11.2 - Celestial Bodies of the Solar System Flashcards
What is the definition of one Astronomical Unit, 1 AU?
Distance from Sun to Earth
What do we call the inner four planets of our solar system?
Terrestrial Planets
Which is the largest celestial body in our solar system?
sun
You might find one of these rocky objects in an impact crater!
meteor
The object in the image is sometimes called a “dirty snowball” because it is composed of ice, rocks, dust and gases. What is it?
comet
This object is a “small” rocky celestial body thought to be left over from the formation of the solar system.
Asteroid
These usually originate in the far reaches of our solar system in the Kuiper belt or Oort cloud.
comet
Mostly found orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.
Asteroids
Describe at least one similarity and one difference between a planet and a dwarf planet.
Similarities: i) both orbit the sun, ii) both are large enough for gravity to have pulled them into a mostly spherical shape when they were being formed.
Differences: i) Planets have cleared their orbital pathway while dwarf planets have not. ii) Dwarf planets tend to have orbits that are at an angle to the orbits of the planets. We say that they are not in the same “plane” as the rest of the planets.
When NASA sends a probe to a moon of Jupiter, which type of celestial body are they more likely to encounter on the way: an asteroid or a comet? Why? Describe one difference between these objects besides their normal location in our solar system.
We are more likely to pass asteroids because the asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. Comets on the other hand tend to be located farther out in space in the Kuiper belt or in the Oort cloud.
One difference is that asteroids are basically small rocky bodies, while comets are made of rocks, ice and gases!
3) Your friend came up with a memory tool to remember the order of the planets: Morgan’s Elephant Voraciously Munches Juicy Strawberries Using Noisy Procedures. Describe the two mistakes that were made in this memory tool.
Elephant and Voraciously should be switched because Venus comes before Earth in our solar system. The second mistake is that he included a 9th planet. Since it started with a P we can assume that he thought that Pluto was a planet.
