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Table of Contents
1 Sun
o 1.1 Sun – Internal Structure – Atmosphere
1.1.1 Photosphere
1.1.2 Chromosphere
1.1.3 Sunspot
1.1.4 Solar Wind
1.1.5 Solar flares
1.1.6 Solar prominence
1.1.7 Corona
1.1.8 Plasma
1.1.9 Aurora
Sun
The solar interior, from the inside out, is made up of the core, radiative zone and
theconvective zone.
The solar atmosphere above that consists of the photosphere, chromosphere, and
the corona.
Beyond that is the solar wind, an outflow of gas from the corona.
Photosphere
The photosphere is the bright outer layer of the Sun that emits most of the radiation.
The photosphere is an extremely uneven surface.
The effective temperature on the outer side of the photosphere is 6000°K (11,000°F).
Chromosphere
Solar Wind
Stream of energized, charged particles, primarily electrons and protons, flowing outward
from the Sun at speeds as high as 900 km/s and at a temperature of 1 million degrees
(Celsius).
It is made of plasma.
As the solar wind approaches a planet that has a well-developed magnetic field (such as
Earth, Jupiter and Saturn), the particles are deflected.
This region, known as the magnetosphere, causes the particles to travel around the planet
rather than bombarding the atmosphere or surface.
The magnetosphere is roughly shaped like a hemisphere on the side facing the Sun, then
is drawn out in a long trail on the opposite side.
The boundary of this region is called the magnetopause, and some of the particles are
able to penetrate the magnetosphere through this region by partial reconnection of the
magnetic field lines.
The solar wind is responsible for the overall shape of Earth’s magnetosphere.
Moreover, planets with a weak or non-existent magnetosphere are subject to atmospheric
stripping by the solar wind.
Venus, the nearest and most similar planet to Earth in the Solar System, has an
atmosphere 100 times denser than our own, with little or no geo-magnetic field. This is
an exception.
Solar flares
A corona is a distinctive atmosphere of plasma that surrounds the Sun and other celestial
bodies.
The Sun’s corona extends millions of kilometres into space and is most easily seen during
a total solar eclipse
Plasma
One of the four fundamental states of matter, the others being solid, liquid, and gas.
Plasma is simply ionized gas [convert (an atom, molecule, or substance) into an ion or
ions, typically by removing one or more electrons]
Lightning and electric sparks are everyday examples of phenomena made from plasma.
Neon lights could more accurately be called “plasma lights”, because the light comes
from the plasma inside of them.
Aurora
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high
latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions. [This is due to magnetic field lines of earth]
Auroras are caused by charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, entering the
atmosphere from above causing ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents,
and consequent optical emissions.
Solar System – Planets – Outer Planets
able of Contents
1 Outer Planets
o
1.0.1 Jupiter
1.0.2 Saturn
1.0.3 Uranus
1.0.4 Neptune
1.0.5 Pluto and Charon
1.0.6 Kuiper belt
2 Other Solar System Objects
o 2.1 Comets
2.1.1 Meteorite
3 Solar System – Relevant Facts
o
3.0.1 Planets
3.0.2 Distance from Sun; Distance in Astonomical Units(AU)
o 3.1 Relative size of Planets
3.1.1 Planet
3.1.2 Inclination angle to Ecliptic
3.1.3 Orbital Velocity in km/s
4 Other related concepts
o 4.1 Heliocentric vs Geocentric
o 4.2 Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
o 4.3 Why is Venus sometimes called Earth’s twin?
o 4.4 However, Venus and Earth are also very different
o 4.5 Mars Compared to Earth
o 4.6 Ecliptic Plane
o 4.7 Important fact
o 4.8 The Moon
Outer Planets
The four outer planets, called the gas giants, are substantially more massive than the
terrestrials.
The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium;
the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are composed largely of substances
with relatively high melting points (compared with hydrogen and helium), called
ices, such as water, ammonia and methane, and are often referred to separately as
“ice giants”.
Outer Planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planet – Pluto.
The four outer planets, or gas giants (sometimes called Jovian planets), collectively
make up 99% of the mass known to orbit the Sun.
All four gas giants have rings, although only Saturn’s ring system is easily observed
from Earth.
The term superior planet designates planets outside Earth’s orbit and thus includes
both the outer planets and Mars.
Jupiter
1 kg = 1.18 kg
Uranus and Neptune are called the twins of the outer solar system.
Surrounded by thick atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and methane.
Moons = 13.
Pluto and Charon
1 kg = 0.30 kg.
The dwarf planet Pluto (39 AU average) is the largest known object in the Kuiper
belt.
When discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the ninth planet; this changed in
2006 with the adoption of a formal definition of planet.
Pluto was moved into the list of Dwarf Planets along with Ceres and Eris.
Charon, Pluto’s largest moon.
Kuiper belt
The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but consisting
mainly of objects composed primarily of ice.
It extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun.
Other Solar System Objects
Comets
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun,
heats up and begins to outgas, displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and
sometimes also a tail.
These phenomena are due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon
the nucleus of the comet.
Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt or its associated scattered disc,
which lie beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Comets, composed of ice and dust, originated outside our solar system. Their
elliptical orbit brings them close to the Sun and into the inner Solar System.
Comets are among the most spectacular and unpredictable bodies in the solar
system.
They are made of frozen gases (water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide)
which hold together small pieces of rocky and metallic minerals
One of the larger comets is the Halley’s Comet. The orbit of Halley’s Comet brings
it close to the Earth every 76 years. It last visited in 1986.
Meteorite
Any solid debris origination from asteroids or comets or from outer space that fall to
the Earth, the Moon, or another planet in the solar system.
Meteor is a body of matter travelling at a great speed through space which becomes
luminous when enters into the atmosphere (mesosphere) at about 200 km above the
Earth’s surface, because it is heated by friction. Generally, this latter process
dissipates the material into meteoric dust.
A meteor is popularly termed a ‘shooting star’ or ‘falling star’.
Largest Meteor Crater: A meteor crater in Arizona (USA) is 4,200 ft (1,300 m) deep
is the largest meteor crater in the world. It was formed over 10,000 years ago.
Solar System – Relevant Facts
Mercury +427
Venus +480
Earth +22
Mars -23
Jupiter -150
Saturn -180
Uranus -214
Neptune -220
The reason that Venus is hotter than Mercury is because it has an atmosphere made of carbon
dioxide; it also has clouds of acid inside its atmosphere.
Mercury 5.43
Venus 5.24
Earth 5.51
Mars 3.94
Jupiter 1.33
Saturn 0.70
Uranus 1.3
Neptune 1.76
Mercury 0
Venus 0
Earth 1
Mars 2
Jupiter 67
Saturn 62
Uranus 27
Neptune 13
Planets Rank according to size
Mercury 8
Venus 6
Earth 5
Mars 7
Jupiter 1
Saturn 2
Uranus 3
Neptune 4
Orbital
Planet Inclination angle to Ecliptic Velocity in
km/s
Mercury 7° 47
Venus 3° 35
Earth 23° 29
Mars 1° 24
Jupiter 1° 13
Staurn 2° 9
Uranus 0° 6
Neptune 1° 5
Heliocentric vs Geocentric
Heliocentric system is an astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve
around a relatively stationary Sun at the center of the Solar System. [Remember the
name of the man who first suggested this model?]
Geocentric model (Earth the centre) was proposed by Ptolemy.
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
1. The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
2. A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal
intervals of time.
3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-
major axis of its orbit.
Why is Venus sometimes called Earth’s twin?
Venus has an atmosphere that is about 100 times thicker than Earth’s and has
surface temperatures that are extremely hot.
Venus does not have life or water oceans like Earth does.
Venus also rotates backwards compared to Earth and the other planets.
Mars Compared to Earth
Most large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of Earth’s orbit, known
as the ecliptic. The planets are very close to the ecliptic, whereas comets and Kuiper
beltobjects are frequently at significantly greater angles to it.
Important fact
All the planets except VENUS and URANUS rotate in anti-clockwise direction.
The Moon
Table of Contents
1 Star Formation-Stellar Evolution-Life Cycle Of A Star
o
1.0.1 Nebula
1.0.2 Protostar
1.0.3 T Tauri star
1.0.4 Main sequence stars
1.0.5 Red giant
1.0.6 Planetary Nebula
1.0.7 Supernova
1.0.8 Nova
1.0.9 White dwarf
1.0.10 Black dwarf
1.0.11 Brown Dwarfs
1.0.12 Neutron stars
1.0.13 Black holes
o 1.1 Practice Questions
Outlined below are the many steps involved in a stars evolution, from its formation in a
nebula, to its death as a white dwarf or neutron star.
1. Nebula
2. Protostar
3. T Tauri Star
4. Main Sequence Star
5. Red Giant
6. Supernova
7. White dwarf, Neutron Star or Black Hole
Nebula
A Protostar looks like a star but its core is not yet hot enough for fusion (fusion of 2
hydrogen atoms into a helium atom with the liberation of huge amount of energy) to take
place.
The luminosity comes exclusively from the heating of the Protostar as it contracts.
Protostars are usually surrounded by dust, which blocks the light that they emit, so they
are difficult to observe in the visible spectrum.
T Tauri star
A very young, lightweight star, less than 10 million years old, that it still undergoing
gravitational contraction; it represents an intermediate stage between a protostar and a
low-mass main sequence star like the Sun.
Main sequence stars
Main sequence stars are stars that are fusing hydrogen atoms to form helium atoms in
their cores.
Most of the stars in the universe — about 90 percent of them — are main sequence stars.
The sun is a main sequence star.
The faintest stars are the red dwarfs, less than one-thousandth the brightness of the Sun.
Towards the end of its life, a star like the Sun swells up into a red giant, before losing its
outer layers as a Planetary Nebula and finally shrinking to become a white dwarf.
Red giant
This is the explosive death of a star, and often results in the star obtaining the brightness
of 100 million suns for a short time.
The extremely luminous burst of radiation expels much or all of a star’s material at a
great velocity, driving a shock wave into the surrounding interstellar medium.
A great proportion of primary cosmic rays comes from supernovae.
Supernovae can be triggered in one of two ways
Nuclear explosion on a white dwarf, which causes a sudden brightening of the star.
Novae are thought to occur on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary system.
If the two stars of the system are sufficiently near to one another, material can be pulled
from the companion star’s surface onto the white dwarf.
A nova is caused by the accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of the star, commencing a
runaway fusion reaction.
White dwarf
This is very small, hot star, the last stage in the life cycle of a star like the Sun.
White dwarfs are the shrunken remains of normal stars, whose nuclear energy supplies
have been used up.
White dwarf consist of degenerate matter with a very high density due to gravitational
effects, i.e. one spoonful has a mass of several tonnes.
Fusion in a star’s core produces heat and outward pressure, but this pressure is kept in
balance by the inward push of gravity generated by a star’s mass.
When the hydrogen used as fuel vanishes, and fusion slows, gravity causes the star to
collapse in on itself.
Great densities are only possible when electrons are displaced from their regular shells
and pushed closer to the nucleus, allowing atoms to take up less space. The matter in this
state is called ‘degenerate matter’.
Black dwarf
Brown dwarfs are objects which are too large to be called planets and too small to be
stars.
Brown dwarfs are thought to form in the same way that stars do – from a collapsing cloud
of gas and dust.
However, as the cloud collapses, it does not form an object which is dense enough at its
core to trigger nuclear fusion.
Brown dwarfs were only a theoretical concept until they were first discovered in 1995.
Neutron stars
These stars are composed mainly of neutrons and are produced after a supernova,
forcing the protons and electrons to combine to produce a neutron star.
Neutron stars are very dense.
Typical stars having a mass of three times the Sun but a diameter of only 20 km.
If its mass is any greater, its gravity will be so strong that it will shrink further to become
a black hole.
Black holes
Black holes are believed to form from massive stars at the end of their lifetimes.
The gravitational pull in a black hole is so great that nothing can escape from it, not even
light.
The density of matter in a black hole cannot be measured.
Black holes distort the space around them, and can often suck neighboring matter into
them including stars.
Practice Questions
1. Which of the following sequences below correctly describes the evolution of the Sun from
young to old?
A) White dwarf, red giant, main-sequence, protostar
B) Red giant, main-sequence, white dwarf, protostar
C) Protostar, red giant, main-sequence, white dwarf
D) Protostar, main-sequence, white dwarf, red giant
E) Protostar, main-sequence, red giant, white dwarf
2. A planetary nebula is
A) another term for the disk of gas around a young star.
B) the cloud from which protostars form.
C) a shell of gas ejected from a star late in its life.
D) what is left when a white dwarf star explodes as a supernova.
E) the remnants of the explosion created by the collapse of the iron core in a massive star.
3. Stars like the Sun probably do not form iron cores during their evolution because
A) all the iron is ejected when they become planetary nebulas.
B) their cores never get hot enough for them to make iron by nucleosynthesis.
C) the iron they make by nucleosynthesis is all fused into uranium.
D) their strong magnetic fields keep their iron in their atmospheres.
4. As a star like the Sun evolves into a red giant, its core
A) expands and cools.
B) contracts and heats.
C) expands and heats.
D) turns into iron.
Answers
1) E
2) C
3) B ==> Only bigger stars can form iron cores.
4) B ==> At Red Giant Stage the star expands whereas the core contracts due to accumulation of
heavier elements.
Solar System Formation – Nebular Theory of Laplace
Table of Contents
1 Solar System Formation
o 1.1 The Star Formation
o 1.2 Solar System Formation – Nebular Theory of Laplace (1796)
1.2.1 Drawbacks
2 Galaxy
o 2.1 Regular Galaxies
o 2.2 Irregular Galaxies
3 Our Galaxy (Milky Way)
Solar System Formation
The distribution of matter and energy was not even in the early universe.
These initial density differences gave rise to differences in gravitational forces and it
caused the matter to get drawn together. These formed the bases for development of
galaxies.
A galaxy starts to form by accumulation of hydrogen gas in the form of a very large
cloud called nebula.
Eventually, growing nebula develops localized clumps of gas.
These clumps continue to grow into even denser gaseous bodies, giving rise to
formation of stars.
Solar System Formation – Nebular Theory of Laplace (1796)
Conservation of angular momentum could not be proved. Although the sun’s mass
accounts for 99.9% of the entire solar system, the angular momentum of the sun is
only 2% that of the solar system.
Fails to explain the revolution in the opposite direction by some of the sub-planets of
Saturn and Uranus.
The theory fails to explain why only eight planets were formed.
Galaxy
galaxy a system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held
together by gravitational attraction.
A galaxy is a huge mass of stars, nebulae, and inter-stellar material.
The smallest galaxies contain about 100,000 stars, while the largest contains up to
3000 billion stars.
Galaxies are the major building blocks of the universe.
From the billions of galaxies, two basic types have been identified:
Smaller and less brighter The biggest and the brightest galaxies in the universe are elliptical
Irregular Galaxies
Table of Contents
1 SOLAR SYSTEM
o 1.1 Why are the inner planets rocky while others are mostly in gaseous form?
o 1.2 Components of the Solar System
2 Sun
3 Planets
o 3.1 Inner Planets
3.1.1 Mercury
3.1.2 Venus
3.1.3 Earth
3.1.4 Mars
3.1.5 Asteroid belt
SOLAR SYSTEM
The nebula from which our Solar system is supposed to have been formed, started its
collapse and core formation some time 5-5.6 billion years ago and the planets were
formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
Our solar system consists of the sun (the star), planets, satellites, millions of smaller
bodies like asteroids, meteorites and comets and huge quantity of dust-grains and
gases.
Out of the nine planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called as the inner planets
as they lie between the sun and the belt of asteroids the other five planets are called
the outer planets.
Alternatively, the first four are called Terrestrial, meaning earth-like as they are made
up of rock and metals, and have relatively high densities.
The rest five are called Jovian or Gas Giant planets.
Jovian means Jupiter-like. Most of them are much larger than the terrestrial planets
and have thick atmosphere, mostly of helium and hydrogen.
The orbits of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids, and Kuiper
belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits
Why are the inner planets rocky while others are mostly in gaseous form?
The terrestrial planets were formed in the close vicinity of the parent star where it was
too warm for gases to condense to solid particles. Jovian planets were formed at quite
a distant location.
The solar wind was most intense nearer the sun; so, it blew off lots of gas and dust
from the terrestrial planets. The solar winds were not all that intense to cause similar
removal of gases from the Jovian planets.
The terrestrial planets are smaller and their lower gravity could not hold the escaping
gases.
Components of the Solar System
1. Sun
2. Eight major planets,
3. Dwarf planets (Pluto, Ceres, Eris etc.),
4. Satellites and countless minor planets
5. Asteroids,
6. Meteors, and
7. Comets
8. Debris etc….
Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically predictive heliocentric system
(Sun at the center). [Geocentric: Earth at the center]
Sun
A celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit round a star, the Earth is known as
planet.
Planets are generally divided into:
The inner Solar System is the traditional name for the region comprising the terrestrial
planets and asteroids.
Composed mainly of silicates and metals.
The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky compositions, few or no moons,
and no ring systems.
They are composed largely of refractory minerals, such as the silicates, which form
their crusts and mantles, and metals, such as iron and nickel, which form their cores.
Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have atmospheres
substantial enough to generate weather; all have impact craters and tectonic surface
features, such as rift valleys and volcanoes.
The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates
those planets that are closer to the Sun than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).
Mercury
Venus
Surface gravity: 1 kg =1 kg
The force of the Earth’s rotation makes the world bulge very slightly at the equator
and go a little flat at the North and the South poles. So the Earth is actually a flattened
sphere, or a ‘geoid’.
It is large enough to develop and retain an atmosphere and a hydrosphere.
The Pacific Ocean contains the deepest places on the Earth’s surface-the ocean
trenches.
The very deepest is the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench which plunges 11022
m into the Earth’s crust.
A ray of light from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach the earth. Light takes
only a second to reach us from the moon.
Mars
Millions of objects, remnants of planetary formation, circle the Sun in a zone lying
between Mars and Jupiter. They are known as asteroids.
Fragments of asteroids break off to form meteoroids, which can reach the Earth’s
surface.
Asteroids are small Solar System bodies composed mainly of refractory rocky and
metallic minerals, with some ice.
The asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU
from the Sun.
It is thought to be remnants from the Solar System’s formation that failed to coalesce
because of the gravitational interference of Jupiter.
Asteroids range in size from hundreds of kilometres across to microscopic.
All asteroids except the largest, Ceres, are classified as small Solar System bodies.
Ceres
Ceres (2.77 AU) is the largest asteroid, a protoplanet, and a dwarf planet.
It has a diameter of slightly under 1,000 km, and a mass large enough for its own
gravity to pull it into a spherical shape.