The Universe and The Solar System:
The solar system consists of the sun, eight planets, five dwarf planets their respective satellites, and other heavenly bodies. The planets revolve around the sun in the anti-clockwise direction except for Venus and Uranus which revolves in the clockwise direction.
Mercury:
It is the innermost planet and the smallest planet of the solar system. It has the fastest revolution and it completes its one revolution around the sun in around 88 days. It has no atmosphere and no satellites. It is also the Roman god of commerce.
Venus:
It is known as the Earth’s twin as it has a similar size, density, and mass. It is also known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star. It is the hottest planet of the Solar System (due to its high content of Carbon di Oxide CO2). Unlike the other planets, it revolves clockwise i.e. from East to West.
Earth:
It is also known as the Blue planet because of 71% water. It is the third planet of the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest planet in terms of size. At present, it is the only planet of the solar system which supports all forms of life.
Mars:
It is known as the Red planet due to the high presence of the FeO (Iron Oxide). Olympus Mons is the mountain spotted at Mars and the size of it is approximately three times the size of Mt. Everest.
Jupiter:
The lord of the Heavens is the biggest planet of the Solar System. It has the fastest rotation time i.e. 9.8 hours. It has 63 natural satellites out of which Ganymede is the biggest which is also the biggest satellite of the Solar System.
Saturn:
It is the second-largest planet of the solar system known as the elegant planet. It is surrounded by rings which are made up of particles of dust and ice. It has 62 natural satellites out of which Titan is the biggest.
Uranus:
It is a unique planet as its axis of rotation is inclined at only 80 to its orbital plane. So unlike the other planets which spin on their axis, Uranus actually rolls apparently from North to South.
On the fine bright night when we look up in the sky, it seems to be full of stars, but very few of us know that each of the stars we see is far bigger than the size of the earth on which we live. The galaxy in which the earth is situated is known as Milky Way and it consists of around 1, 00,000 million stars.
Nearest Star (Except Sun) – Proxima Centauri (4.2 light-years) Alpha Centauri (4.3 light-years) Brightest Star - Sirius
Star with a Tail - Comet
If the star is large the final stage of the star can be a supernova explosion which sometimes leaves behind neutron stars called pulsars or they can collapse and compact to form black holes.
Drainage System:
The total yield of water in the rivers of India is 18, 58,100 million cubic meters. There are a total of 14 major river basins, 49 medium river basins, and hundreds of minor river basins.
On the basis of the origin, the rivers of India are divided into the Himalayan Rivers and the Peninsular Rivers.
Over 77% of the total drainage area of the country is towards the Bay of Bengal and the remaining 23% towards the Arabian Sea.
Drainage Pattern
- Following are the major drainage patterns −
- Dendritic
- Radial
- Centripetal
- Trellis
- A drainage pattern that looks like tree branches with lots of twigs is known as
Dendritic drainage pattern. For example, the rivers of the northern plain.
- Radial drainage patterns form when rivers originate from a hill and flow in all For example, the rivers originating from the Amarkantak.
- The centripetal drainage pattern is formed when rivers discharge their waters from all directions into a lake or a For example, Loktaklake in Manipur.
- Trellis drainage pattern is formed when the primary tributaries of main rivers flow parallel to each other and secondary tributaries join them at right angles. For example, rivers in the upper part of the Himalayan.
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