🌞 1.
1 Solar System
• Our solar system includes the Sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and more.
• Named “solar” from Latin word Sol (Sun).
• Everything is held together by the Sun’s gravity.
🌌 1.1.1 Size of the Solar System
• Extends beyond 8 planets.
• Kuiper Belt: Icy region beyond Neptune (includes Pluto).
• Oort Cloud: Faraway shell of icy objects (1.6 light years away).
💥 1.1.2 Origin of the Solar System
• Formed 4.5 billion years ago from a cloud of gas and dust.
• A nearby supernova may have caused the cloud to collapse.
• Formed a spinning solar nebula.
• Gravity pulled material to form the Sun at the center (through nuclear fusion).
🪐 1.1.3 Structure of the Solar System
• Inner planets (Mercury to Mars): Small, rocky (terrestrial).
• Outer planets (Jupiter to Neptune): Gas and ice giants.
• Other objects: Asteroids, meteoroids, comets, irregular moons.
🔥 1.2.1 The Sun
• Closest star to Earth.
• Diameter: 1,392,000 km.
• About 109 times bigger than Earth.
• Spins once every 25 days.
• Core temperature: Over 15 million °C.
• Made mostly of:
• Hydrogen (92% atoms)
• Helium (7.8% atoms)
• Other elements: Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, etc.
• Made of plasma (not solid or gas).
• Has 6 layers:
1. Core
2. Radiative zone
3. Convective zone
4. Photosphere
5. Chromosphere
6. Corona
• Produces energy by nuclear fusion.