The Solar System PDF

### The Solar System The solar system features the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and is primarily composed of rocky objects. - The Kuiper Belt extends beyond Neptune's orbit and predominantly comprises icy bodies. - The Oort Cloud is a vast, spherical region of icy comet nuclei situated th...

### The Solar System The solar system features the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and is primarily composed of rocky objects. - The Kuiper Belt extends beyond Neptune's orbit and predominantly comprises icy bodies. - The Oort Cloud is a vast, spherical region of icy comet nuclei situated the farthest from the Sun and is the source for most long-period comets. - Comets are composed of dust, rock, and ice but do not maintain fixed orbits around the Sun. - Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, is the largest moon in our Solar System, showcasing the abundance of existing moons. - The Sun is approximately 4.5 billion years old and constitutes about 98.8% of the Solar System's total mass. - Venus and Mercury, being closer to the Sun, have shorter orbital periods than Earth and are nearly perfect spheres, making them the roundest planets. - Mars boasts the largest volcano in the Solar System. - All planets, except Earth, are named after Greek and Roman deities: - **Mars:** God of War - **Venus:** Goddess of Love - **Saturn:** God of Agriculture and Wealth - **Mercury:** God of Travelers - **Uranus:** God of the Sky - **Neptune:** God of the Sea - **Jupiter:** King of the Roman Gods - No photographic representation of our solar system within the Milky Way exists. ### Astronomy - Astronomy employs two primary types of telescopes: Refractor and Reflector. - Mission Apollo 11 marked a historic milestone as the first successful human landing on the Moon. - Neutron stars and black holes can result from supernovae, which signify the explosive conclusion of a star's life cycle. - Core-collapse supernovae occur during the final stages of massive stars, while thermal runaway supernovae present another explosive type. - Humans have yet to land a probe on the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. - The Andromeda Galaxy, classified as a barred spiral galaxy, is the nearest central galaxy to the Milky Way, approximately 2.5 million light-years away. ### Earth and the Moon - Earth rotates west to east, about 150 million kilometres from the Sun. - Earth's atmosphere comprises approximately 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. - Sunlight takes roughly 8 minutes to reach Earth, travelling around 300,000 kilometres per second. - Proxima Centauri is the closest star to Earth, aside from the Sun. - The Moon has no atmosphere, orbits Earth every 27 days, and reflects sunlight, making it visible from our planet. - The Moon experiences eight distinct phases throughout its cycle. - A Blue Moon occurs when two full moons manifest within a month, happening approximately every 2.7 years, leading to the idiom “Once in a Blue Moon.”