Chapter 3 Flashcards
Solar day
Sunrise to sunrise. Time it takes earth to rotate 365 degrees on its axis. 3.9 minutes off; accounts for extra day in leap year
Diurnal Motion
Movement of sun and the stars. Based on 24 hour solar day
Sundial
Motion of sun across the sky. Arm is facing north, angles represent time of day
Sidereal Day
Invented by Mayans
Movement of the stars by the difference/shift of stars every night (like Oriens belt)
Seasons
Created by the tilt the earth has on its axis. (23.5 degrees)
Opposites in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere
Indirect/direct sunlight
Direct= summer Indirect= winter
Summer solstice
June 21
Tilted towards sun; most direct Rays
Winter Solstice
Tilted away from sun; Suns Rays are more indirect
Autumnal Equinox
September 21
Signals arrival of fall
Vernal Equinox
March 21
Signals arrival of spring
Lunar phases
- New moon
- Waxing crescent
- 1st quarter
- Waxing crescent
- Full moon
- Waning gibbous
- 3rd quarter
- Waning crescent
(Repeat)
The moon
Brightest object in night sky
27.3 days to get through the moons changes
Location of moon determines what we see
1/2 is always illuminated by sun
Liberation
The moon shifting/wobbling
Blue moon
2 full moons in a month
Eclipse
When earth, moon, and sub are in alignment in all plains
Reason= shadow
Lunar Eclipse
Sun, earth, moon
Full moon only
Solar eclipse
Rate b/c moon shadow is much smaller than that of earth
Sun, moon, earth
Not safe to look at
Umbra
Total darkness (200 mi wide)
Penumbra
Perimeter of shadow and some light
We study the moon because..
Holds clues to unlocking the universe because it hasn’t changed much
We may need to inhibit it
May need it’s raw materials
May want to launch from here
The moons size
Smaller mass, smaller gravitational force
GF allows life to exits
Low GF= higher escape speed = faster interspace speeds= quicker arrival times
Continental drift
Crustal plates are adrift on the upper mental and move, collide
Convection rising from heat moves plates. Hot molten interior
Moons Core
Frozen/solid core-> no magnetic field
Hydrosphere
Liquid portion of planet
Clementine
Found water on the polls at the bottom of craters in perpetual darkness
To confirm we crashed a probe in a crater (lunar prospector)
Proved there wasn’t water on the moon
Electrolysis
Breaking h2o into hydrogen and ice gyn gas to make rocket fuel
Geology
Studied rocks/moon soil (regalith)
Earth= no organic material
Moon= organic material
Atmospheres
Moon is thin
Earth has well developed atmosphere that insulates us and protects radiation
Solar Day
Sunrise to sunrise