Our Solar SystemOur Solar System

Jonathan HodgeTanglewood Nature Center

Photos courtesy of NASA

Have you ever looked at the empty sky and wondered?

The SunThe Sun

What do you think about the Sun?What do you think about the Sun?

Solar flares are massive eruptions of the Suns energy. The energy they release takes just 8 minutes to reach Earth!

Sun spots are magnetic disturbances, cooler than the surrounding surface of the sun, they can be 50k miles across

The Solar wind is a stream of very fast moving energy particles that travel at incredible speeds towards the Earth

What is the Sun?◦The Sun is our nearest star. It is a giant ball of

super hot gas. It burns Hydrogen which in turn produces Helium….but it doesn’t burn like a fireplace does, the star is not “on fire”. It’s called “thermonuclear fusion”.

How old is the Sun? Where are stars born?◦The Sun was born about 5 billion years ago

from a giant cloud of dust! Stars are born in “Nurseries!”

The Orion Nebula: Photo Jonathan Hodge

Is the Sun the center of our Galaxy?◦No! The sun is the center of our Solar System.

Our solar system is on the Orion arm of our own spiral galaxy

What is the name of our Galaxy?◦Our galaxy is called the Milky Way!

What do you think about Mars?What do you think about Mars?

Mars is the ? planet from the Sun?◦The fourth!

What are the first ? planets?◦Mercury, Venus and Earth

What color is Mars and why?◦Mars is red because of the soil which is rich in Iron

Oxide

Would you weigh more or less on Mars?◦You would weigh about a third of your weight.. if

you are 70 pounds….you’d weigh 27!

MARSMARS

Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in our solar system!

Martian crater

•Mars is very bright, which makes it easy to spot in the night sky. •It was named after the Roman god of war because its reddish color reminded the people of blood.

Although people havenever landed on Mars,we have sent roboticexplorers there.

What do you think about Jupiter?What do you think about Jupiter?

What is Jupiter made out of?◦Jupiter is a “Gas Planet”. It’s thick atmosphere

of gas eventually turns into an ocean of Hydrogen and Water

How much would you weigh on Jupiter?◦If you weighed 70 pounds on Earth you would

weigh 185 pounds on Jupiter

What is the “Eye of Jupiter” and how and big is it?◦It is a massive storm over three hundred years

old, bigger than the Earth with super hurricane force winds

JUPITERJUPITERHere are a few of Jupiter’s moons

•Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, is the largest planet in our solar system.•Jupiter is so big that over 1,000 planets the size of Earth could fit into it.•It has over 60 moons and 3 rings.  •Can life exist on Jupiter's moon, Europa?

The “Great Red Spot” or “Eye of Jupiter”

We can’t forget about Pluto!We can’t forget about Pluto!

……some things are so far beyond our current some things are so far beyond our current technology that we can only guess what they look like.technology that we can only guess what they look like.

Which is further away from Earth? Neptune or Pluto?◦That depends!! Objects usually orbit in a

circle….Pluto orbits the sun in more of an egg shape…so sometimes it is closer to Earth than Neptune as their orbits cross!

Is Pluto a planet?◦Not anymore! Poor Pluto was downgraded from

being a planet in 2006. Objects like Pluto are now called “Plutoids”

How big is Pluto?◦Pluto is very small, it is only about a third the

size of our Moon

Pluto has how many moons?◦Pluto has 3 moons!

PLUTO PLUTO Clearest view to dateof Pluto and Charon

•Pluto used to be the ninth planet from the Sun, which made it the smallest planet in our solar system. •Some scientists believe that Pluto once was one of Neptune’s moons, and that it pulled out away from Neptune and made its own orbit.

A little show and tell!A little show and tell!

I am sometimes made of Iron

I have three names

I have seen things you can only imagine

I came from outer space

What is this?What is this?

A meteoroid is a particle of debris in the Solar System. (They can be as small as sand or as big as a boulder!)

When the meteoroid enters Earth's (or another body's) atmosphere it is called a meteor, a shooting star or falling star. If the meteor reaches the ground and survives impact, it is called a meteorite.