Bit of Administration ….

• Reading
– BSNV Chaps. 9 and 15

• No Mathieu office hours today (Monday)!

• Additional observations for Lab 2, through April 5

– Due April 7 in lecture or April 9 at Mathieu office

• 12-week exam in two weeks - April 12, 7:15 pm

– Review session, Sunday, April 11, 6:30 pm
 The Solar System
• A Sense of Scale

Around Earth Around Europe

 0.1 
Distance to Moon Distance to North America
 The Solar System
• A Sense of Scale
 The Solar System
• A Sense of Scale
 The Solar System
• Inventory

• Sun 99.85% by mass

• Planets 0.1 % by mass
• Satellites and Rings
• Asteroids
• Comets
• Meteroids
• Dust
• Solar Wind (ionized gas)
 The Solar System
• Inventory - “Sedna”
 The Solar System
• General Characteristics of Major Planets - Dynamical

• Nearly circular orbits (Mercury and Mars most eccentric)

 The Solar System
• General Characteristics of Major Planets - Dynamical

• Nearly circular orbits (Mercury and Mars most eccentric)

• All orbit within 10o of Earth’s orbital plane
 The Solar System
• General Characteristics of Major Planets - Dynamical

• Nearly circular orbits (Mercury and Mars most eccentric)

• All orbit within 10o of Earth’s orbital plane
• All revolve in the same direction
• All rotate in the same direction (except Venus)
 The Solar System
• General Characteristics of Major Planets - Radius
 The Solar System

• General Characteristics of Major Planets - Age

• Earth - Oldest rocks 3.9 billion yr (4.5 billion yr inferred)

• Moon - 4.5 billion yr
• Meteorites - 4.6 billion yr
• Sun - 4.6 billion (theoretical)
• Universe - 12 billion yr
 The Solar System
• General Characteristics of Major Planets - Physical Properties
Terrestrial 7 Giant Satellites Jovian

Location Inner Outer Outer

Size Small (104 km) Small (4000 km) Large (105 km)
Mass 0.1 - 1.0 MEarth 0.01 MEarth 15 - 300 MEarth
Density 5 gm cm-3 2-3 gm cm-3 1 gm cm-3
Appearance Rock with craters, Rock, ice with craters, Gaseous, with
volcanos volcanos rock cores
Composition Heavy elements Heavy elements, ices Hydrogen, helium

Notes:

1) Densities: Rock = 3 gm cm-3, Water = 1 gm cm-3

2) Composition of Sun and Universe by numbers of atoms:

Jupiter94% H, 6% He, 2%Saturn
all else Uranus Nepture

Mercury Io Venus Europa Earth

Ganymede Mars
Callisto
The Formation of the Solar System
 The Formation of the Solar System
• Interstellar Clouds

By Mass

• 73% Molecular Hydrogen

• 25%Atomic Helium
• 2% Dust (Metals)
 ConcepTest!

The Taurus clouds are thought to be rather cold, with

temperatures of perhaps 30 K. If you wanted to test this
hypothesis by looking for light emitted by the Taurus clouds, in
what wavelength would you want to observe?

A) X-ray
B) Ultraviolet
C) Optical
D) Infrared
E) Radio
 The Formation of the Solar System
• Dense Molecular Cores
(“Bok Globules”)

• ≈ 1 Mo
• ≈ 50,000 AU
• ≈ 10 oK
The Formation of the Solar System
 The Formation of the Solar System

• Protoplanetary Disks

• ≈ 0.01 Mo
• ≈ 100 AU
• ≈ 3000 -> 10 oK
The Formation of the Solar System
 The Formation of the Solar System
• Condensation Sequence
• Condensation Temperature
Temperature at which Solid Gas

T > 50 oK T > 200 oK T > 1000 oK

Hydrogen (H) Gas Gas Gas

Helium (He)

H20, Methane (CH4)

CO2, Ammonia (NH3) Ice Gas Gas

Iron (Fe), Silicon (Si)

Rock Rock Gas
Metal Compounds
 The Formation of the Solar System
• Condensation Sequence

M V E M J

1000 K 200 K
No Grains Rock Rock, Ice
Grains Grains
The Formation of the Solar System
 The Formation of the Solar System
• Grain Collisions ==> Planetesimals (100 km)
random

100 km
 The Formation of the Solar System

• Planetesimal Accretion ==> Rocky Planets and Jovian Cores

gravity
 The Formation of the Solar System

• Gas Accumulation ==> H and He onto Jovian Cores

gravity

Protomoons
 ConcepTest!

Most comets have orbits that take them well beyond Jupiter. You
would expect their composition to be:

A) Rocks and heavy elements only

B) Rocks and ices only
C) Rocks, ices, and hydrogen and helium
The Formation of the Solar System
 The Formation of the Solar System
• Dispersal of Hydrogen and Helium Gas
• Solar Wind?
• Jets?