PHYSICS H6 – THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE
UNIVERSE
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Origin of the solar system
Important calculation method explained
Planets and other objects in our solar system
Planetary orbits
Orbit of the Earth
The Earth’s axis
Northern lights
Orbit of the Moon
Eclipses
Explanation of terms (overview)
, Origin of the solar system
The Sun and the planets and stars that orbit around it together form
the solar system.
Important facts about stars and planets:
● they form from large clouds of gas
● the planets all move in the same direction, following (almost)
circular orbits
This happened as follows:
About 4.6 billion years ago, a large, slowly rotating gas cloud collapsed
due to gravitational force (gravity), which caused the small gas particles
to attract each other. This created a large, flat, rotating disk in which the
Sun and the planets formed. See the image.
Because the Earth is not too close to and not too far from the Sun, we
have liquid water and life is possible on Earth (about 149.6 million
kilometers).
Important calculation method in physics
Very large numbers are often written as powers of 10.
1,000,000 is written as 1 × 10⁶, which simply means a 1 followed by 6 zeros.
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is written as
149.6 × 10⁶ km, which is equal to
149.6 × 10⁹ m, or 1.496 × 10¹¹ m.
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is used as a unit: the
astronomical unit (au).
1 au is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun:
1 au = 1.496 × 10¹¹ m.
The name comes from the English term astronomical unit.
Planets and other objects in our solar system
In our solar system there are 4 relatively small planets and 4 relatively
large planets.
UNIVERSE
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Origin of the solar system
Important calculation method explained
Planets and other objects in our solar system
Planetary orbits
Orbit of the Earth
The Earth’s axis
Northern lights
Orbit of the Moon
Eclipses
Explanation of terms (overview)
, Origin of the solar system
The Sun and the planets and stars that orbit around it together form
the solar system.
Important facts about stars and planets:
● they form from large clouds of gas
● the planets all move in the same direction, following (almost)
circular orbits
This happened as follows:
About 4.6 billion years ago, a large, slowly rotating gas cloud collapsed
due to gravitational force (gravity), which caused the small gas particles
to attract each other. This created a large, flat, rotating disk in which the
Sun and the planets formed. See the image.
Because the Earth is not too close to and not too far from the Sun, we
have liquid water and life is possible on Earth (about 149.6 million
kilometers).
Important calculation method in physics
Very large numbers are often written as powers of 10.
1,000,000 is written as 1 × 10⁶, which simply means a 1 followed by 6 zeros.
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is written as
149.6 × 10⁶ km, which is equal to
149.6 × 10⁹ m, or 1.496 × 10¹¹ m.
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is used as a unit: the
astronomical unit (au).
1 au is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun:
1 au = 1.496 × 10¹¹ m.
The name comes from the English term astronomical unit.
Planets and other objects in our solar system
In our solar system there are 4 relatively small planets and 4 relatively
large planets.
