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UNIVERSE

The universe is a huge wide-open space that holds everything from the smallest particle to the biggest galaxy. It contains all solar systems, stars, planets, satellites etc. The universe extents from the Earth for at least 10 Billion Light Years and its probably still expanding. The Sun is always losing weight in fact Scientists have worked out that it loses around 4 Million tonnes every second, this is the amount of hydrogen gas that the sun turns into energy every second. The gravitational field inside a black hole is so strong that it can swallow anything in the universe, even a passing star and its light.

CELESTIAL BODIES

The various stars, moons, planets, shooting stars, meteors etc that are part of the universe are called celestial bodies. The celestial bodies in our Solar System are divided into different sections: the inner planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars separated by the asteroid belt from the outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. According to the accepted modern theory, the objects in the Solar System are segmented into three distinct classifications: planets, dwarf planets and other small bodies. Celestial bodies in our Solar System are composed of three classes of material: ice, gas and rock.

SOLAR SYSTEM

The Solar System is made up of all the planets that orbit our Sun. In addition to planets, the Solar System also consists of moons, comets, asteroids, dwarf planets, and dust and gas. Everything in the Solar System orbits or revolves around the Sun. Scientists believe that the Solar System evolved from a giant cloud of dust and gas. The Sun contains 99.85% of all the matter in the Solar System. The planets, which condensed out of the same disk of material that formed the Sun, contain only 0.135% of the mass of the solar system.

STARS Stars are heavenly bodies which continuously radiate heat and light and this phenomenon distinguishes them from other celestial bodies.
1. The star that is closest to the Earth is the sun. The sun is nearly 150,000,000 km (15 million km) away from earth. 2. A Star is a gigantic, glowing ball of plasma. 3. Stars are first formed as clouds of dust and gas. 4. Stars give off a tremendous amount of energy in the form of light and heat. 5. Most stars are between 1 billion and 10 billion years old. 6. Stars that have really strong gravity grow smaller over time and eventually turn into black holes. 7. The hottest stars give off a bluish light while the cooler stars give off a reddish light. 8. Stars seem to twinkle because their light travels through the earths atmosphere and the turbulence in the atmosphere affects the way stars are seen. 9. All the stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy revolve around the center of the galaxy once every 200 million years or so. 10. The oldest star that has been discovered is HE 1523-0901, which is an estimated 13.2 billion years old.

Another star close to earth after the sun is Alpha Centauri . Red Dwarf stars are smaller than our sun. And since they are smaller, they also have less mass. Because of their small size, these stars burn their fuel very slowly, which allows them to live a very long time. This also causes these stars to not shine as brightly as others. Some red dwarf stars will live trillions of years before they run out of fuel.

A super giant star is the exact same thing as a giant star only
much bigger. Remember that as a star gets older it begins to run out of fuel. As the star runs out of fuel, it will start to burn

out.

Light year: One light year is the distance travelled by light in one year.
The distance of stars and other heavenly bodies are measured in terms of light year. The distance of the sun from the earth is about 8 light minutes and that of Alpha Centauri is about 4.3 light years. The speed of light=3x100, 000 km/s Therefore one light year =3x100, 000 km/s x 365 x 24 x 60 x 60 sec =9,460,000,000,000 km or 9.46 x 1012 km

Pole star(polaris)
While other stars seem to move from east to west, there is one star that remains stationary or fixed. It lies in the north and close to axis of rotation of the earth. It has been used by travellers since ancient times to find directions at night. All the stars appear to revolve around pole star. The two end stars of Ursa Major when extended through a line in north direction lead to pole star.

CONSTELLATIONS
A constellation is a group of stars that make an imaginary shape in the night sky. They are usually named after mythological characters, people, animals and objects. In different parts of the world, people have made up different shapes out of the same groups of bright stars. It is like a game of connecting the dots. In the past creating imaginary images out of stars became useful for navigating at night and for keeping track of the seasons.

A constellation does not have only 5 to 10 stars. It has a large number of stars. All the stars which make up a constellation are not at the same distance. They are just in the same line of sight in the sky. Some major constellations are Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Orion and Cassiopeia. Ursa Major is also known as Big Dipper, the Great Bear, or the Saptarshi. There are seven prominent stars in this constellation. It looks like a big ladle or question mark. It can be seen in summers in the early part of night. Orion can be seen in winters in late evenings. It is also called the Hunter. There are seven or eight prominent stars in this constellation out of which four are arranged in the form of a quadrilateral. The three middle stars form the belt of the hunter. The brightest star Sirius is located close to the Orion. When we imagine a straight line passing through the middle stars of Orion towards the east, we see the star Sirius. Cassiopeia is visible during winter in early part of night. It looks like a distorted letter W or M.

PLANETS

Planets are celestial bodies orbiting a star. Besides orbiting, a planet also rotates on its axis. The time taken by a planet to complete one rotation on its axis is called its period of rotation. There are eight planets in our solar system. They are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Easy ways to remember the order of the planets are the mnemonics: "My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nuts".

Planets do not have light of their own. They appear bright because they reflect the light of the sun that falls on them. The astronomers have demoted Pluto so there are now only eight planets; Pluto is no longer officially a planet. Now they're calling it a "dwarf planet". The largest planet is Jupiter. It is followed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury. The Inner Planets vs. the Outer Planets The inner planets (those planets that orbit close to the sun) are quite different from the outer planets (those planets that orbit far from the sun). The inner planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are relatively small, composed mostly of rock, and have few or no moons. The outer planets include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet). They are mostly huge, mostly gaseous, ringed, and have many moons (again, the exception is Pluto, the dwarf planet, which is small, rocky, and has four moons).

Differences between planets and stars: Stars Planets


They have light of their own. They do not have light of their own. They appear bright because they reflect the light of the sun. They move around a star called sun.

They are stationary but seem to move from east to west. They are very big and gaseous in nature. They are comparatively quite small and rocky. They appear big because of their closeness to earth. They are infinite in number. There are eight planets in our solar system.

Mercury (budh)
It is the smallest planet and closest neighbour of sun .Most of the time it is hidden due to the glare of sun. It has no satellite. It can be seen

just before sunrise or just after sunset. It completes one revolution in 88 days. It has no atmosphere.

Venus (shukra)
It is the brightest and hottest planet of our solar system. Carbon dioxide present in its atmosphere traps heal molecules, shows green house effect, and cause excessive heating. Sometimes it is seen in the western sky after sunset or it can be seen in the eastern sky before sunrise. So, it is also called morning or evening star. It does not have any moon. It rotates from east to west. Just like our moon, Venus also shows phases.

Earth
It is the third planet in terms of distance from the sun. It is the only planet known to have life on it because of the suitable conditions like: 1. It has the right temperature, it is neither too hot nor too cold. 2. It has oxygen and water to sustain life. 3. It has an atmosphere and ozone layer to protect us from ultraviolet rays. Earth rotates on its axis from west to east. That is why sun appears to rise in the east and sets in the west. It completes one rotation in 24 hours. Earth is known as blue-green planet because of reflection of light from water and landmass on its surface. The plane of the equator is called equatorial plane. The plane in which the earth revolves round the sun is called orbital plane. These two planes are inclined at an angle of 23.50 and the axis of the earth is inclined to its orbital plane at 66.50

Rotation of earth is responsible for the formation of day and night. The part of earth which receives light of sun has day and the part that is away from sunlight has night.

Formation of seasons- Seasons are formed due to revolution of earth around the sun. It takes about 365 days and 6 hours to complete one revolution. Changes in seasons occur due to two reasons: 1. Earths axis of rotation is slightly tilted. 2. Distance of the earth from sun is not constant because its orbit is elliptical and not circular.

Mars(Mangal)

It appears as a red object in the sky. So, it is also called red planet. It is earths nearest neighbour planet. It is approximately half the size of earth. It has two small satellites.

Jupiter (Brihaspati)

It the largest planet of our solar system. It is a gaseous body consisting mainly of hydrogen and helium. It has a faint ring around it. Around 1300 earths can be placed in it. It has a large number of satellites. Its mass is around 318 times that of earth. It has a thick atmosphere which reflects most of sunlight falling on it. So, it is the brightest planet after Venus. It rotates very rapidly.

Saturn (shani)

It is a cold planet because of its distance from the sun is considerable. It is yellowish in colour. It has a large number of satellites.

It is known for its beautiful ring that encircles it. It is least dense among all the planets. It has a density less than that of water.

Uranus (arun)

Neptune (varun) Satellite

It is the third largest planet in our solar system. Its atmosphere contains hydrogen and methane. It also rotates from east to west. It has highly tilted rotational axis. Therefore, in its orbital motion it appears to roll on its side.

Being very far away from sun, it has a very low temperature. It has 8 natural satellites.

A natural satellite is a natural object that goes around (orbits) a planet. It is usually called a moon and is large and ball-shaped. Some planets have many moons, and some have none. People also use rockets to send machines into orbit around the Earth. These machines are called artificial (man-made) satellites. They help us to communicate, the telephones and televisions need these satellites. Their distance, size and mass are lesser than the natural satellites. India has also made some satellites. Aryabhatta was the first Indian satellite. Some other Indian satellites are EDUSAT,INSAT,IRS,Kalpana-1 etc.

MOON
Moon is the only natural satellite of earth. The moon travels around the earth in a circle called an orbit. It takes the moon 27 days and 8 hours to go around the earth once. The moon completes one rotation on its axis as it completes one revolution around the earth. The moon does not have light of its own. It shines because of sunlight falling on it gets reflected towards us. So, only that part of moon is visible which is lighted by the sun and facing towards us. The day on which the whole disk of moon is visible is called full moon day. Then it shrinks back to a thin crescent and finally on fifteenth day it is not visible. It is called new moon day. Then it starts growing again till full moon day. The changes in the shape of moon are called its phases. When the bright part of moon is getting bigger, it is called waxing. When it is becoming smaller it is called waning. When the moon is more than half lit, it is called gibbous moon and when it is less than half lit it is called crescent moon.

The time period between one full moon to the next full moon is slightly longer than 29 days. In many calendars this period is called a month. Surface of moon Its surface is rocky and barren. It has craters, plains, mountains and valleys. Some mountains are as high as that of mountains on earth. It has no atmosphere and no water. There is no wind and no climatic changes. On July 21, 1969 the American astronaut, Neil Armstrong, landed on the surface of moon for the first time. He was followed by Edwin Aldrin.

Comets
Comets are small, fragile, irregularly shaped bodies composed of a mixture of non-volatile grains and frozen gases. As comets approach the Sun they develop enormous tails of luminous material that extend for millions of kilometers from the bright head, away from the Sun. They revolve around the sun in highly elliptical orbits. Their period of revolution is usually very long. Many comets appear periodically. Halleys comet appeared in 1986.

Asteroids
Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are too small to be considered planets. They are contained within a main belt that exists between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Meteors and meteorites


A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10 meters in diameter. A meteoroid that burns up due to friction as it passes through the Earths atmosphere is known as a meteor. Several "shooting stars" or meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night. Sometimes the number of meteors seen increases dramatically: these are termed "meteor showers". A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earths atmosphere and colliding with the Earths surface is known as a meteorite.

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