Chapter 21 Flashcards
What is the solar system
the sun and the group of objects that move around it
what does planet literally mean
wanderers
where are most things that humans on earth can see in the night sky
outside our solar system
what is the closet star to earth named
the Sun
what is the largest object in our solar system
the Sun
how many times larger is the sun than the largest planet in our solar system
10 times larger
what is the sun mostly made up of
hydrogen
what does the sun use to create energy
nuclear fusion
what does the sun provide
light and a gravational pull to keep the planets in orbit around it
what qualities does a planet have to have to be considered a planet
must orbit the sun and have a nearly spherical shape
how many planets do we have
8
what are the inner planets (4 closest planets to the sun) and what are they mostly made of.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Mostly made of solid rock
what are the outer planets (4 farthest planets from the sun)
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
what are the outer planets made of
they are gas giants
what is a dwarf planet
a spherical object that orbits the sun, but dosent have a greater mass than objects nearby it.
what are dwarf planets made of
rock and ice and these planets are very small
what are the names of some dwarf planets
Ceres, Eris, Pluto, Makemake
what are astroids
small, rocky, non-spherical objects that orbit the sun in a belt between mars and jupiter
what sizes are astroids
range in sizes from a meter to hundreds of meters
what are comets made of
gas, dust and ice
what shape are comets orbits
long ovals
where do comets come from
outer parts of the solar system
what is an astronomical unit
is the average distance from earth to the sun (like the Will measurement that we did in class)
what is the distance from earth to the sun
~150 km
what is the period of revolution
the time it takes the objet to travel one around the sun
what is revolution
an objet spinning around another
what is the period of rotation
the time it takes an object to complete one spin on its own axis
what was the idea of where earth was in the beginning
a geocentric solar system. The earth is at the center of the solar system and everything revolved around it in circular parts
what is the reversed idea of geocentric (the true idea)
the sun is the center of the solar system, heliocentric
what shape are orbits
elliptical (Oval)
what happens to a planet’s speed when it is closer to the sun
it’s speed increases
what does the mass of a planet have to be greater than
than the objects orbiting it
what are four inner planets made of and look like
they are small, dense, and have rocky surfaces
what does terrestrial mean
earth
what planets are terrestrail
the 4 inner planets
what are the 3 main layers of earth
crust, mantle and core
what is the only planet in the solar system with liquid water at its surface
earth
what can earth’s gravity also support
an atmosphere made of gases
what is the only planet with an oxogen rich atmosphere to support life
earth
what is the smallest terrestrial planet
mercury
what is mercury the size of
earth’s moon
what is the closest planet to the sun
mercury
how many moons does mercury have
none
what was the spaceship called that provided us most of what we know about mercury
mariner 10
why does mercury have no atmosphere
due to little gravity
what temperature usually is mercury
450C to 170C
what does mercury surface look like
craters, plains and no erosion
what are the craters on mercury caused by
from impacts
what were mercurys pains formed by
hardened lava
what is mercurys core made of
iorn and nickel
what is mercurys mantle made of
sillicon and oxogen
what is mercurys crust made of
rock
what planet is “Earth’s twin”
venus
why is, venus, earth’s “twin”
due to similar mass and size
does venus rotate on its axis slow or fast
very slowly
does venus rotate or revolve slower
rotates
what is different about venus’ rotation
rotates opposite of other planets. Venus rotates east-west
what planet is called “the red planet”
mars
why is mars called “The red planet”
due to Iron - rich rock
how big is mars compared to earth
mars is 1/2 the size of earth
how many moons does mars have
2 moons
what is 95% of mars’ atmosphere made up of
CO2
does mars have a lot or few clouds
few clouds
what is an ice cap
search it up
does mars have ice cap, if so what are they made of
yes, frozen CO2 and ice
why does mars have seasons
because of the tilt oof its axis
what has landed on mars to obtain soil samples
probs
what have probs landing on mars shown evidence of
liquid water once being present
does mars have any volconoes or water flows
yes, both
what is the largest volcano/mountain in the solar system located and what is it called
on mars, it is called olympus mons
what concepts does it take to create a gas giant
uses the concepts of temperature and pressure
what are gas giants primarily made of
hydrogen and helium
why do gas giants have a strong gravitational force
due to large mass
why do gas giant have great atmospheric pressure
because of their gravitational force
what is one thing that all gas giants have
a ring system
what is the structure of a gas giant look like
thick gas and a liquid layer surrounding a small, solid core
what is the largest planet in our solar system
jupiter
how many times greater is Jupiter’s’ diameter than earth’s
11x
how big is Jupiter’s mass
it is bigger than 2x all the other planets combined
how long does it take for jupiter to complete one orbit / revolution
12 years
how long does it take for jupiter to complete one rotation (fastest planet)
less than 10 hours
what 90% and 10% of earth’s atmosphere
90% hydrogen and 10% helium
how many km deep is earth’s atmosphere
1000
how long has jupiter great red spot been ongoing
400 years
what are the layers of jupiter
gas layer, the liquid layer surrounding a core
what is Jupiters core made of and how big is it
rock and iron at least the size of the earth
what is revolution
the motion of one object around anothor object
what is rotation
a planet spinning about its own axis
how many moons does the book say jupiter have
63
what is the most recent number of moons found near jupiter
85-90
what are Jupiters largest moons
Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto
what are Galilean moons
moons found by Galileo
which of jupiters moons is most likely to support life and why
Europa, because of liquid water and the amount of the sun’s radiation
how dense is saturn
less dense than water
does saturn rotate slow or rapidly
rapidly
what is Saturn mostly made of
hydrogen and helium
how many bends of rings does saturn have
7
Saturn’s rings are wide but thin. How thick are these rings
only 30 m thick
according to the book, how many moons does saturn have
60
what is the most recent count of how many moons saturn has
124 moons
what is saturn’s largest moon called
Titan
how big is Titan (Saturn’s largest moon)
the size of mercury
what have we discovered about Titan from sending space probs there
that it is the closest possible destination that could support humans living there
what is Titans atmosphere like
a thick atmosphere
does Titan have liquid on it
yes
what is Urnas’ atmosphere made of
hydrogen, helium and methane
what is different about Uranus’ rotation
it spins on its side (like a ball)
Uranus has a slushy layer in the atmosphere made of what?
water and ammonia
what was the name of the probe that explored uranus
voyager 2
what is Saturn’s structure like
same basic structure (gas, liquid layer, solid core)
why is Urnas’ axis tilted
probably caused by a collision with a large object
how many moons do urnas have
27
how was Uranus discovered
by accident by William Hershal in 1781. It was predicted by the unusual wobble in Neptune’s orbit. The 1st new planet found since ancient times.
what is Neptune’s structure like
same structre as urnas
how many moons does neptune have
13
do all gas giants in the solar system have a ring system
yes
what is Neptune’s largest moon called and what is it made of
Triton, made of rock and ice
Neptunes’s moon, Triton has geysers, what erupts from these geysers
ntrogen gas
what is a dwarf planet
an object that orbits the sun, has enough mass and gravity to form a sphere, and has objects in similar mass orbiting near it.
what does the dwarf planet, Ceres orbit, and where
orbits the sun in an asteroid belt between mars and Jupiter
how big is the moon compared to Ceres
ceres is about 1/4 the size of the moon
what is the smallest dwarf planet
ceres
how big is the moon compared to Ceres
2/3 the size of the moon
Since Pluto is so far from the moon, it takes a long time to make revolve 1 time, how long does it take to revolve 1 time?
250 years
what is pluto covered in
frozen nitrogen -230 C
how many moons does Pluto have and what are their names
3, Charon, Hydra, Nix
what is the largest dwarf planet
Eris
how many moons does Eris have
1 moon
how many times farther from the sun is Eris than Pluto
3x further
what are the two dwarf planets located in the Kuiper belt named
Makemake and Haumea
what are asteroids made of
large chucks of rocks and ice
where are most asteroids located
in the asteroid belt between Mars and jupiter
how many asteroids are there
hundreds of thousands
what are asteroids believed to be
to be object left over from the formation of the solar system
what is the theory on how the asteroid belt could have been developed
the asteroid belt could have been developed into a planet, but due to the strong gravitational pull of Jupiter, it never formed.
what are comet made of
mixtures of rock and ice and dust held together by gravitational attraction between the particals
what shape are comet’s orbits
long elliptical orbits
what are a comet’s 2 main parts
the solid, leading part called the nucleus and the tail
what is a nucleus on a comet
is the solid, leading part of the comet
what happens to the nucleus part of the comet as it picks up heat from the sun
it develops a glow - known as the coma
in a comet, from earth why do we see a glowing tail trailing behind
as the tail picks up hear, some ice particles change into gas, which we see as a glowing tail
which way does the tail of the comet alway point
away from the sun
how long do short period comets take to orbit the sun
200 yeas
where do most short period comets come from
from the kuiper belt
how long does it take for long period comets to orbit the sun
can take millions of years
where do long period comets originate from
originate in the oort cloud at the edge of our solar system
what are meteroids
small, rocky particle that moves through space. Most are only the size of a grain of sand
what happens to meteoroids as they enter earth’s atmosphere
they glow and usually burn up
what does a meteoroid turn into after they glow and burn up
a meteor
what is a meteoroid called when it dosen’t glow and burn up
meteorites
what can meteorites cause
impact craters
what is an impact crater
a round depression left by the impact of a meteroite
