Astronomy 1021 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6-19: Small Solar System Body, Planetary Mass, Solar Wind

• School: Western University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: Astronomy 1021
• Professor: Robert Cockcroft

Document Summary

It contains more than 99. 8% of the solar system"s total mass, making it nearly a thousand times as massive as everything else in the solar system combined. The missing 4 million tons becomes energy in accord with einstein"s famous formula, e = mc2. Therefore, we lose 4 million tons of mass each second: the sun"s gravity governs the orbits of the planets. Its primary influence on the temperature of planetary surfaces and atmospheres: the sun make up the solar wind that interacts with planetary magnetic fields and influences planetary atmospheres. Features of our solar system to tell us how it was formed: feature 1: patterns of motions among large bodies: All planetary orbits are nearly circular and lie nearly in the same plane. All planets orbit the sun in the same direction: counter clockwise as viewed from high above earth"s north pole. Most planets rotate in the same direction in which they orbit, with small axis tilts.