Geography By.

Ajit Sir

Solar System
Introduction  Except Venus and Uranus, the direction of rotation
of all other planets is from West to East (Anti &
The Solar System includes the Sun, the Earth, eight
Clock Wise).
planets, satellites, asteroids, meteors, comets, etc. The
Sun is located at the center of the Solar System. All the  Venus, the brightest planet in the Solar System, is
eight planets revolve around the Sun in fixed orbits, the also called the 'Morning Star' and 'Earth's sister'.
closer the planet is to the Sun, the higher is its revolution
 Mars is also called the 'Red Planet'.
speed. Along with this, these planets also rotate on their
axis. Planets do not have their own light, while stars have  The planet Saturn is surrounded by three bright con-
their own light. centric rings. Titan is the largest and Phocbe is the
smallest satellite of Saturn.
 Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called 'inner
planets'. Their size is small and density is high, while  Proxima Centauri is the closest star to Earth after
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called 'outer the Sun, it is 4.5 light-years away from Earth.
planets'. Their size is large and density is less.
 Note: A light year is equal to the distance traveled
 Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. After this by light in one year.
comes the place of Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Sat- Celestial Bodies
urn, Uranus and Neptune respectively. Mercury and
Venus are very hot due to their proximity to the Sun, 1. Galaxy :– It is a huge cluster of stars. There are
while the other planets are relatively cold. 10,000 million galaxies in the universe. There are
100,000 million stars in each Milky Way. Apart from
 Venus is closest to Earth. After this comes the place the stars, dust and gases are also found in the Milky
of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter respectively. Way.
 Jupiter is the largest planet. After this comes the  Earth is a part of the Milky Way called Airavat Path.
place of Shani, Arun, Varun, Prithvi, Venus, Mars,
and Mercury respectively.  Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud,
Ursa Minor System, Sculptor System, Draco Sys-
 The size of Earth and Venus is almost equal, so both tem etc. are other galaxies. Stars are formed as a
the planets are also called 'Twin Planet'. result of the simultaneous concentration of different
 According to NASA, Saturn has 82 satellites or substances in this vast universe. A large group of
moons. Jupiter has 79 satellites, Uranus has 27 and these stars together form the Milky Way.
Varuna has 14 satellites. Apart from this, there are  This has been estimated on the basis of various ob-
27 such satellites, which have not been confirmed servations. That there will be more than 100 billion
yet. Of these, 17 belong to the planet Jupiter and 9 galaxies in the universe. Of this, 10 billion galaxies
to the planet Saturn. Ganymede, a satellite of Jupi- can be seen with a telescope.
ter, is the largest satellite in the Solar System.
 A team comprising members of the Pune-based In-
 According to NCERT, Saturn and Jupiter have about ter University Center for Astronomy and
53 satellites or moons, Uranus has 27 and Neptune Astrophysics, the Indian Institute of Science Edu-
has 13 satellites. Mercury and Venus do not have cation and Research and two other Indian universi-
any satellite. ties has discovered a supercluster of galaxies about
 Phobos and Deimos are two satellites of Mars. four billion light-years away from Earth. This
supercluster has been named Saraswati.
Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 1
 Galaxies contain a vast number of stars, which are lestial objects were discovered in 1962 AD. In 1983
the basic building units of the universe. A supercluster AD, a quasar was discovered whose luminosity is
consists of 40 to 43 clusters, with a cluster contain- 1.1 105 times more than that of the Sun.
ing about 1000 to 10000 galaxies. The Milky Way 5. Stars : – There are clouds of gas in the Milky Way
galaxy, in which Earth is located, is part of the and stars are formed from these clouds. Energy is
Laniakea Supercluster. continuously emitted from the stars. The Sun is also
2. Nebulae: – It is a highly luminous celestial body, a star. Some stars in space are found in pairs, which
which is made up of gas and dust particles. The are called 'binary stars'.
Orion Nebula is located in the Milky Way. The death of stars begins when the fuel in their core
3. Constellation : – These are groups of stars. In starts to run out. The dying star eventually explodes, pro-
ancient times, they were named on the basis of their ducing very intense light for a short time. This is called
specific shapes. In modern times, 89 constellations 'Supernova Explosion'. After the explosion, the residual
have been identified. Of these, Hydra is the largest, part of the very dense core of the small star is called
while Centaurus, Gemini, Leo, etc. are examples of 'White Dwarf'. The residual part of the highly dense core
other constellations. left after the explosion of a massive star is called a 'Neu-
tron Star'. Due to the small size, the neutron star rotates
4. Quasars (Quasors or Quasi & Stellar Radio
very fast and radiates electromagnetic rays. Such a star
Source):– These are those celestial bodies, which
is called a 'Pulsar'. Very massive stars turn into 'Black
are smaller in size than the Milky Way, but emit more
Hole' after the explosion. Due to excessive gravitational
energy than that. This type of extremely bright ce-
force, no matter or rays can come out of the black hole.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 2

 B

6. Satellite: These are small celestial bodies, which the Sun. Temple-1, Hellbop, Forbes, Halley etc. are
revolve around a planet. They do not have their own examples of comets. Halley's Comet appears every
light, rather they receive light from the stars. 76 years.
7. Asteroid: These are small celestial bodies, which 10. Sun: This is a star, which is about 15 crore km from
are situated between Mars and Jupiter. Their number the earth. It is situated far away. Its light takes about
is about 45,000. They are much smaller than the 8 minutes to reach the Earth. Its surface tempera-
ture is 6,000°C. The outer part of the Sun is called
Moon in size. Four Vesta (4 Vesta) is the only aster-
the Chromosphere. The central part is called the
oid that can be seen with the naked eye.
photosphere and its temperature is 15,000°C. The
8. Meteors: They appear like a falling star in the night surface of the Sun which we can see is called
sky, they are actually solid celestial substances, which photosphere. It is the surface that separates the Sun's
burn due to friction on entering the Earth's atmos- body from its atmosphere.
phere and generate bright light. Sometimes these 11. Moon: It is the satellite of the earth, which is lo-
pieces fall on the earth in the form of meteorites. cated 3,84,365 km away from the earth. The day
Heavy substances like iron and nickel predominate temperature on the moon is 100 °C and the night
in these. temperature is - 180 °C. The gravitational force on
the Moon is one-tenth of the Earth's gravity. Due to
 The Perseid meteor shower is a unique astronomi-
low gravitational force, there is lack of atmosphere
cal phenomenon on Earth. It is a dust particle of
on the moon.
comet Swift Tuttle, which passes near the Earth
every year.  Fraunhofer Lines: In addition to the 7 colors in the
solar spectrum, all black lines are visible, which are
 This meteor shower occurs when dust from Comet called 'Fraunhofer lines'. Each of these lines indi-
Swift Tuttle heats up and burns with a bright light as cates one or the other element present in the solar
it enters the atmosphere. When this waste remains atmosphere. The intensity and thickness of these
in space, it is called a meteoroid, but when it enters lines gives knowledge of the density and tempera-
the Earth's atmosphere, it is called a meteor. ture of a particular element.
Swift Tuttle Comet  Solar Flames: Massive emissions of protons (nu-
clei of hydrogen molecules) propelled in all direc-
 Comet Swift Tuttle is the largest frequent near-Earth
tions from the Sun, sometimes about 700 km. Inten-
object, with a nucleus 26 kilometers (16 mi) in diam- sifies up to a speed per second, crosses the corona
eter. and goes into space, which is named the solar flare.
9. Comets: These are celestial bodies made of celes-  Aurora Borealis or the northern polar light about
tial dust particles, gas, ice etc., which revolve around 100 to 1000 km at the North Pole. Sometimes colored
the Sun. On coming closer to the Sun, its head is light is visible at a height of . This is due to solar
formed by the evaporation of substances from the flares colliding with air particles upon entering the
Sun's further part. Its tail always points away from Earth's atmosphere.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 3

 Aurora Australis or South Polar Light: Colorful  On the basis of the number of stars participating in
light seen at the South Pole after collision with air the origin of the planets of the solar system, scien-
particles when solar flares enter the Earth's atmos- tific concepts can be placed in two categories: (a)
phere. Monistic concept (b) Dualistic concept
 Solar wind is a continuous stream of less effective a) Monistic Hypothesis: According to this, all the
protons coming out of the solar system, whose speed planets including earth originated from a single star,
is about 640 km. Per second, it is called the solar hence it is also called Parental Hypothesis.
wind, due to the rotation speed of the Sun, its shape Kastedbafen, Kant, Laplace Ross, Luckier are re-
is spiral. They are accompanied by a magnetic field, lated to this concept.
due to which the Earth's magnetic field makes them
b) Dualistic Concept: According to this all the stars
special. Sometimes on entering the earth's atmos-
including the earth have been formed by more than
phere, 'aurora lights' are seen.
one star. Scholars supporting this hypothesis include
 Sun Spots : Sun Spots visible in the Sun's orbit, the names of Chamberlin and Moulton, James Jeans
whose temperature is much lower (about 1,500°C) and Jeffries, Russell, Payal and Leet, Autoschmidt,
than the temperature of the Sun's surface (6,000°C). Alfvan and Van Wise Sacker.
Probably this is the closed area of magnetic lines.
Kant's concept of gaseous quantity
At the time of excess of solar spots, magnetic storms
are born on the earth, which have an effect on ra-  Kant formulated his hypothesis in 1755 on the basis
dio, television, wireless etc. of Newton's law of gravitation. According to their
belief, divinely created primal substances (primor-
 Van Allen Belt or Magetosphere: The magnetic dial liquids) were present in a scattered state in the
circle whose height is 64 thousand km from the universe. In the beginning these substances were
earth's surface its called Wayne Allen Belt. very hard, cold, motionless.
 It is called This belt is the Earth's magnetic shield, in  According to Kant, due to mutual attraction, the par-
which the protons and electrons released from the ticles began to interact with each other, due to which
Sun get trapped and bind to the Earth's magnetic there was a continuous increase in the temperature
force of 66½°. and it changed into the north-west direction.
Origin of Earth and Solar System Kant's Gaseous Hypothesis
 Knowing about the origin of the universe, the solar  Hence the cold and motionless original fluid was con-
system and the earth has been part of the central verted into a huge hot nebula and started rotating on
theme of human inquiry since time immemorial. In its axis, increasing the size of the nebula due to the
the early times, the facts related to the origin of the continuous increase in the number of primitive parti-
earth or the solar system were entirely based on cles. Thus, due to the continuous increase in the size
religious beliefs. Unlike religious concepts, hypoth- of the nebula, the speed of rotation became so fast
eses based on logic are called scientific concepts. that the centrifugal force became more than the
centripetal force. Due to this, a bulge was formed in
 In this context, for the first time in 1749 AD, Caste
the center of the gaseous body and this bulge in-
de Buffon tried to explain the process of origin of
creased in size, then one after another the rings
the earth on the basis of arguments. At present, many
started forming and due to the centrifugal force sepa-
hypotheses and concepts have been proposed in the
rated from the central part of the nebula.
origin of the Earth or the Solar System, but none has
been fully accepted.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 4

 Critical Analysis of Laplace's Nebula Hypothesis
 According to Laplace, if the planet is made of nebula,
then a part of the nebula i.e. due to reduction in the
size of the Sun should rotate at the fastest speed,
but this does not happen.
 Critics say that if the Sun is the rest of the nebula,
then there should be a bulge in the central part of
the Sun, but it is not.
 According to Laplace's opinion, the planets were
formed from nebulae, then the planets should have
been in liquid state in the initial state and hence they
were able to revolve around the Sun, because only
solid fluid can move in a circular path without losing
its shape.
 The part of the original nebula that remained was
converted into a star called the Sun. According to
them, satellites were also made by repetition of the
above process.

Laplace's nebula hypothesis

Laplace explained his concepts about the origin of
the Solar System and the Earth in the year 1796 in his
book 'Exposion of the World System'.
His nebula hypothesis is a modified form of Kant's
celestial zodiac hypothesis. According to Laplace's belief,
there was a huge known nebula presence in the universe.
He also believed that this nebula was already dynamic.
The nebula was losing heat due to the process of radiation
from the outer surface and was cooling and decreasing in
size and volume due to contraction due to cooling.
 On the basis of the above assumptions, Laplace said
Critical Analysis of Kant's Gaseous Hypothesis that due to the decrease in the volume of the nebula,
its speed started increasing continuously. An increase
 In Kant's hypothesis, the speed of rotation of the in rotation speed increased the centrifugal force.
nebula increased with the increase in the size of the When the centrifugal force exceeded the gravita-
gaseous fluid, which is against the scientific princi- tional force, a ring separated from the nebula and
ple of law of motion. that ring fragmented into many parts. According to
 According to the law of motion, collision of particles Laplace, planets and satellites have been formed only
never results in rotational motion. because of the cooling of this ring. The rest of the
nebula is our Sun. Later, French scholars revised
 According to Kant, due to the energy of gravity, the their hypothesis and told that many rings of different
particles of the fluid started colliding. But he did not sizes were separated from the nebula and planets
explain how the source of energy, which caused were formed due to the condensation of each ring.
motion in these particles (which were cold and mo- Criticism
tionless in the initial state), caused these particles to
 The nebula hypothesis does not explain the sources
suddenly become active.
of origin of the nebula. This hypothesis also does not
 Kant did not explain about the source of the original provide information about the sources of heat and
liquid. motion of the nebula.
Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 5
 According to this hypothesis, the nebula was a gas-
eous state, so the planets should also be in gaseous
form, in fact it is not so.
 The direction of rotation of all the planets and satel-
lites should be the same as that of the nebula. But it
is not so and we see that except the planets Venus
and Uranus, all the other planets of the Solar Sys-
tem revolve around the Sun in the anti-clockwise
direction.
 This hypothesis was introduced by Limitere in 1950-
60 and was accepted in 1972. According to this
theory, all the matter in the universe was found in universe as a point
the form of a dense and huge primitive matter. In  Within a fraction of a second after the bang, there
modern times, the most accepted theory about the was a huge expansion. Thereafter the pace of ex-
origin of the universe is the Big Bang theory. It is pansion slowed down.
also called the Expanding universe hypothesis.  Within the first three minutes of the Big Bang, the
 In the year 1920 AD, Edwin Hubble gave evidence first atom was created. During the 3 million years
that the universe is expanding. Galaxies are moving from the Big Bang, the temperature dropped to 4500°
away from each other with the passage of time. Kelvin and atomic matter formed. The universe be-
You can experiment to find out what the expansion came transparent.
of the universe means. Take a balloon and put some  Hoyle presented its alternative in the name of Steady
marks on it, consider it to be galaxies. When you state concept. According to this concept, the uni-
inflate this balloon, these marks on the balloon will verse has remained the same at all points of time.
appear to move away from each other as the bal- Although the scientific community is now in favor
loon expands. Similarly the distance between the of the expansion theory of the universe after getting
galaxies is also increasing and as a result the uni- many evidences related to the expansion of the uni-
verse is expanding. verse.
Chamberlain's Planetary Hypothesis
Big Bang theory
 In contrast to the hypothesis of the nebula, in 1905,
 In the context of the origin and structure of the Earth, Chamberlin proposed his planetarium in relation to
the initial theories/hypotheses focused only on the the origin of the earth. Hypothesis Hypothesis pre-
evolution of the Solar System, but the modern 'Big sented. According to Chamberlin, the Earth was not
Bang Theory' has been able to solve problems such formed from only one nebula, from whose residual
as the origin of the universe, the evolution of the part the Sun was formed. Rather, it originated from
Solar System, the evolution of the Earth's crust and the cooperation of two big stars.
atmosphere, etc. tries to
expansion of the universe according to the big
bang theory
 In the beginning, all the matter from which the uni-
verse is made was located in one place in the form
of a very small ball (single atom), whose volume
was very small and temperature and density were
infinite.
 In the process of Big Bang, there was a tremendous  According to Chamberlin, in the beginning there
explosion in this very small ball. This type of erup- were two giant stars in the universe, in which one
tion process resulted in large expansion. was the Sun and the other was its companion giant
 Scientists believe that the Big Bang event happened star. Before the formation of the planets, the Sun
13.7 billion years ago. The expansion of the universe was in the form of a circular and cold star made of
continues even today. Due to expansion some of the solid particles.
energy was converted into matter.
Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 6
 While roaming in the universe, due to the passing of outside the Sun. Woke up from the part. This cigar-
the companion star near this Sun, many small parti- shaped part was called filament.
cles were separated from the Sun.  Due to the maximum gravitational force produced
by the companion star reaching its closest distance
to the Sun, the giant filament separated from the
Sun and moved towards the companion star. Since
the companion star was not on the path of the Sun,
the filament could not keep up with the star and it
started orbiting around the Sun.
 In the original state, these particles were in the form  James Jeans has told the reason why the filament
of dust particles. Chamberlin has called these scat- does not come back to the Sun, because the fila-
tered particles as planetesimals. Some of the plan- ment is out of the Sun's attraction area.
ets scattered in the universe were relatively large in
size. Chamberlin believes that the present planets  Again no filament separated from the Sun due to
have been formed by these large sized planets. Ac- the companion star being too far away.
cording to this hypothesis, the main reason for the  The filament was thick in the middle and thin at the
separation of Karnas from the Sun is said to be the edge in the shape of a cigar. The reason for the
tidal power of the nearby star. thinness of the filament at the edge is said to be the
Criticism attractive power of the Sun. Due to the cooling and
contraction of the filament, it broke into many pieces
 Certain questions could not be answered by this hy-
and became dense and turned into planets.
pothesis such as:
 Similarly, due to the attraction power of the Sun,
 Why aren't there only eight satellites in our solar
many substances separated from the planets due to
system? created and of some planets
the generation of tides condensed and became sat-
 Why are some planets like Earth, Mercury, Venus in ellites. This process continued until the centripetal
solid state and some planets like Saturn in gaseous force of tidal material was able to hold them together.
state? Due to the wide middle part of the filament and thin
 Looking at the distance between the stars in the uni- edge part, big planets were formed in the middle
verse, it seems extremely unfair to say that the plan- and small planets were formed at the edges.
ets have been formed by the attraction power of Criticism
another star.
 According to the hypothesis, the material of the plan-
Tidal Hypothesis of James Jeans
ets is formed from the material of the Sun, so these
 This hypothesis was propounded by James Jeans in planets should mainly consist of light helium and hy-
1919. And in the year 1929, Jeffrey tried to make it drogen-like substances. But the planets of our solar
more relevant by amendment. James Jeans believed system are made of heavy nuclear material.
that the solar system was formed from the Sun and
 The distance between stars in the universe is im-
other companion stars.
mense, so it seems improbable for a companion star
 According to this hypothesis, the Sun (Primitive Sun) to follow such a path.
was rotating in its place. A giant intruding star passed
near this star, which was much larger in size and  Very little information is given in terms of compan-
volume than the Sun. ion date in the hypothesis. Information related to the
path and destination of the companion star after pass-
 Due to the attractive power of this approaching com- ing close to the Sun is not available.
panion star, tides started to arise on the surface of
the Sun. When the companion star came to the clos-  According to many astrophysicists, the angular mo-
est distance to the Sun, due to its attractive power mentum imparted by the star to the planet does not
being more than that of the Sun, thousands of match with the angular momentum present in the
kilometer long cigar-shaped tides began to appear planets of the solar system.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 7

 Planets of the solar system all the planets of the solar system. Jupiter has two
 Mercury: It is the closest and second smallest planet constellational features. It emits twice or thrice the
to the Sun. It completes one revolution on its axis in energy it receives from the Sun like stars. It has its
a time equal to 59 Earth days (58.65 days). It is own radio energy. Its atmosphere consists mostly of
clear that the rotation period of Mercury is equal to hydrogen and helium gases.
58.65 or 59 days of the Earth. It revolves around the  Methane and ammonia are also present in the at-
Sun once in 88 days. Its average orbital speed is mosphere during chemical reactions and energy re-
47.36 km. / sec. Its average density is 5.44 g/cm. lease. Jupiter's atmosphere is marked by stripes
There is no possibility of atmosphere here. It has no
around the planet. There are 5 bright stripes, one big
satellite. Here the days are extremely hot and the
red mark and four dark brown stripes. It has 53
nights are snowy. In magnitude, it is 18th part of the
known satellites. It is a very hot planet. Due to its
Earth and its gravity is 3/8th of the Earth.
axis being inclined at 1°, the weather here is always
 Venus: It is the closest to the Earth among the in- the same. Some of its satellites (also of Saturn) re-
ner planets. And it is the second closest place to the volve in the opposite direction, and some in a
Sun in the Solar System. It is more famous as evening favorable direction. The presence of complex mol-
star and 'morning star'. It is also called the sister ecules consisting of carbon and nitrogen has also
planet of the earth. Venus 5 and 6, according to the been detected on two other moons of Jupiter,
discoveries of Venera 4, Mariner 2 and 5, is prob- Ganymede and Callisto. There is also an amount of
ably the hottest planet. Here the night and day tem- oxygen in liquid state and hydrogen in gaseous state
peratures are almost equal. The atmosphere of Ve- on Ganymede.
nus is 90-95 percent carbon-di-oxide. There is no
ray belt in it. It has no satellite. It appears the bright-  Saturn: It is the farthest planet visible to the naked
est after the Sun and the Moon. It is almost equal in eye. It is the second largest planet after Jupiter, with
size and mass to the Earth. It orbits the Sun in 225 53 known satellites. Its diameter is 1,20,000 km. Is.
days (224.7 Earth days). Its average density is 5.24 It completes its orbit around the Sun in 29.5 years.
g / cm and the average orbital speed is 35.02 km. Its average density is 0.70 g / cm and the average
It's seconds. It is a hot and sizzling planet. Around it orbital speed is 969 km / s. Only 1/100th part of the
are frozen clouds of sulfuric acid. Sun's light falls on this planet. 32 km to escape from
its gravity. speed per second is required. Its largest
 Mars : Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the
Solar System. It is a bright planet. It has two satel- satellite is Titan. It is situated in the sixth position
lites, which are known as Phobos and Deimos. There from the Sun. Its density is less than that of the Earth.
are many volcanoes, deep pits and rugged high ter- It has white oval and strip-like light and dense clouds
rain here. The highest mountain is 'Nix Olympia', like Jupiter. Its ring state is most important. Its satel-
which is three times higher than Everest. Known as lite 'Titan' has an atmosphere of nitrogen.
the 'Red Planet', the distance of this planet from the  Uranus: This planet is located at the seventh clos-
Sun is 227.9 million kilometers and its equatorial di- est position from the Sun. It cannot be seen by na-
ameter is 6,761 kilometers. It takes 686.9 days to ked eyes. It has 27 (approximately) satellites. Sur-
make one revolution around the Sun. Its average rounding it are five very faint rings, Alpha, Beta,
density is 3.94 g/cm and average orbital speed is Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. It has methane gas in its
24.07 km/s. Mars has two poles and here too there atmosphere. Its midline makes an angle of 98° with
is a change of seasons like on Earth. This is due to its orbit, as a result of which it revolves around the
the tilt of its axis like the Earth. Sun and also rotates its limbs. This planet was dis-
 Jupiter: It is the largest planet of the solar system. covered in 1781 AD by Sir William Herschel. It com-
It is fifth from the Sun. Its density is one fourth of pletes its orbit around the Sun in 84 years. It has an
the density of the Earth. It takes 11.9 years to orbit average density of 1.27 g/cm and an average orbital
the Sun. It has an average density of 1.33 g/cm and speed of 6.80 km/s. It is the only planet which, in its
an average orbital speed of 13.07 km/s. Its mass is orbit from one pole to the other, is continuously fac-
71 percent and volume one and a half times that of ing the Sun.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 8

 Pluto's expulsion
The planet Pluto, discovered in February 1930 by Clyde W Tombaugh at the American Observatory, was dropped
from the ranks of the planets by the world's top astronomers. On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical
Union, the sole authority for space naming, announced that there would be only eight planets left in the Solar System,
and that they had removed Pluto's status as the ninth planet. The definition of planets was voted on at the ten-day
assembly of the International Aeronautical Union in Prague. More than 2500 scientists from a total of 75 countries
participated in this meeting, out of which a total of 424 scientists voted in favor of removing Pluto from the traditional
planet.
reason for expulsion
In the absence of a clear scientific definition of a planet, Pluto has been included in the new planets since the
1930s, despite notable differences from the other eight planets. As a result of scientific research, when many new
objects were discovered in the solar system, along with their identity, questions were also raised on the planetary
hypothesis of Pluto. The only authorized body for space nomenclature is the International Astronomical Union. This
institution entrusted a committee with the task of defining the planets. The new definition of planets given by this
committee is as follows:
(i) Only those celestial bodies are called planets, which revolve around the Sun.
(ii) Their minimum mass for their gravity is such that they are almost circular and their orbit does not cross the path
of their neighbor.
(iii) Pluto does not meet the above mentioned criteria, hence it is excluded from the category of planets. It is now
known as a dwarf planet.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 9

 Characteristics of the planet

Planet Properties Planet Properties

Mercury  It can be seen near the horizon at sun- Mars  A day on Mars is 24 hours 37 minutes
set and sunrise. Like the Moon, it also and a year is 1.88 times the Earth year.
has no atmosphere and its surface is  Its rotation axis is inclined by 25 de-
heavily cratered. grees, Due to which seasons and po-
 Half of this planet is at very high tem- lar caps are made.
perature and the other part is at very  Its atmosphere and geology are simi-
low temperature, because its rotation lar to Earth's atmosphere and geology.
and rotation period are almost the Its surface is dotted with numerous
same, due to which only one part al- craters and volcanoes of various sizes.
ways remains towards the Sun.  Its soil is made of silicate like the earth's
 Its surface temperature ranges be- soil, but its color is red due to 16 per-
tween + 340°C and - 270°C. cent iron oxide in its soil. That's why it
is also called the Red Planet.
Venus  Due to its proximity to the Earth, it is
the brightest planet in the sky except Jupitor  It is the largest planet and also has the
the Sun and the Moon. largest mass.
 It is covered by a turbulent gaseous
 Its surface is dry, hot and volcanic.
atmosphere.
Its atmosphere has 96 percent carbon
dioxide, 3.5 percent nitrogen and 0.5  Its atmosphere contains hydrogen, he-
percent water vapor, argon, H, SO, lium and small amounts of water vapor,
HCL etc. ammonia, methane, etc.
 There is a red spot in the shape of an
 Its surface temperature is most likely egg on its surface. scientists believe
due to the greenhouse effect, which that This is the reason for the large
is that the infrared radiation radiated cyclone in the atmosphere of the
by the planet cannot escape from the blessed planet.
planet due to the presence of carbon  This planet radiates radio waves.
dioxide in its atmosphere. Therefore,
the heat received from the Sun is Saturn  It is made of hydrogen and Helium like
stopped and the temperature of the the planet Jupiter.
planet increases.  A ring is found on it, which can be
Earth  Its crust, which extends 10 kilometers seen through binoculars.
under the ocean and 40 kilometers  Its density is less than the density of
under the continents, mainly consists water. Its shape is flattened due to its
of silicon (27.7 percent) and oxygen mostly liquid material and its fast ro-
(47.3 percent). tation.

 Its rotation axis is tilted 23.5°, due to Uranus  Viewed through binoculars, this planet
which seasons change and polar caps looks like a green disc with some in-
are formed. distinct markings on it.
 Its rotation axis is inclined at an angle
 Its atmosphere is divided into several of 97.9° to its orbital vertical, due to
layers, in which the troposphere con- which its poles point directly towards
tains about 78 percent nitrogen and 21 the Sun. And it appears as if it is mov-
percent oxygen. ing in its orbit like a wheel. That's why
it is also called a lay planet.
 Ozone layer is found in its strato-
 Its rings were discovered in the year 1977.
sphere, which absorbs harmful ultra-
violet radiation coming from the Sun. It is made of black material like coal.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 10

 Neptune Its color is light blue. This is due to  Earth's equatorial circumference is 40,075 km.
the presence of excessive amount of (24,900 mile).
methane in its atmosphere.  Earth 1,07,160 km 365 days per hour, 5 hours 48
 Like Jupiter, it also has rings. Two of minutes and it orbits the Sun in 46 seconds.
its satellites are visible from the earth.  Earth on its axis from west to east and 1610 km. At
 Its largest satellite is Triton, which ro- the speed of per hour, it completes one round in 23
tates in the clockwise direction. This hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds.
direction is opposite to the direction of
rotation of the planet. Triton has its  71% of the earth is hydrosphere and 29% is
own atmosphere, which consists of lithosphere. Day and night are formed due to the
nitrogen and methane. daily rotation speed of the earth and seasons change
due to the annual rotation speed.
 Neptune: It is the eighth most distant planet from
the Sun that can be seen by Earth's binocular tel-  The orbit of the Earth is elliptical and the distance
escope. It is a dark green planet. The Voyager 2 between the Earth and the Sun keeps on changing.
campaign detected its 5 rings. It has two main rings. This distance is minimum (14,70,00,000 km) on 3rd
It is currently located at the most distance from the January and maximum (15,20,00,000 km) on 4th July.
It is called Aphelion. Therefore the annual insolation
Sun, 'Titan' and 'N' two satellites are among its larg-
received by the earth is more on 3rd January than
est satellites. There is an atmosphere on the 'Titan'
on 4th July.
satellite. It mainly contains nitrogen. Many active
volcanoes have also been found here. It is the third  Earth makes an angle of 2316° with its plane of or-
body in the Solar System where active volcanoes bit. Due to this inclination of the earth and its ellipti-
have been found. The other two include the satel- cal orbit, there are four special conditions of the earth.
On June 21, the sun's rays are saved 90 ° on the
lites of Earth and Jupiter. It completes its orbit around
Tropic of Cancer, so on this date the duration of the
the Sun in 164.8 years. It has an average density of
day is the longest in the Northern Hemisphere. This
1.63 g/cm and an average orbital speed of 5.43 km/
is called Cancer Solstice or Summer Solstice.
s.
 Similarly, on December 22, the Sun's rays fall verti-
 Kuiper's Eddy: The Kuiper belt and accretion disk cally on the Tropic of Capricorn. This is called Makar
are located after the orbit of Neptune. It is 20 times Sankranti or Winter Solstice and on this date the
larger than the asteroid belt and contains millions of duration of the day is longest in the Southern Hemi-
objects, which are formed from ice molecules. The sphere.
Kuiper belt has more than ten thousand objects,
 On March 21 and December 23, the sun's rays fall
which are surrounded by their own gravity. vertically on the equator. On this day, the duration of
 Pluto: It is currently recognized as a dwarf planet. day and night is equal (12-12 hours) everywhere on
Its diameter is 300 km. And it is 586.56 crore km the earth.
from the Sun. is far. It completes the orbit of the  The time taken by the Earth to rotate through 360°,
Sun in 248 years and completes one revolution on its when the Earth returns to its position with respect to
axis in 6 days and 9 hours. It was discovered in a given star, is called Sidereal Time.
February 1930 by W Yamvo from the Observatory  Its duration is 23 hours and 56 minutes. On the other
in Arizona (USA). It has a satellite. Its orbit inter- hand, when the Sun passes twice successively on a
sects the orbit of Neptune. There are probably ice certain meridian, then the time taken in this is called
bodies and methane in the atmosphere here. Solar Day. Its average duration is 24 hours.
The Earth  The World Wide Fund for Nature and the Global
Footprint Network issue Earth Overshoot Day. This
 The Earth has a specific shape of its own, which is is the date when mankind's demands on the natural
called a geoid. Its shape is also called Oblate Sphe- resources that the earth can reproduce throughout
roid. the year exceed.
 Earth's equatorial diameter is 12,756 km. (7,927 mile)  According to the report of the Global Footprint Net-
and the polar diameter is 12,714 km (7,900 mile). work, the time of Earth Overshoot Day has reduced
by two months in the last 20 years.
Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 1 1
 Earth and Moon only a part of the Sun, it is called a 'partial solar
 The Moon revolves around the Earth in an elliptical eclipse'. During the period of solar eclipse, when
direction. When the Moon is closest to the Earth, the Sun appears as a shining ring, it is called 'Dia-
this state is called Perigee. The farthest position of mond Ring'.
the Moon from the Earth is called Apogee.  There can be a maximum of 7 eclipses (including so-
 The period of both rotation and rotation of the moon lar eclipse and lunar eclipse) in a calendar year and
is 27.32 days. This is the reason why we always see the occurrence of solar eclipse can happen at least 2
the same side of the moon. Also, the entire surface times and maximum 5 times in a year. A total solar
of the Moon is not visible from the Earth. Only 59% eclipse does not occur on every solar eclipse day.
of the Moon is visible from Earth. Chandrayaan-1 mission
Scientific explanation of eclipse  The Moon is the nearest satellite of the Earth, through
 If an object comes in the path of light coming out of which space exploration efforts can be made and
a point of light, then a shadow is formed by it. This is data related to it can also be collected. The idea
called 'Eclipse'. was initiated at the meeting of the Indian Academy
of Sciences in 1999 under the Indian Scientific Mis-
 When viewed from any place under the shadow, the
sion to the Moon. Its sequel was discussed in the
light source appears to be extinguished. But if the
Astronautical Society of India in 2000. Based on the
light source is diffuse rather than a point, then there
recommendations made by the learned members of
will be three different areas of shadow of the object
this forum, the National Lunar Mission Task Force
coming in its path. First, the dense conical shadow
was constituted by the Indian Space Research Or-
sloping over a nock, which is the shadow.
ganization (ISRO). The task force of leading Indian
 Light is not visible at all in the shadow. On either scientists and technologists discussed and assessed
side of the umbra, there is a less dense shadow bent the feasibility of an Indian mission to the Moon. pro-
at a point, which is called the 'upachaya'. There is vided as well as focused on the possible configura-
partial shade in this region, that is, there is partial tion of such a mission.
light also present here.
 Subsequently, the Government of India approved
 When the Earth comes between the Sun and the ISRO's proposal for the first Indian Moon mission,
Moon, the Moon does not receive the Sun's light, Chandrayaan-1, in November 2003. Chandrayaan-
rather the shadow of the Earth falls on the Moon. mission performed high resolution remote sensing
This is called 'lunar eclipse'. of the Moon in the visible, near infrared (NIR), low
 A lunar eclipse always occurs on a full moon, but energy X-ray and high energy X-ray regions of the
not on every full moon, because there is an inclina- Moon.
tion of 54° between the orbits of the Earth and the  Its objective was to conduct a high spatial resolution
Moon. Therefore, the Moon is only occasionally in chemical and mineralogical map of the entire lunar
the plane of the Earth's orbit. surface for the distribution of mineral and chemical
 When the Moon comes between the Earth and the elements such as magnesium, aluminium, silicon, cal-
Sun, the shadow of the Moon falls on the Earth and cium, iron and titanium and high atomic number ele-
the Sun's light does not reach the Earth completely, ments including radon, uranium and thorium. .
it is called a solar eclipse.  Chandrayaan was launched on October 22, 2008
 A solar eclipse always occurs on the new moon day, onboard PSLV-II, the X variant of ISRO's PSLV.
but not on every new moon day, because due to the PSLV-II was later used to launch the Mars Orbiter
inclination of the orbital plane of the Earth and the Vehicle in 2003.
Moon, the solar eclipse occurs on the same new  The missions aimed to build a Deep Space Network
moon day, on which the Moon comes in the orbital (DSN) station with science payloads, Chandrayaan
plane of the Earth. and launch vehicles, suitable ground support systems,
 When the Moon covers the Sun completely, it is called which were helpful for future exploration such as
a 'total solar eclipse', but when the Moon covers the Mars Orbiter Mission.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 12

 Chandrayaan-2 mission  On April 10, 2019 International scientific group dis-
 Chandrayaan-2 is the Indian lunar mission, under covered black hole or black hole at the center of
which an attempt was made to land in the South Mandakini or galaxy named Messian 87, about 55
Pole region, where no country has tried so far. The million light-years away from Earth.
objective of Chandrayaan-2 is to gather information  The presence of charged particles such as electrons
about the moon and to make such discoveries, which and protons in the space between the stars blurs the
will benefit the entire humanity along with India. view of black holes.
 Scientific objectives of Chandrayaan-2: The
Moon can provide incredible insights into the evolu-  The black hole is six and a half billion times the mass
tion of the Earth and the environment of the Solar of the Sun, five and a half million light years away
System. Broadening the Moon's surface will help from Earth.
study changes in its composition. Many important  According to the theory of general relativity, a black
information can also be gathered about the origin hole is a celestial body whose gravitational field is
and development of the Moon. The evidence of water so strong that nothing, including light, can escape its
on the moon was discovered by Chandrayaan-1, but pull. It absorbs all the light that falls on it and does
from Chandrayaan-2 it will be possible to find out not reflect or emit anything.
that what part of the moon's surface and subsur-
face has water.  Black holes can be of four types: stellar mass, inter-
 The Moon's south pole is particularly interesting, as mediate, supermassive and miniature black holes.
a larger portion of its surface remains in shadow Black hole formation
than the north pole. There is a possibility of water
around it and in these permanently shadowed areas.  Black holes can be the stage after the death of a
The cold craters of the Moon's south polar region star. Stars shine due to the fusion of hydrogen into
contain the lost fossil record of the early Solar Sys- helium in their center. As long as the star is alive, the
tem. process of nuclear fusion creates a constant out-
 Chandrayaan-2 used the Vikram ladder and the ward pressure, allowing the star to balance the in-
Pragyan rover, which was attempted to success- ward pull of gravity with its own mass.
fully land on the plain between the two craters,  The structure of black holes is calculated by Albert
Manginus C and Simpelius N, at about 70° south Einstein's general theory of relativity.
latitude, which was partially unsuccessful.
 The luminosity in stars results from a balance of
 Note:- Chandrayaan-2 is the first space mission,
which attempted to land on the south polar region of two constant forces, the gravity of the star's mate-
the Moon. rial, which tends to compress it, and the radiation
emanating from the center of the star, which tends
 It was the first Indian mission to collect information
to expand it.
about the lunar surface with indigenously developed
technology.  As stars reach the end of their lives, most stars lose
 India became the fourth country to land a rocket on their gas and their central mass, the inner thermonu-
the surface of the Moon. clear fuel, is destroyed. The stellar core thus be-
comes unstable, causing a gravitational self-collapse
 On September 18, 2008, the then Prime Minister
inward and blowing away the outer layers of the
Manmohan Singh approved the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
star.
Black hole
 Stars about the same mass as the Sun cool down to
 A black hole is a dense place from which nothing become white dwarfs, but the supermassive ones,
(not even light) can escape. A black hole has a halo which can be many times more massive than our
around it, from which hot gases are emitted, which
Sun, undergo a rapid explosion upon death. Which is
rotate under the influence of strong gravity around
called 'supernova explosion'.
the event horizon.

Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 13

 Due to this explosion, the matter is scattered in the  Stars with a higher mass than the Sun, as indicated
space and a very dense stellar center (core) is left, by the Chandra limit, explode upon their death and
which is called a neutron star. form black holes.
 Neutron stars condense In stellar remnants of a su-  During the death of a star, gravity stops the release
pernova explosion In a neutron star, there is no force of light. The state before this is called the event ho-
left to oppose gravity, so the stellar center (core) rizon.
continues to contract in on itself.  The event horizon is an imaginary shell around a
 In this way, a dense and super-gravitational body is black hole, beyond which no light or other radiation
formed, from where the ray of light cannot escape. can escape and nothing can be seen. The event ho-
This condition is called a stellar mass black hole. rizon is known as the 'point of no return'.
 In the center of the galaxy (Milky Way) in the direc-  The eight radio telescope observatories that net-
tion of Sagittarius is the supermassive black hole worked around the world in the Event Horizon Tel-
known as 'Sagittarius A Star'. This black hole is at a escope project included the Atacama Large
distance of 26 thousand light years from the Earth Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Chile; Atacama Path-
and its size is about 60 million kilometers. finder Experiment, Chile Institute de Radioastronomy
Theory related to the formation of black holes Millimeter, Spain Large Millimeter Telescope,
Mexico Submillimeter Telescope, Arizona; The
 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, born 1910 in Lahore, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Hawaii
British India, was an important 20th-century Submillimeter Array, Hawaii and the South Pole
astrophysicist who pioneered the integration of the Telescope, Antarctica.
study of physics with astronomy.
 Kip Thorne, an astrophysicist at the California Insti-
 Chandrasekhar proved that there is an upper limit to tute of Technology, was awarded the 2017 Nobel
the mass of a white dwarf star. This range is known Prize for his discovery of gravitational waves pro-
as 'Seema' after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. duced by colliding black holes.



Solar System (Geography)– By. Ajit Sir KGS – 14