The document summarizes information about objects in our solar system including the sun, moon, planets, asteroids, comets, and meteors. It provides details on the composition and characteristics of these objects, such as the sun being a hot ball of gases that is the source of energy for life on Earth. It also describes the phases of the moon and eclipses that occur when the moon or Earth block sunlight from each other. The planets are classified as either terrestrial planets like Earth that are rocky, or Jovian planets like Jupiter that are large and gaseous. Comets originate from the Kuiper belt or distant Oort cloud and have icy compositions. Meteors are small pieces of rock that burn up as shooting

2. SUN
MOON
PLANETS
SPACE DEBRIS

3.  It is a ball of hot ,burning gases.
 It is the nearest star to the earth.
 It is the source of all energy for life on
Earth.
 About three quarters of the Sun's mass
consists of hydrogen, while the rest is
mostly helium.
 On the Sun’s surface ,there are dark
patches known as sunspots. These are
patches of gas that looks dark since
they are cooler than their surroundings.

4. MOON is the only natural satellite of Earth:
orbit: 384,400 km from Earth
diameter: 3476 km
mass: 7.35e22 kg
It rotates on its axis and revolves
around the Earth.
is the second brightest object in the
sky after the Sun. As the Moon orbits
around the Earth once per month, the
angle between the Earth, the Moon
and the Sun changes; we see this as
the cycle of the Moon's phases.
It rotates on its axis 27.3 days.

5. PHASES OF THE MOON
- the complete cycle of the moon’s phases takes about
29.5 days.
 New moon – occurs when the moon is between Earth and the sun. Lighted half of the moon is
facing the sun and the dark side faces the Earth. It cannot be seen in the sky.
 Waxing crescent- about 24 hours after new moon, a thin slice of the side of the moon that is
lighted by the sun.
 First quarter- about a week after a new moon, half of the lighted side, or one-quarter of the
moon’s surface.
 Waxing gibbous – more than one-quarter is visible.
 Full moon- occurs when all the moon’s surface that faces Earth is lit up.
 Waning gibbous – begins just after a full moon. The amount of the moon’s lighted side that can
be seen becomes smaller.
 Third quarter- Half of the lighted side. The amount of the moon that can be seen continues to
become smaller.
 Waning crescent- occurs just before another new moon. You see a small slice of the lighted
side of the moon.

6. The Moon was first visited
by the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 in 1959.
It is the only extraterrestrial body to have
been visited by humans.
The first landing was on July 20, 1969;
the last was in December 1972.
The Moon is also the only body from
which samples have been returned to
Earth.

8. Revolution of the moon causes eclipse.
It occurs when Earth or the moon temporarily blocks the
sunlight reaching the other.
 SOLAR ECLIPSE
 Occurs when the moon moves directly between the sun and
Earth and casts a shadow on part of Earth. It is during new
moon.
 LUNAR ECLIPSE
 It is during full moon, a shadow of Earth can be cast on the
moon. The moon moves completely into Earth’s umbra, the
moon becomes dark red because light from the sun is
refracted by Earth’s atmosphere onto the moon.

9. Joseph Howard
Terrestrial Planets – are small, dense,
rocky worlds with less atmosphere than the
other type of planet. Craters, no rings, very
few moons, very small. (Densities
between 3.3-5.5 g/cm3)
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars

10. Joseph Howard
Terrestrial Planets

11. Joseph Howard
Jovian Planets – are large, gaseous, low density
worlds. Thick gaseous mostly hydrogen
atmospheres, rings, lots of moons, and very large in
comparison to terrestrial planets. (Densities are 1.75
g/cm3 or lower!)
Jupiter
Saturn
Neptune
Uranus

12. Joseph Howard
Jovian Planets

13. Joseph Howard
Pluto
Pluto – doesn’t fit either category. Pluto is a
small icy world clearly different from either the
Jovian and Terrestrial worlds. Since its
discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, it has
been a unique mystery mostly because of its
great distance from the Earth and is peculiar
orbit.

14. Joseph Howard

15. Joseph Howard
Asteroids 
(minor planets) are
small rocky worlds.
Most (not all) orbit
between Mars and
Jupiter. Most are
irregular in shape,
cratered, and
dense.

16. Joseph Howard
Comets
Comets  An impressive
glowing object that is
illuminated by the Sun as it
sweeps through the inner
solar system. Dirty snowball
theory. (Water and CO2 ices)
Vapor tail, particle tail, which
can extent to 1 A.U. on bright
comets.

17. CLASSIFICATION OF COMETS
SHORT – PERIOD
COMETS
LONG – PERIOD
COMETS

18. Joseph Howard
Short – period comets
Are come from a region in the solar
system known as Kuiper belt.
The orbit is usually between 30-100 AU
from the sun, beyond the orbit of the
Neptune.
It can be seen through the gravitational
effect of an outer planet probably causes a
short period comet to stray into the solar
system.

19. Most well known comets is Halley’s
comet. It was observed in detail by
spacecraft when it appeared in 1986. It
was visibly passed by earth in 1910
and in 1986. It completes its orbit
every 76 to 79 years. Its next
estimated appearance is in 2061 –
2062.
Short - period
comet

20. Long – period comets -
complete their orbits
around the sun in
thousands or even
millions of years. It
comes from a region in
the solar system known
as Oort cloud.

21. Joseph Howard
Meteor  falling “shooting star” – bits of rock and metal
falling into the Earth’s atmosphere and bursting into vibrant
light as they drastically heat because of the friction created
between them and the Earth’s atmosphere. These bits are,
on average, tiny – specks of dust, sand grain size, small
pebbles –
NOT large.
Meteoroid  in space before its fiery collision with the
Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteorite  fallen piece that survived the fall. Most
“shooting stars” are less than 1 gram of material.