Solar System

The solar system:

The Sun(star),8 planets, moons, asteroids and other celestial bodies.
The scientists use light year (ly) to measure distances in space as the distances is very large.
Used to express astronomical distances.
The difference between stars and planets:

e
fi
Na
da
Na

Where did the Solar System come from?

When the Solar System formed, there were no people to observe how it was made.
Scientists can try to solve a problem like this in two different ways.
.

1. They can look for evidence, in the form of facts from observations
Dr

or experiments to support their theory, and then try to explain what

they have found.
2. They can think of a testable theory, called a hypothesis, and then
look for evidence to support the hypothesis.
How are stars are formed?
Nebula: A cloud of dust and gas in space.
How are the nebulae formed?
1. some are produced when a very massive star explodes at the end of its life.
Some nebulae form when giant stars reach the end of their life. These giant stars then
explode, sending dust and gas over a wide area of space.
2. some are produced when the force due to gravity causes interstellar gas and dust to
gather together.
Properties of Nebula
· The gases found in nebulae are mostly hydrogen and a smaller quantity of helium.
· The particles of gas and dust are very far apart in nebulae.

e
· Most nebulae are very large. Many nebulae are more then 10 000 times bigger than the
Solar System.

fi
· The stars are being formed from some of these clouds of dust and gas. Then the stars
surrounded by planets.
Na
Types of Nebulae
emission nebulae, reflection nebulae, dark nebulae
1. Emission Nebula: it is of high temperature and emits pink or orange colour due to
da

the presence of hydrogen gas.

2. Reflection Nebula: It reflects the light from a nearby star.
3. Dark Nebula: it looks dark because dust blocks the light from the stars and gas
behind it.
Na

The nebulae that can be seen from Earth.

a) Orion nebula: One of the easiest nebulae that can be seen from the northern
hemisphere, You can see the Orion nebula without a telescope. (Emission nebula)
.

b) Tarantula nebula: One of the easiest nebulae that can be seen from the southern
hemisphere, You can see the Tarantula nebula without a telescope. (Emission nebula)
Dr

c) Horsehead nebula
(Dark nebula)
 e
Steps of forming the solar system

fi
1. The particles of dust and gas (hydrogen) pull on each other with very weak forces due to
their own gravity.
2. They stick together, their total mass increases, so the strength of their gravity increases,
Na
and hydrogen particles are pulled closer to each other.
3. That means, they attract more dust and gas with a stronger gravity force.
4. The forces of attraction become so strong that nuclear fusion starts, where hydrogen
atoms fuse together forming helium atoms releasing huge amounts of energy in the
form of light and infrared radiation.
da

5. Form a small ball. Gradually, this ball gets bigger.

6. If the ball gets beyond a certain size, the heat and pressure increase until, it will get hot
enough to become a star. Otherwise, it will become a planet.
Na

7. A stellar nursery is an area in space where stars are formed.

Note: The fact that Venus spins on its axis in the opposite way to all the other planets seems to
contradict this hypothesis
.

Here are some facts about the Solar System:

• All the planets in the Solar System follow a path or orbit around the Sun in the same
Dr

direction. All the planets orbit the Sun in the same plane.
• The Sun and all the planets (except Venus and Uranus) spin on their axes (singular: axis)
in the same direction.
• Most of the moons of the planets orbit their planets in the same direction as the planets
rotate around the Sun.
 • The direction of spin of the planets (except Venus and Uranus) is the same as the
direction in which the planets orbit the Sun.
Because the clouds had an initial rotation so this same direction of rotation let all

e
planets orbit in the same direction and spins in the same direction (They are formed by

fi
the same rotating desk)
· All the planets orbit the Sun in the same plane. Objects that are in the same plane could
all be placed on the same flat surface, just like all the objects on a desk. That means the
Na
Solar System looks flat.
da
Na

Note:
• Although the sun is a medium sized star it looks bigger than the other stars because it
is the nearest star to the Earth.
• The stars appear to be moving in circles Because the Earth’s is spinning on its axis.
.

The galaxies
Dr

· Are huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems, all held
together by gravity.
· Our solar system is in Milky way galaxy.
 Components of the solar system
1. The sun
• The Sun is the object with the largest mass in the Solar System. So, it has the largest
gravity.
• The Sun’s gravity is 27 times stronger than the Earth’s gravity. So, it holds all the planets
in their orbits.
• The Sun’s gravity gets weaker as the distance from the Sun increases.
• The gravity of the sun lets planets orbit in circular motion and not in straight line
through space.
• The closer the planets to the sun, the higher the speed of orbiting. As more gravity from
the sun acts on it

e
(Mercury orbits by a higher speed than Earth).

fi
Na
da
Na
.
Dr
2. The planets
The solar system has 8 planets divided into 4 inner and 4 outer planets.
Inner planets Outer planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Rocky and has a surface Gaseous
Small Large
Near to the sun Far from the sun
High density Low density
No rings Many rings
Few moons or none Many moons

e
fi
Na
Dwarf planets: they are smaller in size than the eight planets. ex.: Pluto
da

3. Asteroids
They are irregular rocky bodies that orbits the sun.
Asteroids belt: a group of asteroids rotates between the inner and the outer planets.
Na

4. Meteors, Meteoroids and meteorites

a. Meteoroid:
is a fragment of rock or iron floating in the space.
b. Meteor :
.

it is a big streak of light in the sky (shooting star) produced by the entry of a meteoroid
into the earth's atmosphere.
Dr

c. Meteorite:
it is a fragment of rock or iron
that is left after the burning of a
meteor and reached the earth's
surface.
5. The moon
It is a natural satellite and dull object that can be seen, because it reflects
the sun light.
It is made up of rocks, so they are dark objects that orbit the planets.
The moon’s gravity causes tides.
It is a natural satellite.
It doesn't have an atmosphere.
Its gravitational field strength is 1/6 that on Earth.
The moon orbits the earth anti – clockwise once every
27.3 days forming the lunar months.
As a result, we have the moon phases.

e
The Formation of the moon

fi
3 main ideas for how the moon formed:
1) The capture hypothesis.
2) The co- formation hypothesis
Na
3) The collision hypothesis

1. The capture hypothesis

A rocky object, such as an asteroid, was near the orbit around the Earth and captured
by Earth,
da

because of the gravitational force of the Earth.

Evidence with: Some rocks that make up the Earth and the moon are similar, but
there, but There are some differences too.
Na

Evidence Against: The moon is very round, unlike the asteroids that have been
captured by other planets.
The moons around other planets in the solar system are smaller
than our moon, so it is less likely for this large moon to be captured by the Earth.
.

2. The co-formation hypothesis

Dr

The moon formed at about the same time as the Earth, from the dust and gas of
the solar nebula, and was pulled by gravity into orbit around the Earth.
Evidence with: Some rocks that make up the Earth and the moon are similar
The moon is bigger than the moons around other planets in the solar
system, which may mean they formed at the same time with Earth.
Evidence Against: Some rocks on moon are different from Earth. But if they formed
at the same time, we would expect them to be exactly the same.
The moon is less dense than the earth, meaning, both probably
formed by different ways.
3. The collision hypothesis (Giant impact hypothesis)
(Most important theory)
a) A newly formed planet, about the same size as Mars, collided with the newly
formed Earth. The planet is called Theia.
b) The collision would have caused rocks and dust to break away from both
planets.
c) The theory states that Earth was formed from the two planets joined together.
d) The Moon was formed when the rocks and dust was pulled together by
gravity.

e
fi
Na
da
Na
.
Dr
 e
fi
Na
Artificial satellites
They are man‐ made objects that orbit the earth.
They are used in:
da

1‐ GPS (global positioning system)

2‐ Communication, navigation, gathering weather information, creating maps and even spying.
Na

Hubble Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched into Earth orbit in 1990.
The HST differs from other telescopes in that it is outside the Earth’s atmosphere; being
.

outside the atmosphere means much higher quality images are available.
Dr

Pictures of the Hubble telescope.