PHYSICS.

Name; Henna Patel

Class; 9B

Research Topic; Astronomy

Submitted to; Mr. Justin

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 ASTRONOMY.
This is the branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and
the physical universe as a whole.

Our explanations of the behavior of the astronomical bodies are based

upon the evidence we have before us today.

The Solar System.

The Solar System is the gravitational bound system comprising
the Sun and the objects that orbit it.

The word planet comes from the ancient Greek word meaning meaning
wanderer.

The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational
collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud.

The Earth is one the eight planets who orbits the Sun.

The orbits of the planet are elliptical (like squashed circles) with
the Sun close to the center.

The strength of gravity on a planet or moon is called

gravitational field strength and given as symbol g. The
gravitational field strength on Earth is approximately 10N/Kg and
on the moon its approximately 1.6N/Kg.

Planets are non-luminous objects- they dont emit light. We see

them because they reflect light from the sun. Planets are held in
orbit by the gravitational pull of the Sun.

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 Moon.
Moons are natural objects that orbit a planet. Theyre non-
luminous objects. We see them because they reflect light from the
Sun.

The Earth has just one moon.

It takes the moon 29.5 days Lunar Month to orbit the Earth.

The moon like the Earth spins on its axis, but much more slowly
than the Earth turns.

Some planets have no moons and some have more than one like
Mars has 2 moons, Jupiter has over 60 moons and Uranus has 27
moons. Some moons are very small and not easily seen from the
Earth and more being discovered orbiting the outer planet.

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 Comets.
They orbit the Sun. Theyre approximately 1-30Km in diameter
and made of dust and ice.

As of 2010, astronomers have dicovered about 4,000 comets in

our solar system.

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Their orbits are very elongated.

The solid, core structure of a comet is known as the nucleus.

Cometary nuclei are composed of an amalgamation of rock, dust,
water ice, and frozen gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon
monoxide, methane, and ammonia. As such, they are popularly
described as "dirty snowballs"

ASTERIODS.
Theyre minor planets or rocks that orbit the Sun.

There is a belt of asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

The first asteroid to be discovered was called Ceres.

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It was believed that the asteroids were formed at the same time
as the rest of the Solar System and possibly are the rocky remains
of a planet.

SATELLITES.
Theyre objects that orbit a planet. Theyre held in orbit by
gravitational forces. Moons are examples of natural satellites.
Some objects that orbit the planets are manufactured objects
artificial satellites.

GRAVITATIONAL FORCES.
The movement of all astronomical bodies is determined by
gravitational forces.

Newtons law of gravity.

Newton suggested that between any 2 objects there is a force of
attraction. This attraction is due to the masses of the objects. He
called this force gravitational force. The size of this force
depends on;

The masses of the 2 objects.

The distance between the masses.

The gravitational attraction between the 2 objects with small

masses is extremely small. Only when one or both the objects has
a very large mass the force of attraction is noticeable.

THE MILKY WAY.

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Gravitational forces between stars cause them to cluster
together in enormous groups called galaxies. They consist
of billions of stars
Our galaxy is a spiral galaxy called the milky way.