Birth and evolution of The Universe, Stars, The Solar System and the Earth’s Crust
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• These topics are helpful for understanding Space and General Science related current affairs.
• These are high pain – low gain topics.
• Do not dig deep, just skim through the surface.
• Absolutely important facts are highlighted in Blue and Red colors.
1. The Universe ................................................ 2
1.1 The Big Bang Theory ....................................... 2
Big Crunch ...................................................3
1.2 Redshift and Blueshift ..................................... 3
1.3 Cosmic microwave background (CMD) ........... 3
1.4 Accelerating expansion of the universe .......... 4
1.5 Dark energy ..................................................... 4
1.6 Dark matter ..................................................... 4
1.7 Anti-Matter ..................................................... 5
1.8 Gravitational waves ........................................ 5
Einstein’s theory of general relativity .........5
2. Star Formation (Stellar Evolution) ................ 6
2.1 Nebula ............................................................. 6
2.2 Protostar ......................................................... 6
2.3 T Tauri star ...................................................... 7
2.4 Main sequence stars ....................................... 7
Red dwarf ....................................................7
2.5 Red giant ......................................................... 8
Degenerate matter ......................................8
2.6 Red Supergiant ................................................ 8
2.7 Planetary Nebula............................................. 8
2.8 White dwarf .................................................... 8
Nova ............................................................8
2.9 Supernova ....................................................... 9
Type I supernova or Type Ia supernova
(read as one-a) ............................................9
Type II supernova ........................................9
Importance of supernova: Creating and
dispersing new elements .............................9
2.10 Black dwarf...................................................... 9
2.11 Brown Dwarfs................................................ 10
2.12 Neutron stars ................................................ 10
2.13 Black holes .................................................... 10
2.14 Galaxy ........................................................... 10
Regular Galaxies ........................................ 10
Irregular Galaxies ...................................... 11
Our Galaxy (the Milky Way) ...................... 11
3. The Solar system ........................................ 11
3.1 Formation of the Solar System: Nuclear Disc
Model 11
Formation of the Sun ................................ 12
The formation of planets .......................... 12
3.2 Components of the Solar System ................. 13
3.3 The Sun ......................................................... 13
3.4 The Sun’s Internal Structure and Atmosphere
13
Photosphere .............................................. 14
Chromosphere .......................................... 14
Sunspot ..................................................... 14
Solar Wind ................................................. 14
Solar flares ................................................ 15
Solar prominence ...................................... 15
Corona ....................................................... 15
3.5 Planets .......................................................... 15
Inner Planets ............................................. 17
Outer Planets ............................................ 20
Why are the inner planets rocky while the
outer planets are mostly in gaseous form?
.................................................................. 21
3.6 Other Solar System Objects .......................... 21
3.7 Solar System - Relevant Facts ....................... 23
Heliocentric vs Geocentric ........................ 23
Kepler's laws of planetary motion ............ 23
Ecliptic Plane ............................................. 23
Heliopause ................................................ 23
Distant artificial objects exploring the Solar
System ....................................................... 24
What’s the closest star to the Sun? .......... 25
1
 How do Astronomers Measure the Distance
to Stars?.....................................................26
4. Geologic Time Scale ....................................26
4.1 Hadean Eon ................................................... 26
4.2 Archean Eon .................................................. 28
4.3 Proterozoic Eon ............................................. 29
4.4 Phanerozoic Eon............................................ 30
Paleozoic Era .............................................30
Mesozoic Era .............................................33
Cenozoic Era ..............................................35
1. The Universe
• Cosmos: another word for the universe.
• Cosmic: relating to the universe or cosmos.
• Cosmic rays: highly energetic atomic nucleus or
other particle travelling through space at speed
approaching that of light. Direct exposure to
cosmic rays can cause gene mutations resulting
in cancer.
• Cosmology: the scientific study of the large-
scale properties of the universe as a whole ―
NASA
• Cosmological: relating to the origin and devel-
opment of the universe.
• Astronomy: the scientific study of celestial ob-
jects (stars, planets, comets, etc.) and phenom-
ena that originate outside the Earth's atmos-
phere (such as the solar wind, gravitational
waves, etc.) ― Sciencedaily.com
• The Universe is all existing matter & space. It is
incomprehensively large (beyond mental grasp).
• The Universe consists of both physical (suba-
tomic particles like electrons, protons to galactic
super-clusters) and non-physical (light, gravita-
tion, space etc.) components.
• Most cosmologists believe that the universe
was born about 13.8 billion years ago in an
event called as Big Bang (a gigantic explosion
that caused matter to expand in all directions to
form galaxies, stars, etc.)
• The universe, at present, is said to possess
about 100 billion galaxies, each comprising an
average of 100 billion stars.
• In comparison, Milky Way Galaxy is believed to
possess 100 billion to 400 billion stars.
1,000,000 = 1 Million = 10 Lakhs; 1,000,000,000 = 1
Billion = 100 Crores; 1000,000,000,000 = 1 Trillion
1.1 The Big Bang Theory
2
• The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmolog-
ical model for the birth of the universe.
• It states that at some moment all of space was
contained in a single point of very high-
density and high-temperature state from
which the universe has been expanding in all
directions ever since.
• Modern measurements place this moment at 1.2 Redshift and Blueshift
approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
• After the initial expansion (inflation), the uni- • Redshift and Blueshift describe how light
verse cooled sufficiently to allow the formation changes as objects in space (such as stars or
of subatomic particles and later simple atoms. galaxies) move closer or farther away from us.
• The majority of atoms produced by the Big The concept is key to charting the universe’s
Bang were hydrogen and helium along with expansion.
trace amounts of lithium and beryllium.
• Giant clouds of these primordial elements
(hydrogen and helium) later coalesced through
gravity to form stars and galaxies.
• According to this theory, the universe, ever
since its birth, is expanding in all directions.

• Visible light is a spectrum of colours, which is

By en:User: Fredrik [Public domain], via Wikimedia
Commons
• In 1964, the cosmic microwave background
radiation was discovered, which was crucial evi-
dence in favour of the Big Bang model.
• Other evidence such as cosmological redshift,
gravitational waves, etc. have added weight to
the big bang theory.
Big Crunch
• At some point of times, the universe would
reach a maximum size and then begin to col-
lapse.
• It would become denser and hotter again, end-
ing with a state similar to that in which it started
— a Big Crunch, the death of the universe.
clear to anyone who has looked at a rainbow.
• When an object moves away from us, the
light is shifted to the red end of the spec-
trum, as its wavelengths get longer.
• If an object moves closer, the light moves to
the blue end of the spectrum as its
wavelength gets shorter.
• American astronomer Edwin Hubble was the
first to describe the redshift phenomenon (ga-
lactic redshift) and tie it to an expanding uni-
verse (galaxies are drifting apart).
• Hubble's law: the farther away galaxies are, the
faster they are moving away from Earth ― also
known as accelerating the expansion of the
universe.
1.3 Cosmic microwave back-
ground (CMD)
• With a traditional optical telescope, the space
between stars and galaxies is completely dark.
• However, a sensitive radio telescope shows a
faint background glow. This glow is strongest in
the microwave region of the radio spectrum,

3
 and hence it is called a cosmic microwave back-
ground.
Electromagnetic Spectrum (Inductiveload, via Wiki-
media Commons)
• CMB has gone from high energy photons
(gamma photons or X-ray photons) to low mi-
crowave photons today due to the redshift
from the expanding Universe.
• CMD, also known as relic radiation, is almost
the same in all directions and it
is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other
objects. It is the thermal radiation left over
from the “Big Bang”.
• The CMB is fundamental to observational cos-
mology because it is the oldest light in the
Universe and can be found in all directions.
• As CMB is the radiation left over from an early
stage in the development of the Universe, its
discovery is considered a landmark test for
the Big Bang model of the Universe.
1.4 Accelerating expansion of the
universe
• It is the observation that the expansion of the
universe is such that the velocity at which a gal-
axy is moving away from the observer is contin-
uously increasing with time (Hubble’s law).
• It implies that the universe will get increasingly
colder as matter spreads across in space.
• The accelerated expansion of the universe is
thought to have begun since the universe en-
tered its dark-energy-dominated era roughly 5
billion years ago.
• The accelerated expansion was discovered in
1998 using distant type Ia supernovae to
measure the acceleration.
A type Ia supernova is a type of supernova that oc-
curs in binary systems (two stars orbiting one an-
other) in which one of the stars is a white dwarf.
The other star can be anything from a giant star to
an even smaller white dwarf.
• All Type Ia supernovae are thought to have
nearly the same maximum brightness when
they explode.
• Such consistency allows them to be used as
beacons to measure the rate of expansion of
the universe. The weaker the light, the farther
away the star is (cosmological redshift).
1.5 Dark energy
• Dark energy is an unknown form of energy
which is hypothesised to permeate (spread
throughout) all of space, tending to accelerate
the expansion of the universe.
Related or similar terminology
1.6 Dark matter
• The velocity of rotation for spiral galaxies de-
pends on the amount of mass contained in
them.
• But the outer arms of the Milky Way are rotat-
ing much too fast to be consistent with the
amount of matter that we know exists in them.
• Such fast rotation is possible only when there is
more mass, and that extra mass is believed to
come from the dark matter.
• Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter
that is thought to account for approximately
85% of the matter in the universe.
• Dark energy plus dark matter constitutes
95.1% of the total content of the universe
(the rest in the normal matter). In short, we are
unsure about what’s there in 95% of the uni-
verse!
• The majority of dark matter is thought to be
composed of some as-yet-undiscovered suba-
tomic particles.
• The name dark matter refers to the fact that it
does not appear to interact with observable
electromagnetic radiation, such as light.
• It is thus invisible (or 'dark') to the entire
4
 electromagnetic spectrum, making it ex-
tremely difficult to detect.
• Dark matter interacts with the rest of the uni-
verse only through its gravity (that’s how we
know it exists).
1.7 Anti-Matter
• It is hypothesized that every elementary particle
in the Universe has a partner particle, known as
an ‘antiparticle’.
• The particle and its antiparticle share many
similar characteristics, but many other prop-
erties are the exact opposite.
• The electron, for example, has as its antiparticle
the antielectron. They both have the same
masses, but they have exactly opposite elec-
trical charges.
• Most of the human understanding of the anti-
matter comes from high energy accelerator
experiments.
• When a matter particle meets its antimatter
particle, they destroy each other completely (i.e.
annihilation), releasing the energy equivalent
of their rest masses (following Einstein’s E =
mc2).
• For instance, when an electron meets an an-
tielectron, the two annihilate and produce a
burst of light which produces a corresponding
energy level equivalent to the masses of the
two particles.
1.8 Gravitational waves
• Gravitational waves are 'ripples' in the fabric
of space-time caused by some of the most vio-
lent and energetic processes in the Universe.
(Spacetime:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sryrZwYguR
Q)
• These ripples travel at the speed of light
through the Universe, carrying with them infor-
mation about their origins.
• Albert Einstein predicted the existence of grav-
itational waves in 1916 in his general theory of
relativity.
• He observed that massive accelerating objects
(such as neutron stars or black holes orbiting
each other) would disrupt space-time in such
a way that 'waves' of distorted space would ra-
diate from the source (like the movement of
waves away from a stone thrown into a pond).
• In 2015, LIGO (The Laser Interferometer Gravita-
tional-Wave Observatory, USA) physically
sensed the distortions in spacetime caused by
passing gravitational waves generated by two
colliding black holes nearly 1.3 billion light-
years away!
Gravitational waves (NASA)
• While the processes that generate gravitational
waves can be extremely violent and destructive,
by the time the waves reach Earth, they are bil-
lions of times smaller.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity
• In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the
laws of physics are the same for all non-
accelerating observers and that the speed of
light in a vacuum was independent of the
motion of all observers.
• As a result, he found that space and time were
interwoven into a single continuum known
as space-time.
• Events that occur at the same time for one
observer could occur at different times for
another. This was the theory of special relativi-
ty.
• In 1915, Einstein published his theory of general
relativity. In it, he determined that massive ob-
jects distort space-time, which is felt as gravi-
ty.
• Gravitational lensing and gravitational waves
are strong evidence for Einstein’s theory of
general relativity.
Gravitational lensing
• Light around a massive object, such as a
5
 black hole, is bent, causing it to act as a a) 1 and 2
lens for the things that lie behind it. b) 2 only
Source: space.com c) 1, 3 and 4 only
d) None of the above
Importance of gravitational waves
Points 1, 2 and 4 are correct. So, the answer is d)
• The gravitational waves can work as sirens to None of the above. Tough question
measure the expansion rate of the universe
and to understand the origin and the future
of the universe. 2. Star Formation (Stellar Evo-
• Hubble’s Law: the farther away galaxies are, lution)
the faster they are moving away from Earth ―
accelerating expansion of the universe).
• Outlined below are the many steps involved in a
• Hubble constant: a unit of measurement that
star’s evolution, from its formation in a nebula,
describes the rate at which the universe is ex-
to its death as a white dwarf or a neutron star.
panding.
1. Nebula: a star’s birthplace.
• Two parameters that are essential to estimate
2. Protostar: an early stage of a star for-
the Hubble constant are the distance of the
mation where nuclear fusion is yet to
stars from Earth and how fast they are moving
begin.
away from us (their velocity).
3. T Tauri Star
• But to date, the most precise efforts have land-
4. Main Sequence Star: E.g. Sun – full of life
ed on very different values of the Hubble con-
(nuclear fusion at the core at full swing).
stant.
5. Red Giant (in case of a small star) and
• Scientists have proposed a more accurate and
Red Supergiant (in case of a large star).
independent way to measure the Hubble con-
6. Planetary Nebula (in case of small star)
stant, using gravitational waves.
and Supernova (in case of large star).
• A flash of light would give an estimate of the
7. White dwarf (in case of a small star) and
system’s velocity (system: neutron stars or black
Neutron Star or Black Hole (in case of a
holes orbiting each other), or how fast it is mov-
large star).
ing away from the Earth.
• The emitted gravitational waves, if detected on
Earth, should provide a precise measurement of
2.1 Nebula
the system’s distance.
• A nebula is a cloud of gas (mostly hydrogen
• By knowing the system’s velocity and distance,
and helium) and dust in space.
a precise calculation of Hubble constant is pos-
• Nebulae are the birthplaces of stars.
sible.

Which of the following is/are cited by the scien- 2.2 Protostar

tists as evidence/evidences for the continued
expansion of universe?
1. Detection of microwaves in space
2. Observation of redshift phenomenon in
space
3. Movement of asteroids in space
4. Occurrence of supernova explosions in
space
• A Protostar looks like a star, but its core is not
yet hot enough for nuclear fusion to take
place (nuclear fusion: the fusion of 2 hydro-
gen atoms into a helium atom with the libera-
tion of a huge amount of energy. Nuclear fusion
occurs only when the initial temperatures are
very high – a few million degree Celsius. That is
why it is hard to achieve and control).

Select the correct answer using the using the

codes:

6
 stage between a Protostar and a low-mass main
Stellar Evolution (Source) sequence star like the Sun.

2.4 Main sequence stars

• Main sequence stars are stars that are fusing

hydrogen atoms to form helium atoms in
their cores.
• The luminosity comes exclusively from the heat-
• Most of the stars in the universe — about 90
ing of the Protostar as it contracts (because of
per cent of them — are main sequence stars.
gravity).
• The sun is a main sequence star.
• Protostars are usually surrounded by dust,
• Towards the end of its life, a star like the Sun
which blocks the light that they emit, so they
swells up into a red giant, before losing its
are difficult to observe in the visible spec-
outer layers as a planetary nebula and finally
trum.
shrinking to become a white dwarf.
2.3 T Tauri star Red dwarf
• A very young, lightweight star, less than 10 mil-
• The faintest (less than 1/1000th the brightness
lion years old, that it still undergoing gravita-
of the Sun) main sequence stars are called the
tional contraction; it represents an intermediate
red dwarfs.

7
• Because of their low luminosity, they are not
visible to the naked eye.
• They are quite small compared to the sun and
have a surface temperature of about 4000 ֯C.
• According to some estimates, red dwarfs make
up three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way.
• Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun,
is a red dwarf.
2.5 Red giant
• Red giants have diameters between 10 and 100
times that of the Sun.
• They are very bright, although their surface
temperature is lower than that of the Sun.
• A red giant is formed during the later stages of
the evolution as it runs out of hydrogen fuel
at its centre.
• It still fuses hydrogen into helium in a shell
surrounding a hot, dense degenerate helium
core.
• As the layer surrounding the core contains a
bigger volume the fusion of hydrogen to heli-
um around the core releases far more energy
and pushes much harder against gravity and
expands the volume of the star.
• Red giants are hot enough to turn the helium
at their core into heavy elements like carbon
(this is how elements were formed one after the
other).
• But most stars are not massive enough to cre-
ate the pressures and heat necessary to burn
heavy elements, so fusion and heat production
stops.
Degenerate matter
• Fusion in a star's core produces heat and out-
ward pressure, but this pressure is kept in bal-
ance by the inward push of gravity generated
by a star's mass (gravity is a product of mass).
• When the hydrogen used as fuel vanishes, and
fusion slows, gravity causes the star to collapse
in on itself. This creates a degenerate star.
• Great densities (degenerate star) 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 ‘degen-
erate matter’.
2.6 Red Supergiant
• As the red giant star condenses, 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 gi-
ant. A very large red giant is often called Red
Supergiant.
2.7 Planetary Nebula
• Planetary nebula is an outer layer of gas and
dust (no planets involved!) 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 or-
bit of Venus. As it burns through its fuel, it will
eventually collapse under the influence of gravi-
ty.
• 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.
2.8 White dwarf
• A white dwarf is very small, hot star, the last
stage in the life cycle of a star like the Sun.
• White dwarfs are the remains of normal stars,
whose nuclear energy supplies have been
used up.
• White dwarf consists of degenerate matter
with a very high density due to gravitational
effects, i.e. one spoonful has a mass of several
tonnes.
Nova
• Novae 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 (hydrogen) can be
pulled from the companion star's surface onto
the white dwarf.
8
• When enough material builds up on the surface Image credits: chandra.harvard.edu
of the white dwarf, it triggers a nuclear fusion
on a white dwarf which causes a sudden The difference between Nova and Type I super-
brightening of the star. nova

Nova Type I supernova

In a nova, the system A supernova is a violent
can shine up to a mil- stellar explosion that can
lion times brighter shine as brightly as an
than normal. entire galaxy of billions of
normal stars.
2.9 Supernova As long as it continues If enough gas piles up on
to take gas from its the surface of the white
• A supernova is the explosive death of a star companion star, the dwarf, a runaway ther-
and often results in the star obtaining the white dwarf can pro- monuclear explosion
brightness of 100 million suns for a short time. duce nova outbursts blasts the star to bits.
• The extremely luminous burst of radiation ex- at regular intervals.
pels much or all of a star's material at a great Type II supernova
velocity, driving a shock wave into the sur-
rounding interstellar medium.
• Type II supernova is a supernova that occurs
• These shock waves trigger condensation is a
by the gravitational collapse of the core of a
nebula paving the way for the birth of a new
massive star (mostly made of iron). E.g. Super-
star ― if a star has to be born, a star has to die!
nova of a red supergiant.
• A great proportion of primary cosmic rays
comes from supernovae. Importance of supernova: Creating
Supernovae can be triggered in one of two ways: and dispersing new elements

Type I supernova or Type Ia superno-
va (read as one-a)
• Occurs when there is a sudden re-ignition of
nuclear fusion on the surface of a degenerate
white dwarf in a binary system.
• A degenerate white dwarf may accumulate suf-
ficient material from a companion star to raise
its core temperature, ignite carbon fusion, and
trigger runaway nuclear fusion, completely
disrupting the star.
• When a star’s core runs out of hydrogen, the
star begins to die out. The dying star expands
into a red giant, and this now begins to manu-
facture carbon by fusing helium atoms.
• More massive stars begin a further series of nu-
clear burning. The elements formed in these
stages range from oxygen through to iron.
• During a supernova, the star releases very large
amounts of energy as well as neutrons, which
allows elements heavier than iron, such as ura-
nium and gold, to be produced.
• In the supernova explosion, all of these ele-
ments are expelled out into space, and new
stars are born out of this matter (recycling of
matter in the universe!).

2.10 Black dwarf

• The last stage of stellar evolution is a black

dwarf.

9
• A black dwarf is a white dwarf that has suffi-
ciently 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.
• Black holes distort the space around them
and can suck neighbouring matter into them in-
cluding stars.
• Gravitational lensing: Light around a massive
object, such as a black hole, is bent, causing it
to act as a lens for the things that lie behind it.

2.11 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, the core is not
dense enough to trigger nuclear fusion.
2.14 Galaxy
2.12 Neutron stars
• Galaxy is a system of millions or billions of stars,
together with gas and dust, held together by
• These stars are composed mainly of neutrons
gravitational attraction. They are the major
and are produced after a supernova, forcing the
building blocks of the universe.
protons and electrons to combine to pro-
• The smallest galaxies contain about 100,000
duce a neutron star.
stars, while the largest contains up to 3000 bil-
• Neutron stars are very dense. (mass of three
lion stars.
times the Sun can be fit in a sphere of just 20km
in diameter).
• If its mass is any greater, its gravity will be so
strong that it will shrink further to become a
black hole.

2.13 Black holes

From the billions of galaxies, two basic types have
• Black holes are believed to form from massive been identified:
stars at the end of their lifetimes.
• The gravitational pull in a black hole is so great • Regular galaxies, and
that nothing can escape from it, not even • Irregular galaxies.
light.
• The density of matter in a black hole cannot be Regular Galaxies
measured (infinite!).
Spiral Galaxies Elliptical Galaxies
• The Milky Way is an example of disc-shaped spiral gal- • Star distribution is nonuniform.
axy which has a greater concentration of stars near its
centre.
• They consist of populations of old stars in the centre, and
the youngest stars located in the arms.
• Spiral galaxies are well supplied with the interstellar gas in • Most of their member stars are very old

10
 which new bright, young stars form. and no new star formation in them.

• Smaller and less bright • The brightest galaxies in the universe

are elliptical.
Irregular Galaxies 2. A planetary nebula is

• The irregular galaxies comprise about one-tenth a) another term for the disk of gas around a
of all galaxies. young star.
• The stars of the irregular galaxies are generally b) the cloud from which protostars form.
very old. c) a shell of gas ejected from a star late in its life.
d) what is left when a white dwarf star explodes as
Our Galaxy (the Milky Way) a supernova.

Answer: C
• The Milky Way is the galaxy that hosts our solar
system. It is shaped like a flat disc with a central 3. Stars like the Sun probably do not form iron
bulge. cores during their evolution because
• Its diameter is between 1,50,000 and 2,00,000
light-years. a) all the iron is ejected when they become plane-
• In the nucleus, the thickness reaches 10,000 tary nebulas.
light years, whereas in the disc it is 500-2,000 b) their cores never get hot enough for them to
light years thick. make iron by nucleosynthesis.
• It is estimated to contain 100-400 billion stars. c) the iron they make by nucleosynthesis is all
• The inner stars travel faster than those further fused into uranium.
out. d) their strong magnetic fields keep their iron in
• The Solar System is located in the Orion Arm, their atmospheres.
26,000 light years from the centre (about
one-third from the centre) of the Milky Way Answer: B only bigger stars can form iron cores.
galaxy.
4. As a star like the Sun evolves into a red gi-
• The Sun completes one lap of the galaxy in
ant, its core
about every 220 million years.
• The solar system revolves around the Milky Way
a) expands and cools.
with a speed of 285 km per second.
b) contracts and heats.
• The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest galaxy
c) expands and heats.
(spiral) to us – being 2 million light years away.
d) turns into iron.
1. Which of the following sequences below cor-
Answer: B. At Red Giant Stage the star expands due
rectly describes the evolution of the Sun
to heat generated outside the core whereas the
from young to old?
core contracts due to the accumulation of heavier
elements.
a) White dwarf, red giant, main-sequence, proto-
star
b) Red giant, main-sequence, white dwarf, 3. The Solar system
protostar
c) Protostar, red giant, main-sequence, white
dwarf
3.1 Formation of the Solar Sys-
d) Protostar, main-sequence, red giant, white tem: Nuclear Disc Model
dwarf
• Nuclear Disc Model is also known as neo-
Answer: D Laplacian model.

11
• Nebular Theory of Laplace (1796) tried to ex-
plain the formation of the solar system. But it
had many drawbacks as the theory was based
on scientifically erroneous assumptions.
• But one assumption it got right was that the
solar system was born from a giant gas of dust
called as nebula.
• A giant interstellar cloud known as the solar
nebula (a vast, swirling cloud of gas and
dust) gave birth to our solar system and every-
thing in it.
• The nebula started its collapse and core for-
mation some 5-5.6 billion years ago and the
Sun and the planets were formed about 4.6 bil-
lion years ago.
Formation of the Sun
• The nebula began to collapse (gravitational
collapse) in on itself after becoming gravita-
tionally unstable.
• This was possibly because of a nearby super-
nova sending shock waves rippling through
space.
• Gravity then caused dust and gas to coalesce to
the centre of the nebular cloud.
• As more matter got pulled in, the centre got
denser and hotter, increasing the gravity and
pulling even more dust inwards causing a
snowball effect.
• About 99.9% of the material fell into the centre
and became the protosun (no sunlight yet).
• Once the centre of the cloud became hot
enough it triggered nuclear fusion, and the
Sun was born.
The formation of planets
• The 0.1% of matter that remained orbited
around the Sun, causing the randomly shaped
gas cloud to form a flat disc shape.
• This flat disc, called the protoplanetary disc,
was where the planets formed.
• Within the solar nebula, the dust particles in the
gas occasionally collided and clumped together.
• Through this process called accretion, the mi-
croscopic particles formed larger bodies that
eventually became planetesimals (infant stage
of a planet) with sizes up to a few kilometres
across.
• As the disc continued to cool, the planetesimals
grew in size through accretion to form pro-
toplanets.
• Gradually they got larger and larger, sweeping
up all the leftover dust, other protoplanets,
planetesimals until they grew into the planets.
• In the inner, hotter part of the solar nebula,
planetesimals were composed mostly of sili-
cates and metals.
• In the outer, cooler portion of the nebula, water
ice was the dominant component.
• The hot, rocky material near the centre of the
solar system gave rise to terrestrial planets
with metal cores (mostly composed of iron and
nickel): Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
• And on the cool edges, the gas and ice giants
were born: Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, and Ura-
nus.
• Rocks that escaped the pull of planets were left
as asteroids, scattered through the solar sys-
tem.
• Many of these rocks orbit the Sun in an area
between Mars and Jupiter known as the as-
teroid belt.
Formation of the Solar System: Nuclear Disc Model
(Source)
Iron Catastrophe and Planetary differentiation
• When Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years
ago, it was a uniform ball of hot rock.
12
• Radioactive decay and leftover heat from plane-
tary formation caused the ball to get even hot-
ter.
• Eventually, after about 500 million years, our
young planet’s temperature heated to
the melting point of iron — about 1,538° Celsi-
us.
• This pivotal moment in Earth’s history is called
the iron catastrophe.
• The iron catastrophe allowed greater,
more rapid movement of Earth’s molten, rocky
material.
• Relatively buoyant material, such as silicates,
water, and even air, stayed close to the plan-
et’s exterior.
• Droplets of iron, nickel, and other heavy met-
als gravitated to the centre of Earth, becoming
the early core.
• This important process is called planetary dif-
ferentiation.
3.2 Components of the Solar Sys-
tem
• Our solar system consists of the sun, eight ma-
jor planets, dwarf planets (Pluto, Ceres, Eris etc.),
satellites and countless minor planets, asteroids,
meteors, comets and debris.
Components of the Solar System
3.3 The Sun
• Age: 4.6 billion years.
• Diameter: 1.39 million km.
• Temperature: 6000 °C on surface and 16 mil-
lion °C in core.
• Density: 1.41 times that of water.
Density of water = 999.97 kg/m³ = ~ 1 g/cm3;
Density of Iron = 7870 kg/m³.
That implies Iron is = 7.87 times denser than water.
In comparison, earth is about 5.5 times denser than
water.
• The surface gravity of the Sun is 274 m/s2 (28
times the gravity of the Earth).
• Comparatively, the surface gravity of the earth
and moon are 9.8 m/s2 and 1.62 m/s2 respec-
tively.
• Period of rotation: 25 days 9 hrs.
• Speed of rotation: 7179.73 km/hrs. Compara-
tively, earth’s rotational velocity is 1675Km/hrs.
• Sun is equivalent to 3,32,900 Earth masses.
• Stars like Sun are rare in Milky Way galaxy,
whereas substantially dimmer and cooler stars,
known as red dwarfs, are common.
• The Sun is composed of roughly 98% hydro-
gen and helium.
• The vast majority of the solar system's mass is
in the Sun (~99.8%), with most of the remaining
mass contained in Jupiter and Saturn.
• Although the Sun dominates the system by
mass, it accounts for only about 2% of the
angular momentum due to the differential ro-
tation within the gaseous Sun.
• Sun is rotating in counter-clockwise direction
(when viewed from a long way above Earth's
north pole).
• Those objects closer to the Sun, which are more
affected by heat and light pressure, are com-
posed of elements with high melting points.
• Objects farther from the Sun are composed
largely of materials with lower melting points.
3.4 The Sun’s Internal Structure
and Atmosphere
13
• The solar interior, from the inside out, is made
up of the core, radiative zone and the convec-
tive zone.
• The solar atmosphere above that consists of the
photosphere, chromosphere, and the corona
(solar wind is an outflow of gas from the coro-
na).
The Sun’s Internal and External Structure
Photosphere
• The photosphere is the bright outer layer of the
Sun that emits most of the radiation.
• The photosphere is an extremely uneven sur-
face.
• The effective temperature on the outer side of
the photosphere is 6000°C.
Chromosphere
• Just above the photosphere is the chromo-
sphere.
• It is relatively a thin layer of burning gases.
• The chromosphere is a bit cooler — 4,320 ֯C.
Sunspot
• A dark patch on the surface of the Sun is known
as a sunspot.
• Sunspots appear as dark areas because they are
about 500-1500°C cooler than the surrounding
chromosphere.
• The individual sunspot has a lifetime ranging
from a few days to a few months.
• Each spot has a black centre or umbra, and a
lighter region or penumbra, surrounding it.
• It has been suggested that the Sun is 1% cool-
er when it has no sunspot and that this varia-
tion in solar radiation might affect the cli-
mates of the Earth.
Solar Wind
• The solar wind is a stream of energised,
charged particles, primarily electrons and
protons, flowing outward from the Sun at
speeds as high as 900 km/s and at a tempera-
ture of 1 million degrees (Celsius).
• It is made of plasma (ionised atoms).
Effects of solar wind – 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 and solar wind)
• Auroras are caused by charged particles, mainly
electrons and protons, entering the atmosphere
from above causing ionisation and excitation of
atmospheric constituents, and consequent opti-
cal emissions.
Effects of solar wind – Some planets have
atmosphere whereas others don’t
• 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
14
 rather than bombarding the atmosphere or sur-
face.
• 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 mag-
netopause, 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 geomagnetic field. This is a strange excep-
tion.
Solar flares
• Solar flares are produced on the sun’s surface
due to magnetic anomalies.
• They are magnetic storms which appear to be
very bright spots with a gaseous surface erup-
tion.
• As solar flares are pushed through the corona,
they heat its gas to anywhere from 10 to 20 mil-
lion °C.
Solar prominence
• An arc of gas that erupts from the surface of the
Sun is called solar prominence.
• 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 promi-
nences 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 bod-
ies.
• The Sun's corona extends millions of kilometres
into space and is most easily seen during a to-
tal solar eclipse.
Sun’s Corona visible during Total Solar Eclipse
Plasma
• Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of
matter, the others being solid, liquid, and gas.
• Plasma is ionised gas (atoms and molecules are
converted into ions typically by removing one
or more electrons from the outer shell)
• Lightning and electric sparks are everyday ex-
amples of phenomena made from plasma.
• Neon lights could more accurately be called
‘plasma lights’, because the light comes from
the plasma inside of them.
3.5 Planets
• A celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit
around a star is known as a planet.
• The planets of our solar system are divisible in
two groups:
1. the planets of the inner circle (as they lie
between the sun and the belt of asteroids)
or the inner planets or the ‘terrestrial
planets’ (meaning earth-like as they are
made up of rock and metals, and have rela-
tively high densities) and
2. the planets of the outer circle or outer
planets or the ‘gas giant planets’ or the
Jovian planets – meaning Jupiter-like.
• The inner circle consists of four planets (Mercu-
ry, Venus, Earth and Mars) having smaller and
denser bodies while the outer circle comprises
four planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Nep-
tune) having a larger size and less dense ma-
15
 terials and have a thick atmosphere, mostly of
helium and hydrogen
• Jovian planets are more like the sun than like
the terrestrial planets.
• If we take Jupiter, the biggest planet, as the
centre of the planets of our solar system, the
size of the planets becomes smaller as we go
away from either side of Jupiter (Mars being the
exception).
• The orbits of the planets are nearly circular,
but many comets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt An Astronomical Unit (AU) is the average distance
objects follow highly elliptical orbits. between Earth and the Sun, which is about 150
million km.
Planet Surface Period of Period of Revo- Distance from Diameter (km) Size Moons Density Specific grav-
Temp in ֯C Rotation lution Sun (AU) Rank (gm/cm3) ity (m/s2)
1. Mercury +427 58 days 87 days 0.4 4,878 0.38 8 0 5.4 3.7 0.38
2. Venus +480 243 days 224 days 0.7 12,104 0.95 6 0 5.2 8.9 0.9
3. Earth +22 23:56 hrs 365 days 1 12,756 1.00 5 1 5.5 9.8 1
4. Mars -23 1.025 days 687 days 1.5 6,787 0.53 7 2 3.9 3.7 0.38
5. Jupiter -150 9.9 hrs 11.9 years 5.2 1,40,000 11.19 1 79 1.3 24.9 2.53
6. Saturn -180 10.7 hrs 29 years 9.6 1,16,000 9.46 2 62 0.7 10.4 1.06
7. Uranus -214 17 hrs 84 years 19.2 51,000 4.11 3 27 1.3 8.8 0.9
8. Neptune -220 16 hrs 164 years 30.0 48,000 3.88 4 13 1.6 11.1 1.13
Pluto (dwarf) -223 6.39 days 248 years 39.5 2,377 0.18 9 5 1.9 0.6 0.06
Values in the given in the table are not accurate. They are rounded off for obvious reasons.

16
 Size comparison of largest moons with earth
Size comparison of largest moons in the Solar Sys-
tem (User:primefac, via Wikimedia Commons)
Inner Planets
• The inner Solar System is the traditional name
for the region comprising the terrestrial plan-
ets and asteroids.
• They are 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 miner-
als, 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 the inferior planet, which designates
those planets that are closer to the Sun than
Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).
• The term superior planet designates planets
outside Earth's orbit and thus includes both the
outer planets and Mars.
Mercury
• Mercury's surface appears heavily cratered and
is similar in appearance to the Moon's, indicat-
ing that it has been geologically inactive for
billions of years (because there is no atmos-
phere on Mercury).
• When viewed from Earth, the planet can only be
seen near the western or eastern horizon during
the early evening or early morning.
• It may appear as a bright star-like object but is
less bright than Venus.
• Having almost no atmosphere to retain heat, it
has surface temperatures that vary diurnally
more than on any other planet in the Solar Sys-
tem (−173 °C at night to 427 °C during the day).
• Mercury is smaller than the largest natural satel-
lites in the Solar System, Ganymede (largest
moon of Jupiter) and Titan (largest moon of
Saturn).
• However, Mercury is massive (has more mass)
than Ganymede and Titan.
• Images obtained by MESSENGER spacecraft in
2004 have revealed evidence for pyroclastic
17
 flows (vulcanicity) and water ice at Mercury’s
poles.
Venus
• Venus is the brightest planet in the solar sys-
tem and is the third brightest object visible
from earth after the sun and the moon.
• It is the brightest among planets because it has
the highest albedo due to the highly reflec-
tive sulfuric acid that covers its atmosphere. It
is sometimes visible to the naked eye in broad
daylight.
• Venus is sometimes called Earth's sister planet
or Earth's twin because of their similar size,
mass, proximity to the Sun, bulk composition
and presence of similar physical features such
as high plateaus, folded mountain belts, nu-
merous volcanoes, etc.
• It is radically different from Earth in other re-
spects. The surface of Venus is totally obscured
by a thick atmosphere composed of about 96%
carbon dioxide, covered with clouds of highly
reflective sulfuric acid.
• It has the densest atmosphere of the four ter-
restrial planets. The atmospheric pressure at
the planet's surface is 92 times that of Earth, or
roughly the pressure found 900 m (3,000 ft) un-
derwater on Earth.
• Venus is by far the hottest planet in the Solar
System, even though Mercury is closer to the
Sun.
• This is because of the greenhouse effect aris-
ing from high concentrations of CO2 and thick
atmosphere.
• A day on Venus is equivalent to 243 earth days
and lasts longer than its year (224 days).
• It rotates in the opposite direction (clock-
wise) to most other planets.
• In the ancient literature, Venus was often
referred to as the morning star and evening
star.
Moon
• Its diameter is only one-quarter that of the
earth.
• It is about 3,84,400 km away from us.
• 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.
• The moon is tidally locked to the earth, mean-
ing that the moon revolves around the earth in
about 27 days which is the same time it takes
to complete one spin.
• Tidal locking is the name given to the situation
when an object's orbital period matches its
rotational period.
• As a result of tidal locking, only one side of the
moon is visible to us on the earth.
• The moon is a significant stabiliser of Earth's
orbital axis. Without it, Earth's tilt could vary as
much as 85 degrees (at present the Earth’s axis
of rotation is tilted at an angle of 23.5֯ rela-
tive to our orbital plane).
• Neil Armstrong was the first, and Buzz Aldrin
was the second to step on the surface of the
moon on 29 July 1969 (Apollo 11 mission).
• Till date, only Twelve astronauts walked on the
Moon's surface.
Formation of the moon
• It is now generally believed that the formation
of the 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.
• Scientists estimate that a day in the life of early
Earth was only about 6 hours long.
• The Moon formed much closer to Earth than it
is today.
• As Earth rotates, the Moon's gravity causes the
oceans to seem to rise and fall. There is a little
bit of friction between the tides and the turning
Earth, causing the earth’s rotation to slow
down just a little (1.4 milliseconds in 100
years).
• As Earth slows, it lets the Moon move away by a
little (four centimetres per year).
18

Colonizing the moon
• Discovery of lunar water at the lunar poles by
Chandrayaan-1 has renewed interest in the
Moon.
• Locations on the Lunar poles avoid the problem
of long lunar nights (350+ hours).
• Exploration of the lunar surface by spacecraft
began in 1959 with the Soviet Union's Luna
program.
• Luna 2 made a hard landing (impact) into its
surface and became the first artificial object on
the moon.
• Crewed exploration of the lunar surface began
in 1968 when the Apollo 8 spacecraft orbited
the Moon.
• The following year, the Apollo 11 Apollo Lunar
Module landed two astronauts on the Moon.
• In 2009, the Chandrayaan probe discovered
that the lunar soil contains 0.1% water by
weight.
Advantages of colonising the moon
• A lunar base could be a site for launching rock-
ets with locally manufactured fuel to distant
planets.
There are several disadvantages to the Moon as
a colony site
• The long lunar night would impede reliance on
solar power.
• The Moon is highly depleted in carbon and
volatile elements, such as nitrogen and hydro-
gen.
• The low gravity on the Moon will have adverse
effects on human health in the long term.
• The lack of a substantial atmosphere results in
temperature extremes, harmful radiation reach-
ing the surface and increased chances of the
colony's being hit by meteors.
• Growing crops on the Moon is difficult due to
the long lunar night, extreme variation in sur-
face temperature, exposure to solar flares, ni-
trogen-poor soil, and lack of insects for pollina-
tion.
Mars
• Mars is often referred to as the "Red Planet"
because of the reddish iron oxide prevalent on
its surface.
• Mars has a thin atmosphere and has surface
features ranging from impact craters of the
Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice
caps of Earth.
• Mars is the site of Olympus Mons (shield vol-
cano), the largest volcano and the highest
known mountain (24 km) in the Solar System,
and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest can-
yons in the Solar System.
• Mars has two irregularly shaped moons, Pho-
bos and Deimos, which are thought to be cap-
tured asteroids.
• Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars
due to low atmospheric pressure (less than 1%
of the Earth's).
• The two polar ice caps appear to be made
largely of water.
• Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the na-
ked eye.
• Mars is less dense than Earth, having about 15%
of Earth's volume and 11% of Earth's mass.
• Landforms visible on Mars strongly suggest that
liquid water has existed on the planet's sur-
face.
• Mars lost its magnetosphere 4 billion years ago,
possibly because of numerous asteroid strikes,
so the solar wind interacts directly with the
Martian ionosphere, lowering the atmospheric
density.
• The atmosphere of Mars consists of about 96%
carbon dioxide, 1.93% argon and 1.89% nitro-
gen along with traces of oxygen and water.
• Methane has been detected in the Martian at-
mosphere (may indicate the existence of life).
• Methane can exist in the Martian atmosphere
for only a limited period before it is destroyed
19
 — estimates of its lifetime range from 0.6-4
years.
• Its presence despite this short lifetime indicates
that an active source of the gas must be pre-
sent.
• Geological means such as serpentinization, vol-
canic activity, cometary impacts, and the pres-
ence of methanogenic microbial life forms
are among possible sources.
• Of all the planets in the Solar System, the sea-
sons of Mars are the most Earth-like, due to the
similar tilts of the two planets' rotational axes.
• The lack of a magnetosphere and the extremely
thin atmosphere of Mars are a challenge: the
planet has little heat transfer across its surface,
poor insulation against the bombardment of
the solar wind.
• Mars is nearly geologically dead; the end of vol-
canic activity has stopped the recycling of
chemicals and minerals between the surface
and interior of the planet.
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 23.5֯ tilt.
• A year on Mars lasts about twice as long as an
Earth year; the seasons are twice as long.
• The atmosphere of Mars (95% carbon dioxide)
is less than 1% the thickness of Earth’s atmos-
phere.
Outer Planets
• Outer Planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Nep-
tune and the dwarf planet – Pluto.
• The four outer planets, called the gas giants,
collectively make up 99% of the mass known to
orbit the Sun.
• They are composed mainly of hydrogen & he-
lium & lack a solid surface. Their moons are,
however, solid.
• The two outermost planets, Uranus and Nep-
tune, are composed of substances called ices,
such as water, ammonia and methane, and
are often referred to separately as “ice giants”.
• All four gas giants have rings, although only
Saturn's ring system is easily observed from
Earth.
• The gas giants have a magnetosphere, nu-
merous moons and significant atmospheric
activity.
• Neptune has the strongest wind speed (2,100
km/h) followed by Saturn (1,800 km/h).
Jupiter
• It is composed mostly of gas and liquid swirling
in complex patterns with no solid surface.
• Jupiter's four large moons (Io, Europa, Gany-
mede, and Callisto), called the Galilean satel-
lites because Galileo discovered them.
• Ganymede is the largest natural satellite (5,268
km in diameter) in this solar system and is
larger than Mercury, and three times larger
than the earth’s Moon (3,474 km in diameter,
the fifth largest moon).
• It is the third-brightest natural object in the
night sky after the Moon and Venus and the
fourth brightest object in the sky after the Sun,
the Moon and Venus.
• Because of its rapid rotation (once every 10
hours), the planet's shape is that of an oblate
spheroid (slight bulge at the equator).
• The outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into
several bands, resulting in turbulence and
storms.
• The latest probe to visit Jupiter is Juno.
Saturn
• Saturn's rings are probably made up of billions
of particles of ice and ice-covered rocks.
• Titan is the second-largest moon in the Solar
System (larger than Mercury) and it is the only
satellite in the Solar System with a substantial
atmosphere (nitrogen-rich).
Uranus
• In contrast to all other planets, it is tipped and
spin on its sides, that is its axis of rotation lies
in nearly the plane of its orbit. (The poles of
20
 Uranus lie in a plane where equators of other
planets lie)
• All eight planets in the Solar System orbit (re-
volve) the Sun in the direction of the Sun's rota-
tion, which is counterclockwise when viewed
from above the Sun's north pole.
• Six of the eight planets also rotate about their
axis in this same direction (counterclockwise).
• Venus and Uranus have a strange retrograde
rotation (clockwise), i.e., opposite of sun’s ro-
tation.
Neptune
• Uranus and Neptune (the ice giants) are called
the twins of the outer solar system.
• They are surrounded by a thick atmosphere of
hydrogen and helium and contains a higher
proportion of "ices" such as water, ammonia,
and methane ice giants" to emphasise this dis-
tinction.
• Neptune has the strongest sustained winds
(2,100 km/h) of any planet in the Solar System.
Why are the inner planets rocky while
the outer planets are mostly in gase-
ous form?
• The terrestrial planets were formed in the close
vicinity of the parent star where it was too
warm for gases on the surface to condense
to solid particles.
• The solar wind was most intense nearer the
sun; so, it blew off lots of gas and dust from the
surface of 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.
3.6 Other Solar System Objects
Asteroid belt
• Asteroids are remnants of planetary formation
that circle the Sun in a zone lying between
Mars and Jupiter. The circular chain of aster-
oids is called the asteroid belt.
• The remnants of planetary formation failed to
coalesce because of the gravitational interfer-
ence of Jupiter.
• The asteroid belt lies between 2.3 and 3.3 AU
from the Sun.
• Asteroids (planetoids ― another term for an
asteroid) are composed mainly of refractory
rocky and metallic minerals, with some ice.
• Asteroids range in size from hundreds of kilo-
metres across to microscopic.
• All asteroids except the largest, Ceres, are clas-
sified as small Solar System bodies.
• Fragments of asteroids break off to form mete-
oroids, which can reach the Earth's surface.
Ceres
• Ceres (2.77 AU) is the largest asteroid (946 km
in diameter), a protoplanet, and a dwarf planet.
• Ceres has a mass large enough for its own grav-
ity to pull it into a spherical shape.
Pluto and Charon
• Pluto (39 AU) is the largest known object in the
Kuiper belt. Charon is Pluto's largest moon.
• When discovered in 1930, it was considered to
be the ninth planet; this changed in 2006 with
the adoption of a formal definition of a planet.
• International Astronomical Union’s defini-
tion of a Planet: a Planet is an object that:
1. orbits the sun;
2. has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic
equilibrium ― a nearly round shape;
3. is not a satellite (moon) of another object,
and
4. has removed debris and small objects
from the area around its orbit
• IAU’s definition of Dwarf planet: Dwarf planet
is an object that meets planetary criteria except
that it has not cleared debris from its orbital
neighbourhood.
• Pluto is a part of the Kuiper belt that contains
millions of rocky and icy objects. Also, there are
numerous other objects in the Kuiper belt which
are of similar size to Pluto. E.g. Eris (diameter:
2,326 km).
21
• So, if Pluto is considered a plant, then many
other objects like Eris will also have to be con-
sidered as planets.
• Hence, Pluto (diameter: 2,377 km) (Kuiper
belt) was voted by IAU as a dwarf planet just
like Ceres (asteroid belt) and Eris (diameter:
2,326 km) (Kuiper belt).
Kuiper belt
• The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris similar
to the asteroid belt but consisting mainly of ob-
jects composed primarily of ice.
• It extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun.
Comets
• A comet is an icy small Solar System body that,
when passing close to the Sun, heats up due to
the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind
upon the nucleus and begins to outgas, display-
ing a visible atmosphere or coma, and some-
times also a tail.
• Comets have highly elliptical orbits, unlike the
planets which have near-circular orbits.
• They are made of frozen gases (water, ammo-
nia, methane and carbon dioxide) which hold
together small pieces of rocky and metallic
minerals.
• Short-period comets (orbital period of a few
hundred years) originate in the Kuiper belt or
its associated scattered disc, which lie beyond
the orbit of Neptune.
• Longer period comets, with orbits of thou-
sands of years, come from the more distant
Oort Cloud.
• Oort cloud is a giant shell of icy bodies that en-
circle the solar system occupying space at a dis-
tance between 5,000 and 100,000 AU.
• 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.
Meteoroid, Meteor and Meteorite
• A meteoroid is any solid debris originating
from asteroids, comets or other celestial ob-
ject and floats through interplanetary space.
• A meteor is the streak of light that appears in
the sky when a meteoroid enters the atmos-
phere (mesosphere) at about 200 km at high
speed and burns up because of the friction.
• A meteor is popularly termed a ‘shooting star’
or ‘falling star’.
• In some cases, the meteoroid does not burn up
completely and makes its way to the Earth’s sur-
face. The surviving chunk is called a meteorite.
• The circular depression created on the earth’s
surface after the meteorite’s impact is called as
a meteorite crater.
• Meteorite impacts are common on all planets
and moons in the solar system.
• The most conspicuous meteorite craters can be
found on the surfaces of the Moon and Mercu-
ry (because they are geologically inactive due
to negligible atmosphere).
• Largest Meteor Crater: A meteor crater in Arizo-
na (USA) is 1,300 m deep is the largest meteor
crater in the world. It was formed over 10,000
years ago.
Chicxulub crater
• Chicxulub crater (Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula)
was caused by a meteor impact that is believed
to have wiped out the dinosaurs (mass extinc-
tion at the end of the Cretaceous 65 million
years ago).
22

Meteorite craters in India
• Lonar Lake (1.8 km in diameter) in Buldhana
District of Maharashtra
• Dhala crater (14 km in diameter) in Shivpuri
district, Madhya Pradesh and
• Ramgarh crater (3.5 km in diameter) is a po-
tential meteorite crater in Kota plateau in Raja-
sthan.
3.7 Solar System - Relevant Facts
Heliocentric vs Geocentric
• A heliocentric system is an astronomical model
in which the Earth and planets revolve around a
relatively stationary Sun at the centre of the So-
lar System.
• Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a
mathematically predictive heliocentric system
(Sun at the centre).
• Ptolemy proposed geocentric model (Earth at
the centre).
Kepler's laws of planetary motion
(Hankwang, from Wikimedia Commons)
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 inter-
vals 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.
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 belt objects (like
Pluto) are frequently at significantly greater an-
gles to it.
Heliopause
Heliosphere (NASA/Walt Feimer, via Wikimedia
Commons)
• What defines the boundary of the solar system?
Sun's light, or the influence of the Sun's gravity,
or the influence of the Sun's magnetic field and
solar wind?
• There is no definite boundary where the light or
gravity stops or where they suddenly get weak-
er.
• The solar wind is different from light or gravity.
As it streams away from the Sun it races out
against the interstellar medium ― space be-
tween the stars permeated by hydrogen and
helium gas).
• Even though the interstellar medium has a low
density, it still has a pressure (similar to air
pressure). The solar wind also has a pressure.
23
• The solar wind blows against the interstellar um is strong enough to slow down and eventu-
medium and creates a bubble-like region. This ally stop the flow of solar wind.
bubble that surrounds the solar system is called
the heliosphere (not a sphere in the true Source
sense).
• Since the Sun is moving relative to the interstel-
Distant artificial objects exploring the
lar medium around it, the heliosphere forms a Solar System
wave or shock in the interstellar medium like a
boat in the ocean. This is called the bow shock • Here are the five artificial objects that have
or wave. achieved the escape velocity that will allow
• The region where the solar wind begins to in- them to leave the Solar System.
teract with the interstellar medium and be-
gins to slow down is called the heliosheath.
• The heliosheath has a few parts: the termination
shock (the innermost part of the boundary), the
heliopause (the outermost part of the bounda-
ry) and the part in between the inner and outer
boundary.
• The termination shock is the boundary where
the solar wind particles slow down so that the
particles are travelling slower than the speed
of sound.
• Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock at 94
astronomical units (AU) and Voyager 2 crossed
at 84 AU.
Distant artificial objects (NASA, via Wikimedia
• At the heliopause ― the boundary of the helio-
Commons)
sphere, the pressure from the interstellar medi-

Paths of Voyagers (Source)

Space probe Launch year Significant event Objective Current status Distance from

24
 the Sun in AU
Pioneer 10 1972 Flew past Saturn in 1979 Study the asteroid belt, Contact lost ~ 120 AU
the environment around in 2003
Pioneer 11 1973 Flew past Saturn in 1979 Jupiter and Saturn, solar Contact lost ~ 90 AU
wind and cosmic rays. in 1995
Voyager 2 Aug 1977 Passed the heliopause in Explore all four Jovian Active ~ 119 AU
December 2018 to enter planets. (as of Jan 2019)
interstellar space (second
artificial object to leave
the solar system).
Voyager 1 Sep 1977 Passed the heliopause in Explore Jupiter, Saturn, Active ~ 144 AU (as of
2012 to enter interstellar and Saturn's largest Jan 2019)
space (first artificial ob- moon, Titan.
ject to leave the solar sys- Extended mission of
tem). both the Voyagers is to
At a distance of about 143 study the outer reaches
AU Voyager 1 is the most of the Solar System.
distant man-made object
from Earth.
New Horizons 2006 Flew past Pluto in 2015. It is To perform a flyby study Active ~ 42 AU
currently travelling through of the Pluto system in
Kuiper belt. 2015, and a secondary
mission to fly by and
study one or more oth-
er Kuiper belt objects
(KBOs) in the decade to
follow
What’s the closest star to the Sun?

• You might have heard that Alpha Centauri, the

Distance from Sun (NASA / JPL-Caltech, via Wiki-
media Commons)
• Voyagers continue to communicate with the
Deep Space Network to receive routine com-
mands and return data.
• The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is a
worldwide network of U.S. spacecraft communi-
cation facilities, located in the United States
(California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia
(Canberra), that sup-
ports NASA's interplanetary spacecraft mis-
sions.
third brightest star in the sky (4.37 light-years
away) is the closest star to the sun.
• But Alpha Centauri isn’t one star, it’s a system
of three stars namely Alpha Centauri A, Alpha
Centauri B and Proxima Centauri.
• Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B are a
binary pair, orbiting a common centre of gravi-
ty.
• Alpha Centauri A is just a little more massive
and brighter than the Sun, and Alpha Centauri B
is slightly less massive than the Sun.
• Proxima Centauri is the faint red dwarf star,
and it is the closest star to our Sun (4.24 light-
years away).
• Proxima Centauri has been the nearest star for
about 32,000 years, and it will hold this record
for another 33,000 years.
• After 33,000 years from now, the nearest star
will be Ross 248.
• Alpha Centauri is only visible in the Southern
Hemisphere.

25
• In the Northern Hemisphere, the closest visible
star is Barnard’s Star, another red dwarf which
is too dim just like Proxima Centauri to see with
the unaided eye.
• The closest star that you can see with the naked
eye in the Northern Hemisphere is Sirius (Dog
Star)
• Sirius is the second brightest star when viewed
from the earth, the brightest being the sun.
Closest Stars
1. Proxima Centauri (Alpha Centauri system – 4.2
light years)
2. Barnard’s Star – 5.9 light years
How do Astronomers Measure the
Distance to Stars?
• They use a technique called parallax.
Parallax Method (Johan Walden, from Wikimedia
Commons)
• To measure the distance to stars, you measure
the angle to a star when the Earth is one side of
its orbit; say in the summer. Then you wait six
months until the Earth has moved to the oppo-
site side of its orbit, and then measure the angle
to the star compared to some distant reference
object.
4. Geologic Time Scale
While studying geography, you will come across
terms like Carboniferous Period, Permian Period,
etc. These terms can confuse you and make the
subject appear complicated. So, having a brief un-
derstanding of these terms makes things easy.
• The geological time scale (GTS) divides and
chronicles earth’s evolutionary history into vari-
ous periods from the beginning to the present
based on definite events that marked a major
change in earth’s physical, chemical and biolog-
ical features.
• Major changes in earth’s physical and biological
history stretch over several millions of years and
hence in GTS all the divisions are expressed in
‘million years (mya – million years ago).’
• The primarily defined divisions of time are eons,
the Hadean, the Archean, the Proterozoic and
the Phanerozoic. The first three of these can be
referred to collectively as the Precambrian su-
pereon.
• Each eon is subsequently divided into eras,
which in turn are divided into periods, which are
further divided into epochs.
SuperEon ➔ Eon ➔ Era ➔ Period ➔ Epoch
4.1 Hadean Eon
•
• The Hadean eon (4,540 – 4,000 mya) represents
the time before a reliable (fossil) record of
life.
• Temperatures are extremely hot, and much of
the Earth was molten because of frequent col-
lisions with other bodies, extreme volcanism
and the abundance of short-lived radioactive
elements.
• A giant impact collision with a planet-sized
body named Theia (approximately 4.5 billion
years ago) is thought to have formed the
Moon.
26
• The moon was subjected to Late Heavy Bom-
bardment (LHB – lunar cataclysm – 4 billion
years ago).
• During the LHB phase, a disproportionately
large number of asteroids are theorised to have
collided with the early terrestrial planets in the
inner Solar System, including Mercury, Venus,
Earth, and Mars.
• Volcanic outgassing probably created the pri-
mordial atmosphere and then the ocean.
• The early atmosphere contained almost no ox-
ygen.
• Over time, the Earth cooled, causing the for-
mation of a solid crust, leaving behind hot vol-
atiles which probably resulted in a heavy CO2
atmosphere with hydrogen and water vapour.
• Liquid water oceans existed despite the surface
temperature of 230° C because, at an atmos-
pheric pressure of above 27 atmospheres,
caused by the heavy CO2 atmosphere, water is
still liquid.
27
Is it possible to boil water (change the state of • Hydrogen and helium are expected to continu-
water from liquid to gas) at room temperature? ally escape (even to the present day) due to
• Yes, it is possible, by decreasing the ambient atmospheric escape.
pressure.
• Because the boiling point of liquids can be 4.2 Archean Eon
reduced by reducing the ambient pressure
and vice versa.
• As ambient pressure decreases, molecules
evaporating from a boiling liquid meet less re-
sistance from air molecules and enter the air
more easily.
• Hence, it is possible to convert water to steam
at room temperature and keep water in the
liquid state even when the temperature is above
100֯ C, just by altering the ambient pressure. The surface condition during Archean Eon (Tim Ber-
• As cooling continued, dissolving in ocean wa- telink, from Wikimedia Commons)
ter removed most CO2 from the atmosphere.
• The beginning of life on Earth and evidence
of cyanobacteria date to 3500 mya.

28
• Life was limited to simple single-celled organ- 4.3 Proterozoic Eon
isms lacking nuclei, called Prokaryota.
• The atmosphere was without oxygen, and the
atmospheric pressure was around 10 to 100
atmospheres.
• The Earth's crust had cooled enough to allow
the formation of continents.
• The oldest rock formations exposed on the sur-
face of the Earth are Archean.
• Volcanic activity was considerably higher than Multicellular lifeforms during Proterozoic Eon
today, with numerous lava eruptions. (Source)
• The oceans were more acidic due to dissolved
carbon dioxide than during the Proterozoic. • It is the last eon of the Precambrian "supereon".
• By the end of the Archaean, plate tectonics • It spans for the time of appearance of oxygen
may have been similar to that of the modern in Earth's atmosphere to just before the pro-
Earth. liferation of complex life (such as corals) on
• Liquid water was prevalent, and deep oceanic the Earth.
basins are known to have existed • Bacteria begin producing oxygen, leading to
• The earliest stromatolites are found in 3.48 bil- the sudden rise of life forms.
lion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western • Eukaryotes (have a nucleus), emerge, including
Australia. some forms of soft-bodied multicellular organ-
• The earliest identifiable fossils consist of isms.
stromatolites, which are microbial mats formed • Earlier forms of fungi formed around this time.
in shallow water by cyanobacteria.

29
• The early and late phases of this eon may have
undergone Snowball Earth periods (the planet
suffered below-zero temperatures, extensive
glaciation and as a result drop in sea levels).
Snowball Earth: The Snowball Earth hypothesis
proposes that Earth's surface became entirely or
nearly entirely frozen at least once, sometime earlier
than 650 Mya (million years ago).
• It was a very tectonically active period in the
Earth’s history.
• It featured the first definitive supercontinent
cycles and modern orogeny (mountain build-
ing).
• It is believed that 43% of modern continental
crust was formed in the Proterozoic, 39%
formed in the Archean, and only 18% in the
Phanerozoic.
• In the late Proterozoic (most recent), the domi-
nant supercontinent was Rodinia (~1000–750
Ma).
Supercontinent Rodinia (John Goodge, via Wikimedia
Commons)
• It was also during the Proterozoic that the first
symbiotic relationships between mitochondria
(found in nearly all eukaryotes) and chloroplasts
(found in plants and some protists only) and
their hosts evolved.
4.4 Phanerozoic Eon
• The boundary between the Proterozoic and the
Phanerozoic eons was set when the first fossils
of animals such as trilobites appeared.
• Life remained mostly small and microscopic un-
til about 580 million years ago, when complex
multicellular life arose, developed over time,
and culminated in the Cambrian Explosion
about 541 million years ago.
• This sudden diversification of life forms pro-
duced most of the major life forms known to-
day.
• Plant life on land appeared in the early Phan-
erozoic eon.
• Complex life, including vertebrates, begin to
dominate the Earth's ocean.
• Pangaea forms and later dissolves in-
to Laurasia and Gondwana.
• Gradually, life expands to land and all familiar
forms of plants, insects, animals and fungi begin
appearing.
• Birds, the descendants of dinosaurs, and more
recently mammals emerge.
• Modern animals—including humans—evolve at
the most recent phases of this eon (2 million
years ago).
The Phanerozoic eon is divided into three eras:
1. the Palaeozoic, an era of arthropods, am-
phibians, fishes, and the first life on land;
2. the Mesozoic, which spanned the rise, reign
of reptiles, climactic extinction of the non-
avian dinosaurs, the evolution of mammals
and birds; and
3. the Cenozoic, which saw the rise of mam-
mals.
• The Phanerozoic is divided into three eras: the
Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic, which are
further subdivided into 12 periods.
Paleozoic Era
• There are six periods in the Paleozoic era: Cam-
brian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carbonif-
erous and Permian.
Cambrian Period
• Spans from 541 to 485 million years ago.
• The Cambrian sparked a rapid expansion in
evolution in an event known as the Cambrian
Explosion during which the greatest number of
30
 creatures evolved in a single period in the histo-
ry of Earth.
• Plants like algae evolved, and arthropods
dominated the fauna.
• Almost all marine phyla evolved in this period.
Lifeforms during the Cambrian Period (OpenStax, via
Wikimedia Commons)
Ordovician Period
• Spans from 485 million years to 440 million
years ago.
• Many species still prevalent today evolved, such
as primitive fish, corals, etc.
• The most common forms of life, however, were
trilobites, snails and shellfish.
• More importantly, the first arthropods crept
ashore (the beginning of terrestrial
lifeforms).
• By the end of the Ordovician, Gondwana had
moved from the equator to the South Pole.
• The glaciation of Gondwana resulted in a major
drop in sea level, killing off all life along its
coast.
• Glaciation caused a snowball Earth, leading to
the Ordovician-Silurian extinction (First Mass
Extinction).
Ordovician–Silurian extinction (First Mass Ex-
tinction)
• This is considered as the second deadliest in the
history of Earth.
• This event greatly affected marine communities.
• As the southern supercontinent, Gondwana
drifted over the South Pole, ice caps formed on
it.
• A combination of lowering of sea level and gla-
cially driven cooling were likely driving agents.
• A fall in atmospheric carbon dioxide preceded
the late Ordovician glaciation event.
• The dip is correlated with a burst of volcanic
activity that deposited new silicate rocks, which
draw CO2 out of the air as they erode.
Silurian Period
• The Silurian spans from 440 million years to 415
million years ago.
• It saw warming from Snowball Earth.
• This period saw the mass evolution of fish.
• The first freshwater fish evolved, though arthro-
pods, such as sea scorpions, remained the apex
predators.
• Fully terrestrial life evolved, which included fun-
gi, and centipedes.
• The evolution of vascular plants allowed plants
to gain a foothold on land.
• During this time, there were four continents:
Gondwana (Africa, South America, Australia,
Antarctica, India), Laurentia (North America with
parts of Europe), Baltica (the rest of Europe),
and Siberia (Northern Asia).
• The recent rise in sea levels provided new habi-
tats for many new species.
Lifeforms during the Silurian Period (livescience.com)
Devonian Period
• Spans from 415 million years to 360 million
years ago.
• Also known as the Age of the Fish, the Devoni-
an features a huge diversification in fish.
• On land, plant groups diversified; the first trees
and seeds evolved.
• By the Middle Devonian, shrub-like forests of
primitive plants existed.
31
• This event allowed the diversification of arthro-
pod life as they took advantage of the new hab-
itat.
• The first amphibians also evolved, and the fish
were now at the top of the food chain.
• Near the end of the Devonian, 70% of all spe-
cies became extinct in an event known as the
Late Devonian extinction, which is the second
mass extinction known to have happened.
Devonian Period ― Age of Fish (Joseph Smit (1836-
1929), via Wikimedia Commons)
Late Devonian extinction (Second Mass Extinc-
tion)
• The Late Devonian extinction occurred about
376–360 million years ago.
• The extinction seems to have only affected ma-
rine life.
• The causes of these extinctions are unclear.
• Leading hypotheses include changes in sea level
and ocean anoxia (lack of oxygen), possibly
triggered by global cooling or oceanic volcan-
ism.
Carboniferous Period
• Spans from 360 million to 300 million years ago.
• Tropical swamps dominated the Earth, and the
large amounts of trees created much of the
carbon that became coal deposits (hence the
name Carboniferous).
• The high oxygen levels caused by these
swamps allowed massive arthropods, normally
limited in size by their respiratory systems, to
proliferate.
• Perhaps the most important evolutionary de-
velopment of the time was the evolution of
amniotic eggs, which allowed amphibians to
move farther inland. (Amniotic fluid is a clear,
slightly yellowish liquid that surrounds the foe-
tus).
• Also, the first reptiles evolved in the swamps.
• Throughout the Carboniferous, there was a
cooling pattern, which eventually led to the gla-
ciation of Gondwana as much of it was situated
around the south pole.
Permian Period
• Spans from 300 million to 250 million years ago.
• At its beginning, all continents came together
to form the super-continent Pangaea, sur-
rounded by one ocean called Panthalassa.
• The Earth was very dry during this time, with
harsh seasons, as large bodies of water didn't
regulate the climate of the interior of Pangaea.
• Reptiles flourished in the new dry climate.
• Creatures such as Dimetrodon and
Edaphosaurus ruled the new continent.
(English Wikipedia)
• The first conifers evolved, then dominated the
terrestrial landscape.
• Nearing the end of the period, Scutosaurus and
gorgonopsids filled the arid landmass.
(Wikipedia)
• Eventually, they disappeared, along with 95% of
all life on Earth in an event simply known as
"the Great Dying", the world's third mass ex-
tinction event and the largest in its history.
Permian–Triassic extinction event (Third Mass
Extinction)
32
• The Permian–Triassic (P-T) extinction event is
also known as the Great Dying.
• It occurred about 252 Ma (million years) ago,
forming the boundary between the Paleozoic
and the Mesozoic eras.
• It is the Earth's most severe known extinction
event, with up to 96% of all marine species and (Nobu Tamura, from Wikimedia Commons)
70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming
extinct.
• It is the only known mass extinction of insects.
• Suggested causes include large meteor impact
events, massive volcanism such as that of the
Siberian Traps, runaway greenhouse effect
triggered by the sudden release of methane
from the sea floor due to methane-producing
microbes known as methanogens.
• Possible contributing gradual changes include
sea-level change, increasing anoxia, increasing
aridity, and a shift in ocean circulation driven by
climate change.

Mesozoic Era

• Spans from 250 million to 66 million years ago.

• Also known as "the Age of the dinosaurs", the
Mesozoic features the rise of reptiles.
• There are three periods in the Mesozoic: Trias-
sic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.
Triassic Period
• Spans from 250 million to 200 million years ago.
• It is a transitional time between the Permian
Extinction and the lush Jurassic Period.
• It has three major epochs: Early Triassic, Middle
Triassic and Late Triassic.
Early Triassic
• Spans from 250 million to 247 million years ago.
• Deserts dominated Pangaea (not yet broken
up; thus the interior was arid).
• The Earth had just witnessed a massive die-off
in which 95% of all life became extinct.
• The most common life on Earth was Lystro-
saurus, labyrinthodonts, along with many other
creatures that managed to survive the Great Dy-
ing.
Supercontinent Pangea (User: Kieff, via Wikimedia
Commons)
Middle Triassic
• Spans from 247 million to 237 million years ago.
• The Middle Triassic featured the beginnings of
the breakup of Pangaea and the beginning of
the Tethys Sea.
• The ecosystem had recovered from the devasta-
tion of the Great Dying.
• Phytoplankton, coral, and crustaceans all had
recovered, and the reptiles began increasing in
size.
• New aquatic reptiles, such as ichthyosaurs, pro-
liferated in the seas.
• Meanwhile, on land, pine forests flourished, as
well as mosquitoes and fruit flies.
• The first ancient crocodilians evolved, which
sparked competition with the large amphibians.
Late Triassic
• Spans from 237 million to 200 million years ago.

33
• It featured frequent rises of temperature, as well
as moderate precipitation.
• The recent warming led to a boom of reptilian
evolution on land as the first true dinosaurs
evolved, as well as pterosaurs.
Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs (Durbed, via Wikimedia
Commons)
• By the end of the period the first gigantic dino-
saurs had evolved and advanced pterosaurs
colonised Pangaea's deserts.
• The climactic change, however, resulted in a
large die-out known as the Triassic-Jurassic
extinction event (Fourth Mass Extinction), in
which all large amphibians became extinct.
Triassic–Jurassic extinction event (Fourth Mass
Extinction)
• It marks the boundary between the Triassic and
Jurassic periods, 201 million years ago.
• This event happened in less than 10,000 years
and occurred just before Pangaea started to
break apart.
• On land, all archosaurs except a few and many
of the large amphibians became extinct.
• This event vacated terrestrial ecological niches,
allowing the dinosaurs to assume the dominant
role.
• Gradual climate change, sea-level fluctuations,
oceanic acidification reached a tipping point.
• Massive volcanic eruptions might have caused
intense global warming (release of carbon diox-
ide or sulphur dioxide) or intense global warm-
ing (release of aerosols).
Jurassic Period
• Spans from 200 million to 145 million years ago,
and features three major epochs: Early Jurassic,
Middle Jurassic, and Late Jurassic.
Early Jurassic
• Spans from 200 million to 175 million years ago.
• The climate was much more humid than the
Triassic, and as a result, the world was very
tropical.
• In the oceans, plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and
ammonites dominated the seas.
• On land, dinosaurs and other reptiles domi-
nated the land.
• The first true crocodiles evolved, pushing the
large amphibians to near extinction.
• The reptiles rose to rule the world.
• Meanwhile, the first true mammals evolved,
but never exceeded the height of a shrew.
Middle Jurassic
• Spans from 175 million to 163 million years ago.
• During this epoch, dinosaurs flourished.
• Many other predators rose as well, such as Allo-
saurus.
• Conifer forests made up a large portion of the
world's forests.
• In the oceans, plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs
were flourishing.
• This epoch was the peak of the reptiles.
Late Jurassic
• Spans from 163 million to 145 million years ago.
• The Late Jurassic featured a massive extinction
of sauropods and ichthyosaurs due to the
separation of Pangaea into Laurasia and
Gondwana in an extinction known as the Ju-
rassic-Cretaceous extinction.
• The increase in sea-levels opened up the Atlan-
tic seaway which would continue to get larger
over time.
• The divided world would give an opportunity
for the diversification of new dinosaurs.
Cretaceous Period
• Spans from 145 million to 66 million years ago,
and is divided into two epochs: Early Creta-
ceous, and Late Cretaceous.
34
Early Cretaceous
• Spans from 145 million to 100 million years ago.
• The Early Cretaceous saw the expansion of
seaways.
• Seasons came back into effect, and the poles
grew seasonally colder.
• Since it was too cold for crocodiles, it was the
last stronghold for large amphibians.
• In this epoch, Pterosaurs reached their maxi-
mum diversity and grew larger.
• The first true birds evolved, possibly sparking
competition between them and the pterosaurs.
Late Cretaceous
• Spans from 100 million to 65 million years ago.
• The Late Cretaceous featured a cooling trend
that would continue into the Cenozoic Era.
• Eventually, tropical ecology was restricted to the
equator.
• Dinosaurs still thrived as new species.
• Pterosaurs went into a decline as birds radiated.
• Marsupials evolved within the large conifer for-
ests as scavengers.
• Also, the first flowering plants evolved.
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (Fifth
Extinction)
• The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) or
Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction, was a sud-
den mass extinction on Earth approximately 66
million years ago.
• At the end of the Cretaceous, the Deccan Traps
and other volcanic eruptions were poisoning
the atmosphere.
• As this was continued, it is thought that a large
meteor smashed into Earth, creating the Chicx-
ulub Crater (Yucatan Peninsula Mexico) creat-
ing the event known as the K-T Extinction.
• Every living thing with a body mass over 10 kil-
ograms became extinct, and the age of the di-
nosaurs came to an end.
• In its wake, many groups underwent remarkable
adaptive radiation—sudden and prolific diver-
gence into new forms and species.
• Mammals in particular diversified in the
Paleogene, evolving new forms such as horses,
whales, bats, and primates. Birds, fish, and per-
haps lizards also radiated.
Cenozoic Era
• The Cenozoic featured the rise of mammals as
the dominant class of animals.
• There are three divisions of the Cenozoic:
Paleogene, Neogene and Quaternary.
Paleogene Period
• Spans from the extinction of the non-avian di-
nosaurs, some 66 million years ago, to the dawn
of the Neogene 23 million years ago. It features
three epochs: Paleocene, Eocene and Oligo-
cene.
Paleocene
• The Early Paleocene saw the recovery of the
Earth from the K-T extinction event.
• The continents began to take their modern
shape, but all continents were separated from
each other.
• The Tethys Sea separated Afro-Eurasia, and the
Americas were separated by the strait of Pan-
ama, as the Isthmus of Panama had not yet
formed.
• This epoch featured a general warming trend,
and jungles eventually reached the poles.
• Sharks dominated the oceans as the large rep-
tiles that had once ruled became extinct.
• Archaic mammals, such as early primates that
evolved during the Mesozoic filled the world.
• Mammals were still quite small; meanwhile
enormous crocodiles and snakes were top
predators.
Eocene
• Spans from 56 million to 34 million years ago.
• In the early Eocene, most land mammals were
small and living in cramped jungles, much like
the Paleocene.
• Among them were early primates, whales and
horses along with many other early forms of
mammals.
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• Carnivorous flightless birds continued to be top
predators, until their extinction in the Quater-
nary period.
• The temperature was 30 degrees Celsius with a
little temperature gradient from pole to pole.
• The circum-Antarctic current between Australia
and Antarctica formed which disrupted ocean
currents worldwide, resulting in global cooling,
and caused the jungles to shrink.
• This allowed mammals to grow; some such as
whales to mammoth proportions.
• The late Eocene Epoch saw the rebirth of sea-
sons, which caused the expansion of savanna-
like areas, along with the evolution of grass.
Oligocene
• Spans from 33 million to 23 million years ago.
• This period featured a global expansion of
grass which had led to many new species to
take advantage, including the first elephants,
cats, dogs, marsupials and many other species
still prevalent today.
• Many other species of plants evolved during
this epoch also, such as the evergreen trees.
• The long-term cooling continued, and seasonal
rains patterns established.
• Mammals continued to grow larger.
• Paraceratherium, the largest land mammal to
ever live evolved during this epoch.
Paraceratherium (ABelov2014, via Wikimedia Com-
mons)
Neogene Period
• Spans from 23.03 million to 2.58 million years
ago.
• It features 2 epochs: the Miocene, and the Plio-
cene.
Miocene
• Spans from 23.03 to 5.333 million years ago.
• Grass spread further across diminishing for-
ests in the process.
• The Tethys Sea finally closed with the creation
of the Arabian Peninsula and in its wake left the
Black, Red, Mediterranean and Caspian Seas.
This only increased aridity.
• Many new plants evolved, and 95% of modern
seed plants evolved in the mid-Miocene
Pliocene
• Spans from 5.333 to 2.58 million years ago.
• The Pliocene featured dramatic climatic chang-
es, which ultimately led to modern species and
plants.
• The Mediterranean Sea dried up for several
thousand years.
• Australopithecus evolved in Africa, begin-
ning the human branch.
Australopithecus. Image Credits: Wikimedia
• The isthmus of Panama formed, and animals
migrated between North and South America.
• Climatic changes brought savannas that are
continuing to spread across the world, Indian
monsoons, deserts in East Asia, and the be-
ginnings of the Sahara Desert.
• The Earth's continents and seas moved into
their present shapes.
• The world map has not changed much since
except for changes brought about by the gla-
ciations of the Quaternary, such as the Great
Lakes.
Quaternary Period
• Spans from 2.58 million years ago to the
present day.
• It features modern animals and dramatic
changes in the climate.
• It is divided into two epochs: the Pleistocene
and the Holocene.
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Pleistocene YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/poormansfriend
Newsletter: https://www.pmfias.com/newsletters
• Spans from 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago.
• Ice ages marked this epoch as a result of the
cooling trend that started in the Mid-Eocene.
• There were at least four separate glaciation
periods marked by the advance of ice caps as
far south as 40 degrees N latitude in mountain-
ous areas.
• Africa experienced a trend of desiccation which
resulted in the creation of the Sahara, Namib,
and Kalahari deserts.
• Many animals evolved including mammoths,
dire wolves, and most famously Homo sapiens.
• 1,00,000 years ago, marked the end of one of
the worst droughts of Africa, and led to the ex-
pansion of primitive man.
• As the Pleistocene drew to a close, a major ex-
tinction wiped out much of the world's mega-
fauna, including some of the hominid species,
such as Neanderthals.

Neanderthals (Charles R. Knight, Wikimedia)

Holocene

• The Holocene began 11,700 years ago and lasts

until to the present day.
• All recorded history and "the history of the
world" lies within the boundaries of the Holo-
cene epoch.
• Human activity is blamed for a mass extinction
that began roughly 10,000 years ago, though
the species becoming extinct have only been
recorded since the Industrial Revolution.
• This is sometimes referred to as the "Sixth Ex-
tinction".
• More than 322 species have become extinct
due to human activity since the Industrial Revo-
lution.
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