Astronomy Flashcards
Mercury
-smallest planet
-no moons
-thin atmosphere
Venus
-rotates east to west
-THICK atmosphere; carbon dioxide
Earth
-third planet from the sun
Mars
-2 moons: Phobos & Deimos
-very THIN atmosphere of CO2 making it much cooler than earth
-polar ice caps made of frozen water and CO2
Jupiter
-great red spot
-numerous moons; Io, Europa, Ganymede, & Calisto
Saturn
-Second largest
-ring system made of ice and dust
Uranus
-3rd largest planet
-Vertical rotation
-blue & white clouds due to methane
Neptune
-blue
-ring system
Comet
a celestial object composed of ice, dust, and rocky material that orbits the Sun
Asteroid
The name of any “small” rocky object in orbit around the sun
Meteor
Piece of rock in the atmosphere that glows white hot, also called a shooting star
Meteorite
Remains of meteor after impact
Meteoroid
Lump of rock/metal pulled down by earths gravity
Moons
-a natural satellite that orbits a planet
-found throughout the solar system and come in various sizes and compositions
-play a significant role in the dynamics of the planets they orbit.
Solar System Formation
-Started out as a nebula (H/He) gas.
-Gravity pulls the nebula together creating the sun.
-next clumps from the nebula form the planets surrounded by the gas layer.
-Once the sun ignites the outer layer of gas will evaporate from the 4 terrestrial planets.
-Lastly the gas giants keep their gas layer/ atmosphere.
Life Cycle of Stars
-a medium sized star starts off as a nebula
-the nebula’s force of gravity pushes the hydrogen atoms close to one another causing them to fuse together, creating helium
-when this nuclear fusion process happens, a star is born
-after billions of years the star will run out of hydrogen atoms and the core will start to collapse
-this causes the outer layers to expand and the star starts to swell up into a red giant
-gravity then loses hold of the outer atmosphere and a planetary nebula forms
-eventually the star will burn down into a small, hot, and dense white dwarf star or dead star
Stars (hottest to coldest)
Blue - white - yellow - orange - red
