Chapter 1 the new solar system

Question 1

Heat

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

Gravity

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Light

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Space weather

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Ejections

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Tessrestrial

Answer 6

planets are low density, rocky, and have a low escape velocity (the speed needed to escape gravitational pull) due to their smaller size.

Question 7

Jovian

Answer 7

planets are the large, dense, gaseous planets that have a high escape velocity due to their large size.

Question 8

All have rings

Answer 8

around them, although not all of them are easily visible.

Question 9

The earth

Answer 9

The earth is 4.5 billion years old

Question 10

Phoebe

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Define a planet

Answer 11

as indicated by the International Astronomical Union.

Question 12

Kuiper belt

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Asteroid

Answer 13

Clusters of rocky bodies in multiple stable points between planets.

Question 14

Quasi- satellite

Answer 14

asteroid bodies in orbits that cross the orbits of planets

Question 15

Trojans

Answer 15

asteroids that stay in certain positions in the orbital path of a planet (ahead or behind).

Question 16

Asteroid belt

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Greeks

Answer 17

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).

Question 18

Meteoroids

Answer 18

the rocky bodies are still in space

Question 19

Meteor

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Meteorite

Answer 20

a meteor that has passed through the entire atmosphere and has impacted the surface of the Earth.

Question 21

Metallic or Iron meteoroid

Answer 21

a metallic meteoroid primarily composed of iron that came from the core of an asteroid.

Question 22

Chondrite

Answer 22

a stony meteoroid that has not been altered by melting

Question 23

Carbonaceous chondrite

Answer 23

a stony meteoroid with carbon-based amino acids. These meteor fragments suggest that the ingredients for life may have had an extraterrestrial origin.

Question 24

Coma

Answer 24

a faint cloud of dusty and gaseous material that surrounds the main body as the comet gets close to the Sun.

Question 25

Gas tail

Answer 25

a faint cloud of dusty and gaseous material that surrounds the main body as the comet gets close to the Sun.

Question 26

Dust tail

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Heliopause

Answer 27

is believed to be the edge of our solar system beyond which the Sun no longer has much influence

Question 28

Heliosphere and Interstellar space

Answer 28

where the Sun fills the volume with solar wind that maintains an outward pressure against interstellar space which is pretty barren.

Question 29

Astronomical Units

Answer 29

(each unit being 93 million miles which is the average distance from the Sun to the Earth).