Structure of the Solar System
The Sun, the Earth's star, is the largest object in the Solar System. The Sun’s huge
gravitational field keeps many other objects - planets, dwarf planets, asteroids and comets –
in orbit around it.
Planets
The Earth is one of eight planets in the Solar System. The planets orbit the Sun at different
distances.
The Sun and its planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune
The different planets have different properties and conditions. In general, as the distance
from the Sun increases:
the temperature decreases, for example, Mercury is 430°C whereas Neptune is -200°C
the time taken to orbit the Sun increases, for example, Mercury orbits once every 88 Earth
days, but Neptune orbits once every 165 Earth years
For a planet to form, its own gravity must be strong enough to make it round or spherical in
shape. Its gravitational field must also be strong enough to ‘clear the neighbourhood’, pulling
smaller nearby objects into its orbit.
Moons
Moons are natural satellites that orbit a planet. Many planets have moons, and some planets
have many moons - Saturn has more than 50. The Earth has just one moon - the Moon.
Dwarf planets
Pluto is a dwarf planet. The gravitational field of a dwarf planet is not strong enough to clear
the neighbourhood, so there may be other objects in its orbit around the Sun. The Solar
System contains hundreds of dwarf planets, including Ceres (the only dwarf planet in the
asteroid belt).
Asteroids
The Solar System contains smaller objects called asteroids. These orbit the Sun in
highly elliptical orbits, which are oval or egg-shaped and may take millions of years to
complete. Asteroids are made of metals and rocky material. There are large numbers of
asteroids orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. There are also many
in a region beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt.
Comets
The Solar System also contains small objects called comets. Comets are similar to asteroids,
but are made of rocky material, dust and ice. As a comet approaches the Sun, it begins
to vaporise, which means that it turns into a gas. It then produces a distinctive tail.
Weight, mass and gravitational field strength
The weight of an object is the force on it caused by the gravity due to the planet. The weight
of an object and the gravitational field strength are directly proportional. For a given mass,
the greater the gravitational field strength of the planet, the greater its weight.
Weight can be calculated using the equation:
weight = mass × gravitational field strength
This is when:
weight (W) is measured in newtons (N)
mass (m) is measured in kilograms (kg)
gravitational field strength (g) is measured in newtons per kilogram (N/kg)
Gravity on other objects in space
Space object g, gravitational field strength (N/kg)
The Sun (star) 293.0
Mercury 3.7
Venus 8.8
Earth 9.8
Moon (satellite) 1.7
Mars 3.7
Ceres (dwarf planet) 0.27
Jupiter 24.7
Saturn 10.5
Uranus 9.0
Neptune 11.7
Pluto (dwarf planet) 0.49
Example
An apple has a mass of 100 g. Calculate its weight on Mars (g = 3.7 N/kg).
100 g = 100 ÷ 1000 = 0.1 kg
Question
Calculate the weight of a 30 kg dog on the Moon (g = 1.7 N/kg).
Ideas about the Solar System
The way people think of the Solar System has changed many times throughout history.
Before the development of the telescope, these ideas were based on what could be seen
with the naked eye. This restricted the details that could be gathered about the Solar System,
as asteroids, most of the satellites of other planets, and the most distant planets are not
visible to the naked eye.
An Egyptian astronomer called Ptolemy (AD100-168) described one of the earliest ideas for
how the Solar System is structured.
Ptolemy’s model and many earlier ideas of the Solar System had the Earth at the centre of it.
As observations of the motions of the planets became more detailed, the descriptions of the
Solar System had to get very complex in order to keep the Earth at the centre.
Putting the Sun at the centre
Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) is generally credited with changing the model of the Solar
System to one with the Sun at the centre. Detailed observations with telescopes have given
us evidence that this is the correct idea.
Planets
Since its discovery in 1930, until 2006, Pluto was counted as the ninth planet in the solar
system. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified it as a ‘dwarf planet’, and
our Solar System dropped from having nine planets to eight.
