Our Solar System Rick Varner Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD
If the Earth was the size of a pea
The Sun would be a beach ball Sun Earth 50 Yankee Stadium, NYC
Sun Earth Pluto 4 kilo
Our Solar System Nearest Star New York City, USA Tokyo, Japan
If Pluto s orbit fit into a tea cup, then the Milky Way would cover North America
Goals for Scale Activity: You will understand the relative distances between the Sun, planets, and small objects in the Solar System. Objective: To create a model demonstrating the scale distances of the Solar System using astronomical units that have been converted into a scale. For Practice: we will use astronomical units
What is an Astronomical Unit? astronomical: as tro nom i cal \ˌas-trə-ˈnä-mi-kəl\ Adjective, 1556 1 : of or relating to astronomy <astronomical observations> 2: enormously or inconceivably large or great <astronomical numbers> www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary
What is an Astronomical Unit? unit: unit \ˈyü-nət\ noun, 1570 a determinate quantity (as of length, time, heat, or value) adopted as a standard of measurement: as a: an amount of work used in education in calculating student credits www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary
What is an Astronomical Unit? 150,000,000 km = 1AU
Solar System Scale in Object A.U. Centimeters Sun 0.0 x 10cm = Mercury 0.4 x 10cm = Venus 0.7 x 10cm = Earth 1.0 x 10cm = Mars 1.5 x 10cm = Ceres & Asteroid belt 2.8 x 10cm = Remember to measure from the Sun each time! AU = the distance FROM THE SUN
Solar System Scale in Object A.U. Centimeters Jupiter 5.0 x 10cm = Saturn 10.0 x 10cm = Uranus 19.0 x 10cm = Neptune 30.0 x 10cm = Pluto 39.0 x 10cm = Haumea 50.0 x 10cm = Makemake 53.0 x 10cm = Eris 97.5 x 10cm = AU = the distance FROM THE SUN
Planet AU Scale Cm Scale Sun 0.0 AU cm Mercury 0.4 AU cm 4 Venus 0.7 AU cm 7 Earth 1.0 AU cm 10 Mars 1.5 AU cm 15 Asteroids 2.8 AU cm 28 Jupiter 5.0 AU cm 50 Saturn 10.0 AU cm 100 Uranus 19.0 AU cm 190 Neptune 30.0 AU cm 300 Pluto 39.0 AU cm 0 390
THE SUN
Gravity: 28 times the earth! 100lbs = 2,800lbs Sun 0.0 AU Light travels 186,000 miles per second 8 min 20 sec to reach the earth
MERCURY Mercury has very little atmosphere to stop impacts, thus has many craters. Gravity 0.4 times the earth! 100lbs = 40lbs The atmosphere contains helium, hydrogen, oxygen, sodium, calcium, potassium and water vapor.
Rotation (Day): 58.6 Earth days Revolution (Year): 88.0 Earth days Sunny side may reach 750 to 800 degrees F Nighttime temperature plummets to nearly -330 degrees F Mercury 0.4 AU
VENUS Venus' thick, toxic atmosphere traps heat in a runaway "greenhouse effect." Gravity 0.9 times the earth! 100lbs = 90lbs Venus has a thick, poisonous atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. Thick clouds hide a surface covered with lava flows, quake faults and impact craters.
Sulfur deposits give yellow tone to planet Rotation (Day) 243 Earth days (spins backwards compared to most other planets) Revolution(Year) 224.7 Earth days Venus 0.7 AU
EARTH
Rotation (Day) 1 day (24 hrs) Revolution(Year) 365 Earth days 100lbs = 100lbs Atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other ingredients. Earth 1.0 AU
Moon Gravity 0.17 times the earth! 100lbs = 17lbs Rotation (Day) 27.32 Earth days Revolution(Year) 27.32 Earth days Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Currently orbiting and returning HD data
Apollo Moon Program
MARS Mars s atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist for long on the surface. Surface: desert like, red sand, rusty rock It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide with small amounts of other gases. The six most common components of the atmosphere are: Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ): 95.32% Nitrogen (N 2 ): 2.7% Argon (Ar): 1.6% Oxygen (O 2 ): 0.13% Water (H 2 O): 0.03% Neon (Ne): 0.00025 %
Gravity 0.4 times the earth! 100lbs = 40lbs Rotation (Day) 24.6 Earth hours Revolution(Year) 686.980 Earth days Average Temperature: -125 to 23 F Mars 1.5 AU
Mars Odyssey orbiter, the longest-serving of six spacecraft now studying Mars infrared mapping of Martian minerals (2001) NASA is participating in a mission of the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency called Mars Express, which has been exploring the atmosphere and surface of Mars from polar orbit since arriving at the red planet in 2003. January 2004, two robotic geologists named Spirit and Opportunity landed on opposite sides of the red planet. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in August, 2005, carries the most powerful camera ever flown on a planetary exploration mission for homing in on details of Martian terrain with extraordinary clarity.
During 2008, Phoenix landed farther north than any previous mission, at a latitude equivalent to that of northern Alaska. It brought back images of water ice on the surface and the possibility that Mars has winter-like snows. Twice as long and three times as heavy as the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Science Laboratory will collect Martian soil and rock samples and analyze them for organic compounds and environmental conditions that could have supported microbial life now or in the past.
ASTEROID BELT located between Mars and Jupiter roughly 2-4 AU from the Sun Largest Asteroid: Ceres 2.8 AU
Asteroid Belt All of the asteroids make up less material than the Moon Largest of the asteroids, redefined as a dwarf planet in 2006 Dawn mission to reach Vesta in July 2011
JUPITER Jupiter s atmosphere is about 90% hydrogen and 10% with traces of methane, water, ammonia and "rock". 63 moons 23 more discovered in 2003! This is very close to the composition of a star.
Gravity 2.5 times the earth! 100lbs = 250lbs Rotation (Day) 9.8 Earth hours Revolution(Year) 11.9 Earth Years The Great Red Spot is a hurricane like storm twice as big as the earth and around three Earth diameters across. Jupiter 5.0 AU
SATURN The atmosphere on Saturn is primarily composed of hydrogen, with small amounts of helium and methane. Saturn is the only planet in our solar system that is less dense than water. Saturn is well known for its beautiful ring system, which are composed of millions of particles and large chunks of ice and snow.
Gravity 1.1 times the earth! 100lbs = 110lbs Rotation (Day) 10.23 Earth hours Revolution(Year) 29.5 Earth Years Saturn Spins so fast, it flattens out a little at the poles. Winds 1,100 mph! 10.0 AU
URANUS The atmosphere of Uranus is composed of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The methane in the atmosphere absorbs red light, giving the planet a blue-green color. Uranus is considered unusual because the planet is tipped on its side. The poles actually point towards the Sun. Uranus has rings that are composed of fine dust, rocks, and ice boulders. The rings are very faint and were discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus.
Gravity 0.8 times the earth! 100lbs = 80lbs Rotation (Day) 17.3 Earth hours Revolution(Year) 84 Earth Years Uranus It rolls around its orbit & spins backward like Venus! 19.0 AU
Neptune is a gas planet, composed of hydrogen, helium, methane, with traces of ammonia and water. The blue color of the planet is due to the absorption of red light by methane in the atmosphere. The only spacecraft ever to visit Neptune was the Voyager 2 in 1989. NEPTUNE
Gravity 1.2 times the earth! 100lbs = 120lbs Rotation (Day) 18 Earth hours Revolution(Year) 164.83 Earth Years Neptune Scientists believe the winds on Neptune blow at 1,200 mph! 30.0 AU
Trans-Neptunian Objects orbiting in the Kuiper Belt 7.5 to 9.3 Billion Miles from the Sun! In the 1950 s, Jan Oort & Gerard Kuiper presented the idea that this material exists. Proven in the 1980 s!
Criteria for a dwarf planet The International Astronomical Union decided in 2006 that a new system of classification was needed to describe Pluto, Eris and the asteroid Ceres, the first dwarf planets. Unlike planets, dwarf planets lack the gravitational strength to sweep up or scatter objects near their orbits. They end up orbiting the sun in zones of similar objects such as the asteroid and Kuiper belts.
PLUTO: a dwarf planet CHARON PLUTO Recently, redefined as a dwarf planet New Horizons will visit Pluto in 2015 (launched in 2006) http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html The smallest, coldest, and most distant planet from the Sun
Gravity 0.01 times the earth! 100lbs = 1lbs Rotation (Day) 6.39 Earth Days Pluto Revolution(Year) 247.7 Earth Years 39.0 AU
50.0AU Haumea: a dwarf planet Haumea 50.0 AU Discovered in 2003 with 2 moons discovered in 2005. Haumea rotates like a football end over end.
53.0 AU Makemake: a dwarf planet Discovered in 2005 Makemake 53.0 AU
A fuzzy color image of Makemake (NASA) Makemake is located in the Kuiper Belt, a region outside the orbit of Neptune. Astronomers believe it is slightly smaller than Pluto. It takes 310 Earth years for this dwarf planet to make one orbit around our Sun.
Eris: a dwarf planet Eris Dysnomia - (moon of Eris) 97.5 AU Using Hubble data calculated Eris to be 27% more massive than Pluto. Image Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory Discovered in 2003
Web Resources: http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/video_c ategory/solar%20system/saturn/ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ninepla nets.html#toc http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/solar http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/contacts.html http://mars.sgi.com/worlds/cybermarz/planets.html