Solar System
Solar System is a Division B event for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. For the 2023 season, it will focus on habitability within and beyond the Solar System. This event is meant to be highly interdisciplinary, drawing on concepts from astronomy, planetary science, geology, chemistry, and biology, among others.
Resources
Official Webinar
The A-Team typically produces a webinar to help students get a feel for the content and question styles that will be emphasized in their events, particularly at the national level. The Solar System webinar for the 2022-2023 competition season can be found below.
Special thanks to Keith Miller and Gordon Squires at IPAC for their help in producing this video.
Past exams
In my experience, working through well-written exams is one of the most effective ways to practice in Science Olympiad. Exams that I have written (or helped write) can be found here. Additional exams can be found on the SciOly.org Wiki and Test Exchange.
Websites
Websites serve as a great resource, whether you are a beginner or looking to deepen your understanding of a particular topic. The following websites are a good place to start.
Textbooks
Once you have a good grasp of the basics, you can start to delve into more advanced topics. In particular, A Student’s Guide to the Mathematics of Astronomy has some of the best material I have ever seen for solidifying your intuition for the underlying math and physics in this event.
- Planetary Habitability by Stephen R. Kane (2021)
- Fundamental Planetary Science by Jack J. Lissauer (2019)
- Astrobiology: An Introduction by Alan Longstaff (2015)
- A Student’s Guide to the Mathematics of Astronomy by Daniel Fleisch and Julia Kregenow (2013)