ADVANCEMENTS AND

DISCOVERIES ON THE SOLAR

SYSTEM
 1. Pluto was once considered the outermost
planet in the solar system.
> It was observed to belong to a different
region, the Kuiper belt, which is found at
the outer region of the solar system and is
mostly composed of frozen volatiles (or
gases), comets, and asteroids.
> Pluto, mostly composed of ice and rocks
are similar to the other objects that belong
to the Kuiper belt
> Pluto was reclassified by the IAU as a
dwarf planet instead of being the 9th planet
 2. Mars may have had prehistoric living forms.
> The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) has been obtaining
data on Mars through their space rovers.
> Some findings points to potential life
during the primitive years of Mars.
> One evidence found on a dry lakebed on
Mars are sedimentary rocks shaped by
microbes that are found on Earth.
> The shape of these rocks were supposedly
distinctive features of fossilized rocks in
water settings anywhere on Earth.
 > The same structure and shape of
sedimentary rocks that were obtained from
Mars in that area also perceived to have
undergone seasonal flooding billions of years
ago.
 > Another evidence is the presence of
elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
sulfur, phosphorus, and organic compounds
known to be the “building blocks” or basic
elements that can support life.
 >These were found in the powder obtained
from drills done by space rovers on Mars.
 3. The expansion of the universe is
accelerating.
 > In 1998, two independent projects, the
Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-Z
Supernova Search Team had observed that the
expansion of the universe is not slowing down
or even constant, but is inexplicably
accelerating at an increasing rate.
 > Using advanced telescopes, the distance of
the Milky Way to the nearby galaxies was
measured and results proved that while it is
 a known fact that the universe indeed
expands, it unexpectedly has expanded faster
in the last few years.
 4. The farthest interstellar travel is outside the
solar system.
 > The US spacecraft Voyager 1 was launched in
1977 and had been in space traveling for
nearly 35 years.
 > In 2012, NASA announced that the same
spacecraft has already left the solar system,
making it the very first spacecraft to have
reached the farthest realms of space.
 > The Voyager 1 mission has enabled humans
to take samples and images of various celestial
bodies.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARTH
 > Most theories that explain the formation
of the primordial Earth would be an upshot
of the big bang theory and the nebular
hypothesis.
 > Each planetary body that was formed from
the spinning solar nebula, now known as the
sun, developed depending on its proximity
from the sun and its interaction with the
other floating masses nearby.
 > In the case of Earth, it has developed an
immense amount of biological and geological
changes in its entire time span.
 SHAPE OF EARTH
 > Not a perfect sphere but an oblate spheroid
 > Earth got its present shape specifically
because of its gravity and rotation.
 > Gravity pulls the mass closer to the center
or its core.
 > Earth’s core is the center of gravity.
 > This gravitational force within makes planets
contract and form a sphere-like shape.
 > Since Earth is also rotating, the sphere is
distorted by centrifugal force.
SHAPE OF EARTH
 > As Earth continues to spin, the angular
momentum ( the constant rotational force about
an axis) is at its maximum at the equator, making
this area slightly bulging outward compared to
other areas of the sphere.
 The study of Earth’s shape is covered in the field
of Geodesy.
 > It is now considered as an important branch of
Science in understanding satellite orbits ,
creating navigational tools and improving global
positioning satellites (GPS).
HISTORY OF EARTH
 > The age of Earth is deemed to be around
one-third of the age of the universe.
 It is 4.6 billion years old.
 Based on the theory of the nebular
hypothesis,
> Earth started out as an immensely hot
gaseous mass.
> During its formative period, Earth was
said to be constantly bombarded by
comets,
HISTORY OF EARTH
meteorites, and other planetary bodies.
 Most of the parts of Earth were molten
because of its collision with other planetary
bodies, leading to extreme volcanic activities.
 Some scientists even speculate that a large
collision could have caused its present tilt.
 The primitive volcanoes would continuously
and randomly erupt.
 Flying planetary debris and other masses
smash onto Earth.
HISTORY OF EARTH
 These events continued while Earth was
spinning.
 In the end, all these occurrences would
contribute to the present shape of the planet,
which is an oblate spheroid.
 Overtime, Earth cooled and formed a solid
crust.
 The denser materials would later on sink to
the core.
 Volcanic outgassing continued to form steam
HISTORY OF EARTH
and eventually rain.
 Some of the water on Earth is also believed to
have come from space.
 During the formative phases of Earth, there
was no protective layer of atmosphere that
could prevent planetary objects from entering
the planet.
 Meteors were assumed to have randomly
bombarded Earth with ice that melted to
liquid water.
HISTORY OF EARTH
> The lower elevations or low-lying surfaces of
Earth would collect water and eventually form
ocean basins.
 Continuous outgassing of volcanoes gradually
formed the primordial atmosphere which was
devoid of oxygen and made up mostly of toxic
gases.
 The formation of the very first inhabitants of
Earth led to the production of oxygen and other
gases that comprise the present atmosphere.
 Continuous evolution of Earth for another
significant period of time led to the formation of
materials and substances vital to life.