Solar System

Ahhhh yes...we have come to...THE SOLAR SYSTEM!!!

Which for many is much of the thrill of taking an astronomy course, at least for me!  Don't get me wrong, the stars are stellar, comets are crazy, and asteroids are awesome, but when you add those planets in, the solar system is mind-blowing cool.  As a child I remember being so excited to learn about the solar system in science class; making paper maiche planets happened just about every year.  This was also quite a few years ago, and since then there have been advancements not only in technology, but in knowledge of our solar system.  Consider in 2003, we discovered ANOTHER planet!   This was during the turbulent times of questioning whether Pluto was a planet or not (some of took it rather rough, we had just spent twenty years thinking it was).
 At any rate, Eris was discovered to be a dwarf planet, a new classification, including Pluto, whose discoveries gave new insights on the depth and formation of the universe. 

Speaking of that formation, there were two main hypothesis which both went under much scrutiny between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The nebular formation led by Kant and later on Laplace believed that the collapse of an interstellar cloud of gas led to our eventual solar system.  Other held with the close encounter hypothesis which speculated that our star had a near death experience (haha...science joke!) with another star.  This however, was disregarded rather quickly as our star systems in this galaxy, which they had gathered enough evidence to realize, are not close enough for this to happen.  In the later twentieth century, more research and investigation, this time in physics, leads to nebular theory as a sound basis for the model upon which our solar system formed. 

This theory was, and is, sound in the logic that what is now known as the main ideology for how our solar system began to develop.  When the solar nebular exploded in upon itself, the gases inside, primarily hydrogen and helium, began creating the sun.  Off-shoots from this explosion combined with a small percentage other elements with the helium and hydrogen began swirling around what is now our star...and presto chang-o...add a few billions years...the our universe as we know it! 

Clearly there is more too it than that, the Orion Nebula is a fantastic chance for us to observe what could have been our solar system's same process for formation.  Through various physical laws surrounding gas behavior and formation, a nebula is pulled together and the heat created by this energy is how we end up with a star as the center of our solar system.  This same system also causes spinning and flattening...ladies and gentleman we have orbits of objects.  The difference between the two main types of planets, Terrestrial and Jovian, can be explained because the closer and warmer objects to form were Terrestrial, while the larger, colder, and more rich in hydrogen planets laid on the outside portions of the nebula (thereby becoming Jovian). 

Now this is great knowledge, more than I could ever imagine using in a project when I was just in middle school or high school.  I thought to myself, if a student wanted to gain access to specialized information and resources to do a project on the solar system today, where could they go?  The answer: NASA.  The website is rich in information, tools, and ideas for any student of any age.  Here is a link from what I think is one of the coolest parts of the website: ten things happening this week from our solar system.

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/column-view.cfm?CLID=785


     To begin with the planets, here is a video of how the planets form:

http://youtu.be/TUjJTNKO9FU


  As planets was my topic for our final project, I have been exploring quite a bit about them.  What I love in particular is the dwarf planets and their surrounding moons, as they are all so different from the other planets.  Again, NASA saves the day with fun information on these interesting bodies.  Dwarf planets, while they are extremely far away from the sun, like Jovian planets; are extremely small and made of rock and ice, similar to Terrestrial planets.

Not only are dwarf planets in a league all their own, but some are asteroids. If they are an asteroid, they must be big enough to be round and in some way orbit the Sun, although some dwarf planets indirectly orbit the Sun. Pluto is an example that has a strange orbit which sometimes is closer to the Sun than Jupiter, which is much closer. Ceres is the only dwarf planet right now in the inner solar system, as it lies in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Most however, lie in Kieper Belt and Oort Cloud, which is surrounded by many icy bodies, some of which have become dwarf planets! Comets are also in this location which is significant since often these are a water source.  In fact, Earth can attribute the water which gives us the ability to sustain life to comets. Ceres again is an oddity as it could hold ice under its surface.  A surprising discovery in 2012 of another dwarf planet, only named VP113, is believed to be orbiting the sun, but also influenced by a larger body. While at this point it is only speculation, the strange orbit of VP113 and the amount of frozen water and carbon dioxide on its surface suggest that life is a possibility!   In addition, all dwarf planets have moons or surrounding bodies in their orbit, although as of now, none of them have rings.