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Intro to Astronomy > Ch 13+14 > Flashcards

Ch 13+14 Flashcards

1
Q

Asteroid Belt

A

Asteroids found in broad space between Mars + Jupiter; most have orbital period of 3.3 to 6 years

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2
Q

Ceres

A

Largest asteroid; Been reclassified since then as a dwarf planet

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3
Q

5 Largest Asteroids

A

Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Hygiea

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4
Q

Dark Asteroids / C-Type

A

Reflectivity of only 3 to 4%; make up majority; composed of silicates mixed with dark, organic carbon

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5
Q

S-Type Asteroids

A

Higher reflectivity; stony / silicate composition

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6
Q

M-Type Asteroids

A

Composed of metal

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7
Q

Vesta

A

Brightest asteroid with reflectivity of 30%

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8
Q

Phobos + Deimos

A

Small moons of Mars that are probably captured asteroids

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9
Q

Eros

A

S-Type asteroid; made of chemically primitive materials; has good deal of loose surface material

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10
Q

NEOs

A

Near-Earth Objects: any comets that come close to our planet

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11
Q

NEAs

A

Near-Earth Asteroids

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12
Q

Comet

A

relatively small chunk of icy material that develops an atmosphere as it approaches the Sun; faint, nebulous tail

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13
Q

Comet Orbits

A

unpredictable appearances

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14
Q

Comet Halley

A

returns at average intervals of 76 years

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15
Q

Short-period Comets

A

Comets returning in a time measurable in human terms; short-period comets have had orbits changed by going too close to giant plants

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16
Q

Comet’s Nucleus

A

Nucleus is the real comet; made of ancient icy material and hydrocarbons and silicates

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17
Q

Comet’s Atmosphere

A

Ice vaporizes near Sun absorbing energy; Gas released in spurts; Tail is extension of atmosphere

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18
Q

Dust Tail

A

Made of dust and curves a bit

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19
Q

Ion Tail

A

Made of gas and is pushed more directly outward from the Sun

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20
Q

Rosetta Mission

A

Goal was to follow an incoming comet’s orbit and follow it as it approaches the Sun

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21
Q

Kuiper Belt

A

Large area of space beyond Neptune that is the source of many comets; short period comets

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22
Q

Oort Cloud

A

Reservoir of ancient icy objects from which comets are derived; long period comets

23
Q

What obscures vision of meteor streaks?

A

Moon, street lights, cell phone screen, etc.

24
Q

Meteor Showers

A

Particles of dust that are leftover from comets that come close to Earth; don’t survive flight into atmosphere

25
Q

Fireball

A

Much brighter tail produced nu meteors size of gold balls

26
Q

Radiant

A

Place in sky where parallel paths of dust particles & pebbles that make up meteor showers come towards us from

27
Q

Perseid Shower

A

Appears each year for about 3 nights near Aug 11

28
Q

Why are shooting stars streaks?

A

Heat & friction as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere

29
Q

Falls

A

We search the area beneath the point where a fireball burned out to recover fallen meteorites

30
Q

Finds

A

People find unusual-looking rocks that turn out to be meteoritic

31
Q

Iron Meteor

A

Nearly pure nickel-iron

32
Q

Stone Meteor

A

Silicate, rocky meteorite

33
Q

Stony-Iron

A

Combination of both iron + stone

34
Q

Differentiated Meteorites

A

Fragments of larger parent bodies that were molten before broken up, allowing denser materials to sink to their centers

35
Q

Primitive Meteorites

A

Made of materials that were not subject to great heat or pressure since formation; parent bodies are asteroids

36
Q

Carbonaceous Meteorites

A

Contain carbon, organic molecules, some chemically bound water; i.e. Murchison & Allende

37
Q

Solar Nebula

A

rotating cloud of vapor and dust that the solar system formed out of cloud contracted under its own gravity

38
Q

Spin Rates

A

Poles: Slow
Equator: Faster

39
Q

Formation of Solar System

A

(1) Solar Nebula –> Material fell toward center
(2) Collapsing nebula began to rotate faster through conservation of angular momentum
(3) Proto-Sun formed as hot dense center
(4) Contraction of collapsed cloud of gas/dust contracted to form Sun
(5) Sun surround by spinning disk of dust & vapor –> Planetismals –> Planets

40
Q

Survivors of Solar Nebula

A

Meteorites, comets, asteroids

41
Q

Spectroscopy

A

High-resolution helped yield many planet detections

42
Q

Doppler Effect

A

Let’s you measure star’s radial velocity; Red if away

43
Q

Transit Technique

A

Astronomers detect planet from measurements of change in brightness of star over long periods of time

44
Q

“Baked Potato” Effect

A

Larger the planet or moon, the more likely it is to retain its internal heat and cools more slowly

45
Q

Geologically Active Planets

A

Earth + Venus; Venus has “blob tectonics”

46
Q

“Blob Tectonics”

A

Hot material from below bursts through surface leading to coronae, pancake volcanoes

47
Q

Olympus Mons

A

On Mars, twice as high as Mt. Everest

48
Q

Volcano Formation on Earth

A

Crustal Plates don’t stop moving long enough to let large volcano grow, instead we get rows of volcanoes

49
Q

Volcano Formation on Mars

A

Crust remains stationary so single volcano can grow for hundreds of millions of years + less surface gravity

50
Q

Why do planets have spherical shapes?

A

Larger objects are pulled by gravity to have a more “efficient shape” – asteroids can be potato shaped

51
Q

Geological Activity on Terrestrial Planets

A

Level of activity is proportional to mass; Greater for Earth + Venus, less for Mars

52
Q

Venus’ Atmosphere

A

Runaway greenhouse effect led to permanent loss of water

53
Q

Mars’ Atmosphere

A

Had thick atmosphere of water but temp dropped and it froze because CO2 for greenhouse effect was lost

Intro to Astronomy (13 decks)

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