Chapter 1 the new solar system Flashcards
Heat
We need solar heat to keep us warm and to create differences in temperature between the poles and equator to stimulate ocean and atmospheric circulation.
Gravity
The Sun’s gravitational pull keeps us in orbit or we would be lost in space. The Sun’s gravity is also responsible for 1/2 of the ocean tide signal.
Light
Animals depend on light for their circadian rhythms, photosynthesis, and Vitamin D production. Ultraviolet light and other parts of the spectrum are also produced by the Sun and may play a role in the vision or existence of other organisms.
Space weather
layers within the Sun rotate at different rates resulting in the twisting of the magnetic field lines. Eventually, these lines unravel and send material (plasma and subatomic particles) as massive solar flares and coronal mass
Ejections
throughout the solar system that can disrupt our communication systems and the power grid. While these storms happen all the time, they can become more intensive and frequent during solar maximums.
Tessrestrial
planets are low density, rocky, and have a low escape velocity (the speed needed to escape gravitational pull) due to their smaller size.
Jovian
planets are the large, dense, gaseous planets that have a high escape velocity due to their large size.
All have rings
around them, although not all of them are easily visible.
The earth
The earth is 4.5 billion years old
Phoebe
In addition to the rings we see around Saturn, there is another dust ring 127-208 Saturn radii further out and inclined 27° from the plane of the other rings.
Define a planet
as indicated by the International Astronomical Union.
Kuiper belt
Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet on the inner edge of the Kuiper Belt (see below) because its orbit sometimes lies within that of Neptune.
Asteroid
Clusters of rocky bodies in multiple stable points between planets.
Quasi- satellite
asteroid bodies in orbits that cross the orbits of planets
Trojans
asteroids that stay in certain positions in the orbital path of a planet (ahead or behind).
Asteroid belt
the well -nown group of rocky bodies that lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter contains between 1-2 million rocky bodies greater than 1 km in size. The dwarf planet Ceres sits in here as well.
Greeks
a group of trojan asteroids that lie along Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun but are 60° ahead of Jupiter. (yes, Trojan is a name as well as a kind of asteroid).
Meteoroids
the rocky bodies are still in space
Meteor
a high-speed rocky body that is “flaming out” in the atmosphere. The intense friction between this high-speed rock and the atmosphere makes it glow. It is the same as a “shooting star”. When their magnitude is greater than a star we call them a fireball or bolide.
Meteorite
a meteor that has passed through the entire atmosphere and has impacted the surface of the Earth.
Metallic or Iron meteoroid
a metallic meteoroid primarily composed of iron that came from the core of an asteroid.
Chondrite
a stony meteoroid that has not been altered by melting
Carbonaceous chondrite
a stony meteoroid with carbon-based amino acids. These meteor fragments suggest that the ingredients for life may have had an extraterrestrial origin.
Coma
a faint cloud of dusty and gaseous material that surrounds the main body as the comet gets close to the Sun.
Gas tail
a faint cloud of dusty and gaseous material that surrounds the main body as the comet gets close to the Sun.
Dust tail
a fan of dusty material that points away from the Sun and is offset from the gas tail due to the slower velocity of dust material
Heliopause
is believed to be the edge of our solar system beyond which the Sun no longer has much influence
Heliosphere and Interstellar space
where the Sun fills the volume with solar wind that maintains an outward pressure against interstellar space which is pretty barren.
Astronomical Units
(each unit being 93 million miles which is the average distance from the Sun to the Earth).
