Solar System

The Universe.
The universe consists of a number of galaxies and the galaxies contain billions of stars. Our own
galaxy is called the Milky Way galaxy which contains a very big number of stars. The sun is
one of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The sun is at the centre of our solar system which
consists of 8 other planets. Our Earth is one of these eight planets.
The Solar system.
Our solar system is one of the known 500 solar system in the Milky way galaxy. Only 15% of stars in the
Milky Way galaxy host planetary systems and one of these stars is our Sun.
The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. The largest of
these objects are the eight planets, which in order from the Sun are;
 Four terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars);

 Two gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn);
 And two ice giants (Uranus and Neptune).
All four terrestrial planets belong to the inner Solar System and have solid surfaces. Inversely, all four
Jovian planets belong to the outer Solar System and do not have a definite surface, as they are mainly
composed of gases and liquids. 99.86% of the Solar System's mass is in the Sun.
The terrestrial planets are separated from the Jovian planets by an asteroid belt which consists of
asteroids. Beyond the Jovian planets is the Kuiper belt which consists of dwarf planets such as pluto,
asteroids and is the birth place for many comets. Beyond the Kuiper belt is the Oort cloud a collection of
ice debris. This is the edge of the solar system since this is where the gravitational influence of the sun
ends.
Characteristics of Terrestrial Planets.
 Made of rocky materials

 Surfaces are solid
 Don’t have rings
 Very few or no moons
 Relatively small.
1.Mercury: The smallest and closest to the sun.
2.Venus: the hottest planet. It has an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and extensive lava flow.
3.Earth: the world of water. The water systems on Earth create the only known environment to
sustain life.
4. Mars: one had a watery surface or icy surface.
The Jovian planets consists of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and Ice giants Uranus and Neptune. The
gas giants are predominantly made of helium and hydrogen and the ice giants contain rock, ice and a
mixture of water, methane and ammonia.
Characteristics of Jovian planets.
 Multiple moons
 Support ring systems
 No solid surface
 Big in size.
1. Jupiter: Largest in the solar system
2. Saturn: second largest with signatures rings which are quite wide.
3. Uranus: this rotates on its sides
4. Neptune: the outermost and the coldest
Seasons of the Earth, days and nights.
The earth revolves around the sun in an oval orbit with the sun situated at one focus of this oval
(ellipse). The earth takes about 365 days to orbit the sun. The Earth also rotates or spins about its
axis making a complete cycle in 24 hours. The side of the Earth facing the sun will experience
day and the side facing away from the sun will experience night. The axis of the Earth’s rotation
is tilted and not perpendicular to the plane of revolution of the Earth about the sun. this tilt is
responsible for the Earth’s seasons as the Earth revolves about the sun. this is mainly caused by
the angle at which the sun rays reach the different parts of the Earth.
The moon and its phases
The moon travels around our planet once every 27.322 days in an elliptical orbit, an elongated
circle. The Moon is tidally locked with Earth, which means that it spins on its axis exactly once
each time it orbits our planet. Because of this, people on Earth only ever see one side of the
Moon.
The eight lunar phases are, in order: new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous,
full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter and waning crescent. The cycle repeats once a month
(every 29.5 days).
Ocean Tides.
The Moon and Earth exert a gravitational pull on each other. On Earth, the Moon's gravitational
pull causes the oceans to bulge out on both the side closest to the Moon and the side farthest
from the Moon. These bulges create high tides. The low points are where low tides occur.
Eclipses.
The moon revolves round the Earth and therefore at some point the moon obstructs part of the
Earth from the sun forming solar eclipses. At another point the Earth obstructs the moon from
the Earth forming lunar eclipses.
Solar eclipse.
There are three types of solar eclipses ie: the partial eclipse where the Earth is partially
obstructed, the total eclipse when the Earth is totally obstructed and the annular eclipse when a
ring of the sun is observed when the moon obstructs the sun from the Earth.
The lunar eclipses.
Here the Earth obstructs the sun from the moon.
The theories explaining the origin of the universe.
The Big Bang theory

This breakthrough idea later became known as the Big Bang! The Big Bang was the moment 13.8 billion
years ago when the universe began as a tiny, dense, fireball that exploded. Most astronomers use the Big
Bang theory to explain how the universe began.
The creation theory
The theory suggests that the Universe was created by God.
END

Solar System

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The Universe.

The Solar system.

 Four terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars);

Characteristics of Terrestrial Planets.

 Made of rocky materials

Characteristics of Jovian planets.

Seasons of the Earth, days and nights.

The lunar eclipses.

Here the Earth obstructs the sun from the moon.

The theories explaining the origin of the universe.

The Big Bang theory

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