The Evolution and Anatomy of the Solar System

For the longest time, people have generally thought that the solar system only consisted of the Sun, the eight planets, and Pluto. But over the years, astrophysicists have found reason to think otherwise by discovering other celestial-objects such as dwarf planets.

What exactly is the Solar System?

The Solar System consists of the Sun, the planetary region, the asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort Cloud.

Planetary Region: This region consists of the eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The first four planets are known as terrestrial planets due to their solid, rocky surfaces, while the last four planets are known as the gas giants due to being composed of various gases.

Asteroid Belt: Located between Mars and Jupiter, the Asteroid Belt consists of asteroids, such as Vesta. In addition, it is host to the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system: Ceres. Even though the Asteroid Belt is located within the Planetary Region, it is considered to be a separate region due to its unique characteristics.

Kuiper Belt: The Kuiper Belt is an area located in the Solar System that acts as a boundary between the planetary region and the Oort Cloud. This region consists of a thicker disk than the Asteroid Belt, and composed of "leftovers" of the early solar system, such as comets and dwarf plants, such as Pluto and Eris. In fact, Pluto became the first object to be discovered in this region in 1930. This region is important to scientists because it may offer clues to how the early solar system and its planets formed.

Oort Cloud: The Oort Cloud is the farthest region from the Sun in the entire Solar System; in fact, scientists have explored a very few percentage of it. To put this into perspective, the same sunlight that takes about eight minutes to reach Earth, takes ten to twenty eight days just to reach the Oort Cloud and perhaps 1.5 years to pass beyond it. It is composed of trillions of icy objects and comets, including the famous Haley's comet. Although no humans have been in this region, five spacecraft have been given the chance to explores this region: Voyager 1, Voyager 2, New Horizons, Pioneer 10, and Pioneer 11. These spacecraft, unforuntaly, are likely to run out of power before even reaching the inner region of the Oort Cloud.

How was the Solar System Formed?

About 4.5 billion years ago, our Solar System was produced from a compact cloud of interstellar gas and dust. According to a theory, the dense cloud had collapsed due to a nearby supernova - an explosion caused by a dying star - and formed a solar nebula, a fast-moving, spinning disk of material. The pressure in the center of the spinning cloud increased exponentially due to gravity pulling in more and more material until hydrogen atoms began to fused together to form helium, releasing energy in the process. As the fusion process continued, it soon formed our Sun.

Outside the spinning disk, matter was fusing together as well. The "clumps" collided together, resulting in larger objects to form. Eventually, these large objects formed into spheres, resulting in the formation of planets, dwarf planets, and moons. The smaller clumps formed asteroids, comets, meteoroids, and small moons like Phobos.

While the terrestrial planets were formed through the "clumps" colliding, the gas giants were formed by the icy, darker regions of the Solar System.

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Bibliography

NASA. (2021, August 30). Our solar system. NASA. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/in-depth/.

NASA. (2021, November 17). Kuiper belt. NASA. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/overview/.

NASA. (2019, June 6). Oort Cloud. NASA. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/oort-cloud/overview/.

Wylie High Weekly announcements. Smore. (2021, December 9). Retrieved December 5, 2021, from

https://www.smore.com/rg3va.