Our Solar System: Terrestrial Asteroid Belt Gas Giant Scattered Disc Heliopause Oort Cloud

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
Our Solar System consists of an average star we call the Sun, four
terrestrial inner planets, an asteroid belt composed of small rocky bodies,
four gas giant outer planets or Jovian planets, and a second belt, the Kuiper
belt, composed of icy objects. Beyond the Kuiper belt is the scattered disc,
the heliopause, and ultimately the hypothetical Oort cloud.
The whole solar system, together with the local stars , orbits the center of
our home galaxy, a spiral disk of 200 billion stars we call the Milky Way
The planets, most of the satellites of the planets and the asteroids revolve
around the Sun in the same direction, in nearly circular orbits. When
looking down from above the Sun's north pole, the planets orbit in a
counter-clockwise direction.
Obliquity is the angle between a planet's equatorial plane and its orbital
plane.
In order of their distances from the Sun, the planets are
Mercury ,Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune.
The dwarf planets - , Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake
Six of the eight planets and two of the dwarf planets are in turn orbited by
natural satellites, usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon, and each of
the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles.
All the planets except Earth are named after deities from Greco-Roman
mythology.
Objects orbiting the Sun are divided into three classes: planets, dwarf
planets, and small Solar System bodies.
A planet is any body in orbit around the Sun that has enough mass to form
itself into a spherical shape and has cleared its immediate neighbourhood of
all smaller objects.
Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet as it is unable to clear its

neighbourhood of other celestial bodies.
A body's distance from the Sun varies in the course of its year. Its closest
approach to the Sun is called its perihelion(147,098,290 km

=0.98329134 AU),
while its farthest distance from the Sun is called its aphelion(152,098,231
km = 1.01671388AU ).
Similarly the Moon’s closest approach to the Earth is called its perigee,
while its farthest distance from the Earth is called its apogee.
The Solar System is sometimes divided into separate zones.
The inner Solar System. It includes the four terrestrial planets their moons
and the main asteroid belt. They are called terrestrial because they have a
compact, rocky surface like the Earth's.
The planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars have significant atmospheres while
Mercury has almost none.
From left to right the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet (Mercury,
Venus) - those planets which are closer to the Sun than the Earth.
Asteroids are mostly small Solar System bodies (SSBs) composed mainly of
rocky and metallic non-volatile minerals.
The mid Solar System. It comprises of the four gas giants Jovian planets &
its satellites. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are known as the Jovian
(Jupiter-like) planets, because they are all gigantic compared with Earth,
and they have a gaseous nature like Jupiter's.
The four outer planets or gas giants have rings, although only Saturn's ring
system is easily observed from Earth. From left to right the planets are
Jupiter, Saturn , Uranus & Neptune.
The term outer planet should not be confused with superior planet, which
designates planets outside Earth's orbit (the outer planets and Mars).
Many short period comets, including the centaurs, also lie in this region.
Comets are small SSBs, usually only a few kilometres across, composed
largely of volatile ices & having highly eccentric orbits.
The outer Solar System. It comprises the region beyond Neptune: Kuiper
belt , the scattered disc, the heliopause, and ultimately the hypothetical Oort
cloud.
The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris composed mainly of small SSBs.
The scattered disc overlaps the Kuiper belt but extends much further
outwards. This region is thought to be the source of short-period comets.
The point at which the solar wind meets the interstellar medium, which is
the "solar" wind from other stars, is called the heliopause. The space
within the boundary of the heliopause, containing the Sun and solar
system, is referred to as the heliosphere. Heliopause is the point at which
the Solar System ends and interstellar space begins is not precisely
defined, since its outer boundaries are shaped by two separate forces: the
solar wind and the Sun's gravity.
The hypothetical Oort cloud is a great mass of up to a trillion icy objects

that is believed to be the source for all long-period comets and to surround
the Solar System at roughly 50,000 AU (around 1 light-year (LY)), and
possibly to as far as 100,000 AU (1.87 LY).
The percentage composition of all the matter in the Solar System are :-
 Sun: 99.85%
 Planets: 0.135%
 Comets: 0.01% ?
 Satellites: 0.00005%
 Minor Planets: 0.0000002% ?
 Meteoroids: 0.0000001% ?
 Interplanetary Medium: 0.0000001% ?
The following table lists statistical information for the

Sun and planets:
Distance Radius Mass Rotation # Moons Orbital Orbital Obliquity Density
(AU) (Earth's) (Earth's) (Earth's) Inclination Eccentricity (g/cm3)
Sun 0 109 332,800 9 --- --- --- 1.410

Mercury 0.39 0.38 0.05 58.8 0 7 0.2056 0.1° 5.43
Venus 0.72 0.95 0.89 244 0 3.394 0.0068 177.4° 5.25
Earth 1.0 1.00 1.00 1.00 1 0.000 0.0167 23.45° 5.52
Mars 1.5 0.53 0.11 1.029 2 1.850 0.0934 25.19° 3.95
Jupiter 5.2 11 318 0.411 16 1.308 0.0483 3.12° 1.33
Saturn 9.5 9 95 0.428 18 2.488 0.0560 26.73° 0.69
Uranus 19.2 4 17 0.748 15 0.774 0.0461 97.86° 1.29
Neptune 30.1 4 17 0.802 8 1.774 0.0097 29.56° 1.64
The Earth’s:- Radius 6,371.0 km Mass

5.9736 × 1024 kg
1 (AU) Astronomical Unit = 149 598 000 km

Our Solar System: Terrestrial Asteroid Belt Gas Giant Scattered Disc Heliopause Oort Cloud

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Our Solar System: Terrestrial Asteroid Belt Gas Giant Scattered Disc Heliopause Oort Cloud

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Our Solar System: Terrestrial Asteroid Belt Gas Giant Scattered Disc Heliopause Oort Cloud

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

terrestrial inner planets, an asteroid belt composed of small rocky bodies,

the heliopause, and ultimately the hypothetical Oort cloud.

Mercury ,Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune.

The dwarf planets - , Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake

planets, and small Solar System bodies.

all smaller objects.

Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet as it is unable to clear its

approach to the Sun is called its perihelion(147,098,290 km

The hypothetical Oort cloud is a great mass of up to a trillion icy objects

The following table lists statistical information for the

Sun 0 109 332,800 9 --- --- --- 1.410

The Earth’s:- Radius 6,371.0 km Mass

1 (AU) Astronomical Unit = 149 598 000 km

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.