Term
| Why is the moon's sky always dark? |
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Definition
| Because it does not have an atmosphere to scatter the light. |
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Term
| Name the planets in order of increasing distance from the sun? |
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Definition
| Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune |
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Term
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Definition
-Dirty Snowballs (Avg Size- 5-10 km)
-Has tails (Ion and Dust)that always point away from the Sun
-Leaves behind debris that cause a meteor shower. |
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Term
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Definition
-Rock / Potato shaped / 50 km to 100 km / craters
- Sits in between Mars and Jupiter (Terrestrial and Jovian planets) |
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Term
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Definition
| Dust in the plane of the solar system that sunlight shines off of. |
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Term
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Definition
| Dust in the plane of the solar system that sunlight shines off of. |
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Term
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Definition
| A long cliff. Discontinuity on the Moon. |
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Term
| What are there almost no maria on far side of the moon? |
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Definition
| The crust on the far side is thicker. When objects hit it the crust did not crack. |
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Term
| Why is the density of Mercury so high? |
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Definition
It has the highest % of iron core in solar system.
Theory is that something big hit Mercury and knocked off the exterior it had. |
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Term
| How does the temperature on the night side of Venus compare to that on the day side? |
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Definition
| Maintains a similar temperature throughout day and night time. |
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Term
| What is meant by 3-2 spin orbital coupling? |
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Definition
| Rotates 3 times on its axis every 2 orbits. |
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Term
| How were the Moon and the maria on the Moon formed? |
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Definition
-Got hit by debris and made a hole in surface.
-Lava leaked out and filled the holes and formed the Maria. |
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Term
| Where is the asteroid belt? Kuiper Belt? Oort Cloud? |
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Definition
Asteroid Belt - Between Mars and Jupiter
Kuiper Belt - Sits outside the orbit of Neptune from 30 to 50 AU.
Oort Cloud - Sits beyond the Kuiper Belt. |
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Term
| Largest and Most Massive Planet? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the smallest planet in the solar system? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| The places among the stars from which the meteors appear to come. |
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Term
| What is the source of meteor showers? |
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Definition
| The earths orbit passing through the debris of a passing comet. |
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Term
| How big are the fragments in a meteor shower? |
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Definition
| About the size of a grain of sand. |
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Term
| What satellite has an atmosphere? What is its composition? |
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Definition
| Titan - 95% Nitrogen with rest being predominately methane. |
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Term
| Which is the most volcanically active object in the solar system? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the great red spot? |
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Definition
| A persistent storm on Jupiter's surface |
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Term
| Which Jovian planets have rings? |
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Definition
| All Jovian planets have rings. |
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Term
| Which planets have magnetic fields? |
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Definition
| Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune |
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Term
| What the two (3?) most likely places for life (probably primitive) to exist in the solar system? |
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Definition
| Mars and Europa (Maybe Enceladus) |
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Term
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Definition
| The earth is titled from the perpendicular towards the plane of orbit and it maintains and orientation. |
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Term
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Definition
| Opposite in the sky from the Sun |
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Term
| How have we discovered planets that orbit other stars? |
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Definition
We discover other planets orbiting around other stars by seeing transits of these planets across the star.
We can use the doppler effect to view the wobble of the planet. |
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Term
| What does the density of a satellite tell you about its composition? |
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Definition
| Density can tell you if its mostly rocky or mostly icy. |
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Term
| What are shepherd satellites? |
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Definition
Keep particles contained within their orbits.
Reason the F ring exists on Saturn. |
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Term
| Describe the make-up of Saturn's rings. (size and composition) |
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Definition
-Composed of Water Ice
-Average size of particles is the size of a snowball. |
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Term
| How were the rotation rates of Mercury and Venus determined? |
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Definition
| Determining rotation rates is dependent on radar ranging (Red shift / Blue Shift) |
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Term
| Over the course of one night, does Orion change positions? |
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Definition
| Orion moved East to West across the sky overnight because the Earth is rotating towards the East on its axis. |
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Term
| Over the course of several weeks, why when observed at the same time of night was Orion in a different position in the sky? |
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Definition
| Because the Earth orbits the sun and the stars in the night sky slowly change. |
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Term
| Describe the Atmosphere of Venus, Mars, and Earth. |
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Definition
Venus - CO2
Mars - CO2 (much thinner)
Earth - Nitrogen, Oxygen |
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Term
| If Venus, Earth, and Mars all started out with similar atmospheres, why are they now so different? |
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Definition
- Venus became so hot because it didn't rain (had a runaway greenhouse effect)
- On Mars the volcanic activity stopped; stopped source of CO2.
+Rained all the CO2 out of the atmosphere. |
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Term
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Definition
The distance where a particles tidal force is just as strong as the gravitational force between it.
- Particle pulls apart and forms a ring around the planet. |
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Term
| How does a dwarf planet differ from a planet? |
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Definition
| A dwarf planet is an object orbiting the Sun with enough mass to gravitationally pull itself into a spherical shape, yet not enough gravity to clear out surrounding planetesimals. |
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Term
| How does the green house effect impact the temperature on the surface of Earth? |
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Definition
| It maintains the temperature at 57 degrees. It does this by trapping the infrared radiation within the atmosphere. |
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Term
| Seven Satellites and their Planets |
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Definition
Moon - Earth
Io - Jupiter
Europa - Jupiter
Ganymede - Jupiter
Callisto - Jupiter
Titan - Saturn
Triton - Neptune |
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Term
| Why does Saturn's atmosphere have a smaller % of Helium than Jupiter, Uranus or Neptune? |
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Definition
| Because Saturn is smaller it cooled quicker. Through this cooling a process was triggered that induced liquid helium rain. Helium is not present in Saturn's upper atmosphere because it dropped down to the lower layers of the planet. |
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Term
| Composition of Jovian Planets |
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Definition
| Outer layers of the Jovians are composed of - hydrogen and helium. |
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