Our Solar System: Mystical Rose College of Science and Technology

MYSTICAL ROSE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
MANGATAREM, PANGASINAN
Name: __________________________________ Date: __________

Grade: ________________________
SUBJECT : Astronomy
Our Solar System
Why Is It Called The "Solar" System?

There are many planetary systems like ours in the universe, with planets orbiting a host star. Our planetary
system is named the "solar" system because our Sun is named Sol, after the Latin word for Sun, "solis," and anything
related to the Sun we call "solar."
Our planetary system is located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy.
Solar System Structure

Our solar system consists of one smallish star (the Sun), eight planets, a few billion asteroids and a few more
billion comets. Add to that masses of dust and gas, and there you have it.
Close to the Sun we have four small, rocky planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These are very much alike,
each having a core made of a mixture of iron and nickel, surrounded by a rocky crust.
Beyond Mars there is space for another planet, but it’s not there. What we have instead are the bits that should
have accreted (clumped together) to make a planet – it happened everywhere else. What we actually find are millions of
bits of rock and metal – the asteroids. So asteroids are bits of a planet that never happened, and it didn’t because of the
largest of the planets – Jupiter. Every time the asteroids tried to accrete they were ripped apart by Jupiter’s enormous
gravitational field.
Jupiter itself is the largest of the planets, but it’s not solid. Jupiter is a “gas giant”, an enormous ball of hydrogen
– the same stuff that the Sun’s made of. It’s not gas all the way through – the outer layers are, but deeper in the planet
the pressure squeezes the gas into a liquid, then into a solid. Right in the middle there’s probably a small, rocky core.
Saturn is very similar to Jupiter, but is best known for its rings. Actually all of the gas giant planets have rings of some
sort, but Saturn’s are by far the brightest.
Beyond the two real giants there are two smaller gas planets, Uranus and
Neptune. These are similar to Jupiter and Saturn, but smaller and made of
different gasses – they are much colder. Beyond Neptune things get a bit
confused. That far from the Sun the disk of material that accreted to form
the planets was really too thin to make more. Once the small particles had
clumped together, and were just a few miles, or tens of miles across they
were too far apart, so beyond Neptune we find billions of lumps of ice and
dirt. Some have more rock and dirt than ice (big icy mudballs) and others are
predominantly ice (dirty snowballs), but they are all called “comets”. Some
are quite large – one has been mistaken for a planet (Pluto)! These comets
can be found in a “belt” around the Sun beyond Neptune, known as the
Kuiper Belt, and in a massive “bubble” that surrounds the whole Solar
System. This enormous reservoir of comets is known as the Oort Cloud.
10 Need –to-Know Things About the Solar System
1. One of Billions
Our solar system is made up of a star, eight planets and countless smaller bodies such as dwarf planets, asteroid
and comets.
2. Meet Me In The Orion Arm
Our solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at about 515,000 mph ( 828,000 kph ). We’re in one
of the galaxy’s four spiral arms.
3. A Long Way Round
It takes our solar system about 230 million years to complete one orbit around the galactic center.
4. Spiraling Through Space
There are three general kinds of galaxies: elliptical, spiral and irregular. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy.
5. Good Atmosphere (s)
Our solar system is a region of space. It has no atmosphere. But it contains many worlds – including Earth – with
many kinds of atmospheres.
6. Many Moons
The planets of our solar system – and even some asteroids – hold more than 150 moons in their orbits.
7. Ring Worlds
The four giant planets – and at least one asteroids – have rings. None are as spectacular as Saturn’s gprgeous
rings.
8. Leaving the Cradle
More than 300 robotic spacecraft have explored destinations beyond earth orbit, including 24 astronauts who
orbited the moon.
9. Life As We Know It
Our solar system is the only one known to support life. So far, we only know of life on Earth, but we’re looking
for more everywhere we can.
10. Far-Ranging Robots
NASA’s Voyager 1 is the only spacecraft so far to leave our solar system. Four other spacecraft will eventually hit
interstellar space.
References:
https://spaceguardcentre.com/what-are-neos/solar-system-structure/
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/#:~:text=Our%20solar%20system%20consists
%20of,of%20asteroids%2C%20comets%20and%20meteoroids.
Prepared by:
MISS FARAH EVA CARPIO
Instructor
https://starless-suite.blogspot.com/2018/11/31-solar-system-sun-worksheet-answers.html

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MYSTICAL ROSE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Name: ________________________ Date:

Our Solar System

Why Is It Called The "Solar" System?

Solar System Structure

MISS FARAH EVA CARPIO

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