Core Subject Description: This learning area

is designed to provide a general background

for the understanding of the Earth on a
planetary scale. It presents the history of the
Earth through geologic time. It discusses the
Earth’s structure and composition, the
processes that occur beneath and on the
Earth’s surface, as well as issues, concerns,
and problems pertaining to Earth’s resources.
 Objectives:
• Define solar system.
• Name different astronomers who
contributed in the formulation of theories
about the origin of the universe and the solar
system.
• Describe and identify the characteristics of
different celestial objects in the solar system.
• Enumerate the characteristics of Earth that
are necessary to support life.
Astronomy
 CLASSICAL ASTRONOMY
The great philosophers of ancient Greece
wrote about many different subjects,
including what they saw in the sky. Those
writings became the foundation on which
later astronomers built modern astronomy.
• Earth was located at the center
• An initial version of the geocentric
model was presented by EUDOXUS
of Cnidus (c.400 – 350 BC, a Greek
astronomer and mathematician born
in present-day Turkey)
ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC) - another
revision was proposed by him who
demonstrated that the Earth was a sphere.
• He also calculated the size of the Earth –
at 50% larger than it really is.
• Aristotle’s geocentric model consisted of
49 concentric spheres which he believed
could account for the movements of all of
the celestial bodies.
ERATOSTHENES (276-194 BC,
Greek writer, born in present-day
Libya) used an experimental
method to measure the
circumference of the Earth, which
he overestimated by only 15%.
PTOLEMY (Claudius Ptolomeus,
2nd Century BC, Egyptian
astronomer and geographer)
revised Aristotle’s model by
introducing epicycles, a model in
which the planets swivel in
smaller circles as they orbit the
Earth.
•The idea that the Sun is at the
center of the universe and that
the Earth revolves around it,
known as the heliocentric theory.
ARISTARCHUS of Samos (320 -350
BC, Greek mathematician and
astronomer), who arrived at the notion
based on his estimates of the sizes and
distances of the Sun and the Moon. He
concluded that the Earth revolves
around the Sun and that the stars
compose a fixed and very distant
sphere.
In 1510, COPERNICUS (Nicolaus
Copernicus, 1473 -1543, Polish astronomer)
set down his own heliocentric model in the
work Commentariolus, which circulated
anonymously; Copernicus seemed to have
foreseen the furore the theory would provoke
and only allowed it to be published after his
death. The work was brought out openly for
the first time in 1543 under the title De
Revolutionibus Orbium Coelesti, and carried
a dedication to Pope Paul III.
TYCHO BRAHE (1546-1601, a
Danish astronomer) played an
important role in advancing instrument-
based techniques for making precise
measurements with the naked eye, as
refracting glasses and telescopes had
not yet been invented. These
measurements were roughly ten times
more precise than earlier calculations.
JOHANNES KEPLER (1571-1630, German
mathematician and astronomer) - Kepler was to
use Tycho’s measurements to establish his laws
of planetary motion. These laws showed that the
planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at
one focus. With this realization, theoretical
calculations and measurements acquired much
greater congruity than under the older system.
KEPLER’S LAWS OF PLANETARY
MOTION
•The orbits of the planets are ellipses with
the sun at one focus.
•A line from a planet to the sun sweeps
over equal areas in equal interval of time.
•A planet’s orbital period squared is
proportional to its average distance from
the sun cubed.
P2y = a3AU
 The Planet of Our Solar System
Mean Orbit Period Mass Diameter
Distance from (y) (Earth = 1) (Earth = 1)
the Sun (AU)
Sun
Mercury 0.387 0.055 0.38
Venus 0.723 0.81 0.95
Earth 1.000 1.00 1.00
Mars 1.524 0.11 0.53
Jupiter 5.203 318 11.2
Saturn 9.529 94.3 9.46
Uranus 19.19 14.54 4.00
Neptune 30.06 17.1 3.88
 The Planet of Our Solar System
Mean Orbit Period Mass Diameter
Distance from (y) (Earth = 1) (Earth = 1)
the Sun (AU)
Sun
Mercury 0.387 0.24 0.055 0.38
Venus 0.723 0.62 0.81 0.95
Earth 1.000 1.00 1.00 1.00
Mars 1.524 1.88 0.11 0.53
Jupiter 5.203 11.86 318 11.2
Saturn 9.529 29.42 94.3 9.46
Uranus 19.19 83.75 14.54 4.00
Neptune 30.06 163.70 17.1 3.88
 The Solar System

• About the Solar System

• The Planets

• Other Solar System Objects

 About the solar system
• Ancient observers noticed
that five bright objects
seemed to wander among
the stars at night.
• They called these objects
planets, from the Greek
word meaning “wandering
star or wanderer,” and
named them Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn.
 About the solar system
• Galileo made two
discoveries.
• Galileo argued that
the phases of Venus
could not be
explained if Earth
were at the center of
the planets.
 About the solar system
• Second, Galileo saw
that there were four
moons orbiting Jupiter.
• Galileo’s discoveries
helped prove that
Earth and the other
planets orbit the sun,
disproving the early
theory that earth was
the center of the
universe.
 What is the solar system?
• Today, we define the solar system as the sun
and all objects that are gravitationally bound to
the sun.
• The solar system is roughly divided into the
inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and
Mars) and the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune)
• The dwarf planet Pluto is the oldest known
member of a smaller group of frozen worlds
orbiting beyond Neptune.
17.1 Orbits
• An orbit is a regular,
repeating path that an
object in space follows
around another object.
• An object in orbit is
called a satellite.
 Orbits
• An orbit results from
the balance
between inertia and
gravitational force.
• Without the pull of
gravity, a planet
would travel off into
space in a straight
line.
 Motion of the planets
• The orbits of the
planets are slightly
elliptical but almost
circular.
• The Sun is at a
point called the
focus that is offset
from the center of
the orbit.
• In addition to orbiting
the Sun, the planets
also rotate.
• An axis is the
imaginary line that
passes through the
center of a planet
from pole to pole.
 Comparing size and distance
• The Sun is by far
the largest object
in the solar
system.
• One astronomical
unit (AU) is equal
to 150 million km,
or the distance
from Earth to the
Sun.
 The planets
• The planets are commonly
classified in two groups.
• The terrestrial planets
include Mercury, Venus,
Earth, and Mars.
• The gas giants include
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune.
• Two motions: revolution
and rotation
SolarSystem
THE
Mercury
Mercury is the smallest and
innermost planet in the Solar
System. Its orbital period around
the Sun of 87.97 days is the
shortest of all the planets in the
Solar System. It is named after the
Roman deity Mercury, the
messenger of the gods.
 17.2 Mercury

• Mercury, the
closest planet
to the sun, is
the second
smallest (after
Pluto) in both
size and mass.
 Venus
Venus is the second planet
from the Sun, orbiting it every
224.7 Earth days. It has the
longest rotation period of any
planet. It does not have any
natural satellites. It is named
after the Roman goddess of
love and beauty.
 17.2 Venus
• Venus appears as the
brightest planet in the evening
sky and is the third brightest
observable object (after the
sun and moon).
 Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun
and the only astronomical object
known to harbor life. Earth formed
over 4.5 billion years ago. Earth's
only natural satellite is the Moon.
 17.2 Earth
• Earth is a small,
rocky planet with
an atmosphere
that is made of
mostly nitrogen
(78 percent N2)
and oxygen (21
percent O2).
 Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from
the Sun and the second-
smallest planet in the Solar
System after Mercury.
 17.2 Mars

• The fourth planet

out from the sun,
Mars appears as
a reddish point
of light in the
night sky.
 Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in the
Solar System. It is a giant planet
with a mass one-thousandth that of
the Sun, but two-and-a-half times
that of all the other planets in the
Solar System combined.
 17.2 Jupiter
• The fifth planet out
from the sun, Jupiter
is by far the largest.
• Jupiter’s mass is
95 greater than the
combined mass of all
of the other planets.
• With 95 known
moons, Jupiter is like
a mini solar system.
 Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the
Sun and the second-largest in the
Solar System. It is a gas giant with
an average radius about nine times
that of Earth. It has only one-eighth
the average density of Earth.
 17.2 Saturn
• Saturn, at almost
10 times the size of
Earth, is the second
largest planet. 146

• The most striking

feature of Saturn is
its system of rings
and like Jupiter, has
many natural
satellites.
 Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from
the Sun. It has the third-largest
planetary radius and fourth-largest
planetary. Uranus is similar in
composition to Neptune, and both
have bulk chemical compositions.
 17.2 Uranus
• The seventh planet
from the sun, Uranus
28 can barely be seen
without a good
telescope and was
not discovered until
1781.
 Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest
known planet from the Sun in the
Solar System. In the Solar System, it
is the fourth-largest planet by
diameter, the third-most-massive
planet, and the densest giant planet.
 17.2 Neptune
• Neptune, the eighth
planet from the sun, is
the outermost of the
gas planets.
• It was discovered in 16

1846 and its discovery

almost doubled the
diameter of the known
solar system because
of its great distance
from the sun.
TRITON
17.2 Comparing the planets
 SUN
• The sun is a star; a rather ordinary star.
• It is very important object in the solar
system.
• It is the source of light without which
planets and satellites could not shine
and the source of light and heat which
makes life on earth possible.
 MOON
• “That’s one small step for man, one
giant leap for mankind.”
• These were the words of Neil
Armstrong when he and Edwin Aldrin,
Jr. landed on the moon from Apollo 11
on July 20, 1969 at 7:56 p.m.
 Moon
• The moon is the earth’s only natural
satellite.
• Its diameter, 3, 456 km, is a quarter of
that of the earth.
• It travels around the earth at a speed of
about 3, 664 km per hour once every 27
days or so.
• Perigee (356, 000 km)
• Apogee (406, 700 km)
 Other objects in the Solar
System
• Comets are bodies of small mass that
revolve around the sun, usually, in highly
elliptical orbits and consisting of the
dirty snowball model of small solid
particles embedded in frozen gases.
• As ice vaporize and release dust, effects
of the solar wind plus radiation pressure
cause to comet to develop a tail that’s
points approximately on the sun.
 • Asteroid (minor planet) is one of the
several thousand very small members
of the solar system that revolve around
the sun, generally between the orbits of
the Mars and Jupiter.
• Meteor is a bright streak of light that
occurs when a solid particle from
space enters the earth’s atmosphere
and is heated by friction with
atmospheric particles and sometimes
called “shooting star”.
 Kuiper Belt
• Composed of small icy bodies called
Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) that orbit
the sun beyond the Neptune.
• Stars are heavenly bodies with so much
central heat pressure that energy is
generated in their interiors by nuclear
reactions.
• Galaxy is a big assembly of stars, gas,
and dust that is held together by a
gravity.
• Constellation is an apparent arrangement
of stars usually named after ancients
gods, heroes, animals, or mythological
beings.