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OUR SOLAR SYSTEM: A GRAND DESIGN

In our last blog we gave an introduction to Universe, how it came into being and how it evolved over the years and what would happen in the years to come...In today's blog I am going to introduce you all to our Solar System...

As I already mentioned in the previous blog that there are many other solar systems in our Milky Way Galaxy and ours is just one among them. 

Let us break down this word, SOLAR means SUN, therefore Solar System is essentially a system composed of Sun and other celestial bodies which revolve around it in circular orbits, sorry, elliptical orbits.

Why????

It was conceived by Copernicus that Sun is at the centre and other celestial bodies revolved around it in 'circular orbits', but alas his description was proved wrong by the findings of Tycho Brahe, Kepler and other astronomers. They showed that planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun, this concept was first put forward by Kepler in his famous 'Laws of Planetary Motion'. 


If orbits are elliptical then why is it so???

Two factors are responsible for this effect...
1. Gravity
2. Tendency to move in a straight line

All objects have a tendency to move in a straight line however gravity prevents objects like planets from doing so and hence in the case of our Solar System, tendency of planets to move in straight line paths are overcome by Sun's gravitational pull...this in turn guides a planet through an elliptical orbit around the Sun... 


                                     
Figure 1: Motion of Moon around the Earth follows elliptical orbit


THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Our Solar System is composed of a Sun, 8 planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteors, comets and many moons.

There were 9 planets in the beginning but after a thorough study about Pluto it was concluded that it did not satisfy all three conditions of a planet...

  •  It must orbit a star (in our cosmic neighborhood, the Sun).
  •  It must be big enough to have enough gravity to force it into a spherical shape.
  •  It must be big enough that its gravity cleared away any other objects of a similar size near its orbit around the Sun.


Our Pluto satisfied the first two conditions with triumph, however it could not satisfy the third condition, as it could not clear other objects of similar size near its orbit around the Sun. Therefore, Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, which is now grouped with Eris, Ceres, Makemake (just look at the name, I think Makemake is the most active member of this family and wants to be a planet at all cost, its name ironically sounds like; make me a planet, make me a planet!!!😂), Haumea which are also dwarf planets. 

All these planets are waiting for that day when it would be able to successfully satisfy all the three conditions perfectly well to enter the elite class of planets...



                                                                          
Figure 2: Pluto



                                                                         
Figure 3: Haumea



                                                               
Figure 4: Makemake



                                           
                                                                            
Figure 5: Ceres




                                                                             
Figure 6: Eris



The planets in from of our Solar System can be classified into two major groups.

1. Rocky Planets
2. Gaseous Planets


The rocky planets of our Solar System are; Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They are called rocky because they were made from rocks and metals. Earth is the largest of the four rocky planets followed by Venus. The rocky planets are comparatively smaller than the gas giants or the gaseous planets which are composed of gases like Helium, Hydrogen etc. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune together are called the Gas planets. Jupiter is the largest gas planet and is also the largest planet in our Solar System...

A common misconception associated with planets is that Saturn is the only planet with rings...this is wrong...all gas planets have rings around it but Saturn has the most prominent rings. Another misconception is that Mercury being the closest to the Sun is the hottest planet in the Solar System, this is wrong, in fact Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System and it is said that its surface cannot be purely or well defined or observed because of the thick clouds that envelope the planet.


Universe is limitless, its greatest secrets still remains hidden inside a debris of unquestioned facts...We need to explore...explore and explore, more and more, for imagination and research has no limits...




''What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean''
                                 
   Sir Isaac Newton


























Image credits:

1. Wikimedia Commons: images of moon moving around the earth, images of Pluto, Ceres, Makemake, Eris and Haumea.



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