Ay [T4] - The Solar System

Question 1

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

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What is the tail of a comet?

Answer 2

Most visually impressive part.

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

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Ion tail and Dust tail

Question 4

What is the ion tail caused by?

Answer 4

Solar wind excites elements in the tail

Question 5

What direction does the ion tail face?

Answer 5

Same direction as sun

Question 6

What is the Dust tail?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What is the coma?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is the nucleus?

Answer 8

Solid core of comet (rocky, icy part)

Question 9

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

Answer 9

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

Question 10

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

Answer 10

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

Question 11

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

Answer 11

The temperature of it increases enough to give off light

Question 12

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

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What are the terrestrial planets?

Answer 13

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

4 relatively small planets made of rock surrounding iron cores

Question 14

What is the asteroid belt?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What are the gas giants?

Answer 15

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

4 larger planets orbiting the sun

Question 16

What is the kuiper belt?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What is the Oort Cloud?

Answer 17

The edge of the Sun’s gravitational field

Question 18

What is the heliosphere?

Answer 18

The edge of the Sun’s magnetic field

Question 19

1 AU = ? m

Answer 19

1 AU = 1.5 × 10¹¹m

Question 20

What are short and long period comets?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

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

Answer 21

The Kuiper Belt

Question 22

Where do long period comets originate?

Answer 22

The Oort Cloud

Question 23

1 ly = ? m

Answer 23

1 ly = 9.5 × 10¹⁵m

Question 24

Would there be meteor showers on the moon?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

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

Answer 25

Elliptical orbit Move fastest closest to the sun

Question 26

What is the ecliptic plane?

Answer 26

The plane that the sun and planets approximately lie on

Question 27

What does planets being on the same plane tell us?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

What does aperture mean?

Answer 28

Opening

Question 29

What are the 3 types of telescopic power?

Answer 29

Collecting power/light grasp, magnifying power and resolving power

Question 30

What does light grasp mean?

Answer 30

A measure of how much light the telescope can capture

Question 31

The larger the telescope...

Answer 31

...the more light collected

Question 32

What is light grasp proportional to?

Answer 32

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

Question 33

What is magnification dependant on?

Answer 33

The focal lengths of the eye piece and the objective

Question 34

What is the resolving power?

Answer 34

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

Question 35

What is the resolving power dependent on?

Answer 35

The wavelength of light

Question 36

The smaller the wavelengths...

Answer 36

...the higher the resolution images

Question 37

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

Answer 37

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

Question 38

What is an advantage of a Galilean Refracting telescope?

Answer 38

Provides an upright image without requiring an erector-lens system

Question 39

What is a disadvantage of a Galilean Refracting telescope?

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Draw a Galilean Refracting telescope

Answer 40

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Question 41

What is an advantage of a Keplerian Refracting telescope?

Answer 41

Much wider FOV and greater eye relief - higher magnifications

Question 42

What is a disadvantage of a Keplerian Refracting telescope?

Answer 42

Strong "chromatic aberration"

Question 43

What is chromatic aberration?

Answer 43

Image distortion (dispersion of different wavelengths of light)

Question 44

Draw a Keplerian Refracting telescope

Answer 44

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Question 45

What is an advantage of a Newtonian Reflecting telescope?

Answer 45

Long equivalent focal lengths - large magnification

Question 46

What is disadvantage of a Newtonian Reflecting telescope?

Answer 46

Heavy, hard to store

Question 47

Draw a Newtonian Reflecting telescope

Answer 47

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Question 48

What is an advantage of a Cassegrain Reflecting telescope?

Answer 48

Doesn't have chromatic aberration

Question 49

What is disadvantage of a Cassegrain Reflecting telescope?

Answer 49

Difficult to use

Question 50

Draw a Cassegrain Reflecting telescope

Answer 50

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Question 51

What is a fly-by?

Answer 51

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

Question 52

What is an orbiter?

Answer 52

A probe that orbits it's target

Question 53

What is an impactor?

Answer 53

Involving a deliberate crash-landing into the target body

Question 54

What is a soft lander?

Answer 54

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

Question 55

What type of space probe is New Horizons?

Answer 55

Fly-by

Question 56

What type of space probe is Juno?

Answer 56

Orbiter

Question 57

What type of space probe is Dawn?

Answer 57

Orbiter

Question 58

What type of space probe is Deep Impact?

Answer 58

Impactor

Question 59

What type of space probe is Philae?

Answer 59

Soft Lander

Question 60

What was the target of New Horizons?

Answer 60

Pluto and the Kuiper Belt

Question 61

What was the target of Juno?

Answer 61

Jupiter

Question 62

What was the target of Dawn?

Answer 62

Vesta and Ceres

Question 63

What was the target of Deep Impact?

Answer 63

Comet 9P / Tempel 1

Question 64

What was the target of Philae?

Answer 64

Comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Question 65

What was the aim of the mission for New Horizons?

Answer 65

Pluto fly-by, Kuiper belt fly-by

Question 66

What was the aim of the mission for Juno?

Answer 66

Explore the Jovian system

Question 67

What was the aim of the mission for Dawn?

Answer 67

Visit Vesta and Ceres

Question 68

What was the aim of the mission for Deep Impact?

Answer 68

Probe beneath the surface of a comet

Question 69

What was the aim of the mission for Philae?

Answer 69

Comet orbit and landing

Question 70

What major discoveries were made during New Horizons' mission?

Answer 70

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

Question 71

What major discoveries were made during Juno's mission?

Answer 71

Been beneath the dense, forbidding clouds encircling Jupiter - first orbiter to peer so closely Close up images of Jupiter's "tortured moon" Io

Question 72

What major discoveries were made during Dawn's mission?

Answer 72

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

Question 73

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

Answer 73

Determined that a comet's surface is very porous Discovered that hyperactive comets are driven by carbon dioxide

Question 74

What major discoveries were made during Philae's mission?

Answer 74

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