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1. Earth and the Solar System

• The Earth is a rocky planet that rotates in a near circular orbit around the
Sun

• It rotates on its axis, which is a line through the north and south poles

• The axis is tilted at an angle of approximately 23.4° from the vertical

• The Earth completes one full rotation (revolution) in approximately 24

hours (1 day)

1. Earth and the Solar System

The Earth's rotation around its axis creates day and night

• Day is experienced by the half of the Earth's surface that is facing the Sun

• Night is the other half of the Earth's surface, facing away from the Sun
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1. Earth and the Solar System

• The Earth's rotation on its axis makes the Sun looks like it moves from east
to west

• At the equinoxes the Sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the
west

• Equinox (meaning 'equal night') is when day and night are approximately of
equal length

1. Earth and the Solar System

• However, the exact locations of where the Sun rises and sets changes
throughout the seasons

In the northern hemisphere (above the equator):

• In summer, the sun rises north of east and sets north of west

• In winter, the sun rises south of east and sets south of west
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1. Earth and the Solar System

• The Sun is highest above the horizon at noon (12 pm)

• In the northern hemisphere, the daylight hours are longest up until roughly
the 21st June
This day is known as the Summer Solstice and is where the Sun is at its highest
point in the sky all year
• The daylight hours then decrease to their lowest around 21st December
This is known the Winter Solstice and is where the Sun is at its lowest point in
the sky all year

1. Earth and the Solar System

• The Earth orbits the Sun once in approximately 365 days

• The combination of the orbiting of the Earth around the Sun and the
Earth's tilt creates the seasons
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1. Earth and the Solar System

1. Earth and the Solar System

• The Moon is a satellite around the Earth

• It travels around the Earth in roughly a circular orbit once a month. This takes 27-28
days

• The Moon revolves around its own axis in a month so always has the same side facing
the Earth

• We never see the hemisphere that is always facing away from Earth, although
astronauts have orbited the Moon and satellite have photographed it

• The Moon shines with reflected light from the Sun, it does not produce its own light
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1. Earth and the Solar System

• The way the Moon's appearance changes across a month, as seen from Earth, is
called its periodic cycle of phases

In the New Moon phase:

• The Moon is between the Earth and the Sun
• Therefore, the sunlight is only on the opposite face of
the Moon to the Earth
• This means the Moon is unlit as seen from Earth, so it
is not visible
At the Full Moon phase:
• The Earth is between the Moon and the Sun
• The side of the Moon that is facing the Earth is
completely lit by the sunlight
• This means the Moon is fully lit as seen from Earth
In between, a crescent can be seen where the Moon is
partially illuminated from sunlight
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1. Earth and the Solar System

• When planets move around the Sun, or a moon moves around a planet,
they orbit in circular motion

• the average orbital speed of an object can be defined by the equation:

1. Earth and the Solar System

The Solar System consists of:

1. The Sun
2. Eight planets
3. Natural and artificial satellites
4. Dwarf planets
5. Asteroids and comets
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1. Earth and the Solar System

• The Sun lies at the centre of the Solar System

• The Sun is a star that makes up over 99% of the mass of the solar system

• There are eight planets and an unknown number of dwarf planets which orbit
the Sun

• The gravitational field around planets is strong enough to have pulled in all
nearby objects with the exception of natural satellites

• The gravitational field around a dwarf planet is not strong enough to have
pulled in nearby objects

1. Earth and the Solar System

The 8 planets in our Solar System in ascending order of the distance from the Sun are:

① Mercury

② Venus

③ Earth

④ Mars

⑤ Jupiter

⑥ Saturn

⑦ Uranus

⑧ Neptune
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1. Earth and the Solar System

There are 4 rocky and small planets:

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars

• These are the nearest to the Sun

There are 4 gaseous and large

planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune

• These are the furthest from the

sun

1. Earth and the Solar System

There are two types of satellite:

• Natural
• Artificial
Some planets have moons which orbit them
• Moons are an example of natural satellites
Artificial satellites are man-made and can orbit any object in space
• The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth and is an example of an
artificial satellite
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• The differences in the types of planets are defined by the accretion model for
Solar System formation

• The Sun was thought to have formed when gravitational attraction of pulled
together clouds of hydrogen dust and gas (called nebulae)

The Solar System then formed around 4.5 billion years ago

• The planets were formed from the remnants of the disc cloud of matter left over
from the nebula that formed the Sun

• These interstellar clouds of gas and dust included many elements that were
created during the final stages of a star's lifecycle (a previous supernova)

• Gravity collapsed the matter from the nebula in on itself causing it to spin around
the Sun

• The gravitational attraction between all the small particles caused them to join
together and grow in an accretion process

• A rotating accretion disc is formed when the planets emerged

1. Earth and the Solar System

• As the Sun grew in size it became hotter

• Where the inner planets were forming near the Sun, the temperature was too high for molecules such as
Hydrogen, Helium, water and Methane to exist in a solid state

• Therefore, the inner planets are made of materials with high melting temperatures such as metals (e.g. iron)

• Only 1% of the original nebula is composed of heavy elements, so the inner, rocky planets could not grow much
and stayed as a small size, solid and rocky

• The cooler regions were further away from the Sun, and temperature was low enough for the light molecules to
exist in a solid state

• The outer planets therefore could grow to a large size up and include even the lightest element, Hydrogen

• These planets are large, gaseous and cold

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1. Earth and the Solar System

Light Speed

• The outer regions of the Solar System are around 5 × 1012 m from the
Sun, which means even light takes some time to travel these distance

• The speed of light is a constant 3 × 10 m/s

• One light-year is equal to 9.5 × 10 𝑚

1. Earth and the Solar System

Elliptical Orbits
• Planets, minor planets and comets have elliptical orbits
• However, the Sun is not at the centre of an elliptical orbit
• This is only the case when the orbit is approximately circular
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1. Earth and the Solar System

• Over many years, data about all the planets, moons and the Sun have
been collected to indicate:
• Factors that affect conditions on the surface of the planets
• Environmental problems that a visit (using manned spaceships or robots)
would encounter

1. Earth and the Solar System

the strength of the gravitational field

• at the surface of a planet depends on the mass of the planet

• around a planet decreases as the distance from the planet increases

• Sun contains most of the mass of the Solar System and this explains why the
planets orbit the Sun

• the strength of the Sun’s gravitational field decreases and that the orbital
speeds of the planets decrease as the distance from the Sun increases
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1. Earth and the Solar System

• Object in an elliptical orbit travels faster when closer to the Sun with
lesser gravitational potential energy but more kinetic energy

1. Earth and the Solar System

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2. Stars and the Universe

• An object in an elliptical orbit around the Sun travels at a different speed depending on its distance from the Sun

Although these orbits are not circular, they are still stable

• For a stable orbit, the radius must change if the comet's orbital speed changes

As the comet approaches the Sun:

• The radius of the orbit decreases

• The orbital speed increases due to the Sun's strong gravitational pull

As the comet travels further away from the Sun:

• The radius of the orbit increases

• The orbital speed decreases due to a weaker gravitational pull from the Sun

2. Stars and the Universe

• Sun is a star of medium size, consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium,

and that it radiates most of its energy in the infrared, visible and
ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum

• Stars are powered by nuclear reactions that release energy and that in
stable stars the nuclear reactions involve the fusion of hydrogen into
helium
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2. Stars and the Universe

• The Universe is made up of many different galaxies

• Galaxies are each made up of many billions of stars

• the Sun is a star in the galaxy known as the Milky Way

• other stars that make up the Milky Way are much further away from the
Earth than the Sun is from the Earth

• Astronomical distances can be measured in light-years

• The diameter of the Milky Way is approximately 100 000 light-year

2. Stars and the Universe

life cycle of a star:
• a star is formed from interstellar clouds of gas and dust that contain hydrogen
• a protostar is an interstellar cloud collapsing and increasing in temperature as a result of its internal gravitational
attraction
• a protostar becomes a stable star when the inward force of gravitational attraction is balanced by an outward force
due to the high temperature in the centre of the star
• all stars eventually run out of hydrogen as fuel for the nuclear reaction
• most stars expand to form red giants and more massive stars expand to form red supergiants when most of the
hydrogen in the centre of the star has been converted to helium
• a red giant from a less massive star forms a planetary nebula with a white dwarf star at its centre
• a red supergiant explodes as a supernova, forming a nebula containing hydrogen and new heavier elements, leaving
behind a neutron star or a black hole at its centre
• the nebula from a supernova may form new stars with orbiting planets
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2. Stars and the Universe

1. Nebula
2. Protostar
3. Main Sequence Star
4. Red Giant or Red Super Giant
5. For Red Giant Stars
Planetary Nebula
White Dwarf
Black Dwarf
6. For Red Super Giants
Supernova
Neutron Star (or Black Hole)

2. Stars and the Universe

• Milky Way is one of many billions of galaxies making up the Universe

and that the diameter of the Milky Way is approximately 100000 light-
years
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2. Stars and the Universe

• Usually, when an object emits waves, the wavefronts spread out
symmetrically
• If the wave source moves, the waves can become squashed together or
stretched outThis effect is known as the Doppler effect

2. Stars and the Universe

• The Doppler effect also affects light

• If an object moves away from an observer the wavelength of light

increases

• This is known as redshift as the light moves towards the red end of the
spectrum

• An increase in the observed wavelength of electromagnet radiation

emitted from receding stars and galaxies
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2. Stars and the Universe

• Light emitted from distant galaxies appears redshifted when compared

with light emitted on Earth

• Redshift in the light from distant galaxies is evidence that the Universe is
expanding and supports the Big Bang Theory

2. Stars and the Universe

The Big Bang theory is very well supported by evidence from a range of
sources

The main pieces of evidence are

• Galactic red-shift

• Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)

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2. Stars and the Universe

• Light spectrums produced from distant
galaxies are red-shifted more than nearby
galaxies

• This shows that the greater the distance to

the galaxy, the greater the redshift

• This means that the further away a galaxy is,

the faster it is moving away from the Earth

• These observations imply that the universe is

expanding and therefore support the Big Bang
Theory

2. Stars and the Universe

• Microwave radiation of a specific frequency is observed at all points in space around

us and is known as cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR)
• The CMBR was produced shortly after the Universe was formed and that this
radiation has been expanded into the microwave region of the electromagnetic
spectrum as the expanded
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2. Stars and the Universe

Using Redshift Observations to Measure the Universe

• The change in wavelength of the galaxy’s starlight due to redshift can be

used to find the velocity, 𝑣, with which a galaxy (or any distant object) is
moving away from Earth

2. Stars and the Universe

• Redshift and CMB radiation allow various measurements of the Universe

to be accurately made

• The distance of a far galaxy d can be determined using the brightness of

a supernova in that galaxy
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2. Stars and the Universe

• The Hubble constant 𝐻 is the ratio of the speed at which the galaxy is
moving away from the Earth to its distance from the Earth

• the current estimate for 𝐻 is 2.2 × 10 per second

2. Stars and the Universe

• Hubble’s law shows that the further away a star is

from the Earth, the faster it is moving away from us

• It represents an estimate for the age of the Universe

and that this is evidence for the idea that all the
matter in the Universe was present at a single point
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2. Stars and the Universe

2. Stars and the Universe

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2. Stars and the Universe