Dating the Universe. But first... Lecture 6: Formation of the Solar System. Observational Constraints. How did the Solar System Form?

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1 Dating the Universe Lecture 6: Formation of the Solar System Astro 202 Prof. Jim Bell Spring 2008 But first... Graded Paper 1 returned today... Paper 2 is due at beginning of class on Feb. 14 Don t wait until the last minute! Paper 3 to be posted online next Tuesday 2/12 How did the Solar System Form?!Observational Constraints Planetary motions Planet, asteroid, comet compositions Meteorite and cosmic dust ages Other solar systems?!the Solar Nebula Model Formation of the Terrestrial Planets Formation of the Giant Planets Chemical Condensation ("Lewis") Model!Planetary Evolution Observational Constraints! For a theory of the formation of our solar system to be viable, it must be consistent with our presently-available data! Theories must fit 3 classes of constraints: (1) Motions: The observed spin and orbital motions of the planets, asteroids, and comets (2) Composition: The measured or inferred compositions of planets, asteroids (meteorites), and comets Astro 202 4

2 "Motion" Constraints! All of the planets orbit the Sun in roughly the same plane (the ecliptic), which is very close to the Sun's equatorial plane! The orbits of the major planets are nearly circular! Planets, asteroids, and most comets circle the Sun counterclockwise as viewed from above (exceptions: some comets)! The Sun and most of the planets generally spin in this same counterclockwise direction and have very small tilts relative to the plane of the solar system (exceptions: Venus, Uranus, Pluto)! Nearly all the planets and asteroids spin with the same period, roughly 20±10 hours per "day" (exceptions: Venus, Pluto)! The Sun contains 99.9% of the mass of the solar system, but the planets contain 99.7% of the conserved angular momentum Astro Top view Edge on Astro Compositional Constraints! The compositions of the planets vary with distance from the Sun The inner planets are dense and rocky/metal-rich The outer planets are primarily gas (H, He) and ices Asteroids in the main belt are transitional Comets and KBOs are primarily ices! Most of Jupiter and Saturn, and the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune, have approximately the same composition as the Sun! Many meteorites appear to be chemically different (more "pristine") than planets and moons Astro Astro 202 8

3 Age Constraints!The primitive (unaltered) carbonaceous and ordinary chondrite meteorites ALL have ages of approximately 4.5 billion years!tiny fractions of some very primitive meteorites and cosmic dust particles have ages even slightly older than this!the oldest rocks from the Moon are about 4.4 billion years old!more details in next 4 lectures... Major Characteristics of our Solar System: Summary (1) Large bodies have orderly motions (2) Planets fall into two main categories Small, rocky inner planets Giant, gas- and ice-rich outer planets (3) Swarms of asteroids and comets abound! (4) There are notable exceptions to the trends Tilt of Uranus, tilt of Pluto's orbit, spin of Venus, orbit of Triton,... Astro Astro Historical Models for the Formation of the Solar System! Catastrophic Models A large comet collided with the Sun and ejected material that cooled to form the planets [Buffon, 1745] Another star made a close pass by the Sun, tidally pulling material out that cooled to form the planets [Bickerton, 1880]! Nebular Models Sun and planets formed from a vast nebula of gas [Descartes, 1644] that swirled around and condensed into planets [Kant, 1755] Nebula contracted into a fast spinning disk, shedding "rings" of material that formed the planets [Laplace, 1796]! All have problems with the basic physics or matching some of the constraints, but nebular models "best" Astro The Solar Nebula Theory! The leading model today is called the solar nebula theory Previous generations of stars lived and died before our solar system was formed ("cosmic recycling") The violent death of a previous star or stars formed an enormous cloud of hydrogen, helium, tiny amounts of heavier elements, and interstellar dust particles in this part of our galaxy This cloud collapsed under its own gravity and spun into a disk Most of the mass fell into the center of the disk and formed the Sun A tiny fraction of the leftovers formed the planets, moons, etc. Some day (maybe 5 billion years from now) the Sun will die and redistribute most of this matter back into an interstellar cloud... Astro

4 Cosmic Recycling... The Solar Nebula Theory Ours may not be the first solar system to occupy this part of the galaxy... Astro Astro The Violent Young Sun "accretion" The "Standard Model": From gas clouds to gas giants... Astro Original nebula may have had ~2 solar masses of material; half of it lost by the young Sun's strong "bipolar outflow" Astro

5 How long did this take?! FAST according to computer models Contraction, spin-up of original cloud of gas takes only a few million years Condensation of dust and settling of the dust into a rotating disk may have taken only ~ 100 years! Clumping of dust by self-gravity into 1-5 km planetesimals may have taken only ~ 1000 years! Accretion of planetesimals into ~1000 km objects may have occurred over only ~1 million years Growth of a few objects to even larger Moon, Mars, or Earth sizes in only about 100 million years Putting the age of the solar system into perspective... Our galaxy forms The Cosmic Calendar (from Carl Sagan s Cosmos) Astro Astro Implications...!The original catastrophic theories assumed that the Sun formed first and the planets formed later, by accident Implies that planets are rare!nebular theories assume that the Sun and planets form together Implies that planetary systems are common Testing the Solar Nebula Theory! How do we decide if this is right? (we weren't there!) Do the models rely on the laws of physics and chemistry or do they require miracles or ad hoc assumptions? Do the models accurately predict the present nature and distribution of the planets? Are there clues in the compositions of the planets or comets or meteorites that could help to support this model? Can we look elsewhere in the galaxy for evidence for this kind of process of solar system formation? Astro Astro

6 Compositional Evidence Compositions of Meteorites The solar nebula theory predicts a specific chemical condensation sequence as the hot gaseous nebula cooled... In general, this sequence is consistent with the observed changes in planetary composition with solar distance Often called the "Lewis Model" A few special "primitive" carbonaceous chondrite meteorites contain grains of dust with ages greater than 4.5 billion years Samples of the Sun's "parent body"? Confirms that meteorites (and by inference, asteroids and comets) provide the best way to study the "building blocks" of the solar system Some of these ancient stones also have complex organic molecules and even amino acids Allende Astro Astro Orion Observational Evidence: Nebulae... Star-forming Regions... Dusty disks around nearby stars! "Brown Dwarfs" and Planets around other stars! Astro

7 Chemical Condensation Model (the "Lewis" Model) Only rocks and metals could condense out near the Sun Farther away, lower temperatures allow lighter condensates The solar nebula theory predicts a specific chemical condensation sequence as the hot gaseous nebula cooled... Model worked out by astronomer John Lewis and others (for example, in the March 1974 Scientific American) Astro Astro Assumptions...!Pressure, Temperature of the nebula From a different model...!composition of the nebula Solar: 75% H, 24% He, 1% everything else!phase diagrams of nebula materials When do solids condense from the gas?!equilibrium chemistry Slow solid/gas reactions, predictable products Predictions of the Lewis Model! Rocky inner planets, icy outer ones Yes! Mercury will have a large metallic core Yes! H 2 O increases from Venus to Earth to Mars Maybe, but interiors not well understood...! Volatile-rich materials in the asteroid belt Consistent with some asteroid spectra & meteorites! "Unprocessed" outer satellites half rock, half ice Consistent with Ganymede and Callisto data Astro Astro

8 But there are problems...!pluto & Triton should be almost all ices But densities near rockier 2 g/cm 3???!The Moon Few volatiles, depletion of Fe and Ni Implies formation inside Mercury's orbit! But Moon rocks not primarily metal oxides!! Oddballs due to exceptional circumstances? Moon, Venus, Uranus, Pluto,... Formation of the Terrestrial Planets! Condensed grains merge into larger and larger aggregates, forming 1-10 km size planetesimals! Planetesimals grow by gravitational accretion! Small number of protoplanets km (Moon, Mars masses) form! Continued accretion of planetesimals adds energy and heat, melting the growing protoplanets! Melted planets differentiate and lose most of their volatiles (gases and ices)! Terrestrial planets not massive enough to be able to hold on to light Hydrogen & Helium gas Astro Astro Self-Gravity... makes a planet? Formation of the Giant Planets R < 400 km R! 400 km + Astro ! Additional supply of ices and other volatiles in the outer solar system allowed the protoplanets to grow much larger, perhaps 5-10 times the mass of the Earth! Masses large enough to keep Hydrogen and Helium gravitationally bound to the protoplanet! Giant protoplanets heated as their cores collapse under more and more mass: same way stars start to form!! But the giant planets in our solar system were not massive enough to initiate fusion of Hydrogen into Helium, so the cores cooled to their present state Astro

9 Solar Systems within Solar Systems Giant Planets vs. Terrestrial Planets Putative Jovian Nebula Solar Nebula!Why did proto-jupiter & proto-saturn grow so big but proto-earth didn t?!possible solution: At lower Jupiter/Saturn temperatures, icy materials could condense out of the nebula So: more solid material could condense near Jupiter/Saturn orbit than near Earth Astro Astro Jupiter/Saturn vs. Uranus/Neptune There appear to have been two possible paths for the formation of the giant planets in our solar system: If the protoplanet grew big enough (5-10 Earth masses) very early when there was still lots of nebular gas: - accretes a lot of gas, has a solar-like composition - Jupiter and Saturn! If the protoplanet grew big enough (5-10 Earth masses) but not until later, when there was less nebular gas: - accretes only a little gas, less Sun-like composition - Uranus and Neptune! Jupiter Rules!! If Jupiter formed early enough, it could have prevented the formation of a planet in the asteroid belt.! Why?! Jupiter's gravity influences nearby planetesimals! Nearby planetesimal orbits made more eccentric Higher eccentricity means higher impact velocities Higher impact velocities mean less "sticking" Planetesimals cannot accrete and grow very well Astro Astro

10 Caveats!The Chemical Condensation Model is a simplistic view of a complex process! Was chemical equilibrium reached everywhere? Many of the "leftovers" that we see today from solar system formation have undergone complex evolutionary histories! Thus it is important to find and study the most primitive solar system bodies (asteroids, comets) Planetary Evolution! After only 100 to 500 million years, most of the "debris" in the solar system was either swept up by the planets or ejected! The planets started to cool and assume their present appearances! Each planet or moon has followed it own evolutionary course, governed by its size, composition, solar distance, and the occasional random catastrophic impact... Astro Astro How Do Interiors Get Hot? Heat In Heat Out Astro Initial "inventory" of internal heat governs a planet's evolution Astro

11 Summary Summary! Observations of the Sun, planets, asteroids, and comets can be used to constrain models for the formation of the solar system! The currently-favored model is the solar nebula theory, which postulates that the Sun and planets were formed from a spinning cloud of gas & dust! This theory explains many of the observations Motions of the planets Compositions of the Sun, planets, and meteorites Ages of meteorites and cosmic dust particles! The solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago More soon on where that number comes from...! The leading theory is that it formed rapidly from a spinning cloud (nebula) of gas and dust! Condensation and accretion of solids occurred quickly: much of the "action" over in! 10 8 years! The outer planets were massive enough (especially Jupiter and Saturn) to accrete gases from the nebula! But the inner planets were not!! Jupiter may have prevented the formation of another terrestrial planet in the asteroid belt Astro Astro Next Time... How do we know how old space rocks are? Guest: Dr. Matt Hedman Reading: Read PBD 7 Check out Matt s book:

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