Other Solar System Bodies Asteroids Millions located between

Other Solar System Bodies

Asteroids • Millions located between Mars and Jupiter • Irregularly shaped composed of silicate rock, some made of metal rich materials • Some have orbits that cross Earth’s path

Comets • Made of dust and ice (dirty snowball) • A comet forms a tail due to the suns solar wind • The tail always points away from the sun

Meteors • Made of dust and rock • They burn up when entering atmosphere

Meteorite • Made of dust and rock • Can strike the Earth

Stars

Characteristics of Stars • Temperature & Color – The color of a star indicates the T of the star – Stars are classified by T • Decreasing T (bright to dim) • O, B, A, F, G, K, M [Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me ] Guy http: //www. seasky. org/cosmic/sky 7 a 01. html

Types of Stars Classification Temperature Color 20, 000 - 60, 000 K Blue 10, 000 – 30, 000 K Blue-white 7, 500 – 10, 000 K White 6, 000 – 7, 500 K Yellow-white 5, 000 – 6, 000 K Yellow 3, 500 – 5, 000 K Orange 2, 000 – 3, 500 K Red

Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram http: //www. dustbunny. com/afk/stars/lifecycle/hrdiagram. gif

Close ups of white dwarf stars

Life Cycle of Stars http: //www. seasky. org/cosmic/sky 7 a 01. html

Life Cycle of Stars • Begin their lives as clouds of dust and gas called nebulae • Gravity may cause the nebula to contract • Matter in the gas cloud will begin to condense into a dense region called a protostar • The protostar continues to condense, it heats up. Eventually, it reaches a critical mass and nuclear fusion begins. • Begins the main sequence phase of the star • Most of its life is in this phase

Carina nebula

Life Cycle of Stars Life span of a star depends on its size. – Very large, massive stars burn their fuel much faster than smaller stars – Their main sequence may last only a few hundred thousand years – Smaller stars will live on for billions of years because they burn their fuel much more slowly • Eventually, the star's fuel will begin to run out.

Life Cycle of Stars • It will expand into what is known as a red giant • Massive stars will become red supergiants • This phase will last until the star exhausts its remaining fuel • At this point the star will collapse

Dust around a supergiant

Life Cycle of Stars • Most average stars will blow away their outer atmospheres to form a planetary nebula • Their cores will remain behind and burn as a white dwarf until they cool down • What will be left is a dark ball of matter known as a black dwarf

Planetary nebula • Crab nebula Orion nebula

Life Cycle of Stars • If the star is massive enough, the collapse will trigger a violent explosion known as a supernova • If the remaining mass of the star is about 1. 4 times that of our Sun, the core is unable to support itself and it will collapse further to become a neutron star

supernova

Life Cycle of Stars • Matter inside the star will be compressed so tightly that its atoms are compacted into a dense shell of neutrons. • If the remaining mass of the star is more than about three times that of the Sun, it will collapse • What is left behind is an intense region of gravity called a black hole

Recap 1. Nebula red giant dwarf main sequence star white dwarf black 2. Nebula red dwarf black dwarf white dwarf 3. Nebula massive main sequence supergiant supernova neutron star or black hole

Relative Size: Sun vs. Planets

Sun vs. Other Stars

Binary star size: 100 of our suns