Solar System Structure and Evolution
Virginia SOL AS.4
Investigate and understand the structure, evolution, and formation of the solar system as a model for planetary system formation.
What students need to be able to do
- Infer the age, composition, and evolution of the solar system based on the study of asteroids and meteorites.
- Make, support, and evaluate a claim about Earth's formation and early history.
- Compare theories on the formation and evolution of planetary systems (solar nebular theory, condensation theory, core accretion theory, and gravitational instability theory).
- Describe characteristics of major and minor objects in our solar system.
- Develop and use a model to explain how interactions between layers of the sun affect Earth.
- Make, support, and evaluate a claim about how studies of the sun can be used as a model to understand characteristics of stars.
- Compare the strengths and limitations of methods (transit method, radial velocity, gravitational lensing, direct imaging, and astrometry) used to discover exoplanets.