Solar System Data Investigation 1-1

1. Solar System
Focus Question: How can the Solar
System be characterized?
Investigation 1; Part 1

2. Solar System Definition
 What
is the Solar System?
– Solar refers to Sol, another name for our
Sun.
– System is a set of objects working together
 Solar
System = our Sun and a set of
other objects working together in some
way.

3. How Does the Solar System
Work?
 Set
of Picture Cards
– Spread out in front of you Picture-side up
– Look at front of card only
 Put
cards into groups by similar
characteristics
– Use just what you observe in images, not
prior knowledge*
 How
did you sort your cards?

4. 
Type
Card Data
– Planet, dwarf planet, star, comet, asteroid, or
satellite

Distance from Sun or other object
– Except for Sun, all orbit the Sun or other object

Orbit period
– How long does it take to orbit the Sun in Earth
days or years

Maximum/Minimum surface temperatures
– Highest & lowest temperature recorded on
surface

Composition
– Solid, liquid, gas

5. Orbit
 Revolving
or moving in a path around
another object.
 Challenge:
– Find all the planet cards and Sun card.
– Use “Distance from…” information on
cards to arrange planets in order, starting
with the Sun.

6. Solar System
 Sun
and eight planets in order describe
the solar system
 Other objects in solar system
– Use information on cards to incorporate
other objects into solar system*

7. Solar System Data Sheet
 Complete
notebook sheet - start by
filling out table on left side of sheet.
 Planet cards
– Separate planets into classes based on
composition*
– How did you use composition to sort
planets?
 Rock
planets
 Gas planets
 Ice and rock dwarf planet

8. Composition
What do you notice about the sizes of the
planets you have put in your groups?
 What do you notice about the distance from
the Sun for the planets in your groups?
 Terrestrial Planets

– Four rocky planets closest to the Sun
– Terrestrial means “land”, rocky composition

Gas Giants
– Beyond the asteroid belt
– Why “Gas Giant” name?

9. Pluto
 Dwarf
Planet
– Located in Kuiper Belt
 Area
filled with “dirty ice” objects, made of
frozen dust, water, and gas
 Some objects are planet size
 Pluto
– Rock-and-ice dwarf planet or
Kuiper object

10. Vocabulary
 The
Sun
– An average star at the center of the solar
system around which all other solarsystem bodies revolve.
 Solar
System
– The Sun and all the bodies that orbit it,
including the planets and their moons, the
asteroids, and the comets.

11.  Orbit
– The path an object takes around another
object; for example, Earth has an orbit
around the Sun.
 Planet
– A large natural object that orbits around a
star, such as the Sun.
 Asteroid
– A rocky object, which can be a few
hundred meters to several hundred
kilometers wide, that orbits the Sun.

12.  Comet
– A small body of ice and dust that orbits the
Sun in a large oval path.

13. Content
 What
is the Sun?
– Average-sized star; mostly hydrogen
(72%) and helium (26%); other solar
system bodies revolve around it
 What
is the solar system?
– Sun and all the bodies that orbit it,
including planets and their moons,
asteroids, and comets
 Your
questions?
 Homework- Read A Tour of the Solar
System, pg 145-158. Use 3-Column
notes for each section. Answer
questions on page 158 in notebook.