Stellar Cartography

[T'Aniz Jozef 0]

All subjects are fair game here? Well....then... Thought a little look at the solar system might be interesting, since we spend so much time aboard starships! :)

Now, I was so rusty with this that it challenged my dim brain to read it. I bet the high schoolers will hop, skip, and jump through this. But for adults who don't work in this field, and who aren't amateur astronmers...tell me honestly, how much of this do YOU remember? Me? Precious little! B) So, submitted for your approval:

 

The Solar System

 

An Overview of the Solar System

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Basics

The solar system consists of the Sun; the nine planets, more than 130 satellites of the planets, a large number of small bodies (the comets and asteroids), and the interplanetary medium. (There are probably also many more planetary satellites that have not yet been discovered.)

 

The inner solar system contains the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The planets of the outer solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

 

The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the Sun at one focus, though all except Mercury and Pluto are very nearly circular. The orbits of the planets are all more or less in the same plane (called the ecliptic and defined by the plane of the Earth's orbit). The ecliptic is inclined only 7 degrees from the plane of the Sun's equator. Pluto's orbit deviates the most from the plane of the ecliptic with an inclination of 17 degrees. The above diagrams show the relative sizes of the orbits of the nine planets from a perspective somewhat above the ecliptic (hence their non-circular appearance). They all orbit in the same direction (counter-clockwise looking down from above the Sun's north pole); all but Venus, Uranus and Pluto also rotate in that same sense.

 

One way to help visualize the relative sizes in the solar system is to imagine a model in which it is reduced in size by a factor of a billion (1e9). Then the Earth is about 1.3 cm in diameter (the size of a grape). The Moon orbits about a foot away. The Sun is 1.5 meters in diameter (about the height of a man) and 150 meters (about a city block) from the Earth. Jupiter is 15 cm in diameter (the size of a large grapefruit) and 5 blocks away from the Sun. Saturn (the size of an orange) is 10 blocks away; Uranus and Neptune (lemons) are 20 and 30 blocks away. A human on this scale is the size of an atom; the nearest star would be over 40000 km away.

 

Not shown in the above illustrations are the numerous smaller bodies that inhabit the solar system: the satellites of the planets; the large number of asteroids (small rocky bodies) orbiting the Sun, mostly between Mars and Jupiter but also elsewhere; and the comets (small icy bodies) which come and go from the inner parts of the solar system in highly elongated orbits and at random orientations to the ecliptic. With a few exceptions, the planetary satellites orbit in the same sense as the planets and approximately in the plane of the ecliptic but this is not generally true for comets and asteroids.

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This is from the site: httpThe Nine Planets The illustrations mentioned above are found here, and they are so-o-o-o-o beautiful ! :)

[Webmaster 20]

We have planets nearby? Wow.... :::in awe:::

[FredM 0]

Planets? What are those?

[Nemesis 0]

Planets don't they grow in the ground?hehehe

[Atragon9 0]

The orbits of the planets are all more or less in the same plane (called the ecliptic and defined by the plane of the Earth's orbit). The ecliptic is inclined only 7 degrees from the plane of the Sun's equator. Pluto's orbit deviates the most from the plane of the ecliptic with an inclination of 17 degrees.

How Earth-centric to have the orbit of the other planets defined in their relative planes to Earth's!! What would the Venusians think!?

 

More importantly though, is how we know the ecliptic is inclined 7 degrees from the Sun's equator. How do we know where the Sun's equator is? Does the Sun rotate?

 

Oh, and another weird/cool thing about our solar system - Uranus has a rotation like someone knocked it over. It spins on an axis that points along the ecliptic (left and right) rather than perpendicular to it, like the rest of the planets.

[ens_tino 0]

That would explain the placement of its rings. Well we'll no more when the Voyager crafts keep going farther into the galaxy.

[Merina 0]

Oh more info on the Solar System. Thanks.

[Cptn Moose 0]

The astronomical fact that I'm facinated with lately is what many think is the discovery of a new planet. They're calling it Chiron. Some astronomers think it's just a large asteroid, but many think it's more planet-like than Pluto.

 

Has anyone else heard of this?

[Nemesis 0]

The astronomical fact that I'm facinated with lately is what many think is the discovery of a new planet. They're calling it Chiron. Some astronomers think it's just a large asteroid, but many think it's more planet-like than Pluto.

 

Has anyone else heard of this?

Yep but they've had many of these pluto was once known as the planet "X". There was a planet named Vulcan believed to be between the sun and mercury :)

[Atragon9 0]

The astronomical fact that I'm facinated with lately is what many think is the discovery of a new planet. They're calling it Chiron. Some astronomers think it's just a large asteroid, but many think it's more planet-like than Pluto.

 

Has anyone else heard of this?

Well, there is that whole movement afoot to "demote" Pluto, since it's really not much of a planet, more like an asteroid that got cuaght in the Sun's gravity.

[T'Aniz Jozef 0]

QUOTE: Captn Moose @ Nov 21 2003, 11:18 PM

  The astronomical fact that I'm facinated with lately is what many think is the discovery of a new planet. They're calling it Chiron. Some astronomers think it's just a large asteroid, but many think it's more planet-like than Pluto.

 

Has anyone else heard of this? 

Your wish is my command! This is from the same website I quoted above. The Nine Planets (use the hyperlink that follows the "Solar System" quotation). Mmmm...Do you think Commissioner Bele came from here? ....naw....naw...

===================================

Charon

 

Charon ( "KAIR en" ) is Pluto's only known satellite:

orbit: 19,640 km from Pluto

diameter: 1172 km

mass: 1.90e21 kg

Charon is named for the mythological figure who ferried the dead across the River Acheron into Hades (the underworld).

(Though officially named for the mythological figure, Charon's discoverer was also naming it in honor of his wife, Charlene. Thus, those in the know pronounce it with the first syllable sounding like 'shard' ("SHAHR en").

 

Charon was discovered in 1978 by Jim Christy. Prior to that it was thought that Pluto was much larger since the images of Charon and Pluto were blurred together.

 

Charon is unusual in that it is the largest moon with respect to its primary planet in the Solar System (a distinction once held by Earth's Moon). Some prefer to think of Pluto/Charon as a double planet rather than a planet and a moon.

 

Charon's radius is not well known. JPL's value of 586 has an error margin of +/-13, more than two percent. Its mass and density are also poorly known.

 

Pluto and Charon are also unique in that not only does Charon rotate synchronously but Pluto does, too: they both keep the same face toward one another. (This makes the phases of Charon as seen from Pluto very interesting.)

 

Charon's composition is unknown, but its low density (about 2 gm/cm3) indicates that it may be similar to Saturn's icy moons (i.e. Rhea). Its surface seems to be covered with water ice. Interestingly, this is quite different from Pluto.

 

Unlike Pluto, Charon does not have large albedo features, though it may have smaller ones that have not been resolved.

 

It has been proposed that Charon was formed by a giant impact similar to the one that formed Earth's Moon.

 

It is doubtful that Charon has a significant atmosphere. :)

[Dumbass 0]

Unlike Pluto, Charon does not have large albedo features, though it may have smaller ones that have not been resolved.

Man, I'd hate to have small, unresolved features.

[Nemesis 0]

Demoting Pluto from a planet would be ridiculous for Pluto has a moon show me an asteriod with a moon and also it being caught in the gravitational force as it has qualifys it as a planet geeze. :)

[Cptn Moose 0]

Charon ( "KAIR en" ) is Pluto's only known satellite:

orbit: 19,640 km from Pluto

diameter: 1172 km

mass: 1.90e21 kg[/b]

I don't think we're talking about the same object. I'm referring to a maybe comet, maybe planet that has an orbit between Saturn and Neptune. Here's one more website to add to the mix.

 

http://www.vub.ac.be/STER/www.astro/chihp.htm

 

Enjoy.

 

Moose

[Travis Kroells 0]

Jeez I hope you guys were joking about that stuff before or other wise I might as well be the only guy to wear a science uniform in STSF, I should know, Im taking a college class on stuff like this.

 

Secondly, one more point of interest, I'm sure that you've all seen those fancy pictures taken from the hubble. So, if they can see to the edge of the universe, why cant they take a blasted good picture of charon!?!

[LoAmi 0]

show me an asteriod with a moon and also it being caught in the gravitational force as it has qualifys it as a planet geeze. :)

Done.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/...91007084000.htm

[LoAmi 0]

For the beginnings of a good argument as to why Pluto should be "demoted" from planet status to the status of the largest KBO (Kuiper Belt Object)

 

http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt

 

What makes Pluto a "planet" and not Quaoar?

[LoAmi 0]

So, if they can see to the edge of the universe, why cant they take a blasted good picture of charon!?!

Enjoy: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/obj...st_pr94_17.html