ONE

Beginnings

AL
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For millennia, people have studied the heavens and wondered planets, and landed on the Moon, Mars, Titan, a comet, and an
about the nature and origins of the Sun, Moon, and planets. asteroid. They have also brought back samples of Moon rock,

TE
Indeed, Solar System studies dominated the field of astronomy comet and asteroid dust, as well as the solar wind. This era of
until the introduction of powerful telescopes and advanced robotic and human exploration has revolutionized scientists’
instruments in the 19th century. In the last 50 years, spacecraft
have flown past or orbited all of the major planets and two dwarf
MA
knowledge of our corner of the Galaxy, and further astounding
revelations are expected in the decades to come.
D

Wandering Stars to the same place in the sky, while a month was the period that
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elapsed between each new or full Moon.

Since time immemorial, people have stared in wonder at the night The other five planets were rather less noticeable, though each
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sky. In previous millennia, when the darkness of the sky was not had its own peculiar characteristics. For example, Mercury and
degraded by artificial lighting, it was easy to recognize how the Venus never strayed far from the Sun in the twilight skies of morn-
stellar patterns drifted from horizon to horizon as the night pro- ing or evening (Figure 1.1). The other three moved more slowly
gressed, and how they changed as the seasons passed. from constellation to constellation, sometimes describing loops in
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However, in addition to the familiar, twinkling stars, observers the sky as they appeared to temporarily reverse direction.
noted seven objects that moved with varying speeds against the It was also evident that the seven planets often came together
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background of “fixed” stars.1 In order of greatest apparent bright- in the sky or even passed behind the Moon during occultations.
ness, they were the Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and They always remained within a narrow band on the sky, known as
Saturn. The ancient Greeks called them “planetes” (“wandering the zodiac (after the Greek word for “animal”). The Sun’s annual
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stars”), a designation we still use for all but the Sun and Moon. path across the sky, called the ecliptic, ran along the center of this
For ancient astrologers and astronomers – the two disciplines celestial highway. Clearly, the planes of the planets’ orbits were
were inextricably intertwined for many centuries – the most closely aligned with each other.
important of the wanderers were the Sun, which was responsible
for daylight, and the Moon, which dominated the night. Both
of these objects displayed visible disks and moved quite rapidly The Earth-Centered Universe
across the sky.
Careful study of their regular motions and apparitions enabled Until the mid-16th century, it was accepted as an established fact
people to devise calendars and introduce convenient ways of mea- by most civilizations that Earth lay at the center of the universe.2
suring time. Thus, a year was the period before the Sun returned Like the axle of a wheel, everything else rotated around it.
1 For a time, the ancient Greeks thought there were nine planets. Venus was named both as the Evening Star (Hesperus) and the Morning Star
(Phosphorus). Similarly, Mercury was thought to be two different planets – Lucifer and Hermes.
2 A Sun-centered (heliocentric) model of the universe was proposed by the Greek astronomer Aristarchus in the 3rd century BCE, but it was not
widely accepted.

Exploring the Solar System, Second Edition. Peter Bond.

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Companion Website: www.wiley.com/go/Bond-Solar-System2e
2 Chapter 1

Figure 1.1 The relative sizes of the orbits of the “planets” visible to the naked eye and recognized by ancient astronomers.
All the orbits are slightly elliptical and nearly in the same plane as Earth’s orbit (the ecliptic). The diagram is from a
view above the ecliptic plane and away from the perpendicular axis that goes through the Sun. (Lunar and Planetary
Institute)

The reasons for this thinking seemed self evident. All the celes- Measuring Distances and Sizes
tial objects, including the Sun, moved across the sky from east
to west (with the occasional exception of a comet or shooting One of the most fundamental problems facing early astronomers
star). However, since no one experienced any of the sensations that was the scale of the universe. How big were the Earth, Sun, and
would be expected if Earth was continually spinning, it seemed Moon, and how far away were they? It seemed evident that Earth
logical to believe that it was the heavens which were in motion was huge compared with every other object, and since it was the
around Earth. home of humanity, it was assumed that Earth was pre-eminent.
According to this geocentric theory, the Sun, Moon, and planets The question of the size of the spherical Earth was solved in
were carried by invisible, crystalline spheres which were centered the 3rd century BCE by Eratosthenes, who compared the length
on the Earth. A much larger celestial sphere carried the fixed stars of shadows made at different locations at the time of the spring
around the central Earth once every day. equinox (see Chapter 3). Some facts were also known about the
Although early civilizations accepted the visual evidence that relative sizes and distances of other objects.
Earth is (more or less) flat, this idea was contradicted by several Since its shadow easily covered the entire Moon during lunar
lines of evidence (see Chapter 3). For example, different star pat- eclipses, Earth had to be substantially larger than its satellite.
terns or constellations are visible from different places. However, if During a solar eclipse, the Moon passed in front of the Sun, so
Earth is flat, then the same constellations should be visible every- the latter had to be further away. However, since their apparent
where at a certain time. sizes were identical, the Sun must be considerably larger than
One key piece of evidence was the curved outline of Earth’s the Moon. Similarly, the Moon sometimes occulted or passed in
shadow as it drifted across the face of the full Moon during a total front of stars and planets, so these, too, had to be much more
lunar eclipse. This was the case no matter where the observation remote.
was made or at what time it took place. Since only a spherical body Calculations by the Greek astronomers Aristarchus (c.310–
can cast a round shadow in all orientations, it seemed clear that c.230 BCE) and Hipparchus (c.190–120 BCE), based on the size of
Earth was round. Earth’s shadow, suggested that the Moon’s diameter is about one
Similarly, observations of a sailing ship disappearing over the third that of Earth and that its distance is nearly 59 times Earth’s
horizon showed that, instead of simply becoming smaller and radius. This established the scale of the Earth–Moon system with a
smaller, its hull disappeared from view before the sails and mast. fair degree of accuracy. However, their simple geometric methods
This could only be explained on a curved ocean. grossly underestimated the Sun’s distance.
 Beginnings 3

Figure 1.2 All the major planets follow orbits that lie within
8∘ of the Sun’s path across the sky – the ecliptic. This nar-
row celestial belt is known as the zodiac. In this image from
the SOHO spacecraft, four planets appear close to the Sun
(whose light is blocked by an occulting disk). Also in view are
some background “fixed” stars, including the Pleiades cluster.
(ESA-NASA)

Determination of the planetary distances remained problematic Figure 1.3 The apparent retrograde (“backward” or
for a long time. It soon became clear to observers in the classical east–west) motions of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are now
world that some planets move more slowly through the constella- known to be caused by the relative orbital movement of
tions of the night sky. Since a slow-moving planet such as Saturn the planets and Earth. Since Earth moves faster along its
was also fainter than the faster-moving objects, Mars and Jupiter, orbit than the more distant planets, it overtakes them on the
it seemed logical that Saturn was further away from Earth. inside track. As Earth approaches and passes Mars, the slower
It was also clear that the Sun, Moon, and planets did not move moving outer planet appears to move backward for a few
at uniform speeds or follow simple curved paths across the sky. months against the backcloth of “fixed” stars. (After NASA)
One of the most difficult observations to explain was an occa-
sional “loop” in the motions of the more distant planets. This
occurred when Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were shining brightly
around midnight (Figure 1.3 and Box 1.1). At such times, the
planet’s nightly eastward (“prograde”) motion would gradually A Mars
come to a stop. It would then reverse direction toward the west,
T M
becoming “retrograde,” before resuming its general movement
toward the east.
B
The explanation for this motion had to wait until astronomers
realized that the Sun was at the center of the planetary system, and
that Earth orbited the Sun (see The Central Sun). The loops could
then be accounted for by Earth traveling along a smaller orbit so Figure 1.4 The distance of a planet such as Mars can be
that it would catch up with, then overtake, the outer planets (see calculated by measuring its angle of sight – its location against
Figure 1.3) – like an athlete on an inside track. the background of fixed stars – from two or more places on
Accurate calculations of planetary distances also had to wait Earth. If the length of the baseline (e.g. the distance between
until the 17th century, when observers were able to measure two viewing sites, A-B) is known, the distance can be found by
angular distances with reasonable accuracy. The basic geometrical using simple trigonometry. (ESO)
method they used was called parallax (Figure 1.4).
4 Chapter 1

This involved measurement of the apparent shift in position of their albedos are greater than previously believed. Since they are
an object when viewed from two different locations. To illustrate more reflective than anticipated, astronomers have revised their
this, hold one finger upright in front of your nose and close first diameters downwards.
one eye and then the other. The finger seems to shift position Another method, involving the occultation of a star by a planet
against the background, although it is, of course, stationary. When or other object, is especially valuable in relation to objects which
the finger is moved closer, the shift appears larger, and vice versa. are normally difficult to observe. The object’s diameter is cal-
Astronomers realized that, if a parallax shift in a planet’s posi- culated from the length of time during which it hides the star
tion could be measured from two widely separated locations, then from view. This technique has been used to discover the rings of
its distance could be calculated. This method was first used by Uranus and Neptune, and to study Pluto’s largest moon, Charon,
a French astronomer, Jean Richer, working in Cayenne (French for example. It is also invaluable for the detection and observa-
Guiana), together with Giovanni Domenico Cassini and Jean tion of exoplanets in orbit around distant stars (see Chapter 14).
Picard in Paris. They made simultaneous parallax observations Unfortunately, if the object possesses a dense, cloudy atmosphere,
of Mars during its closest approach in 1671, using the recently the occultation only gives the diameter at the cloud tops.
invented pendulum clocks to ensure that the measurements were
made at precisely the same moment.3
Cassini’s calculations led to a value of about 140 million km for The Central Sun
the astronomical unit (AU) – the mean Sun–Earth distance. Now
that this distance was known with reasonable accuracy, Kepler’s The difficult task of breaking with tradition and accepting the
third law (see Box 1.2) could be used to calculate the distances of Sun as the center of the universe began with a Polish priest and
the Sun and planets for the first time. astronomer named Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). He decided
During the 18th century a great deal of time, money, and effort that the only way to make sense of the planetary orbits was to
was spent in attempting to refine these figures. One method was to relegate Earth to the status of a planet that orbited the Sun. The
observe rare transits of Venus across the face of the Sun from many movement of the stars across the sky was then explained by the
different locations. The most famous transit observations took rotation of the spherical Earth, while the calendar of seasons and
place in 1761 and 1769 when the British explorer, Captain James changing constellations in the heavens were accounted for by its
Cook, sailed to the Pacific as part of an army of 150 observers year-long journey around the Sun.
scattered across the globe, but these gave very inaccurate results Copernicus’ most significant work, called De Revolutionibus
(see Chapter 6). Orbium Celestium (Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial
More successful was the worldwide effort to determine the par- Spheres), was published shortly before his death. Curiously, this
allax of the asteroid Eros when it passed close to Earth in 1931. did not provoke a violent reaction by the establishment of the day,
Highly accurate measurements were possible since Eros has no nor did it immediately lead to any major upheaval in scientific
atmosphere and appears as a mere point of light in even the largest thought. Lacking enough evidence to swing the argument one
telescopes. The value of the astronomical unit turned out to be way or the other, the great minds of the day were faced with an
149.6 million km. impasse.
Since then, more sophisticated techniques have been intro- Half a century passed before the interventions of two great
duced to refine the scale of the Solar System. One of the most suc- scholars swung the argument in favor of Copernicus’ heliocen-
cessful is radar, when radio signals are reflected from the surfaces tric theory. The first breakthrough was made in 1609 by a young
of distant objects (see Chapters 5, 6, and 13). Since the velocity of German named Johannes Kepler. By one of those strange twists
these microwaves is known and the time taken between emission of irony, Kepler was a pupil of Tycho Brahe, one of the leading
and reception can be measured to a fraction of a second, the dis- opponents of the Copernican order. Given the unenviable task
tance can be readily calculated. (Radar has also revealed the sizes of finding an explanation for the retrograde motion of Mars (see
and shapes of hundreds of asteroids.) A similar technique used to Figure 1.3), Kepler was able to draw upon the excellent observa-
calculate changes in the Earth–Moon distance involves the use of tional data recorded by his employer.
laser pulses bounced off special reflectors left on the lunar surface. Brahe died in 1601, but Kepler continued to laboriously exam-
Once an object’s distance is accurately known, the diameter ine the problem before finally arriving at his eureka moment. The
can be determined from its apparent angular size, as seen in a planetary orbits, he declared, were not circles but ellipses (regu-
telescope. Unfortunately, this is very difficult for the smaller or lar oval shapes).4 Within a short time, Kepler was able to draw up
more distant members of the Solar System, particularly if their the first two laws of planetary motion (see Box 1.2). His third, and
albedo, or surface reflectivity, is uncertain. probably most important law, followed in 1619.
In general, the larger an object, the more light its surface As a result, the relative distance of each planet from the Sun
reflects. However, some objects are much better mirrors than could be calculated accurately. Saturn, the most remote planet
others. A small, reflective object can have the same apparent known at the time, turned out to be nearly 10 times further from
brightness as a large, dark object. For example, observations of the Sun than Earth. Since the actual distances remained unknown,
some Kuiper Belt objects, beyond the orbit of Pluto, indicate that the standard unit of measurement became the astronomical unit,

3A by-product of this experiment was the discovery that a pendulum swung more slowly at Cayenne than at Paris, showing that gravity is slightly
weaker at the equator. Isaac Newton later used this result to show that Earth’s diameter is greatest at the equator.
4 Kepler’s task was made slightly easier by the fact that, of the five known planets, only Mercury followed a more elliptical path than Mars.
 Beginnings 5

∗ ∗ ∗

O
Ori. Occ.
c
a b
∗ ∗ ∗

O
Ori. Occ.

Planet mass
∗ ∗

O
Ori. Occ. M

Radius
R
Figure 1.5 In January 1610, Galileo Galilei used his simple R
refracting telescope to discover three “stars” aligned on either
side of Jupiter. Over a period of several weeks, a fourth “star”
appeared. As they shifted positions, Galileo correctly deduced
that these were satellites. Occ. is the Latin abbreviation for Figure 1.6 (a) If a spacecraft does not accelerate to orbital
“west” and Ori. stands for “east.” (NASA) velocity, it will fall back to the planet’s surface. (b) If it reaches
orbital velocity, it will remain in a closed path (orbit) around
the planet under free fall conditions. (c) If the spacecraft
reaches escape velocity, it will be able to break free from the
so Saturn’s distance from the Sun was about 10 astronomical units planet’s gravitational pull and travel to another planet. The
or 10 AU. same rules apply to planets and spacecraft in orbit around
In the same year that Kepler discovered elliptical orbits, an the Sun. (NASA)
Italian scientist named Galileo Galilei made a simple refracting
telescope, comprising two lenses at either end of a narrow tube,
and began to study the heavens. Within a short time, despite the
sufficient to counteract the Sun’s gravity. The result is that the
small magnification offered by his “optic tube,” he had obtained
planets fall towards the Sun in such a way that the curve of their fall
visual evidence to support the theories of Copernicus and Kepler.
takes them completely around it (Figure 1.6). This is sometimes
Galileo became the first person in history to see the phases of
known as free fall. (This same explanation, of course, applies to
Venus caused by its movement around the Sun. He also observed
artificial satellites.)
mountains and craters on the Moon, and saw the planets as disks,
Newton’s law also stated that the strength of gravitational attrac-
rather than points of light.
tion decreases with distance. For example, if planet A is twice as
Most significant of all was his discovery of four star-like objects
far from the Sun as planet B, then the gravitational force exerted
close to Jupiter (Figure 1.5). By watching their daily motions, he
by the Sun on planet A is one quarter that exerted on planet B.
was able to calculate their orbital periods and show that they were
In practical terms, this means that a satellite in low Earth orbit
Jovian moons (see Chapter 7). The discovery of the first planetary
must travel at 8 km/s, whereas the Moon only has to circle the
satellites (other than the Moon) supported theories that Earth was
Earth at 1 km/s in order to avoid crashing into our planet. Simi-
not at the center of the universe and confirmed that everything did
larly, planets further from the Sun are able to move more slowly
not revolve around our world.
around their orbits than those in the inner Solar System. New-
Galileo’s discoveries caused a sensation, although the leaders
ton’s law also explained why a planet’s orbital speed increased as it
of the Roman Catholic Church obstinately continued to support
approached perihelion (closest point to the Sun) and slowed near
a geocentric universe. In 1633, Galileo was brought before the
aphelion (furthest point from the Sun).
Inquisition and forced to recant under threat of torture.
From this time on the orbital mechanics of the Solar System
were very well understood. With the exception of Mercury, whose
Newton and Gravity orbital motion refused to obey Newton’s law (see Chapter 5),
the only significant problems involved minor variations in orbits
The next challenge was to find an explanation for Kepler’s laws. caused by gravitational interactions between the planets, particu-
Although Galileo conducted numerous experiments into the larly those involving massive Jupiter. Careful study of unexpected
effects of gravity, he did not realize the full significance of his changes in the orbital velocity of Uranus may even have enabled
discoveries. This was left to an Englishman, Isaac Newton, who the position of an unknown planet, Neptune, to be successfully cal-
was born in 1642, the year that Galileo died. culated (see Chapter 11) – although there are those who consider
One anecdote attributes Newton’s discovery of universal gravi- the discovery to be pure chance.
tation to him observing an apple falling from a tree. Whatever the
truth, by 1684 Newton was able to explain planetary motions. His
law of gravitation stated that all objects attract each other, and that What Is A Planet?
the strength of this gravitational attraction is proportional to their
mass (see Chapter 8). In the ancient world, astronomers counted eight planets. When the
Clearly, since the Sun has nearly all the mass in the Solar System, Sun, Earth, and Moon are removed from their list, the number of
it should pull all of the other bodies into it. Newton explained planets visible to the naked eye is reduced to five: Mercury, Venus,
that this did not happen because their orbital velocities are just Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
6 Chapter 1

Box 1.1 Orbits

The direction a spacecraft or other body travels in orbit can be prograde, when a satellite moves in the same direction as the planet
(or star) rotates, or retrograde, when it goes in a direction opposite to the planet’s (or star’s) rotation. All of the planets in the
Solar System orbit the Sun in a prograde direction – west to east or counterclockwise as observed from above the Sun’s north pole.
However, many comets and some satellites move in a retrograde (clockwise) direction.
Various technical terms are used to describe the characteristics of these orbits. The time an object takes to complete one orbit
is known as the orbital period. The closest point of an orbit has the prefix “peri” – hence perigee for a satellite of the Earth and
perihelion for an object orbiting the Sun. (Helios = Sun.) The furthest point in an orbit has the prefix “ap” – as in apogee and
aphelion.
The plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun is called the ecliptic. The orbits of the other planets, comets, and asteroids are tilted
to this plane. The angle of the tilt is the orbital inclination. The inclination of a satellite’s orbit is measured with respect to the
planet’s equator. Hence, an orbit directly above the equator has an inclination of 0∘ , while one passing over a planet’s poles has an
inclination of 90∘ .
A planet, asteroid, or comet crosses the ecliptic twice during each orbit of the Sun. The points where an orbit crosses a plane
are known as nodes. When an orbiting body crosses the ecliptic plane going north, the node is referred to as the ascending node.
Going south, it is the descending node. The line that joins the ascending node and the descending node of an orbit is called the
line of nodes.

ecliptic plane node (d) plane of planetary orbit

planet
Sun

Earth node (a) orbital inclination

Figure 1.7 Some important characteristics of a planet’s orbit. Here the planet is inferior, i.e. closer to the Sun than Earth. Its orbit is inclined
to the ecliptic – the plane of Earth’s orbit. The planet’s orbit crosses the ecliptic at two nodes – the ascending node (a) and the descending
node (d). (Peter Bond, after Open University)

One of the most important orbital, or Keplerian, elements, is the semi-major axis, the average distance of an object from its
primary (planet or Sun). The shape of the orbit is described by its eccentricity, measured as a number between zero and 1. An
eccentricity of zero indicates a circular orbit. A parabola has an eccentricity of 1.

With the invention of the telescope, the possibility arose of find- Eris), an object that is comparable in size to Pluto. With the
ing fainter, more remote planets. The first newcomer, Uranus, was introduction of ever more sensitive detectors, it seemed likely that
discovered far beyond the orbit of Saturn by William Herschel in there would soon be dozens of Pluto-sized planets.
1781. The list was further increased in 1801, when Giuseppe Piazzi Aware that there was no generally accepted definition of the
found Ceres in the gap between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. term “planet” and faced with a fierce debate over whether Pluto
Pallas, Juno, and Vesta – objects in similar orbits to Ceres – were should be demoted, members of the International Astronomical
discovered between 1802 and 1807. Since they were clearly much Union gathered in Prague for the 2006 General Assembly.
smaller and less substantial than the other planets, they were soon After a lengthy discussion, they agreed to define a planet as a
downgraded to “minor planets” or “asteroids” (star-like objects). celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient
Almost 40 years passed before the eighth planet, Neptune, was mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that
discovered by Johann Galle and Heinrich D’Arrest. However, nei- it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and
ther Uranus nor Neptune seemed to be following its expected path, (c) has cleared other objects from the neighborhood of its orbit.
suggesting that an even more distant planet might be influencing Based on these criteria, the Solar System now consists of eight
the movements of its neighbors. The search for this world con- planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
cluded in 1930 when Clyde Tombaugh observed the tiny image of Neptune. A new distinct class of objects called “dwarf planets” was
Pluto on a photographic plate. also introduced (Figure 1.8). To be classified as a dwarf planet, an
For many years, it was generally accepted that there were nine object must orbit the Sun and have a nearly round shape. The first
planets, despite growing concerns that Pluto seemed to be too dwarf planets to be announced were Ceres (the largest asteroid),
small and lacking in mass to deserve this title. The crunch came Pluto, and Eris, followed by three more. Many others are expected
in 2003, when Mike Brown discovered 2003 UB313 (now named to be discovered in the future.
 Beginnings 7

Figure 1.8 In the “new” Solar System, as defined by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, there are eight planets: Mercury,
Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (shown in order of their distance from the Sun). A new, distinct class of
objects called “dwarf planets” includes the largest asteroid, Ceres, and the two largest known Kuiper Belt objects, Pluto and Eris. The
relative sizes of the planets and the Sun are shown. Jupiter’s diameter is about 11 times that of Earth, and the Sun’s diameter is about
10 times that of Jupiter. The distances of the planets are not shown to scale. (IAU)

This decision has not met with universal approval. One com- The Solar System
mon criticism relates to what exactly is meant by a planet
“clearing its neighborhood.” For example, critics argue that 50 years ago, the population of the Solar System included one
Neptune is accepted as a planet, even though many Kuiper Belt central star, nine planets, 31 satellites, and thousands of comets
objects (including Pluto) cross its orbit. Perhaps, they suggest, it and asteroids. However, since the arrival of the Space Age and the
would be more appropriate to use size as a criterion, particularly development of ever more sensitive ground-based instruments,
bearing in mind the diameters of objects that are large enough for the inventory of objects has swollen remarkably.
gravity to dominate structural strength. There is also some dis- Today, the astronomical community recognizes eight planets
comfiture with defining Ceres – the largest of the asteroids – as a and five dwarf planets, the tally of planetary satellites has passed
dwarf planet. 150, and the number of identified small objects is climbing
Another complication arises when the current definition is rapidly as increasingly sensitive searches discover thousands of
extended to extrasolar planets, i.e. planets orbiting other stars (see Sun-grazing comets and icy Kuiper Belt objects that orbit beyond
Chapter 14). Size is not a useful factor, since many of these planets Neptune.
are similar in size and mass to small, cool “failed stars” known as In terms of numbers, the Solar System is dominated by debris,
brown dwarfs. in the form of comets, asteroids, meteorites, and dust. These are
Instead, astronomers attempt to distinguish between a giant the leftovers from the formation of the planets, 4.5 billion years
extrasolar planet and a brown dwarf by determining how they ago. The main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter, is populated
were born. A star is formed during the gravitational collapse of by millions of rocky objects that are shepherded by the powerful
a gaseous nebula, whereas a planet is the product of collisions and gravity of the nearby gas giant. They are thought to represent
accretion (snowball-like growth) between particles in a disk of gas planetesimals – small planetary building blocks – that were unable
and dust around a central star. Even so, this method of differen- to accrete due to the gravitational interference of Jupiter.
tiation is difficult to apply, especially in the case of planet-sized Beyond the orbit of Neptune are two more swarms of small
objects that have been flung into interstellar space and no longer objects, this time largely made of ice (Figure 1.9 and Figure 1.10).
orbit any star. The inner region, known as the Kuiper Belt, is where short-period
8 Chapter 1

Termination Shock
Heliopause
Oort Cloud

AC +79 3888
α-Centauri
Neptune
Mercuty

Uranus
Jupiter

Saturn
Venus

Earth
Mars
Sun

100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

Voyager 1
Heliosphere Interstellar Space

Figure 1.9 The size of the Solar System. The scale bar is in astronomical units, with each marked distance beyond 1 AU representing
10 times the previous distance. One AU is the distance from the Sun to the Earth, which is about 150 million km. The Kuiper Belt,
which extends beyond Neptune from about 30 to 55 AU, is not shown. Two distant stars are also shown (right). (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

comets originate. Pluto and Eris are the largest known inhabitants. smaller members of the Solar System. Comets can arrive from
The orbital periods of Kuiper Belt objects range from 200–400 any direction, and the orbits of the Kuiper Belt objects have no
years for objects such as Pluto to 1,000 years or longer for those particular orientation, suggesting that there is a spherical swarm
which follow very elliptical orbits that take them far from the Sun. of these objects surrounding the Sun and major planets.
The Kuiper Belt poses a serious challenge for theories of planet Of the four inner planets, Venus and Earth both possess dense
formation, since it contains less than 1% of the mass of the proto- atmospheres – though they are very different in nature – while
solar nebula. If the Kuiper Belt objects formed like the terrestrial Mercury is too lightweight to have retained a substantial gaseous
planets, growing by accumulating smaller objects as they orbit the envelope. Whereas the most common gas on both Venus and
Sun, the shortage of local building material means it would take Mars is carbon dioxide, Earth is something of an oddball, with an
longer than the age of the Solar System to make one KBO! atmosphere dominated by nitrogen and oxygen. This latter gas can
Even further out – indeed, so far that none of the objects have be accounted for by the fact that Earth is – as far as we know – the
ever been observed in situ – is the postulated Oort Cloud, the only abode of life in our Solar System, and it is those life forms that
home of most long-period comets. pump oxygen into the air. Satellites are rare: Earth is orbited by the
The basic characteristics of the Solar System are straightfor- Moon, while Mars has two small companions that are generally
ward to describe. Close to the Sun, where temperatures are higher, considered to be captured asteroids.
there are four quite small, but dense, “terrestrial” planets that are As their name suggests, the gas and ice giants are character-
composed largely of rock (Figure 1.11 and Table 1.1). Beyond ized by their large size – tens to thousands of times bigger than
Mars, where temperatures are always well below zero, is the realm Earth – and low bulk densities which can be accounted for by
of the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, and the ice giants, Uranus the dominance of hydrogen and helium in their interiors. All four
and Neptune. of the giants have ring systems composed of dust, ice, and rocky
As noted above, the orbits of the major planets are approx- debris, and their gravitational influence is such that they retain
imately circular, and close to the ecliptic plane. All of the dozens of satellites – most of them captured billions of years ago.
planets and main belt asteroids circle the Sun in the same Since they are relatively close to the Sun, all the terrestrial plan-
direction – counterclockwise as seen from above the Sun’s north ets have high orbital velocities with periods of less than two Earth
pole. This is also the direction of the Sun’s rotation. However, years (see Box 1.2: Kepler’s Third Law). In contrast, their axial rota-
the beautiful symmetry breaks down when it comes to the tions are slow and their axial inclinations are very different.
 Beginnings 9

Figure 1.10 These four panels show the scale of the Solar System as we know it today. At top left are the orbits of the inner planets
and the main asteroid belt. Top right shows the orbits of the outer planets and the Kuiper Belt. Lower right shows the orbit and current
location of Sedna, one of the most distant known objects in the Solar System. Lower left shows that even Sedna’s highly elliptical orbit,
which takes it nearly 1,000 AU from the Sun, lies well inside the proposed Oort Cloud (shown in blue). This spherical cloud contains
millions of icy bodies orbiting at the limits of the Sun’s gravitational pull. (NASA/JPL/R. Hurt, SSC-Caltech)
10 Chapter 1

Figure 1.11 In general, a planet’s surface temperature decreases with its distance from the Sun. Venus is the exception, since its
dense carbon dioxide atmosphere traps infrared radiation. The runaway greenhouse effect raises its surface temperature to 467∘ C.
Mercury’s slow rotation and thin atmosphere result in the night-side temperature being more than 500∘ C colder than the dayside
temperature shown above. Temperatures for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are shown for an altitude in the atmosphere where
pressure is equal to that at sea level on Earth. Earth lies in the center of the “habitable zone,” where water can exist as a liquid and
conditions are favorable to life. (NASA / Lunar and Planetary Institute)
 Beginnings 11

the same plane. The obvious conclusion is that they all formed in
Table 1.1 the same manner and at about the same time.
The Planets: Relationship Between Solar Distance and Scientists have usually considered two main possibilities: the
Mean Density planets were either created by material derived from the Sun or
a nearby companion star, or they formed from a cloud of diffuse
Planet Distance from Mean Density matter that surrounded the Sun. However, theorists have struggled
Sun (AU) (g/cm3 ) for centuries to match the hypotheses to the known facts, in order
to choose between them.
Mercury 0.3871 5.43
One of the earliest, and most successful, attempts to explain how
Venus 0.7233 5.24 the Solar System came about was the nebular hypothesis – the idea
Earth 1.0 5.52 that the Sun and planets formed from a vast, slowly rotating disk of
Mars 1.5237 3.91 gas and dust. A modified version of this hypothesis is the generally
Jupiter 5.2028 1.33 accepted explanation today.
Saturn 9.5388 0.69 Some of the key evidence comes from modern observations of
Uranus 19.1914 1.29 distant star systems. Today, spaceborne telescopes can peer into
Neptune 30.0611 1.64 the hearts of giant molecular clouds, such as the Orion Nebula,
and search for young, Sun-like stars that replicate the conditions
that prevailed in our Solar System some 4.6 billion years ago.
These observations show that so-called protoplanetary disks, or
proplyds, exist around most very young stars – those less than 10
Mercury’s axis is almost at right angles to its orbit. It takes 58 million years old (Figure 1.16). Many of the disks are larger than
days to rotate once, or about two-thirds of the time it takes to orbit our Solar System. Observations of slightly older stars show how
the Sun. Venus resembles a top that has been knocked completely these disks evolve as time goes by, with the formation of swarms
upside down. As a result, it rotates in a retrograde direction that of rocky and icy debris and gaps in the clouds created by fledgling
takes 243 Earth days, longer than its orbital period. Earth and Mars planets.
have very similar days and seasons – at least in the present epoch – As currently envisaged, the Solar System began with the collapse
since their sidereal periods of axial rotation are both around of a cloud of interstellar gas. The trigger for this collapse may have
24 hours and both axes are inclined about 24–25∘ to their orbits been the passage of an externally generated shock wave from a
(Figure 1.12). supernova explosion, density waves passing through the galaxy, or
The motions of the outer planets are very different. Their large a major reduction in the cloud’s magnetic field or temperature.
distances from the Sun require modest velocities to maintain their The first of these explanations is the prime candidate, since
orbits. Orbital periods range from almost 12 years for Jupiter many stars form in clusters within clouds containing thousands
to about 165 years for Neptune. However, despite their swollen of solar masses of material. When the giant stars of the cluster run
spheres, they all spin much faster on their axes than their terrestrial through their short life spans, they are likely to produce a series of
siblings, with sidereal periods in the range of 10–20 hours.5 How- supernovas, preceded by powerful stellar winds.
ever, there is considerable variation in their axial tilts. Jupiter is Evidence from meteorites and dynamical modeling of super-
almost upright, Saturn and Neptune are inclined more than Earth nova shock wave propagation into giant molecular clouds indicate
and Mars, while Uranus spins on its side so that the polar regions that a supernova explosion compressed part of a cloud, causing
alternately point toward or away from the Sun. this region to collapse. The shock wave would also have injected
The orbits and axial inclinations of the planets (and satellites) material from the exploding star into the solar nebula. Scientists
are not fixed, e.g. the axial tilt of Mars changes dramatically over have detected evidence of this material in the form of the decay
millions of years. products from radioactive isotopes, particularly iron-60. These are
found in primitive meteorites and can only form in the giant stars
The Birth of the Solar System that end their lives as supernovas.
Over millions of years, the original cloud may be broken up
The Sun, which contains over 99% of the Solar System’s mass, into smaller fragments, each mixed with heavier elements from
completes one rotation in about 24 days. In contrast, the largest the dying stars, as well as the ubiquitous hydrogen and helium gas.
planets, Jupiter and Saturn, rotate once in about 10 hours. When Once a fragment reaches a critical density, it is able to overcome
combined with their orbital motion, it turns out that Jupiter the forces associated with gas pressure and begins to collapse
accounts for some 60% of the Solar System’s angular momentum, under its own gravity.
with another 25% accounted for by Saturn. This compares with The contracting cloud begins to rotate, slowly at first, then faster
about 2% for the sluggardly Sun. and faster – rather like when an ice skater pulls in his arms. Since
Any theory of cosmogony that attempts to account for the material falling from above and below the plane of rotation collides
formation of the Solar System must take into account the angular at the mid-plane of the collapsing cloud, its motion is cancelled
momentum of the Solar System objects, as well as the facts that out. The cloud begins to flatten into a disk, with a bulge at the cen-
all of the planets travel in the same direction and more or less in ter where the protostar is forming. The disk was probably thicker

5 The sidereal rotation period is the time a planet takes to spin once on its axis, with respect to a particular background star.
12 Chapter 1

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn

0° 177° (–3°) 23.5° 25° 3° 27°

Uranus Neptune Pluto

98° (–82°) 30° 118° (–72°)

Figure 1.12 The axial inclinations (obliquities) of the planets and Pluto compared to their orbital planes. Most of the planets have
axial tilts of less than 90∘ , so they rotate in a prograde direction, from west to east. Venus, Uranus, and Pluto have obliquities greater
than 90∘ , so they are said to rotate in a retrograde (backwards) direction. (Peter Bond)

at a greater distance from the protostar, where gas pressure was evaporated or been driven into interstellar space. All that remains
lower. of the original cloud is a rarefied disk of dust grains, mainly sili-
Such a nebula would almost certainly rotate slowly in the early cates and ice crystals.
stages, but as it contracts, conservation of angular momentum Meanwhile, the seeds of the planets have begun to appear.
causes the cloud to spin faster. If this process continues, the core More refractory elements condense in the warm, inner regions
forming at the center of the nebula will spin up so fast that it flies of the nebula, while icy grains condense in the cold outer
apart before it has a chance to form a star. Somehow, that angular regions. Individual grains collide and stick together, growing into
momentum must be removed before a star can form. centimeter-sized particles. These swirl around at different rates
Studies of other young stars and their surrounding disks provide within the flared disk, partly due to turbulence and partly as the
evidence that, as the interstellar gas collapses, it also winds up the result of differences in the drag exerted by the gas. After a few mil-
magnetic field which permeates the nebula. Gas which is rotating lion years, these dusty or icy golf balls accrete into kilometer-sized
too fast to collapse is expelled and dispersed along the magnetic planetesimals and gravity becomes the dominant force.
field. The Solar System now resembles a shooting gallery, with objects
This process naturally forms a spiral-shaped magnetic field that moving at high speed in chaotic fashion and enduring frequent
helps to generate polar jets and outflows associated with very collisions with each other. Some of these impacts are destruc-
young stars. At the same time, the jets remove angular momen- tive, causing the objects to shatter and generate large amounts
tum, allowing other material to accrete and collapse. Gravitational of dust or meteorite debris. Other collisions are constructive,
instability, turbulence, and tidal forces within the “lumpy” disk resulting in a snowballing process. Over time, the energy loss
may also play a part, helping to transfer much of the angular resulting from collisions means that construction eventually
momentum to the outer regions of the forming disk. dominates.
The protoplanetary disk is heated by the infall of material. Eventually, the system contains a relatively small number of
The inner regions, where the cloud is most massive, become hot large bodies or protoplanets. Millions of years pass as they con-
enough to vaporize dust and ionize gas. As contraction contin- tinue to mop up material from the remnants of the solar nebula
ues and the cloud becomes increasingly dense, the temperature at and to collide with each other, finally resulting in a population of
its core reaches the point where nuclear fusion commences. The widely separated worlds occupying stable orbits and traveling in
emerging protostar begins to emit copious amounts of ultraviolet the same direction around the young central star.
radiation. Radiation pressure drives away much of the nearby dust, It is likely that the largest planets in the Solar System, Jupiter
causing the star to decouple from its nebula. and Saturn, formed first. They presumably accumulated their huge
The young star may remain in this T Tauri stage for perhaps gaseous envelopes of hydrogen and helium before the solar nebula
10 million years, after which most of the residual nebula has dispersed.
 Beginnings 13

Box 1.2 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) was one of the most important characters in the story of unraveling how the Solar System works. The
German-born mathematician was appointed assistant to Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), the most famous observer of the day. Granted
access to Brahe’s catalog of positional data, Kepler was given the task of explaining the orbit of Mars. After four years of calculations,
Kepler finally realized in 1605 that the orbits of the planets were not perfect circles, but elongated circles known as ellipses.
Whereas a circle has one central point, an ellipse has two key interior points called foci (singular: focus). The sum of the distances
from the foci to any point on the ellipse is a constant. For Solar System objects, the Sun always lies at one focus.
In order to draw an ellipse, place two drawing pins some distance apart and loop a piece of string around them. Place a pencil
inside the string, draw the string tight and move the pencil around the pins. Now move one of the pins and repeat the process.
Note how the shape of the ellipse has changed.
The amount of “stretching” or “flattening” of the ellipse is termed its eccentricity. All ellipses have eccentricities lying between
zero and one. A circle may be regarded as an ellipse with zero eccentricity. As the ellipse becomes more stretched, its eccentricity
approaches one.

semi-minor axis
center
empty focus

semi-major axis Sun at other

a focus of ellipse

Figure 1.13 A circle has an eccentricity of zero. As the ellipse becomes more stretched (i.e. the foci move further apart) the eccentricity
approaches one. Half of the major axis is termed the semi-major axis. The average distance of a planet from the Sun as it follows its elliptical
orbit is equal to the length of the semi-major axis. The eccentricity is calculated by dividing the distance between the two foci by the length of
the major axis. (Peter Bond)

In reality, most of the planets follow orbits that are only slightly elliptical. Their eccentricities are so small that they look circular
at first glance. Pluto and Mercury are the main exceptions, with eccentricities exceeding 0.2.
Another key characteristic of an ellipse is its maximum width, known as the major axis. Half of the major axis is termed the
semi-major axis. The average distance of a planet from the Sun as it goes around its elliptical orbit is equal to the length of the
semi-major axis.
After intensive work on the implications of his discovery, Kepler eventually formulated his Three Laws of Planetary Motion.

• Kepler’s First Law: The orbits of the planets are ellipses, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse. (Generally, there is nothing
at the other focus.)
• Kepler’s Second Law: The line joining the planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times as the planet travels
around the ellipse. In order to do so, a planet must move faster along its orbit near the Sun and more slowly when it is far
away. A planet’s point of nearest approach to the Sun is termed perihelion; the furthest point from the Sun on its orbit is termed
aphelion. Hence, a planet moves fastest when it is near perihelion and slowest when it is near aphelion.
• Kepler’s Third Law: The square of a planet’s sidereal (orbital) period is proportional to the cube of its mean distance
(semi-major axis) from the Sun. This means that the period, or length of time a planet takes to complete one orbit around the
Sun, increases rapidly with its distance from the Sun. Thus, Mercury, the innermost planet, takes only 88 days to orbit the Sun,
whereas remote Pluto takes 248 years to do the same.
14 Chapter 1

Planet

F
Sun A3
E
Empty focus
A
A1

A2
B
C D

Figure 1.14 Kepler’s first law states that the orbit of a planet about the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. The other focus of the
ellipse is empty. According to Kepler’s second law, the line joining a planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times. In this diagram,
the three shaded sectors, A1 , A2 , and A3 , all have equal areas. A planet takes as long to travel from A to B as from C to D and E to F, because
it moves most rapidly when it is nearest the Sun (at perihelion) and slowest when it is farthest from the Sun (at aphelion). (Peter Bond)

1000.0

Pluto
Planets Neptune
100.0 Uranus
Orbital Period (days)

Saturn 50 Juplter’s
Satellites
Jupiter 20
10.0 Callisto
10
Ganymede
Mars 5
Europa
1.0 Earth
Venus 2 Io
1
Mercury 0.002 0.01

0.1
0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 1000.0
Semi-Major Axis (AU)

Figure 1.15 A graph showing the orbital periods of the planets plotted against their semi-major axes, using a logarithmic scale. The straight
line that connects the planets has a slope of 3/2, verifying Kepler’s third law which states that the squares of the orbital periods increase with
the cubes of the planetary distances. This law applies to any bodies in elliptical orbits, including Jupiter’s four largest satellites (inset). (Kenneth
R. Lang, The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System)

This law can be used to make some useful, but fairly simple, calculations. For example, if the period is measured in Earth years
and the distance is measured in astronomical units (AU), the law may be written in the simple form: P(years)2 = R(AU)3 .
This equation may also be written as: P(years) = R(AU)3/2 . Thus, if we know that Pluto’s average distance from the Sun
(semi-major axis) is 39.44 AU, we can calculate that its orbital period P = (39.44)3/2 = 247.69 years. Similarly, if we know that
Mars takes 1.88 Earth years to orbit the Sun, we can calculate that its semi-major axis R = (1.88)2/3 = 1.52 AU.
 Beginnings 15

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 1.16 The early stages of star and planet formation. (a) A Hubble Space Telescope view of five young stars in the Orion Nebula.
Four are surrounded by gas and dust trapped in orbit as the stars formed. These are possibly protoplanetary disks, or “proplyds,” that
might eventually produce planets. The bright proplyds are closest to the hottest stars of the parent star cluster, while the object farthest
from the hottest stars appears dark. (C. R. O’Dell/Rice University; NASA) (b) This HST image shows Herbig-Haro 30, a young star
surrounded by a thin, dark disk. The disk extends 64 billion km, dividing the nebula in two. The central star is hidden from direct view,
but its light reflects off the upper and lower surfaces of the disk to produce the pair of reddish nebulas. Gaseous jets (green) remove
material from above and below the disk and transfer angular momentum outwards. (Chris Burrows/STScI, the WFPC2 Science Team
and NASA) (c) A computer simulation showing how a protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star begins to fragment and form
gas giant planets with stable orbits. (Mayer, Quinn, Wadsley, Stadel, 2002, Science)

Observations of young star systems show that the gas disks Rocky Planets
that form planets usually have lifetimes of only 1 to 10 million
years, which means the gas giant planets probably formed within Modeling suggests that collisions between planetesimals ini-
this time frame. In contrast, Earth probably took at least 30 tially occur at low velocities, allowing them to merge and grow
million years to form, and may have taken as long as 100 million (Box 1.3). At the Earth’s distance from the Sun, it takes only about
years. 1,000 years for 1-km-sized objects to grow into 100-km objects.
It is worth noting here that computer simulations of the early Another 10,000 years produces 1,000-km diameter protoplanets,
Solar System show that even the slightest differences in initial which double in diameter over the next 10,000 years. Such models
conditions can produce different planetary systems. Depending on indicate that Moon-sized objects can form in a little over 20,000
exactly where each embryo started out, the orbital positions of new years.
planets vary randomly from simulation to simulation. The total As planetesimals within the protosolar disk grow larger and
number of planets – and hence, their final masses – may also vary more massive, their gravity increases, and once a few of the
greatly. It seems that planet formation is a very chaotic process as objects reach a size of 1,000 km, they begin to stir up the remain-
evidenced by exoplanet systems which bear little resemblance to ing smaller objects. Near encounters accelerate the smaller,
our Solar System (see Chapter 14). asteroid-sized chunks of rock to higher and higher speeds.
16 Chapter 1

Box 1.3 Key Steps in the Formation of Rocky Planets remains unclear. What does seem certain is that the chondrules
(after Kenyon and Bromley) and dust began to stick together and grow in size, creating chunks
of chondritic material. Drag from gas in the nebula encouraged
the pebble-sized objects to creep inward, all the time gathering in
1. A molecular cloud made up of gas and dust begins to more material.
collapse. Once a population of large planetesimals evolved, their destiny
2. A protostar begins to form at the core of the collapsing was determined largely by chance. A fast, head-on collision caused
nebula. the objects to break apart. A slow, gentler encounter enabled the
3. A disk-shaped nebula of orbiting dust and gas devel- participants to merge into an even larger object. In this way, the
ops in the protostar’s equatorial plane. terrestrial planets grew to more or less their current size over a
4. Dust grains in the disk collide and merge. period of some 10 million years.
5. Large (1 mm) dust grains fall into a thin, dusty sheet. The huge amounts of kinetic energy dumped in the planets by
6. Collisions produce planetesimals 1 m to 1 km across. frequent, massive impacts caused partial or total melting and the
7. More collisions between planetesimals produce plan- creation of magma oceans. This led to internal differentiation, with
etary embryos. the denser elements, such as iron, sinking to the core and the
8. Planetary embryos stir up the leftover planetesimals. lighter ones rising to the surface to create silicate crusts.
9. Planetesimals then collide and fragment. Early atmospheres were generated by outgassing of volatile
10. A cascade of collisions reduces fragments to dust. molecules such as water, methane, ammonia, hydrogen, nitrogen,
11. Planets sweep up some of the dust. and carbon dioxide. A final heavy bombardment, which ended
12. Radiation and a “wind” of charged particles from the about 3.8 billion years ago, is clearly marked in the crater record
central star remove the remaining gas and dust. of the Moon, and this has been applied to other planets and
satellites.
Occasionally a satellite was created as the by-product of a major
impact. Such is thought to be the case with Earth and its Moon.
Eventually, they are traveling so quickly that when they collide, Debris from an ancient collision between the young Earth and a
they pulverize each other instead of merging. Mars-sized planetesimal created a ring of debris that eventually
While the largest protoplanets continue to grow, the remaining came together to form the Moon. A similar explanation has been
rocky planetesimals grind each other into dust. Some of this dust put forward for the satellites of Mars and the Pluto-Charon system
is drawn in by the surviving planets, while much of the remainder (see Chapters 7 and 12).
is swept out of the Solar System when the Sun evolves into a
hydrogen-burning star. (A cloud of micron-sized dust particles
still exists in the ecliptic plane of the Solar System. Known as the Gas Giants and Ice Giants
zodiacal cloud, it is composed of silicate particles that are largely
derived from collisions between main belt asteroids.) In the outer reaches of the solar nebula, temperatures were low
One of the problems that must be solved by Solar System theo- enough for ices to form. Indeed, it seems that ice particles were
rists is an explanation for the silicate and metal-rich nature of the much more abundant than silicate dust particles. This being the
terrestrial planets and the dominance of hydrogen and helium in case, any planetesimals born in the frigid outer zone would have
the outer planets (Box 1.4). Clearly, the marked difference in com- resembled icy dirt balls, much like the comets we see today. How-
position between the inner and outer planets must be related to ever, the main constituents of Jupiter and Saturn are hydrogen
the materials that made up different regions of the disk. and helium, rather than water. Since temperatures in the nebula
The dense, rocky nature of the Earth and its neighbors suggests would have been too warm for these gases to condense, accre-
that they simply formed through the accretion of dust grains in the tion of hydrogen and helium snowflakes cannot have occurred.
solar nebula. However, studies of primitive chondritic meteorites Another explanation must be found.
show the presence of millimeter-sized droplets (chondrules) that There seem to be two possibilities. Studies of gas giant interiors
were once liquid. suggest that Jupiter and Saturn may possess rocky cores at least
It seems that, before they amalgamated to form the meteorites, as large as the Earth. It may be, therefore, that the early stages
these existed for a brief period as independent spheroids at tem- of growth of these planets resembled the accretion taking place
peratures above 1,500∘ C. Some chondrules seem to include other in the inner Solar System, with the growth of massive nuclei of
chondrules, indicative of being exposed to high temperatures on ice and dust. Once these became sufficiently large, about five to
more than one occasion (see Chapter 13). The source of the heating 15 times the mass of Earth, they were able to attract and hold
is uncertain, although shock waves, solar heating, and collisions onto even the lightest gases in the surrounding solar nebula. As
between planetesimals have been suggested. their mass and gravitational grasp grew, their spheres became ever
Laboratory experiments indicate that these molten globules more bloated.
were cooled very rapidly, within 10 million years of the collapse Alternatively, they could simply have developed as the result
of the molecular cloud. The cause of such sudden cooling events of large-scale gravitational instabilities in the solar nebula. Since
 Beginnings 17

Box 1.4 Mass and Density

Two of the basic properties of Solar System objects are mass and density. Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in a particle
or object. The standard unit of mass in the International System (SI) is the kilogram (kg). This is usually determined by measuring
the object’s gravitational influence on other objects, e.g. natural or artificial satellites.
Once the volume of an object is known, its bulk density can be calculated. In this book, density is usually expressed in grams
per cubic centimeter (g/cm3 ). As a guide, the density of water is 1.0 g/cm3 . Objects which have a density lower than water are able
to float (assuming enough water is available!).
If a planet has a high density, it means that it is largely made of dense, rocky, or metallic materials. Objects often have low densities
because they contain a lot of gases or ices, but few rocky materials. This is why all of the giant planets in the Solar System have low
densities, despite their huge size.
The planet with the lowest density (0.7 g/cm3 ) is Saturn. The reason that Saturn has such a low density is that it is mainly
composed of gas, particularly hydrogen and helium. There is only a small rocky core at its center.
Other objects, including many small satellites and asteroids, have low densities because they are piles of loosely consolidated
rubble or highly porous, i.e. they contain numerous empty spaces.
The densities of planets are also a reflection of their size and the layering of their interiors. Earth has the highest density of all
the planets in the Solar System because it is made of dense, rocky materials. At the surface, crustal rocks have densities between
2.5 and 3.5 g/cm3 . However, Earth’s average density is much higher (5.5 g/cm3 ).
This is partly because the denser elements, such as iron and nickel, have sunk to the center of the planet, while the less dense
materials have risen to the surface. Many planets were internally differentiated in this way early in their lives.
The centers of the planets are also more compressed by the weight of the overlying material. In the case of Earth, for example,
the normal, uncompressed density of its rocks is about 4.4 g/cm3 , but the central core is compressed to greater than normal density
by the overlying layers.
More massive planets should experience greater compression at their centers, and hence higher average densities, if they are
made of the same rocky and metallic materials as Earth. The opposite should apply to smaller planets. However, the smallest of the
rocky planets, Mercury, actually has an average density of 5.4 g/cm3 , only slightly lower than Earth’s.
Mercury’s density rises to a remarkable 5.3 g/cm3 after it has been corrected for the effects of internal compression – much higher
than Earth’s. The only way to explain this is to assume that the little planet has a huge core of iron and nickel that takes up almost
half of its interior (see Chapter 5).

the disk in the outer reaches contained both dust and condensed model – see Box 1.5 and Figures 1.17 and 1.18) envisages a chaotic
ices, there was plenty of raw material for large planets to develop early Solar System occupied by the major planets out to a distance
and grow. of about 15 AU (closer than the present orbit of Uranus). Jupiter
Any theory must also account for the fact that Jupiter and Saturn may have been born a little farther out in the Solar System than
are huge hydrogen–helium planets, whereas Uranus and Neptune it is today, whereas the other giants were closer to the infant Sun
are notably smaller and contain sizeable amounts of elements that than at present. Beyond the planets was a region swarming with
form ices: oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. If the latter pair began as leftover planetesimals.
icy nuclei, they must have grown quite slowly in the more rarefied Whereas Jupiter was massive enough to eject large numbers
conditions of the presolar nebula beyond about 15 AU. By the time of planetesimals to the outer reaches of the Solar System or out
they were massive enough to draw in large amounts of gas, the of the system altogether, the three smaller giants were unable
nebula had dissipated, and the supply was cut off. to do this. Instead, they flung similar numbers of planetesimals
toward the Sun and away from it. Whenever Uranus or Neptune
decelerated a nearby planetesimal, causing the object to move
Migrating Planets closer to the Sun, the planet gained a tiny amount of momen-
tum. The resultant acceleration caused it to drift away from
Our picture of the early Solar System is complicated by the likeli- the Sun.
hood that the giant planets migrated considerable distances before Over time, after billions of such gravitational interactions,
they ended up in their present positions. Such large-scale move- Jupiter spiraled inward a modest distance, while Saturn drifted
ment is supported by the discovery of numerous large, extrasolar outward. When Jupiter reached a distance of 5.3 AU and Saturn
planets that orbit within a fraction of an astronomical unit of a star. arrived at 8.3 AU, the two planets were in a 2:1 orbital resonance,
In the case of our Solar System, this migration can be explained so that one orbit of Saturn lasted precisely two Jupiter orbits.
by the exchange of orbital momentum between giant planets The repeated gravitational pull of Jupiter caused Saturn’s orbit to
and innumerable planetesimals. One current model (the Nice become much more elongated.
18 Chapter 1

Box 1.5 The Nice Model and Jupiter’s Grand Tack

In recent years, many thousands of exoplanets have been discovered orbiting distant stars (see Chapter 14). Most of these planetary
systems are very different from our Solar System. Instead of all their planets traveling in near-circular orbits that lie in the same
plane, they are made up of planets traveling around the central stars in unusual orbits that are difficult to explain with the
traditionally accepted planetary formation process.
These remote systems include exoplanets whose paths lie in completely different planes, and worlds with extremely eccentric
orbits that take millennia to complete.
At the other extreme are the “hot Jupiters,” which orbit extremely close to their stars – much nearer than Mercury’s distance
from the Sun. At such close proximity to a star, temperatures would be too high for a massive planet to retain its gaseous envelope
during formation.
If these worlds cannot have formed at their current locations, the obvious implication is that they formed further out and then
their orbits were greatly modified. This would mean that the system evolved as the result of planetary migration.
The possibility of planetary migration has been considered for several decades, but the first detailed analysis of how this could
occur came in 2005 with the introduction of the Nice Model (named after the French city).
Papers published in Nature by an international collaboration of scientists (Rodney Gomes, Hal Levison, Alessandro Morbidelli,
and Kleomenis Tsiganis) suggested that planetary migration may have occurred as the result of an exchange of orbital momentum
between the giant planets and innumerable planetesimals, over the course of a billion years.
The Nice Model envisaged an early Solar System in which the major planets were much more closely spaced and compact than
at present, following near-circular orbits between ∼5.5 and ∼17 astronomical units (AU).
Jupiter may have been a little farther out in the Solar System than it is today, whereas the other giants were closer to the infant
Sun than at present. Beyond the planets was a region swarming with leftover planetesimals (comets and Pluto-like objects).
The outermost planet, Neptune, began interacting with comets located at the inner edge of the young Kuiper Belt, so that some
were scattered outward to interstellar space and others were sent inwards. Some of these entered the gravitational sphere of Uranus
and were scattered again. This process of gravitational scattering was repeated with Saturn.
Whenever Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune decelerated a nearby planetesimal, causing the object to move closer to the Sun, the planet
gained a tiny amount of momentum and accelerated. The overall result was the gradual outward migration of Neptune, Uranus,
Saturn and the Kuiper Belt.
Unlike the three smaller giants, Jupiter was massive enough to eject large numbers of planetesimals to the outer reaches of the
Solar System or out of the System altogether. Over time, after billions of such gravitational interactions, Jupiter spiraled inward a
modest distance, at the same time as Saturn was drifting outward.
When Jupiter reached a distance of 5.3 AU and Saturn arrived at 8.3 AU, the two planets were in a 2:1 orbital resonance, so that
one orbit of Saturn lasted precisely two Jupiter orbits. This would have occurred around 600–700 million years after they began
to form.
The repeated gravitational pull of Jupiter caused Saturn’s orbit to become much more elongated. This resulted in Saturn passing
closer to Uranus and Neptune, so their orbits were also made more elliptical.
As the outer planets interacted chaotically with each other, it seems that Neptune and Uranus may have sometimes swapped
places. One or both ice giants also plunged into the outer reservoir of planetesimals, scattering billions of them in all directions.
By the time the planets had cleared most of the intruders from their vicinities and the system had settled down again, Saturn
had migrated out to about 9.5 AU. The effect on the outer planetary pair was even more extreme. Uranus had moved from about
13 to 19 AU, while Neptune had been catapulted from 15 to 30 AU.
Another consequence of this 500-million-year long planetary reshuffle was that the remaining planetesimals, perhaps 0.1% of
the original population, were relocated beyond 30 AU, where they now reside as Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs).
The inward flux of planetesimals during the phase of dynamical instability also allows for chaotic capture of Jupiter’s and
Neptune’s Trojan asteroid populations.
Furthermore, the asteroid belt was also strongly perturbed during Jupiter’s migration, adding to the sudden, massive delivery
of planetesimals to the inner Solar System. As their pockmarked surfaces show, the Moon and terrestrial planets appear to have
suffered heavily during this Late Heavy Bombardment, around 3.9 billion years ago.
A modified version, the Nice 2 Model, suggests that the gradual scattering of planetesimals caused Jupiter and Saturn to fall into
a 3:2 orbital resonance (not the originally proposed 2:1). This favours the development of a stable inner Solar System, where the
rocky, terrestrial planets could form.
It also suggests that the mass of planetesimals hitting the regular satellites of Jupiter, Saturn etc. is smaller than assumed in studies
based on the classic Nice Model by a factor of between 3 and 6. The impact rate is smaller in the Nice 2 Model because (at least in
part) encounters with the planets cause the orbits of KBOs to become highly eccentric, resulting in less gravitational focusing by
the planets.
 Beginnings 19

Kuiper Belt

Jupiter
Sun
Uranus
Saturn

Neptune

Pluto

Figure 1.17 According to the Nice model, the outward migration of Saturn’s orbit changed the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. In the
scenario shown here, the orbits of Uranus and Neptune cross over. Meanwhile, Neptune plows into the cloud of icy planetesimals that
make up the young Kuiper Belt. The gravitational interaction of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune with the planetesimals sent billions of
these objects inward, toward the Sun. As a result, these three planets migrated outward to their present orbits. This may also account
for a possible period of heavy bombardment in the inner Solar System about 4 billion years ago. Some planetesimals, such as Pluto,
were locked into orbital resonances with Neptune. (Nature)

1. 2. 3. 4.

Sun

20 a.u.

Figure 1.18 One version of the Nice Model. (1) The giant planets surrounded by a cloud of planetesimals. Neptune’s orbit (blue) is
closer to the Sun than that of Uranus (green). (2) As the giant planets scatter comets into deep space, Jupiter migrates inward, while
the other three planets migrate outward. (3) After Jupiter and Saturn briefly enter a 2:1 orbital resonance, they change the orbits of
Uranus and Neptune, causing them to scatter billions of planetesimals inward or outward. (4) The giant planets settle into their final
orbits and the outer belt of planetesimals is heavily depleted. (Gomes, Levison, Morbidelli, and Tsiganis)

Suddenly, Saturn began to create havoc with the orbits of Uranus Uranus had moved from about 13 to 19 AU, while Neptune had
and Neptune, causing them to become more elliptical. They began been catapulted from 15 to 30 AU.
to plow through the outer swarm of icy planetesimals, scattering Another consequence of this 500-million-year long plane-
billions of them in all directions. By the time the planets had tary reshuffle was that the remaining planetesimals, perhaps
cleared most of the intruders from their vicinities and the system 0.1% of the original planet-building population, were relo-
had settled down again, Saturn had migrated out to about 9.5 AU. cated beyond 30 AU, where they now reside as Kuiper Belt
The effect on the outer planetary pair was even more extreme. objects.
20 Chapter 1

(a) water-rich asteroids in the middle of the main asteroid belt. The
Disk of water- whole process took about 500,000 years.
Disk of rocky and carbon-rich
(S-type) (C-type)
planetesimals planetesimals Planetary Satellites
J s

(b) Jupiter and growing The Solar System contains well over 150 planetary satellites, but, as
Eccentricity

s might be expected from the wide range of sizes and compositions,

Saturn move inward ype
d S-t these seem to have arisen in several different ways (Figure 1.20).
tere
Truncated Scat As mentioned above, Earth’s Moon is thought to have been
disk J s born during a massive, grazing collision between the young Earth
S-type C-type and a Mars-sized planetary embryo. The mixture of debris from
(c) asteroids asteroids both objects formed a ring around the scarred Earth, eventually
Rocky Jupiter and Saturn
accreting into a large satellite.
planets move outward
Other satellites may also have been created by sizeable impacts
form from
disk early in the Solar System’s history. For example, the Pluto-Charon
J s system may have originated during a collision between two large,
Semi-major axis icy planetesimals over 4 billion years ago. Simulations show that
some of the debris from the collision would be blasted into orbit
Figure 1.19 The main stages of the Grand Tack Model. Panel around the surviving protoplanet, eventually coalescing to form
(a) shows the initial state, where Jupiter (black circle labeled J) Charon and several smaller satellites.
and a not-complete Saturn (black circle labeled S) lie between Most of the major satellites seem to have followed a less trau-
an inner, warmish region of the Solar System populated by dif- matic path, gradually accreting from a protoplanetary disk, much
ferentiated assorted kinds of asteroids (S-type), and an outer like the planets. The most obvious example is the Jovian system,
region of C-type asteroids containing water, carbon, etc. In with its family of four Galilean moons. The inner pair, Io and
panel (b), as Jupiter and proto-Saturn move toward the young Europa, are smaller but denser (with a higher proportion of
Sun, S-type asteroids are scattered outward. Panel (c) shows rock) than the outer pair, ice-rich Ganymede and Callisto. All of
the position of Jupiter and the fully-grown Saturn after they them orbit Jupiter in the same direction and in more or less the
“tacked,” or reversed course. The large circles in the center same plane.
depict asteroids from the inner and outer Solar System orbit- These characteristics can be explained if the moons were born
ing mostly in separate regions of the asteroid belt. Eccentricity from a spherical cloud of dust and gas being drawn inward from
is a measure of how elliptical an orbit is; semi-major axis is the the solar nebula by a fledgling planet. As time went by, the cloud
mean distance from the Sun. (Kevin Walsh) flattened into a disk around the protoplanetary core. This disk
was hotter and denser near the center, allowing condensation
and accretion of the less volatile materials. Further out, the icy
Furthermore, the asteroid belt was also strongly perturbed dur- volatiles could also condense and accrete to form Ganymede and
ing this burst of migration, adding to the sudden, massive delivery Callisto.
of planetesimals to the inner Solar System. As their pockmarked Although the Saturnian family of satellites is dominated by
surfaces show, the Moon and terrestrial planets suffered heavily planet-sized Titan, none of the members are particularly rocky,
during this Late Heavy Bombardment, around 4 billion years ago. with many only slightly denser than water. Titan itself is similar
According to a more recent theory, known as the Grand Tack in density to Ganymede and Callisto. If the proto-Saturn was
Model, planetary migration was also a key factor during the first 5 surrounded by a collapsing cloud, it seems to have been only
million years of Solar System evolution (Figure 1.19). The model about one quarter the mass of Jupiter’s. This suggests that the
suggests that, directly after its formation out of the early solar cloud contained less silicate (rocky) material and more ice than
nebula at about 3.5 AU, Jupiter migrated toward the Sun, as the its counterpart in the warmer environs of Jupiter.
dense gas in the nebula dragged it toward the Sun. Then, due to Certainly, there is a general increase in size and mass moving
the growing gravitational influence of the newly formed Saturn, outward from Saturn toward Titan, with a marked decrease in
Jupiter halted its migration, then “tacked” (reversed direction) both properties beyond Titan. This has led theorists to suggest
like a sailboat tacking around a buoy, when it reached about that Titan grew sufficiently quickly to collect much of the solid
1.5 AU. It then migrated outward toward its current position at material in the disk around Saturn, leaving only a modest amount
5.2 AU. for the medium-sized satellites to accumulate.
The migrating Jupiter depleted the mass concentrated at the A modified version of the accretion scenario has been proposed
current locations of Mars and the asteroid belt, thereby preventing by Robin Canup and William Ward of the Southwest Research
Mars from growing bigger. The model also successfully explains Institute. They suggested that a growing satellite’s gravity induces
the inclinations of asteroids and the transition from water-poor to spiral waves in a surrounding disk of gas, primarily hydrogen.
 Beginnings 21

Figure 1.20 The most significant satellites in our Solar System are shown beside the Earth, with their correct relative sizes and
colors. Ganymede and Titan are larger than Mercury and eight satellites are larger than Pluto. Earth’s Moon is the fifth largest, with
a diameter of 3,476 km. Most of them are thought to have formed from a disk of gas and dust in orbit around their home planet.
However, Triton and many of the smallest satellites are thought to be captured asteroids or Kuiper Belt objects that formed elsewhere
in the Solar System. Earth’s Moon, and possibly the moons of Mars, Uranus, and Pluto, are thought to have formed as the result of
major impacts. (NASA)

Gravitational interactions between these waves and the satellite protosolar disk had been dispersed, probably after the young
cause the moon’s orbit to contract. This effect becomes stronger Sun entered its active T Tauri phase. If the regular satellites of
as a satellite grows, so that the bigger a satellite gets, the faster Uranus and Neptune could not have formed through large-scale
its orbit spirals inward toward the planet. They proposed that the accretion from a circumplanetary disk, how did they come
balance between the inflow of material to the satellites and the loss about?
of satellites through collision with the planet implies a maximum One idea is that the planets were larger and hotter during their
size for a satellite of a gas giant. accretion phase. As they subsequently cooled and contracted, they
Numerical simulations and analytical estimates of the growth left behind a “spinout disk” from which small satellites could grow
and loss of satellites showed that multiple generations of satellites by accretion.
were likely, with today’s satellites being the last surviving gen- One complication is the fact that the Uranian satellites orbit in
eration to form as the planet’s growth ceased and the gas disk circles close to the planet’s equator, even though it spins on its
dissipated. side. Neptune’s rotation axis is also tilted quite markedly, aligned at
The origin of the Uranian (and Neptunian) satellites is open about 30∘ to its orbital plane, while the orbits of its small satellites
to debate. Models suggest that the ice giants grew more slowly are circular and near-equatorial. This suggests that the planets
than their larger cousins. By the time they were large enough were involved in major impacts early in their histories, and that
to gather a disk of material, most of the gas and dust in the the satellites were born during or after these collisions.
22 Chapter 1

It may be that impacts with planet-sized objects blasted out The interstellar medium forces the solar wind to turn back and
clouds of hot material that formed orbiting disks around the ice confines it within the heliosphere.
giants. When the material cooled and condensed, the ice-rock This picture had to be revised again in 2009, when data from
ingredients were available for medium-sized satellites to form. the IBEX spacecraft and the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around
The major exception is Triton, the largest satellite of Neptune. Saturn showed that the heliosphere is roughly spherical – perhaps
One clue to its origin is that most of its bulk properties are very like an elongated balloon – after all. Instruments on the spacecraft
similar to those of Pluto, one of the largest known members of were used to map the intensity of the energetic neutral atoms
the Kuiper Belt. Furthermore, unlike the other Neptunian moons, ejected from the heliosheath as the solar wind interacts with the
it follows a retrograde path which is quite steeply inclined to the interstellar medium. The data showed a belt of hot, high-pressure
planet’s equator. This unusual orbit has led to speculation that particles where the interstellar wind flows by the heliosphere.
Triton was a Kuiper Belt object that ventured too close to Neptune Their distribution indicates that the heliosphere resembles a huge
and was somehow captured. bubble which expands and contracts under the influence of the
local interstellar magnetic field as it sweeps past.
The interaction of the heliosphere with the interstellar medium
The Heliosphere takes place in several stages. For a spacecraft traveling out of the
Solar System, the first boundary to be reached is the termination
The motion of superhot plasma (electrified gas) inside the Sun shock. This is a standing shock wave where the supersonic solar
generates a powerful magnetic field. The Sun’s atmosphere extends wind slows dramatically from more than 100 km/s to about half
into interplanetary space through the motion of the electrically that speed.
charged particles (mainly electrons and protons) of the solar Beyond the termination shock is a region known as the
wind, which streams outward in all directions at typical speeds of heliosheath, where particles of the solar wind and interstellar gas
between 400 and 7,500 km/s (see Chapter 2). mix. We are able to learn about conditions in this remote region
As the particles spiral around the Sun, they carve out an invisi- by studying data from NASA’s two Voyager spacecraft, which are
ble bubble which extends outward for many billions of kilometers. heading out of the Solar System in different directions.
Although electrically neutral atoms, cosmic rays, and dust parti- Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock on December 17,
cles from interstellar space can penetrate this bubble, virtually all 2004, becoming the first spacecraft to enter the heliosheath. Voy-
of the atomic particles in the heliosphere originate in the Sun itself. ager 2 crossed the termination shock on August 30, 2007, 30 years
The region of space in which the Sun’s magnetic field and the after it was launched from Florida. The Voyager 2 crossing took
wind of charged particles (solar wind) dominate the interstellar place almost 1.6 billion km closer to the Sun than Voyager 1’s,
medium is known as the heliosphere (Figure 1.21). The shape confirming that the outer boundary of the Solar System is curved.
of the heliosphere and the distance of the heliopause are deter- Observations by the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument
mined by three main factors: the motion of the Sun as it plows (MIMI) on board Cassini showed that the heliosheath is about
through the interstellar medium, the density of the interstellar 40 to 50 AU (6 billion to 7.5 billion km) thick. Further out is the
plasma, and the pressure exerted on its surroundings by the solar heliopause, the boundary between the interstellar medium and
wind. the heliosphere.
From theoretical studies and spacecraft observations of plane- The Voyager 1 spacecraft made history once more in August
tary magnetospheres and the solar wind, it is known that the den- 2012 when it crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space,
sity of the solar wind decreases as the inverse square of its distance leaving the solar wind behind. The crossing took place about 19
from the Sun. In other words, solar wind density at 4 AU is only billion km from the Sun. The spacecraft entered a region where
one quarter its density at 2 AU. The strength of the Sun’s magnetic the density is 40 times greater because it is generated by material
field also weakens with distance, although at a slower rate. Eventu- from other stars and stellar explosions.
ally, the density and magnetic influence of the solar wind decrease On November 5, 2018, Voyager 2 became the second spacecraft
so much that its outward motion is impeded by the sparse plasma to record crossing the heliopause, at a distance of more than 18
of the interstellar medium. billion km from the Sun. The crossing was marked by a steep
The heliosphere acts like an island in a stream, causing interstel- decline in the speed of the solar wind particles, followed by an
lar plasma to be diverted around it. At first it was thought that the absence of solar wind flow around the intrepid spacecraft.
heliosphere really was spherical, but the two Voyager spacecraft, Beyond the heliopause, the interstellar ions flow around the
which are currently heading out of the Solar System on different heliosphere, modifying its size and shape. Still further out, there is
paths, observed what seemed to be a “squashed” heliosheath. probably a bow shock, another shock surface where the supersonic
In this new model, the heliosphere resembled a huge windsock flow of the interstellar medium is suddenly slowed as it approaches
or tadpole – much like a comet’s elongated tail – that is shaped the heliosphere. All of these boundaries are thought to be moving
by the motion of the Sun as it plows through a hot, tenuous cloud back and forth at speeds of up to 100 km/s as the heliosphere is
of interstellar gas and dust. Studies of the motion of nearby stars squeezed and released due to gusts in the solar wind and variations
show that the Sun is traversing the cloud at a velocity of 25.5 km/s. in the interstellar magnetic field.
 Beginnings 23

Figure 1.21 The heliosphere is a bubble in space, filled with the particles and magnetic fields carried in the solar wind. The speed
of the solar wind drops abruptly at the termination shock, as it begins to feel the effects of the interstellar wind. The heliosheath is
the outer region of the heliosphere, where the solar wind piles up as it presses outward against the approaching wind in interstellar
space. The boundary between solar wind and interstellar wind is the heliopause, where the pressure of the two winds is in balance. This
causes the solar wind to turn back and flow down the tail of the heliosphere. As the heliosphere plows through interstellar space, a bow
shock forms ahead of it. Also shown are the two Voyager spacecraft which have now crossed the heliopause. (NASA/Goddard/Walt
Feimer)

The Future which will cause our planet to spiral slowly inward. Earth’s fate will
hang in the balance.
The Solar System is continually evolving and changing. The col- Further out, Mars will briefly become warm enough to melt its
lision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in July 1994 illus- icy volatiles, leading to a temporary spell of warmth with a dense
trated that impacts and planetary evolution are continuing today. atmosphere. However, the planet’s gravity is not strong enough to
More significantly, the Sun is also evolving, as nuclear fusion con- maintain the situation for very long.
tinues to create helium from hydrogen in its core. Jupiter’s ice-rich Galilean moons will also develop thick atmo-
Since its birth, 4.54 billion years ago, the Sun has grown 30% spheres of water vapor, but again, these wet greenhouse conditions
brighter and this change will continue (see Chapter 2). Over the will be fairly short-lived. On Saturn’s giant moon Titan, an ocean
next 1.2 billion years, its surface temperature will increase by of liquid ammonia may survive for several hundred million years,
about 150∘ C and its luminosity will increase by another 10%. By perhaps providing a brief interlude when primitive life may evolve.
this time, the oceans will have boiled away. Over the next 2 billion With its hydrogen now exhausted, the Sun will shrink and
years, even the water vapor will be lost, turning Earth into an arid become 100 times less luminous as it switches to helium for its
planet comparable to Venus today. energy source. However, the fusion process that converts helium
Models suggest that, about 7 billion years into the future, to carbon will only prolong its active life for a few hundred million
the Sun will swell into a red giant with a diameter perhaps years. As the helium becomes exhausted, the Sun will expand once
200 times larger than today’s value – large enough to reach more into a red giant. Riven by sudden pulsations in size, it may
almost to Earth’s present orbit. However, an increase in the well consume Earth – if it still exists.
solar wind will cause up to 25% of the Sun’s mass to be blown 100 million years after the second red giant phase, the Sun
away. will eject its outer layers, forming a beautiful (from the outside!)
This drop in mass will cause the orbits of the planets to expand planetary nebula. All that will be left is a tiny, extremely hot,
outwards, so that Venus may recede to Earth’s current orbit, while superdense core known as a white dwarf.
Earth may lie near the present orbit of Mars. However, this out- The final layout of the Solar System is hard to predict, but it may
ward retreat will probably be partially balanced by solar tidal drag, be that the scorched remnants of Earth and Mars, along with the
24 Chapter 1

outer giants, will continue to orbit the fading dwarf star, largely
undisturbed, for hundreds of billions of years. • List six characteristics of the present Solar System that
Meanwhile, our galactic environment will also have changed any theory of its formation must explain.
dramatically. About 4.5 billion years from now, the Andromeda • Explain the importance of: (a) Johannes Kepler,
galaxy and our Milky Way will collide, combining to form a single, (b) Galileo Galilei, and (c) Isaac Newton in improving
football-shaped elliptical galaxy. By then, the Sun will be an aging our understanding of the Solar System.
star nearing the red giant phase and the end of its life. • Explain the main processes by which: (a) rocky planets
Models suggest that the Solar System likely will reside 100,000 and (b) gaseous planets are believed to form.
light years from the center of the new galaxy – four times further • What are the main similarities and differences between
than the current distance. Any human descendants observing gas giants and ice giants?
the future sky will experience a very different view. The band of • Describe the main features of planetary migration, as
the Milky Way will be gone, replaced by a huge bulge of billions hypothesized for the early Solar System. What relevance
of stars. may this have had to the current Kuiper Belt?
• Explain three possible origins for planetary satellites.
Give likely examples of each type.
Questions
• Describe the main features of the heliosphere.
• What is the likely fate of the Solar System beyond
• What did the word “planet” originally mean? (b) Why 1 billion years into the future?
were they given this name?
• How many planets were recognized before the inven-
tion of the telescope? (b) How many planets are recog-
nized today in the Solar System? (c) What is the current
definition of a planet?