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DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Geography

Lecture - 09
Our Solar System
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Our Solar System

Our Solar System:
 Our solar system consists of the sun (the star), 8 planets, 63 moons, millions of smaller bodies like
asteroids and comets, and a huge quantity of dust grains and gases.
 The Sun is the central star of our solar system.
 There are eight planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune (My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us Nuts!!).
 These planets are divided into:
 Inner/Terrestrial Planets
 Outer/Jovian Planets

1. Inner or Terrestrial Planets:

 These are the planets which have
higher densities and a solid rocky
surface.
 These are Mercury, Venus, Earth,
and Mars.
 The terrestrial planets were formed in
the close vicinity of the Sun where it
was too warm for gasses on the
surface to condense into solid
particles.
 The intense solar wind near the sun
blew off lots of these gases and dust
from the surface of the terrestrial
planets That’s why the terrestrial planets have a rocky surface.
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2. Outer or Jovian Planets:

 These are the planets which have lower densities.
 These are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
 The solar winds were not all that intense to cause similar removal of gases from the Jovian planets.
That's why the Jovian planets have gaseous surfaces.

Parameters Terrestrial Planets Jovian Planets

Location Formed in the closed vicinity of the parent star (sun), At a distant location.
here too warm for gases to condense to solid particles.

Effect of Solar It blew off lots of gas and dust from the terrestrial The solar winds were not all that
Winds planets. Thus, have a rocky surface. intense to cause similar removal of
gases from the Jovian planets.

Size The size of these planets is smaller as the low gravity The size of these planets is bigger
could not hold escaping gas and have thick atmospheres

Density Higher Lower

Kuiper Belt
 It is also known as the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt.
 It is a region of the Solar System that exists beyond the
eight major planets.
 It extends from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to
approximately 50 AU from the Sun.
 It is similar to the asteroid belt, in that it contains many
small bodies, all remnants from the Solar System’s
formation.
 Unlike the Asteroid Belt, it is much larger –20 times as
wide and 20 to 200 times as massive.
The Moon:
 The moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth.
 Its diameter is only one-quarter that of the Earth and
it is about 3,84,400 km away from the Earth.
 The moon is tidally locked to the earth, meaning that
the moon revolves around the earth in about 27 days
which is the same time it takes to complete one rotation.
 As a result of tidal locking, only one side of the moon
is visible to us on Earth.
 Generally, the formation of the moon as a satellite of
the earth is the outcome of a ‘giant impact’ or what is
described as “The Big Splat”.
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 A body of the size of one to three times that of Mars collided into the
Earth sometimes shortly after the Earth was formed.
 It blasted a large part of the Earth into space. This portion of blasted
material then continued to orbit the Earth and eventually formed into
the present moon about 4.44 billion years ago.
Earth:
 Distance from Sun is around 149 million Km
 147.5 million km at Perihelion - closest to the Sun
 152.2 million km at Aphelion farthest from the Sun.
 Shape: Geoid (an oblate spheroid) slightly flattened at the Poles
and bulging at the Equator.
 Ratio of Land to Water: 3:7; Northern Hemisphere 2:3:
Southern Hemisphere 1:4 (southern hemisphere has a larger
surface area under water).
 Speed of rotation around the axis is maximum at the equator
and decreases poleward.
 Earth lies in the Goldilocks Zone where water can exist in a
liquid state.
 Goldilocks zone is a zone of balance (neither too hot nor
cold), also called the habitable zone.
 It is the densest planet in the solar system.
Evolution of the Earth:
 It is not possible to know exactly how the Earth was formed about 4,500 million years ago.
 Around 4.5 billion years ago, the Earth was a hot body, fluidic and molten. At that time a Big Splat Event
occurred, in which a larger body known as Theia (similar to the mass of Mars) hit upon the Earth and its
core started merging with Earth, but its atmosphere came out (exploded) and mixed with the atmosphere of
the Earth.
 Then a large portion was cut out from the Earth and
became round, which is presently known as the moon.
 Evidence regarding the earth’s structure, volcanic
eruptions, earthquake waves, etc. are doubtful.
 Earth has concentric layers of crust, mantle, and core.
 Crust- first part/ layer
 Mantle- the middle layer of the earth
 Core- innermost layer
 The reasons for the generation of heat are the
following:
1. Radioactive Material: The presence of radioactive
materials inside the earth also aided in the increase in the temperature. The decay or disintegration of the
radioactive materials leads to the generation of energy in the form of heat.
2. Big Splat Event: Due to the Giant Impact the earth was further heated up. This gave rise to the process
of differentiation, meaning that the earth-forming material got separated into different layers (depending
on densities).
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3. Compression and Pressure: The

compression and pressure due to
the pressure of several layers in the
interior of the earth increased the
temperature in the core.
 Due to heating and mixing, several
materials like Iron, Nickel, silicates,
etc. redistributed into several layers
depending on their densities.
 Starting from the surface to the central
parts, the earth has layers like the crust,
mantle, outer core, and inner core.
 From the crust to the core, the density
of the material increases.
 Heavy metals like Iron and Nickel
moved towards the Core of the Earth.
 Lighter materials (Silicates) moved
upwards and formed Mantle and Crust.
 Around 95% of the Earth's material
includes Iron, Magnesium, Silicate,
and Oxygen.
 Earth is the fifth largest planet in the
Solar System.
 It is also called a Blue Planet because,
from outer space, the Earth appears blue because its two-thirds surface is covered by water.
Evolution of the Earth’s Atmosphere:
 Initially (approximately 4.5 billion years ago) when the Earth was formed it was hot and had a rough surface.
Gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxides of nitrogen, etc.) were coming out from the surface of the earth
due to the volcanism inside
the earth’s surface (known
as degassing).
 After 2-3 million years,
when the earth cools down,
the atmosphere forms with
carbon dioxide and water
vapor.
 Because of the water vapor,
clouds formed, and rainfall
started on the earth’s
surface.
 After which water
accumulated on the surface
of the earth and formed
oceans.
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 After the formation of oceans life evolved in the form of algae.

 The algae started the process of photosynthesis by utilizing the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. During
photosynthesis, Oxygen is generated in the atmosphere.
Asteroid Belt:
 The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar
System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets
Jupiter and Mars.
 It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies,
of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called
asteroids or minor planets.
 NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex Mission was launched in 2016 to
study the asteroid Bennu.
Meteorites:
 Meteorites are extraterrestrial objects that survive their journey through Earth's atmosphere and land on the
planet's surface, providing valuable insights into the formation and evolution of our solar system.
 Three stages:
 Meteoroide: Moving (in the universe) far away from Earth’s atmosphere.
 Meteors: When it enters the atmosphere of the earth.
 Meteorites: When it hits upon the earth surface.
Comets:
 These are icy objects which have icy fluids
which can be water or gas (nitrogen etc.).
When these bodies reach near the sun, their ice
melts.
 Comets are celestial bodies composed of ice,
rock, dust, and organic compounds.
 They originate from the outer regions of the solar
system and, when heated by the Sun, develop a
glowing coma and tail.
 Comets are considered time capsules, offering
clues about the early stages of our solar system
and its composition.
 It has no moons and no rings.
 It has no atmosphere but only a tail of gases and dust.
About Some Planets:
Mercury:
 It is the smallest and the nearest planet to the Sun.
 On Mercury, one day is equal to 59 Earth days.
 It is a rocky planet and its atmosphere contains Oxygen, Sodium,
Hydrogen, Helium, etc.
 Scientific Missions for exploration are Mariner & Messenger.
 The temperature on this planet is around -430 (Day) & -180 (Night).
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Venus:
 It is considered as 'Earth's-twin' because its size and shape are very
much similar to that of the Earth.
 Second closest planet to the sun at a distance of about 108 million km.
 It is probably the hottest planet (high temperatures of almost 480° Celsius
(900° Fahrenheit) because its atmosphere contains 90-95% of carbon
dioxide with clouds of Sulphuric acid.
 Venus spins backward (retrograde rotation) when compared to the other
planets.
 One day on Venus lasts as long as 243 Earth days.
Mars:
 On Mars one day is equal to 24 hours.
 It is a rocky planet and its Atmosphere contains Carbon Dioxide,
Nitrogen & Argon.
 It is also called the Red Planet because it has Iron as a mineral in the soil.
(Oxidation)
 It has two Moons-Phobos & Deimos.
 Scientific Missions for exploration are Mangalyaan & Perseverance.

Jupiter:
 It is the largest planet in the solar system.
 Its atmosphere contains hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia.
 Jupiter is a gas giant planet and therefore does not have a solid surface.
 Atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and Helium (He).
 Jupiter has around 80 and 95 moons.
 It has a faint ring system that was discovered in 1979 by the Voyager 1
mission.
Saturn:
 It is the second largest planet in the solar system.
 It has around 83 (latest record as per NASA) known moons.
 It contains a spectacular Rings System- Nine Rings.
 Scientific Missions for exploration are Cassini, Hyugens, and
Voyager.
 Its Atmosphere contains Hydrogen & Helium.
 It is a Gas Giant and has no solid surface.
 One day on the planet lasts as long as 10.7 hours.
 Its distance from the sun is around 1.4 Bn Kms.
Uranus:
 One day on the planet lasts around 17 hours approx.
 It is an Ice Giant that contains around 80% Icy fluid of
Ammonia, water & methane.
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 It has around 27 Moons.

 Scientific Mission for exploration is Voyager.
 On this planet there is no evidence of Life is present.
Neptune:
 Its distance from the sun is around 4.5 Bn kms.
 One day on the planet lasts as long as 16 hrs.
 It is also called the Sister giant of Uranus.
 Its Atmosphere contains Hydrogen, Helium & Methane.
 It has around six Rings.
 The Scientific Mission for exploration is Voyager-2 (The only
spacecraft to have gone to Neptune).
Pluto:
 It was discovered in the year 1930.
 The International Astronomical Union (I.A.U) demoted its
status to Dwarf Planet in 2003.
 Pluto is 0.07 times the mass of other objects.
 It is the second-largest dwarf planet in the Solar System.
 It has five moons.
 Its largest moon is named Charon.

Conditions for the Planet (as per IAU):

1. Must be in orbit around the Sun.
2. Must be massive to be a sphere due to Gravitational Force.
3. Must have cleared the neighborhood.

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