Solar System - Term Paper Example

The Solar System The Solar System The Sun is the center of the solar system. All objects in the solar system revolve around it. The planets that comprise the solar system, starting form the one closest to the sun is Mercury. With the demotion of the used to be 9th planet, in 2006, Pluto was downgraded to being a dwarf planet, making Mercury as the smallest planet in the solar system. It is followed by Venus which has a primarily carbon dioxide atmosphere, Earth which is a haven for life due to its distance from the sun and some other factors, Mars that has an Earth-like climate and the planet that completes the inner solar system.

It is followed by Jupiter which is the biggest planet and the closest to the sun amongst the planets in the outer solar system. Comes next is Saturn, a gas giant that has rings, followed by Uranus, the planet with methane in its upper atmosphere and lastly, Neptune, which is the outmost planet in the outer solar system. There are other major objects in the solar system aside from planets and these are the Kuiper belt, the Asteroid belt and the Oort cloud. The Kuiper belt is an ellipse-shape region of space that is composed of icy chunks, comet-like objects.

It is said to be the edge of the solar system and the farthest region the sun’s gravitational pull can reach. It is named after its discoverer Gerard Kuiper. The Oort cloud on the other hand is an spherical cloud surrounding the planetary system. Its distance form the sun is approximately 30 trillion kilometres. It is named after Jan Oort. The Asteroid belt is a region of asteroids revolving around the sun. The main belt is found between Mars’s and Jupiter’s orbit. The Earth rotates on its axis from West to East in the North/South direction while it revolves around the sun for about 23 degrees due North.

The moon revolves around The Solar System 2 the Earth about 5 degress from the direction from where the Earth revolves around the Sun. All other planets revolve around the Sun on the same general direction. The Sub, on the other hand, revolves around the galaxy in a different direction. You need to point your thumb toward the South Galactic pole that is located above the southern hemisphere at 27 degrees south latitude. The two types of planets in the solar system are the terrestrial and the Jovian planets.

The former are the 4 planets closest to the Sun (inner solar system). These are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These planets are called terrestrial due to their rocky and compact surface like Earth’s. Among the fours planets, only Mercury has no significant atmosphere. The Jovian planets are those planets that comprise the outer solar system. These are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They are called Jovian because of their Jupiter-like characteristics; gigantic and gaseous. They are also called the gas giants.

Asteroids and comets are parts of the solar system. They are chunks of rock, ice or both. They are said to be leftovers from the formation of the solar system. Comets appear to be a lot brighter than asteroids. As comets get closer to the Sun, they become brighter. This explains the tail that is normally seen when it gets into the Earth’s atmosphere. Comets lie mostly on the Kuiper belt and asteroids on the Asteroid belt. The theory that fits closest to my understanding of the formation of the solar system is the Solar Nebula theory.

The theory states that before the solar system there was only a formation of cloud and dust. When it collapsed, it created regions of higher density. The planets were once small particles orbiting the Sun and managed to get bigger as time went by due to dust particles gathered together. Though it gave me a better understanding of the solar system and how it was formed, I wouldn’t say I am a master of the topic. A few things still don’t make so much sense, which I will continue to do further research on.

It took me a little over 4 hours to complete this paper. Approximately 3 hours was spent on research and an hour on writing. It is a great topic and it gave me a better understanding of the solar system. Corfield, R. M. (2007). Lives of the planets: A natural history of the solar system. New York: Basic Books.