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Astronomy GCSE (Edexcel) > Ay [T4] - The Solar System > Flashcards

Ay [T4] - The Solar System Flashcards

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1
Q

What are comets made of and what size are they typically in diameter?

A

Comets are made mainly of ice and dust - they’re remains of the formation of the solar system, typically 10km in diameter

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2
Q

What is the tail of a comet?

A

Most visually impressive part.

Steam of dust and gas left behind the comet as it travels and reacts to the Sun’s radiation

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3
Q

What are the names of the two tails that comets have?

A

Ion tail and Dust tail

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4
Q

What is the ion tail caused by?

A

Solar wind excites elements in the tail

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5
Q

What direction does the ion tail face?

A

Same direction as sun

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6
Q

What is the Dust tail?

A

Bits of comet breaking off because it heats up as it passes close to the sun

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7
Q

What is the coma?

A

The thin atmosphere formed around the nucleus, created by gases expelled from the core

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8
Q

What is the nucleus?

A

Solid core of comet (rocky, icy part)

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9
Q

What is the difference between a dwarf planet and a planet?

A

Dwarf planets don’t have a clear path, or “cleared its neighborhood” of objects, because there are lots of similar sized objects nearby

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10
Q

What is the difference between a meteor, meteoroid and meteorite?

A

A meteoroid is before it comes into the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up

A meteor is when it’s in the Earth’s atmosphere and is burning up

A meteorite is when it’s hit the ground on earth and is just pieces of rock on the ground

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11
Q

What happens to a meteor while in the Earth’s atmosphere?

A

The temperature of it increases enough to give off light

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12
Q

What 4 areas can our solar system be roughly split up into?

A

The terrestrial planets, the asteroid belt, the gas giants and the kuiper belt.

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13
Q

What are the terrestrial planets?

A

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

4 relatively small planets made of rock surrounding iron cores

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14
Q

What is the asteroid belt?

A

A large ring of asteroids separating the terrestrial planets from the gas giants

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15
Q

What are the gas giants?

A

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

4 larger planets orbiting the sun

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16
Q

What is the kuiper belt?

A

A large collection of small solar system objects (asteroids, meteorites and comets)

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17
Q

What is the Oort Cloud?

A

The edge of the Sun’s gravitational field

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18
Q

What is the heliosphere?

A

The edge of the Sun’s magnetic field

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19
Q

1 AU = ? m

A

1 AU = 1.5 × 10¹¹m

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20
Q

What are short and long period comets?

A

Short period comets: take less than 200 years to orbit around the sun once

Long period comets: take more than 200 years to orbit around the sun once

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21
Q

Where do short period comets with a period less than 20 years originate?

A

The Kuiper Belt

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22
Q

Where do long period comets originate?

A

The Oort Cloud

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23
Q

1 ly = ? m

A

1 ly = 9.5 × 10¹⁵m

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24
Q

Would there be meteor showers on the moon?

A

No, because a meteor is only a meteor if it’s in an atmosphere, and the moon does not have an atmosphere

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25
Q

What type of orbit do comets have, and where do they move fastest?

A

Elliptical orbit

Move fastest closest to the sun

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26
Q

What is the ecliptic plane?

A

The plane that the sun and planets approximately lie on

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27
Q

What does planets being on the same plane tell us?

A

They formed roughly at the same time, from the same disc of material

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28
Q

What does aperture mean?

A

Opening

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29
Q

What are the 3 types of telescopic power?

A

Collecting power/light grasp, magnifying power and resolving power

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30
Q

What does light grasp mean?

A

A measure of how much light the telescope can capture

31
Q

The larger the telescope…

A

…the more light collected

32
Q

What is light grasp proportional to?

A

Light grasp ∝ area ∝ (diameter of objective element)²

33
Q

What is magnification dependant on?

A

The focal lengths of the eye piece and the objective

34
Q

What is the resolving power?

A

A measure of how sharp the image produced is - how much detail the image is in

35
Q

What is the resolving power dependent on?

A

The wavelength of light

36
Q

The smaller the wavelengths…

A

…the higher the resolution images

37
Q

What does FOV stand for, what is it a measurement of, and what is it measured in?

A

Field of view, a measurement between 2 extremes of your vision, measured in degrees

38
Q

What is an advantage of a Galilean Refracting telescope?

A

Provides an upright image without requiring an erector-lens system

39
Q

What is a disadvantage of a Galilean Refracting telescope?

A

Small FOV - can only reveal approximately ¼ of the moon’s surface at a time

40
Q

Draw a Galilean Refracting telescope

A

Link

41
Q

What is an advantage of a Keplerian Refracting telescope?

A

Much wider FOV and greater eye relief - higher magnifications

42
Q

What is a disadvantage of a Keplerian Refracting telescope?

A

Strong “chromatic aberration”

43
Q

What is chromatic aberration?

A

Image distortion (dispersion of different wavelengths of light)

44
Q

Draw a Keplerian Refracting telescope

A

Link

45
Q

What is an advantage of a Newtonian Reflecting telescope?

A

Long equivalent focal lengths - large magnification

46
Q

What is disadvantage of a Newtonian Reflecting telescope?

A

Heavy, hard to store

47
Q

Draw a Newtonian Reflecting telescope

A

Link

48
Q

What is an advantage of a Cassegrain Reflecting telescope?

A

Doesn’t have chromatic aberration

49
Q

What is disadvantage of a Cassegrain Reflecting telescope?

A

Difficult to use

50
Q

Draw a Cassegrain Reflecting telescope

A

Link

51
Q

What is a fly-by?

A

The probe literally flies past a target and in most cases allows studies of many targets to be made

52
Q

What is an orbiter?

A

A probe that orbits it’s target

53
Q

What is an impactor?

A

Involving a deliberate crash-landing into the target body

54
Q

What is a soft lander?

A

The descent and impact are controlled and the probe lands on the surface of the target body in tact

55
Q

What type of space probe is New Horizons?

A

Fly-by

56
Q

What type of space probe is Juno?

A

Orbiter

57
Q

What type of space probe is Dawn?

A

Orbiter

58
Q

What type of space probe is Deep Impact?

A

Impactor

59
Q

What type of space probe is Philae?

A

Soft Lander

60
Q

What was the target of New Horizons?

A

Pluto and the Kuiper Belt

61
Q

What was the target of Juno?

A

Jupiter

62
Q

What was the target of Dawn?

A

Vesta and Ceres

63
Q

What was the target of Deep Impact?

A

Comet 9P / Tempel 1

64
Q

What was the target of Philae?

A

Comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko

65
Q

What was the aim of the mission for New Horizons?

A

Pluto fly-by, Kuiper belt fly-by

66
Q

What was the aim of the mission for Juno?

A

Explore the Jovian system

67
Q

What was the aim of the mission for Dawn?

A

Visit Vesta and Ceres

68
Q

What was the aim of the mission for Deep Impact?

A

Probe beneath the surface of a comet

69
Q

What was the aim of the mission for Philae?

A

Comet orbit and landing

70
Q

What major discoveries were made during New Horizons’ mission?

A

First spacecraft to explore Pluto up close.

Large, young, heart-shaped region of ice on Pluto

Many mountains made of water and ice on Pluto

Kuiper belt- most distant object ever explored up close

71
Q

What major discoveries were made during Juno’s mission?

A

Been beneath the dense, forbidding clouds encircling Jupiter - first orbiter to peer so closely

Close up images of Jupiter’s “tortured moon” Io

72
Q

What major discoveries were made during Dawn’s mission?

A

First spacecraft to orbit 2 extraterrestrial destinations - the giant asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres, both in the asteroid belt

First spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet

73
Q

What major discoveries were made during Deep Impact’s mission?

A

Determined that a comet’s surface is very porous

Discovered that hyperactive comets are driven by carbon dioxide

74
Q

What major discoveries were made during Philae’s mission?

A

Successfully landed on the surface of the comet and began sending back images and data

Astronomy GCSE (Edexcel) (9 decks)

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