Extension Activity

This activity uses an infographic published in a blog post on February 8, 2020, by Nicholas LePan, an author at Visual Capitalist. While it is titled, “A Map of Every Object in our Solar System,” if you read the fine print, you will find that the title is not really accurate. Eleanor Lutz created this graphic in June, 2019 by mapping every object greater than 10 km in diameter from five NASA data sets. While not comprehensive, it provides a view of the many small objects orbiting the Sun.

Here is a high resolution version of the graphic. It may be printed up to a size of 32.6” by 32.6”.

Say before students examine the infographic: “This graphic shows every known object in the Solar System larger than 10 km in diameter. The map shows the position of each object in its orbit in 1999. The key is at the bottom left corner.”

Give students some time to generate questions, comments or observations about the graphic, then use the questions below for discussion.

Leading Questions

• What is the object that the majority of Solar System objects orbit? Why?

• What are the most common objects in the Solar System?

• Are small Solar System objects distributed uniformly in the Solar System? (If not, what patterns do you notice?)

• Can the shape of the Solar System best be thought of as a sphere or a disk? Why do you think it has this shape?

• Do all orbits have the same shape?

• Do you think we have discovered most of the objects in the Solar System? If not, why not?

• Can you think of a reason it might be important or practical to look for new Solar System objects?

• What questions do you have about Solar System objects as a result of studying this graphic?

Landing discussion

If you are using the “Launch, Learn, Land” technique, here are some questions that may be used for a follow up discussion:

You may wish to remind students that this infographic does not show all objects in the Solar System, rather it shows all known objects in the Solar System larger than 10 km in diameter, and their positions, as of 1999.

• What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of the infographic as a model to teach about small Solar System objects?

• Are the orbital properties (distance and shape) you discovered for the NEOs, MBAs, TNOs, and comets consistent with what is shown in this infographic?

• Could you have discovered the range of inclinations for NEOs, TNOs, MBAs, and comets by studying this image? Why or why not?

• What is the dominant force that affects the distribution of objects, and the shape of orbits for the Solar System?

• What can cause the orbits of small objects to become inclined or eccentric?

• What could explain why most objects appear to be in the same plane orbiting the Sun?

• If this graphic was updated to show the locations of all currently-known objects in the Solar System larger than 10 km in diameter, what do you think the most noticeable change might be? Explain your answer.

Videos and Slides

These resources are from a teacher workshop on this investigation. They include a talk from a solar system scientist (video) and the accompanying talk visuals (speaker slides).

Video: Meg Schwamb, "The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and the Solar System"

Speaker slides

Rubin Observatory has produced a series of short animated videos that may be found on the Rubin Observatory YouTube channel. "Our Weird Solar System” may be used as an introduction to this lesson.

Back to Surveying the Solar System

Options for Extended Exploration

1. Some objects within the asteroid belt have an extended appearance, like an asteroid with a “tail”. These are known as active asteroids. Encourage students to locate a list and information about these objects (such as this list on wikipedia) and attempt to develop a profile for factors they have in common (inclinations, eccentricities, composition, etc.), or how they differ from other short-period comets or main belt asteroids. More information about the properties of each individual asteroid may be found by searching its name at the Minor Planet Center.

2. Subcategories of Solar System objects may pique students’ interest as they view data on histograms and scatter plots. Any of these could be its own topic for further study, such as the Trojans in Jupiter’s orbit, long- vs. short-period comets, or the asteroids found between Jupiter and Neptune (the Centaurs). Here’s a link to subcategories. Students can compare and contrast characteristics between these groups, and investigate why these differences exist.

3. Even though the data sets and plots in the investigation may not be modified to do freeform exploration at this time, many of the data sets we use can be directly downloaded from the IAU Minor Planet Center. You can then use a spreadsheet and plotting program to interrogate your own data sets.The Minor Planet Center has some pre-generated plots that are interesting for exploration purposes. For instance, a histogram of the numbers of main belt asteroids vs. semi-major axes reveals that they cluster into groups (due to orbital resonances with Jupiter). Students may be able to investigate whether there is a way to further categorize these groups based on their other orbital parameters.

4. Here is a plot of asteroid orbit size vs.inclination. What might explain the groupings?

Make Your Own Rubin Voices Trading Card

Use this activity:

• To encourage students to imagine themselves in a STEAM career.
• To Introduce the diversity of people and occupations involved in Observatory operations.
  
• As a "get to know you" activity

Make Your Own Rubin Voices Trading Card