The Solar System

An Intro
Designed By
www.CBSEQuestionPaper.com
About the lesson….
Things we will learn:

üComponents of our Solar System.

üRelative positions of our planets.
üSome Interesting facts about space!!!
üMore about Sun.
üWhat are Planets & Satellites??
üTerrestrial and Jovian Planets.
üAbout Asteroids, Meteors and Comets.
üInternal Structure of Earth
 An Introduction
Solar System consists of:
Sun
The Nine Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
Large number of Asteroids between the orbit of Mars
and Jupiter
Large number of Comets revolving around sun in highly
elliptical paths.
Lets See How It Looks Like..

Planets revolve around the sun and also rotate

about there own axis. All planets, except Pluto,
revolve in almost the same plane.
Some Interesting Facts
Do you know?????
Sun accounts for 99.9% of the
mass of the solar system.
Mercury is the smallest planet.
Jupiter is the largest planet.
Alpha Centauri is the nearest star
to our solar system (about 4.3
Light Years)
Cirus,
Cirus the brightest star,
star is about
8.7 light years away from us.
Only Earth has life on it among all
the planets in our solar system.
 Sun The centre of Attraction!!
Sun is the source of energy for earth. It is made up of Hydrogen
(70%), Helium (28%) and other gases like Nitrogen, Oxygen and
Carbon (2%). The energy is produced in the Sun due to Nuclear
Fusion Reaction in which four hydrogen nuclei fuse to form a
Helium nuclei (and two positrons).

RIt is the nearest star from us and hence looks much bigger than
other stars.
RThe sun has a diameter of about 1, 392, 000 Km
(about 109 times the diameter of earth!!!!)
RSun is about 333000 times as heavy as Earth.
RAverage distance of sun from earth is 15 crore Km
RLight takes about 500s (about 8 minutes) to travel from sun to
earth.
RThe temperature at the core of Sun is about 14 x 106 Kelvin.
The Planets
What are they?
The heavenly bodies that revolve
around the stars (like Sun) in an orbit
are known as planets.
e. g. there are Nine planets in our
solar system. They have different
structures due to their different
temperatures.
temperatures These have been
divided into two types depending upon
their similarity of structure.
structure

5.Terrestrial Planets
6.Jovian Planets.
 Terrestrial Planets
The four planets near to Sun, namely Mercury, Venus,
Earth and Mars are known as Terrestrial Planets
because their structure is similar to Earth.

Common Features of these planets are:

ii. A thin rocky crust.
iii. A mantle rich in Iron and Magnesium
iv. A core of Molten Metals.
v. Thin atmosphere
vi. Very few moons

The first colour image of the Martian

Surface, transmitted by Viking 1 Lander
on July 26, 1976. (NASA)
 Jovian Planets
The five planets beyond the orbit of Mars are known as
Terrestrial Planets because their structure is similar to
Jupiter.
Jupiter These are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune &
Pluto.
Common Features of these planets are:
ii. They are Gaseous Bodies
iii. They have ring system around them.
iv. Except Pluto they all have a large number
of moons (i.e. natural satellites). Pluto has
only one moon.
v. They are too distant from Sun as compared
to Terrestrial Planets.
How to remember their
Sequence?
Just remember the phrase..

My Mercur
Very y
Educat Venus
ed Earth
Mother Mars
Just Jupiter
Served Saturn
 A brief intro - Mercury
ØNearest to Sun
ØSmallest Planet
ØNo Atmosphere
ØVery Hot during Day and Very Cold at night.
 A brief intro - Venus
ØClosest to Earth
ØSize almost same as Earth
ØVisible before dawn and after sunset.
ØKnown as Morning (or Evening) Star
ØCalled sister planet of Earth due to similarities.
 A brief intro - Earth
ØDiameter: 12 800 Km
ØMass: 6 x 1024 Kg
ØRotation time: 24 hours.
ØOne Revolution: 365 ¼ days
ØOnly Planet that can sustain life.
ØHas Nitrogen and Oxygen rich atmosphere.
 A brief intro - Mars
ØKnown as RED PLANET
ØNo Atmosphere
ØVery Cold
ØHas two Moons
ØHas a lot of solid CO2.
 A brief intro - Jupiter
ØLargest Planet
ØCan contain as many as 1300 earths!!!!!!
ØCovered by clouds of gases
ØHas 28 Moons !!
ØStorms are always raging on its surface
 A brief intro - Saturn
ØHas beautiful rings around it
ØHas 30 moons in addition to rings!!
ØAppears bright yellow.
 A brief intro - Uranus
ØVery Cold
ØHas 21 moons in addition to rings
 A brief intro - Neptune
ØVery far from Sun
ØVery Small
ØHas 8 moons.
 A brief intro - Pluto
ØFarthest planet
ØVery Small
ØHas just one moon
Satellites
What are they?
The heavenly bodies that revolve around
the PLANETS (like Earth) in an orbit are known
as satellites.
e. g. Moon is the satellite of Earth. It
revolves around earth in an elliptical orbit.
orbit
Other planets like Mars, Jupiter and Saturn
also have their satellites

Moon’s Surface
 Asteroids
The small rock like bodies revolving
around Sun between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter are called Asteroids.
These are very small to be considered as
Planets. The largest among them is
Ceres with a radius of about 800 Km only
while the smallest one is as small as a Asteroid Named GASPRA
pebble.
Where did they come from?
It is believed that they were formed
due to some collision between planets
which resulted into its breaking into small
fragments. Though their exact origin is
not known till date.

Asteroid Named IDA

(Along with its tiny satellite)
 Meteors
(Shooting Stars)

These are pieces of rocks

floating in space, which
sometimes enter the
earth’s atmosphere. They
experience a force of
friction of air and start
burning. They appear as a
ball of fire falling towards
earth emitting intense
light. They are also known
as Shooting Stars but they
are not actually Stars or in
anyway connected to
them. Most of them get
Meteorites
completely burnt in the Some meteors are so large and do not get
atmosphere. completely burnt. So they reach earth and
are known as Meteorites.
 Comets
These are heavenly bodies which revolve around the sun in highly elliptical
paths. They appear in the sky as a ball of fire with a TAIL. The tail always
pointing away from the Sun. e.g. HALLEY’S COMET

Why do they have tail??? Halley’s Comet

They are composed of rocks like material It has a time period
of 76 years. Last
surrounded by large masses of easily vaporised seen in 1986 and
substance like water, ammonia, methane etc. When will now be visible
these approach Sun, some of its material gets in 2062.
vaporised due to heat of the Sun. Light of the Sun
exerts pressure on these vapours and forces them
away from the comet in form of a tail.
Are they Important?
Yes, from the analysis of their material we can
know about the origin of Universe and the life of
Universe.
 Structure of Earth
The Earth can be broadly divided into Three
different Layers.
Crust

Mantle

Outer Core

Inner Core
 Structure of Earth
Earth is composed of a number of layers. Though we have
not been able to dig more than 10 Km into the earth’s crust
but we have studied it in details from the study of Seismic
Waves.
Seismic waves are produced during Earthquakes. But in
addition to natural seismic waves we can also produce
artificial waves by Underground Nuclear Tests.
Velocity of seismic waves depends on composition of
region from which they pass. From the study of their
velocities we can collect more information and a picture of
earth’s interior. Three layers of earth are:
 The Three Layers- A Comparison
Crust:
a. Top 30-40 Km layer of earth.
b. Contains mainly rocks of silicates (Containing SiO2).
c. Its thickness is lesser under sea floor.

Mantle:
a. From 40 km – 3000 Km.
b. Rich in Iron and Magnesium Silicates.
c. Not under direct observation.

Core:
a. Innermost layer beyond 3000 Km.
b. It consists mainly of Pure Iron alloyed with some Nickel.
c. Its material is in FLUID state.
 True or
False
1. Meteors that reach Earth are called Meteorites.

2. Planets revolve around their satellites.

3. There are Nine Planets in our Solar System.

4. Asteroids are there between the orbits of Mars and Satu

5. Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun.

T
rue

Fals
e
 know your knowledge …

Q1. _________ is NOT a planet.

b)Saturn
c)Earth
d)Moon
e)Mars
 know your knowledge …

Q2. The debris present between the

planets Mars and Jupiter are called
__________.
b)Meteors
c)Meteorites
d)Comets
e)Asteroids
 know your knowledge …

Q3. The ratio of diameter of Sun to

that of earth is _______
b)109
c)500
d)1/109
e)33000
 know your knowledge …

Q4. Morning and Evening Star is the

name given to the planet _______
b)Mercury
c)Venus
d)Pluto
e)Neptune
 know your knowledge …

Q5. Hottest Planet in our Solar

System is:
b)Mars
c)Venus
d)Mercury
e)Earth
 I Know !!!

There are ???? planets in our solar system. They

are ?????, Venus, Earth, Mars, ???????, Saturn,
Neptune and ????. They ?????? around Sun and
rotate about their own axis. ??? is at the centre
and accounts for about 99.9% of the mass of solar
system. Planets have been classified into two
types namely ?????? planets and ???????
planets depending on similarity of their structures.
Beside these planets our solar system has
Asteroids between the orbits of ???? and ???
Then we have ?????? which revolve around sun
in highly elliptical paths. We can see ??????
????? after every 76 years.
 I Know !!!

There are nine planets in our solar system. They

are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Neptune and Pluto. They revolve around Sun and
rotate about their own axis. Sun is at the centre
and accounts for about 99.9% of the mass of solar
system. Planets have been classified into two
types namely Terrestrial planets and
Jovianplanets depending on similarity of their
structures. Beside these planets our solar system
has Asteroids between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter Then we have comets which revolve
around sun in highly elliptical paths. We can see
Halley’s comet after every 76 years.
 Home Work
Q 1. Name the nine planets of our Solar System.
Q 2. What is a comet?
Q 3. Why is life only possible on earth?
Q 4. Define following terms:
A. Planet
B. Satellite
C. Meteor
D. Asteroids
Q 5. Differentiate between Jovian and terrestrial
planets.
From:
www.cbsequestionpaper.com

For:
Class X Students