Solar System

Order of items in Solar System

Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud

Planet with highest temp.

Venus

Terrestrial Planets

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Jovian Planets

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Ice Giants

Uranus, Neptune

Where did comets form

Oort Cloud

What region have similar composition to Terrestrial Planets

Asteroid Belt

Planet spins opposite of most of of universe. Clockwise

Venus, Uranus

Planet tilted 90-degrees to Earth’s axis

Uranus

Region located beyond Neptune and contains asteroids.

Kuiper Belt

# of comet tails

2

What causes tails to form comets

Comet approaches sun, it melts comet

Spacecraft launched in 1977 and gone beyond planets into Kuiper Belt

Voyager 1

Characteristics of Terrestrial Planets

Rock and metal, small, close to sun

Characteristics of Jovian Planets

Gases, large, far from sun

3 criteria to define planet

Orbit a star

Gravitational pull to create sphere shape

Large enough to clear any object in its path

Specific def. for dwarf planet

None.

AU

93 Million miles

Distance between Earth and Sun

Solar Accretion

There was a large Nebula.
Impacted by STAR that supernova’d
Formed the sun
Sun solar wind blew away gases
8 planets formed around sun

Early organization of Solar System

Sun→ Heavier materials→ Lighter materials

Jupiter gravity prevented what

crashing of asteroids to form planets through accretion

C-Type

Lots of carbon

S-Type

Lots of silicon

M-Type

Silicon and metal

Meteorite

Rocky object that lands on Earth

Ice Giant

Jovian planets with heavier gases
Uranus, Neptune

Asteroid

Rocky object that orbits the sun

Dwarf planet

Smaller than a planet, bigger than asteroid

Comet

Dirty snowball, frozen

Meteor

Rocky object that goes through Earth atmosphere

Gas Giant

Jovian planets w lighter masses
Jupiter, Saturn

Largest to smallest radius

Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Earth
Venus
Mars
Mercury