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Stars and the Solar System

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Stars and the Solar System Chapter STARS AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM f you look at the sky, during the night time, you will notice that it is full of tiny shinning objects. Some of these I objects are very bright while others are dim. Most of these objects seem to be twinkling. The reality is that, not all of the objects in the sky can be seen with the naked eye i.e., without a telescope. It is our solar system which is full of these bright objects. So, let’s study the solar system in Fig. 12.1 The night sky this chapter in more detail. 12.1 Celestial Bodies The sun, the moon and all the objects shinning in the night sky are known as the Celestial bodies. Did you know? This includes every natural object that is located If you draw a dot in a picture of night sky, it will contain millions outside the Earth’s atmosphere, such as the of stars in that single dot. Moon, the Sun, an asteroid, planet or star. The Kuiper Belt contains many such celestial bodies. Some of these bodies are very large and hot. They are composed of gases and have their own heat and light. They emit heat in large amounts. Such huge bodies are known as stars i.e., sun. 12.2 Constellations Further, when you look at the night sky, you will see fascinating patterns formed by the different groups of stars, which are called constellations. Fig. 12.2 Some of the Constellations Stars and the solar system Ursa Major, one of the famous constellations, lies in the northern sky. It is known as “the great bear” or “the big dipper” or the Saptarishi because there are seven prominent stars in this constellation. It appears like a big ladle or an upside-down question mark. In ancient times, people use a star to determine directions during the night time. The North Star known as the pole star indicates the north direction. You can Fig. 12.3 Locating Pole Star locate the pole star with the help of the Saptarishi. Activity 12.1 Observe the night for 10 consecutive days and draw the patterns which you see among the stars. Does any of the patterns match with any constellation? If yes, name it. 12.3 The Solar System Apart from these, there are some celestial bodies that do not emit heat and light. They are eliminated by the light of the stars. Such bodies are called planets and their satellites. The sun and the other celestial bodies which revolve around it due to the gravitational pull of sun, form the solar system. There are eight planets in the solar system which are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (in their order of distance from the sun). Let’s know about some members of the solar family. Fig. 12.4 Our Solar System 2 Stars and the solar system 12.3.1 The Sun The sun is the centre of the solar system. It is huge in size and made up entirely of hot gasses. It is the primary source of heat and light for the entire solar system. Fig. 12.5 The Sun 12.3.2 The Planets Planets are also round in shape like stars but they do not emit their own light. They only reflect the sunlight which falls on them from their star. The simplest method for distinguishing planets from stars is that stars twinkle but planets do not. The path on which a planet revolves around the sun is called an orbit. The time taken by a planet to complete one revolution around the sun is called its period of revolution. Mercury (Budh) It is the nearest planet to the sun. Also the smallest. It can be observed just before sunrise or just after sunset. Venus (Shukra) It is the brightest planet in the night sky. Sometimes it appears in the eastern sky before sunrise, sometimes int the western sky just after sunset. Earth (Prithvi) It is the only planet in solar system where life exists. It has only 1 moon. Mars (Mangal) It appears slightly reddish planet therefore, it is also called the red planet. It has 2 small moons. 3 Stars and the solar system Jupiter (Brihaspati) It is the largest planet of our solar system. About 1300 earth can be placed inside Jupiter. It has a large number of moons. Saturn (Shani) It is the second largest planet in our solar system. The unique thing about Saturn is its beautiful rings. It also has a large no. of moons. Also, it is so light that it can float on water. Uranus (Aruna) It also has some faint rings but they cant be seen easily due to its highly tiltedf axis. Neptune (Varuna) The outer most planet of our solar system which is maily consists of methane. 12.3.3 The moon The day on which the whole disc of the moon is visible is known as full moon day. After that, every night the size of the bright part of the moon gets thinner and thinner. On the fifteenth day, the moon is not visible which is known as the new moon day. Then again on the fifteenth day, we get a full moon. The various shapes of the moon which we get to see during a month are called the phases of the moon. Fig. 12.5 The phases of the moon 4 Stars and the solar system Activity 12.2 Observe the moon for a month and draw the phases of moon on each day. Mark the main events such as Full moon and New moon. NN 12.4 Some other members of our solar system There are some other celestial bodies which revolve around the sun. Let us learn about the other members of our solar system. 12.4.1 Asteroids There is a huge gap between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This gap is filled with a large number of small objects that revolve around the sun. They are called asteroids. But they only can be seen through a large telescope. Fig. 12.6 Asteroid Belt 12.4.2 Comets Another part of our solar system, Comets revolve around the sun in highly elliptical orbits. However, their revolution period around the sun is usually very long. A comet appears generally as a bright head with a long tail. The length of the tail is always directed away from the sun. Fig. 12.7 Halley’s Comet Did you know? Many comets appear periodically. One such comet is Halley’s comet, which appears after nearly every 76 years. Last, it was seen in 1986. When can we see it again? 5 Stars and the solar system 12.4.3 Meteors and Meteorites When the night sky is clear and the moon is not there, you can sometimes see bright streaks of light. These are commonly known as meteors. They are small objects that occasionally enters the earth’s atmosphere. The friction due to the atmosphere heats it up. It glows bright and Fig. 12.8 A meteor evaporate easily before hitting the surface. But some are large in size so they reach the earth’s surface. They are called meteorites. WHAT DID WE LEARN? KEYWORDS • Stars are celestial bodies which • Celestial Bodies emit the heat and light of their • Kuiper Belt own. • Constellations • Plants do not emit light and heat • Ursa Major of their own. • Pole Star • Constellations are group of stars • Orbit which form a fixed pattern in the • Asteroids night sky. • Comets • Solar system consists of eight • Meteors planets and a lot of asteroids, • Meteorites comets and meteors. • A body which revolves around another body is called its satellite. • Moon is the natural satellite of TO KNOW MORE the earth. • • Our solar system: Venus is the brightest planet and https://youtu.be/libKVRa01L8 the Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. • Constellations: https://youtu.be/uKXBtWHExwQ • Comets: https://youtu.be/EvhJgAOky-E 6 Stars and the solar system UNDERSTAND IT BETTER 7 .
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