutron Star or Black Hole
Nebula

 A nebula is a cloud of gas (hydrogen) and dust in space.

 Nebulae are the birthplaces of stars.
 Nebulae consist mostly hydrogen and helium gas.
Protostar

 A Protostar looks like a star but its core is not yet hot enough for fusion (fusion of 2
hydrogen atoms into a helium atom with the liberation of huge amount of energy) to take
place.

 The luminosity comes exclusively from the heating of the Protostar as it contracts.
  Protostars are usually surrounded by dust, which blocks the light that they emit, so they
are difficult to observe in the visible spectrum.
T Tauri star

 A very young, lightweight star, less than 10 million years old, that it still undergoing
gravitational contraction; it represents an intermediate stage between a protostar and a
low-mass main sequence star like the Sun.
Main sequence stars

 Main sequence stars are stars that are fusing hydrogen atoms to form helium atoms in
their cores.
 Most of the stars in the universe — about 90 percent of them — are main sequence stars.
 The sun is a main sequence star.
 The faintest stars are the red dwarfs, less than one-thousandth the brightness of the Sun.
 Towards the end of its life, a star like the Sun swells up into a red giant, before losing its
outer layers as a Planetary Nebula and finally shrinking to become a white dwarf.
Red giant

 This is a large bright star with a cool surface.

 It is formed during the later stages of the evolution as it runs out of hydrogen fuel at its
centre.
 Red giants have diameter’s between 10 and 100 times that of the Sun.
 They are very bright, although their surface temperature is lower than that of the Sun
 Very large stars (red giants) are often called Super Giants.
 The most common red giants are stars nearing the end but are still fusing hydrogen into
helium in a shell surrounding a degenerate helium core.
 As the star condenses and it heats up even further, burning the last of its hydrogen and
causing the star’s outer layers to expand outward. At this stage, the star becomes a large
red giant.
 Red giants are hot enough to turn the helium at their core, which was made by fusing
hydrogen, into heavy elements like carbon. But most stars are not massive enough to
 create the pressures and heat necessary to burn heavy elements, so fusion and heat
production stop.
Planetary Nebula

 A cloud of Gas and Dust. [No Planets Involved].

 Planetary Nebula are the outer layers of a star that are lost when the star changes from a
red giant to a white dwarf.
 At the end of its lifetime, the sun will swell up into a red giant, expanding out beyond the
orbit of Venus. As it burns through its fuel, it will eventually collapse. The outer layers
will be ejected in a shell of gas that will last a few tens of thousands of years before
spreading into the vastness of space.
Supernova

 This is the explosive death of a star, and often results in the star obtaining the brightness
of 100 million suns for a short time.
 The extremely luminous burst of radiation expels much or all of a star’s material at a
great velocity, driving a shock wave into the surrounding interstellar medium.
 A great proportion of primary cosmic rays comes from supernovae.
 Supernovae can be triggered in one of two ways

1. by the sudden re-ignition of nuclear fusion in a degenerate star; or

2. by the gravitational collapse of the core of a massive star.
3. Nova: In the first case, a degenerate white dwarf may accumulate sufficient material from
a companion to raise its core temperature, ignite carbon fusion, and trigger runaway
nuclear fusion, completely disrupting the star.
4. In the second case, the core of a massive star may undergo sudden gravitational collapse,
releasing gravitational potential energy that can create a supernova explosion.
Nova

 Nuclear explosion on a white dwarf, which causes a sudden brightening of the star.
 Novae are thought to occur on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary system.
 If the two stars of the system are sufficiently near to one another, material can be pulled
from the companion star’s surface onto the white dwarf.
 A nova is caused by the accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of the star, commencing a
runaway fusion reaction.
White dwarf

 This is very small, hot star, the last stage in the life cycle of a star like the Sun.
 White dwarfs are the shrunken remains of normal stars, whose nuclear energy supplies
have been used up.
 White dwarf consist of degenerate matter with a very high density due to gravitational
effects, i.e. one spoonful has a mass of several tonnes.
 Fusion in a star’s core produces heat and outward pressure, but this pressure is kept in
balance by the inward push of gravity generated by a star’s mass.
 When the hydrogen used as fuel vanishes, and fusion slows, gravity causes the star to
collapse in on itself.
 Great densities are only possible when electrons are displaced from their regular shells
and pushed closer to the nucleus, allowing atoms to take up less space. The matter in this
state is called ‘degenerate matter’.
Black dwarf

 The last stage of stellar evolution is a black dwarf.

 A black dwarf is a white dwarf that has sufficiently cooled that it no longer emits
significant heat or light.
 Because the time required for a white dwarf to reach this state is calculated to be longer
than the current age of the universe (13.8 billion years), no black dwarfs are expected to
exist in the universe yet
 At the moment, they are strictly theoretical.
 A main sequence star that lacks the mass necessary to explode in a supernova will
become a white dwarf, a ‘dead’ star that has burned through all of its hydrogen and
helium fuel. But the white dwarf remains hot for some time, much like a stove burner
still emits heat even when it has been turned off.
 After enough time has passed, all of the leftover heat will have radiated away. No longer
emitting heat or light, the white dwarf will become a black dwarf
 However, the black dwarf would still retain its mass, allowing scientists to detect the
effects produced by its gravitational field.
Brown Dwarfs

 Brown dwarfs are objects which are too large to be called planets and too small to be
stars.
 Brown dwarfs are thought to form in the same way that stars do – from a collapsing cloud
of gas and dust.
 However, as the cloud collapses, it does not form an object which is dense enough at its
core to trigger nuclear fusion.
 Brown dwarfs were only a theoretical concept until they were first discovered in 1995.
Neutron stars

 These stars are composed mainly of neutrons and are produced after a supernova,
forcing the protons and electrons to combine to produce a neutron star.
 Neutron stars are very dense.
 Typical stars having a mass of three times the Sun but a diameter of only 20 km.
  If its mass is any greater, its gravity will be so strong that it will shrink further to become
a black hole.
Black holes

 Black holes are believed to form from massive stars at the end of their lifetimes.
 The gravitational pull in a black hole is so great that nothing can escape from it, not even
light.
 The density of matter in a black hole cannot be measured.
 Black holes distort the space around them, and can often suck neighboring matter into
them including stars.

Practice Questions

1. Which of the following sequences below correctly describes the evolution of the Sun from
young to old?
A) White dwarf, red giant, main-sequence, protostar
B) Red giant, main-sequence, white dwarf, protostar
C) Protostar, red giant, main-sequence, white dwarf
D) Protostar, main-sequence, white dwarf, red giant
E) Protostar, main-sequence, red giant, white dwarf
2. A planetary nebula is
A) another term for the disk of gas around a young star.
B) the cloud from which protostars form.
C) a shell of gas ejected from a star late in its life.
D) what is left when a white dwarf star explodes as a supernova.
E) the remnants of the explosion created by the collapse of the iron core in a massive star.
3. Stars like the Sun probably do not form iron cores during their evolution because
A) all the iron is ejected when they become planetary nebulas.
B) their cores never get hot enough for them to make iron by nucleosynthesis.
C) the iron they make by nucleosynthesis is all fused into uranium.
D) their strong magnetic fields keep their iron in their atmospheres.
4. As a star like the Sun evolves into a red giant, its core
A) expands and cools.
B) contracts and heats.
C) expands and heats.
D) turns into iron.
Answers
1) E
2) C
3) B ==> Only bigger stars can form iron cores.
4) B ==> At Red Giant Stage the star expands whereas the core contracts due to accumulation of
heavier elements.
 Solar System Formation – Nebular Theory of Laplace

Table of Contents
 1 Solar System Formation
o 1.1 The Star Formation
o 1.2 Solar System Formation – Nebular Theory of Laplace (1796)
 1.2.1 Drawbacks
 2 Galaxy
o 2.1 Regular Galaxies
o 2.2 Irregular Galaxies
 3 Our Galaxy (Milky Way)
Solar System Formation

The Star Formation

 The distribution of matter and energy was not even in the early universe.
 These initial density differences gave rise to differences in gravitational forces and it
caused the matter to get drawn together. These formed the bases for development of
galaxies.
 A galaxy starts to form by accumulation of hydrogen gas in the form of a very large
cloud called nebula.
 Eventually, growing nebula develops localized clumps of gas.
 These clumps continue to grow into even denser gaseous bodies, giving rise to
formation of stars.
Solar System Formation – Nebular Theory of Laplace (1796)

 Primordial matter existed in the form of a gaseous mass called ‘nebula’.

 This mass started cooling down and in the process lost
some of its volume.
 Because of a reduced size, the rotational speed of the nebula increased.
 This had a cascading effect as the centrifugal force of its mass also increased.
 As a result, the mass of the nebula started concentrating along its equator.
 This mass was, on the other hand, being pulled inwards by a gravitational pull.
 But, as the centrifugal force increased further, some of the mass from the equator
separated from the main nebula in the form of a ring which was also rotating.
 This ring, when cooled down and condensed, gave rise to planets and sub-planets, as it
got broken into many smaller rings.
 The remaining mass became the sun.
Drawbacks

 Conservation of angular momentum could not be proved. Although the sun’s mass
accounts for 99.9% of the entire solar system, the angular momentum of the sun is
only 2% that of the solar system.
 Fails to explain the revolution in the opposite direction by some of the sub-planets of
Saturn and Uranus.
 The theory fails to explain why only eight planets were formed.
Galaxy

 galaxy a system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held
together by gravitational attraction.
 A galaxy is a huge mass of stars, nebulae, and inter-stellar material.
 The smallest galaxies contain about 100,000 stars, while the largest contains up to
3000 billion stars.
 Galaxies are the major building blocks of the universe.
 From the billions of galaxies, two basic types have been identified:

1. Regular galaxies, and

2.
3.
4. Irregular galaxies.
Regular Galaxies

Spiral Galaxies Elliptical Galaxies

The Milky Way is an

example of disc shaped
spiral galaxy which has Star distribution is uneven.
greater concentration of
stars near its center.

Spiral galaxies are well

supplied with
the interstellar gas in Most of their member stars are very old and no new star forming in them.
which new bright, young
stars form.

Smaller and less brighter The biggest and the brightest galaxies in the universe are elliptical

The Milky Way and other

spiral galaxies consist of
populations of old stars in Nonuniform distribution of stars.
the center, and the youngest
stars located in the arms.

Irregular Galaxies

 The irregular galaxies comprise about one-tenth of all galaxies.

 The stars of the irregular galaxies are generally very old.
Our Galaxy (Milky Way)

 Milky Way galaxy of which our solar system is a part

 Orion Arm The Solar System is located in the Orion Arm, 26,000 light years from the
center of the Milky Way
 Our galaxy has the shape of a flat disc with a central bulge.
 Its diameter is about a 1,00,000 light years.
 In the nucleus the thickness reaches 10,000 light years, whereas in the disc it is 500-
2,000 light years thick.
 We do not know exactly how far the Sun is from the center, but it is conventionally
taken to be 33,000 light years away. Thus our solar system is relatively far from the
galactic center.
 The entire galaxy is rotating in the space, although the inner stars travel faster than
those further out.
 The Sun which is about one-third out from the centre, completes one lap of galaxy in
about every 220 million years.
 Solar System – Planets – Inner Planets

Table of Contents
 1 SOLAR SYSTEM
o 1.1 Why are the inner planets rocky while others are mostly in gaseous form?
o 1.2 Components of the Solar System
 2 Sun
 3 Planets
o 3.1 Inner Planets
 3.1.1 Mercury
 3.1.2 Venus
 3.1.3 Earth
 3.1.4 Mars
 3.1.5 Asteroid belt
SOLAR SYSTEM

 The nebula from which our Solar system is supposed to have been formed, started its
collapse and core formation some time 5-5.6 billion years ago and the planets were
formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
 Our solar system consists of the sun (the star), planets, satellites, millions of smaller
bodies like asteroids, meteorites and comets and huge quantity of dust-grains and
gases.
 Out of the nine planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called as the inner planets
as they lie between the sun and the belt of asteroids the other five planets are called
the outer planets.
 Alternatively, the first four are called Terrestrial, meaning earth-like as they are made
up of rock and metals, and have relatively high densities.
 The rest five are called Jovian or Gas Giant planets.
 Jovian means Jupiter-like. Most of them are much larger than the terrestrial planets
and have thick atmosphere, mostly of helium and hydrogen.
 The orbits of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids, and Kuiper
belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits
Why are the inner planets rocky while others are mostly in gaseous form?

 The terrestrial planets were formed in the close vicinity of the parent star where it was
too warm for gases to condense to solid particles. Jovian planets were formed at quite
a distant location.
 The solar wind was most intense nearer the sun; so, it blew off lots of gas and dust
from the terrestrial planets. The solar winds were not all that intense to cause similar
removal of gases from the Jovian planets.
 The terrestrial planets are smaller and their lower gravity could not hold the escaping
gases.
Components of the Solar System

1. Sun
2. Eight major planets,
3. Dwarf planets (Pluto, Ceres, Eris etc.),
4. Satellites and countless minor planets
5. Asteroids,
6. Meteors, and
7. Comets
8. Debris etc….
Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically predictive heliocentric system
(Sun at the center). [Geocentric: Earth at the center]
Sun

 Age => 4.6 billion years

 Diameter => 13,91,785 km (~1.3 million km)
 Temperature => 6000 C on surface and 16 million C in core
 Density => 1.41 times that of water…[Density of water = 999.97 kg/m³; Density of
Iron = 7870 kg/m³] => Iron is (7870/999.97) = 7.87 times denser than water
 Period of rotation => 25 days 9 hrs
 Speed of rotation => 7179.73 km/hr (Earth’s rotational velocity => 1675Km/hr)
 Equivalent to 3,32,900 Earth masses.
 Compared to the majority of stars in the Milky Way, the Sun is rather large and bright.
 Sun are rare, whereas substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, are
common, making up 85% of the stars in the galaxy.
 Sun is located in Orion arm of Milky Way galaxy.
 The vast majority of the system’s mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass
contained in Jupiter and Saturn.
 Sun is rotating (counter-clockwise, as viewed from a long way above Earth’s north
pole).
 Kepler’s laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of objects about the Sun.
  A body’s closest approach to the Sun is called its perihelion, whereas its most distant
point from the Sun is called its aphelion.
 Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only about 2% of the
angular momentum due to the differential rotation within the gaseous Sun.
 The Sun, which comprises nearly all the matter in the Solar System, is composed of
roughly 98% hydrogen and helium. Jupiter and Saturn, which comprise nearly all the
remaining matter, possess atmospheres composed of roughly 99% of these elements.
 Those objects closer to the Sun, which are more affected by heat and light pressure,
are composed of elements with high melting points.
 Objects farther from the Sun are composed largely of materials with lower melting
points.
Planets

 A celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit round a star, the Earth is known as
planet.
 Planets are generally divided into:

1. the Inner Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), and

2. the Outer Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto-dwarf planet).
Inner Planets

 The inner Solar System is the traditional name for the region comprising the terrestrial
planets and asteroids.
 Composed mainly of silicates and metals.
 The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky compositions, few or no moons,
and no ring systems.
 They are composed largely of refractory minerals, such as the silicates, which form
their crusts and mantles, and metals, such as iron and nickel, which form their cores.
 Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have atmospheres
substantial enough to generate weather; all have impact craters and tectonic surface
features, such as rift valleys and volcanoes.
  The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates
those planets that are closer to the Sun than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).
Mercury

 Surface gravity: 1kg = 0.38 kg

 Mercury is similar to the Moon with a surface dominated by craters and a younger area
of dark plains presumably made from floods of lava.

Venus

 Surface gravity: 1kg = 0.88 kg

 Venus is often considered to be the Earth’s twin, but the two planets are not identical.
 Venus has high plateaus, folded mountain belts, numerous volcanoes, and relatively
smooth volcanic plains.
 The surface of Venus is totally obscured by a thick atmosphere composed mostly of
carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid.
 It is much drier than Earth, and its atmosphere is ninety times as dense.
Earth

 Surface gravity: 1 kg =1 kg
 The force of the Earth’s rotation makes the world bulge very slightly at the equator
and go a little flat at the North and the South poles. So the Earth is actually a flattened
sphere, or a ‘geoid’.
 It is large enough to develop and retain an atmosphere and a hydrosphere.
 The Pacific Ocean contains the deepest places on the Earth’s surface-the ocean
trenches.
 The very deepest is the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench which plunges 11022
m into the Earth’s crust.
 A ray of light from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach the earth. Light takes
only a second to reach us from the moon.
Mars

 Surface gravity: 1 kg = 0.38 kg.

 Surface has been dynamic. Almost every geologic feature is gigantic. Three huge
volcanoes, one more than 28 km high exists at Mars.
 There is evidence not only of stream action, but of catastrophic flooding .
 Wind action is also an important process on Mars.
 In addition polar regions are covered with alternating layers of ice and windblown
sediment.
 It possesses an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide.
 Its surface, peppered with vast volcanoes, such as Olympus Mons, and rift valleys,
such as Valles Marineris, shows geological activity that may have persisted until as
recently as 2 million years ago.
 Its red colour comes from iron oxide (rust) in its soil.
 Mars has two tiny natural satellites (Deimos and Phobos) thought to be captured
asteroids.
Asteroid belt

 Millions of objects, remnants of planetary formation, circle the Sun in a zone lying
between Mars and Jupiter. They are known as asteroids.
 Fragments of asteroids break off to form meteoroids, which can reach the Earth’s
surface.
 Asteroids are small Solar System bodies composed mainly of refractory rocky and
metallic minerals, with some ice.
 The asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU
from the Sun.
 It is thought to be remnants from the Solar System’s formation that failed to coalesce
because of the gravitational interference of Jupiter.
 Asteroids range in size from hundreds of kilometres across to microscopic.
 All asteroids except the largest, Ceres, are classified as small Solar System bodies.
Ceres
 Ceres (2.77 AU) is the largest asteroid, a protoplanet, and a dwarf planet.
 It has a diameter of slightly under 1,000 km, and a mass large enough for its own
gravity to pull it into a spherical shape.