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Introductory Astronomy I
Chapter 5a
Planetary Systems
R. S. Rubins Fall, 2010
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He asks whether NASA is about understanding the Earth, the space shuttle and station, human exploration, exploring the solar system, exploring the outer universe and space, or science in general? 2
There is a special need to understand Jupiter, the first-born and largest planet, which probably influenced the formation of the rest. Comets, which were the collectors of the early solar system 4 material, are also in need of much more detailed study.
This has been achieved by the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, launched in 1977, which are now over 100 AU from the Earth, having crossed a major boundary of the solar system the termination shock roughly 8 billion miles from the Sun, in 2004 and 2006 respectively.
There are now European and American proposals for much faster and more efficient systems using ion drive propulsion, rather than rocket propulsion of earlier space vehicles..
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3. 4.
The planets revolve about the Sun in the same direction as the Suns rotation.
With the exceptions of Venus, Uranus and Pluto, the planets rotate in the same direction as their orbits about the Sun With the exceptions of Mercury and Pluto, the planetary orbits are almost circular.
5. The smaller rocky planets (the terrestrial planets) are nearer to the Sun, and the larger gaseous planets (the gas giants or Jovian planets) are further from it. 6. Gas giants have ring systems.
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The spacings between neighboring planets between Venus and Neptune increase with distance from the Sun.
Radioactive Dating
Radioactive dating measures the time at which rocks solidified, since radioactive products prior to that time would have escaped.
Such measurements give an age of close to 4.5 billion years for the oldest rocks on the Earth (the Jack Hills Zircons in Australia), as well as for samples obtained from the Moon and meteorites. In the example shown above, the isotope 40K (potassium) decays into Ca and Ar with a half-life of 1.28 billion years.
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The elements between Li (lithium) and (iron) were created in the thermonuclear fusion process by which stars produce their energy, while elements heavier than Fe were created in massive supernovae explosions. The fact that heavier elements are present in abundance on the Earth means that the solar system was not among the very early generations of stars.
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A gas cloud collapses if it is at i. a sufficiently low temperature, so that the outward thermal pressure is small; ii. a sufficiently high density, so that the gravitational pressure causes the cloud to collapse inwards.
The cloud collapses into a disk if it is rotating, because the rotation creates an effective outward force, balancing gravity. 10
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Iron and silicates vapors condense to form dust particles when the temperature drops below 1200 K. The condensation of easily vaporized compounds, such as 12 disk. water and methane, occurs only in the outer region of the
The heavier iron and silicate dust particles adhere together in the inner region of the disk, forming planetesimals, which are objects from millimeters to kilometers in size. Lighter, ice-rich planetesimals are produced in the outer region 13 of the disk.
Ultimately, gravitational attractions cause the clumping of the planetesimals in both regions of the solar disk. Because H2 and He are by far the most abundant gases in the solar disk, the cooler outer planets become surrounded by huge 14 envelopes of these gases.
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Neptune
3.88
17
1600
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= mass/volume.
The smaller terrestrial planets have higher densities, the Earth being the densest (5520 kg/m3).
The larger gas giants have the lowest densities, Saturn (690 kg/m3) being less dense than water (1000 kg/m3). 23
Mercury
Venus
0.39
0.72
0.24
0.62
59
243
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Titius-Bode Law
How the Titius-Bode Law, dn = (3n + 4)/10 AU, fits the data. Planet n Distance from Sun (AU) Bodes Law Measured
Mercury Venus
Earth Mars Ceres Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
0 1
2 4 8 16 32 64 128
0.4 0.7
1.0 1.6 2.8 5.2 10.0 19.6 38.8
0.39 0.72
(1.0) 1.5 2.8 5.2 9.5 19.2 30.1
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It is not a fundamental law, which can be derived simply from Newtons laws, although computer simulations using Newtons laws show that some agreement with it.
The period of revolution (orbital period) of a planet about the Sun is given by Keplers 3rd Law, P2 = a3. The rotational periods of the planets (about 24 hours for the Earth) are not connected to their distances from the Sun. With the exceptions of Venus and Uranus (probably due to early glancing collisions with asteroids), all the planets rotate in the same as their orbital motion, so that the Sun appears to 27 rise in the East.
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A Note of Caution
The proposed origin of the solar system given here appears logical, but studies of exoplanets associated with other stars have cast doubts on its correctness. The observations of numerous Hot Jupiters, which are very large planets, much closer to their star than Mercury is to the Sun, suggests that these giant planets might have been formed far from their star, but have moved much closer to it. The inward migrations of Hot Jupiters may pull icy objects into smaller rocky planets, giving rise to oceans on the latter. If this happened to Jupiter, it might have flicked lesser planets out of its way as it moved to its present position.
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