Introduction to Astronomy

Naxxar Scouts

Narrated by Nicholas Bajada

Introduction to Astronomy

Naxxar Cubs

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Our Solar SystemPresented by Alessandro Bajada

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There are 8 planets in our Solar

System.

• Mercury

• Venus

• Earth

• Mars

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Uranus

• Neptune

Pluto 3

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Tiny Mercury is the planet closest to the sun.

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The surface of

Mercury is a lot like

the surface of our

Moon.

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Venus is

sometimes

called the

morning or

evening

star, because it

is so bright in

the sky.

However, Ven

us is not a star.

It is the 2nd

planet from

the Sun. 6

Our Earth is the only planet in the solar system that we

know can support life. It has only one moon.

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The moon is the only

other body in the solar

system that has been

visited by humans.

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Mars is the most explored planet in the solar system

– besides Earth! 9

Curiosity

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Mars Exploration Rover Spirit

Mars has two

moons – Phobos

and Deimos.

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This photo shows the surface of Mars

The next four planets are called the “Jovian” planets.

They are also known as the gas giants.

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Jupiter is the

largest planet in

the Solar System.

It is very much

like the sun, being

made mostly of

hydrogen and

helium. It is the

fastest rotating

planet, spinning

once on its axis

every 10 hours.14

Earth

Jupiter

This picture of

Jupiter, taken by the

Cassini

spacecraft, shows the

wind patterns in the

atmosphere.

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The Great

Red Spot on

Jupiter.

Scientists

believe that it

is a giant

storm that is

more than

300 years old.

This storm is

bigger than

our entire

planet.16

There are at

least 63

moons

around

Jupiter.

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These are four of the

largest Moons of Jupiter. 18

Jupiter’s moon Io

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Io’s VolcanoesI

Jupiter’s moon Europa

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Saturn

Lord of the rings

Saturn is most

famous for its

beautiful rings.

They are made

mostly of water

and ice. 22

Saturn has many

moons. Scientists

have identified

more than 63 so

far.

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Uranus is the 7th

planet from the

sun. It has an

atmosphere of

mostly hydrogen

and methane,

which gives it a

blue color. So

far, we have

found at least 27

moons around

Uranus.24

Uranus actually

rotates almost on

its side. Scientists

think that this may

be because Uranus

was hit by another

celestial body

sometime early in

its history, which

knocked the

planet on its side.25

Neptune is the 8th

planet from the sun.

Like Uranus, it has

an atmosphere that

is mostly hydrogen

and methane, which

gives the planet its

blue color. There

are at least 13

moons around

Neptune.26

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Asteroid BeltBetween Mars and the Jupiter there is the Asteroid Belt

Comets

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There are many small pieces of

broken comets and asteroids

floating in the solar system. We

call them meteoroids. When they

enter our atmosphere, they heat

up and leave a trail of

luminous, or glowing gas. We

call them shooting stars, or

meteors. If they survive their trip

through the atmosphere and land

on the surface of the earth, they

are called meteorites. 29

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Tails get longer the

closer a Comet gets

to the Sun.

Tails are always directed

away from the Sun.

Orbit of Comet

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Equinox we get the same equal daylight and night time hours

Solstice we get the longest day and shortest night hours

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Equinox and Solstice

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Umbra is when we have a Total Eclipse of the Moon

Penumbra is when we get a Partial Eclipse of the Moon

Lunar Eclipse Geometry

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Lunar Eclipse

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Solar Eclipse

So what keeps all of

these planets and their

moons together, and

keeps them from drifting

away into space?

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The solar system stays together

because of our star, the sun.

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Our Sun is really far away - 93 million miles.

If we had a special car that could work in

space and we started driving at 100 mph and

didn’t even stop to go to the bathroom, it would

take more than 100 years to get to the Sun.

Even the closest stars are much, much farther away.

Using that same magic car, it would take almost 3

million years to get to the nearest star! 3 million

years ago we still had mammoths and saber-tooth

tigers here on Earth.

The sun is the

hottest place in our

solar system. The

part that we see is

about 11,000

degrees F. The

hottest your oven

will get is only

about 500 degrees F.

The Centre reaches

more than 27

million degrees F.

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Temperatures in the corona are more than 1 million

degrees. The corona can only be seen when there is a

solar eclipse, when the moon is directly between the

earth and the sun.

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Charged particles constantly pour out of the Sun, in a

steady stream and in occasional bursts called coronal

mass ejections. 42

This is a close-up picture of sunspots taken through a

telescope using a special filter and camera.

Look at the size of these sunspots compared to our

Earth 43

The sun’s heat makes it like a pot of boiling soup.

Sometimes, some gas escapes from the sun in the form

of solar flares.

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Earth Solar

Flare

Look at the size of a Solar Flare compared to our Earth.

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Solar Flares

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What is Aurora Borealis or the

Northern Lights ?

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Northern Lights are

formed from charged

particles from Solar

Radiation hitting our

magnetic field

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Positive and negative ions

hit each other to create this

beautiful Light Show

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: Nebula

: Planetary Nebula

: Galaxies

: Black Holes

What else is up there ?

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We have 88 Constellations

Try and find the Constellation Orion.

It is one of the easiest one to find.

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The Night Sky

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Star Clusters

Open Cluster

Globular Cluster

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Our Milky Way

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Where

are we

in the

Milky

Way

Upper view

Side View

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• Start with your eyes

• Next get a pair of binoculars or a good, inexpensive telescope

• Save your money for a nice telescope

• Never look at the sun without special equipment!

Astronomy as a Hobby

The End

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