Come join us for this exciting exploration of our solar system.
Week 1 – An Overview of Our Solar System
Our solar system began to form almost 4.6 billion years ago. Internal gravitation created by the collapse of a large interstellar cloud, itself probably the remnant of a nearby supernova event, began the process of planetary accretion. As this cloud continued its gravitational collapse, it generated angular momentum that compressed material into a solar disc. From this disc our eight planets slowly accreted as their gravitational fields grew and overpowered that of the distant sun to attract this nearby material. From these aggregations were formed the inner or rocky planets, and the outer or gaseous planets. Each group had attendant moons and lesser satellites. Four of the planets also formed rings, Saturn’s being the most visible and impressive. We take a geological, astronomical, chemical and observational tour of these, our closest neighbors, as well as the outer features of the solar system, the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort Cloud.
Week 2 – Our Star, the Sun
The sun is the center of our solar system. It is the ultimate source of energy for the inhabitants of our small rocky planet that orbits just seven light minutes away from its surface. But aside from the obvious effects the sun has on weather and climate, how much does the average person know about the sun? How and why is it such a consistent and reliable engine of energy production? What are the actual steps through which the sun maintains itself? What are its interior structures like? How are solar flares produced and what are their effects on space and Earth? Finally, how long will it live and what is its likely end? Learn the answers to questions about the most common, but remarkable, and critical, engine for life on Earth.
Week 3 – The Planetary Zone
We cover the eight planets of our solar system, the dwarf planets and the possibility of the existence of a long-departed mystery planet, (Nemesis or Planet X). The planets of the solar system fall into three main types. The first group, the small rocky inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are our closest neighbors. Farther out we will encounter the gas giants of Jupiter and Saturn. Finally, as we reach the edge of our planetary system, we find the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.
We cover each in turn, with an eye to its orbital behavior, moons, special features and role in the ongoing dynamic evolution of the solar system. We also briefly look at the interactions of the planetary zone with the remote outer features of the solar system—the Kuiper Belt, the helio-phase limit and the Oort Cloud.
Week 4 – The Remote Solar System
Before the planet Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet, very many of us were led to believe that it represented the limits of our solar system. In this belief we were sadly and egregiously mistaken!
In fact, the sphere of space over which our star exerts its influence is magnificently larger and far more complex than we first imagined. The volume of space in which the planets revolve around the sun shrinks to insignificance when compared to the Kuiper Belt or trans-Neptunian objects. This in turn is dwarfed by the limits of the heliosphere, that is the region of space in which the sun’s radiation repels and attenuates harmful radiation from other stars and the Milky Way in general! Probably last, but hardly least, is the titanic space occupied by the material of the Oort cloud, which is thought to extend more than 100,000 Astronomical Units outward from the sun. Join us for an exploration of this, the furthest, coldest, emptiest part of the solar system, but one that is incredibly important and fascinating.
Week 5 – The Planetary Moons of Our Solar System
The number of known moons of our solar system seems to increase on an almost monthly basis. While at first glance they may all appear similar, we find that all of them interact with their planetary bodies in different ways. The moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all exert their influences on the ring planets. The Earth’s moon influences the rhythms of life by creating tidal fluctuations in the planet’s oceans. We examine the planetary satellite system and trace the contributions of these minor but interesting members of the solar system.
Week 6 – Extraterrestrial Life in Our Solar System
While we continue our search for habitable exo-planets in other solar systems—and for the first time in other galaxies—we may well have some potentially fruitful local sites much closer and far easier to study! They are within our own solar system! They are: Io, Callisto, Europa, a moon of Jupiter; a pair of Saturnian moons, Enceladus and Titan; and the red planet Mars. All have temperature ranges on their surfaces or in liquid layers that fall comfortably within the range of the habitable zone criteria. It is probable that all have liquid water. In fact, in this case, our old standby as a location for extraterrestrial life, Mars, has recently been found to have several significant deposits of underground water! Get out your intellectual capital, place your bets, and see how many of these four astronomical locations are winners in the “First Life in Space” lottery.