The Solar System and the

Earth
• Solar system, assemblage consisting of
the Sun—an average star in the Milky Way
Galaxy—and those bodies orbiting around it: 8
(formerly 9) planets with about 170 known
planetary satellites (moons);
countless asteroids, some with their own
satellites; comets and other icy bodies; and
vast reaches of highly tenuous gas and dust
known as the interplanetary medium.
• The Sun, or Sol, is the
star at the center of the
Solar System. It is a
nearly perfect sphere of
hot plasma, with internal
convective motion that
generates a magnetic
field via a dynamo
process. It is by far the
most important source
of energy for life on
Earth.
• The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our
Solar System, with the name describing the
galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band
of light seen in the night sky formed from stars
that cannot be individually distinguished by
the naked eye.
• Asteroids are minor planets, especially of the
inner Solar System. Larger asteroids have also
been called planetoids.
• A comet is an icy, small Solar System body
that, when passing close to the Sun, warms
and begins to release gases, a process called
outgassing.
 The study of geography is focused on the
earth, particularly, on the surface of the earth.
Since man is actively exploring the great spaces
beyond the earth in his effort to understand his
habitat, and to eventually expand it, it is
important to view the earth’s position in a
broader scheme known as the solar system.
Though the earth seems very large to us, it is
only a minor member of the solar system; and
the sun, which is the system’s center, is itself
only one of the millions of stars in the universe.
Nevertheless, the sun is vital to living things on
Earth since it provides the energy that makes life
on the planet possible.
 The solar system consists of the sun, the
planets, more than 130 satellites of the planets,
a large number of small bodies ( the comets and
asteroids ), and the interplanetary medium.
However, it is believed that there are probably
many more planetary satellites that have not yet
been discovered.
 The inner solar system comprises the Sun,
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The main
asteroid belt lies between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter. The planets of the outer solar system are
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
 The first thing so noticeable about the solar
system is that it is mostly empty space. The planets
are very small compared to the space between
them. The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the
Sun at one focus, though all except Mercury is very
nearly circular. The orbits of the planets are all
more or less in the same plane (called the ecliptic
and defined by the plane of the earth’s orbit). The
ecliptic is inclined only seven degrees from the
plane of the Sun’s equator.
• The sum exerts gravitational force on the other
members of the solar system. This force is known
as Gravitational Attraction or Gravity which keeps
the planets from sailing out into space as they
revolve around the sun in their particular orbits.
The general physical law of gravity states “ any
particles of matter attract each other with a force
directly proportional to the product of their
masses and inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between them.
• This means that if two heavenly bodies are big
and near each other, the gravitational pull
between them is strong. Since the sun has a
mass so many times greater than that of any
of the planets,it exercise strong attraction
upon them and thus retains them within the
system of which the sun is the center.
 CENTRIFUGAL FORCE

• If the gravitational attraction of the sun were

the only force in operation, the sun would
draw all planets into its fiery mass, and
eventually destroy them but this not happen
due to the result of what we call Centrifugal
Force.
• This force tends to make moving bodies fly
away from any center of rotation. Since
planets are revolving celestial bodies, each
one develops considerable centrifugal force.
• The balance between the sun’s gravitational
effects and the centrifugal effect of each of
the Planets determine the detailed path that
each follows around the sun. Hence,because
of the balanced pull of gravitational and
centrifugal forces,the earth does not get
sucked into the fiery heat of the sun,nor does
it get flung into the dark and cold void of
space