Chapter 3 Astronomy Pt. 2 Flashcards
What are the terrestrial planets?
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
- All have a high density, solid surface, high iron concentration
- slower rotating and faster revolving
Sun
- everything revolves around the sun because it has so much gravity
- nothing crashes into the sun because of rotation of other planets
- sun is a low mass star
Mercury
Smallest planet Closest to the sun Revolution of 88 of our days Rotation is 59 of our days No atmosphere No moons Really hot daytime temps-450 Really cold nighttime temps-180
Venus
Similar to earths size, extremely thick atmosphere, lots of active volcanoes, surface is hot and is getting hotter( due to extreme greenhouse gasses), 480 degrees, extreme acid rain is atmosphere
Earth
- Only one with confirmed life
- h2o in all three states( solid, liquid and gas)
Mars
Referred to as the red planet, most like earth and most likely to travel to(0- -90 degrees), has an atmosphere but it’s thinner then ours and main CO2, has H2o in solid form(ice), gas polar caps, has a massive ravine(canyon) that cuts its surface
-approximately 1/3 the gravity of earth
Gas Giants
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Uranus
- Mainly hydrogen and helium but also Methane
- rotates in a different axis and in the opposite direction
- forms an irregular magnetic field
Neptune
- guessed to exist before we saw it
- bigger than Uranus
- high in methane
Asteroids
- rocky, metallic chunks that revolve around the sun
- not large enough to be planets
- asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
Meteor
Any space debris that is sucked into earths gravitational pull
Meteorite
Any object that actually hits the earth
Comets (dirty snowballs)
- composed of various things (methane H2O, metal, ammonia)
- will appear in night sky as a fire ball with a long trail
Moons
- mercury and Venus have no moons
- the moon is essential to our survival
- moon caused tides
- Jupiter has most moons
Pluto
- doesn’t hold it’s own orbit
- crosses Neptunes path every 15 yrs
Kuiper’s belt
Disc shaped area with a collection of thousands of icy bodies
Oort Cloud
The most outer region of the solar system
Measuring distance in solar system
- We use AU
- 1 AU is 150 million km
Jupiter
- Largest planet
- Has the most moons
- temperature is very cold(-150 degrees)
Gas giants
- Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
- slow revolving, fast rotation
- less dense
Saturn
- second larger planet
- has the second greatest amount of moons
- has distinctive rings causes by moon collision
- temp -180
Uranus
- Spins on its side on a different axis
- forms an irregular magnetic field
Stars
- Masses of hydrogen and helium undergoing nuclear fusion and emitting energy
- surface temp from a star can be determined by the colours we see from spectroscope
Galaxies
- clumps of billions of stars and planets
- our galaxy is named the Milky Way
- shaped as a double spiral
- barrel shaped, elliptical shaped, irregular shaped
Apparent magnitude
Star brightness and size as it appears to the naked eye
Absolute magnitude
Actual size of brightness of a star
Our sun has a low absolute magnitude (4) but it’s apparent magnitude is (1)
Universe
-everything, all time, all space, all dimensions.
Cosmology
Is the study of how the universe began and how it is always changing
The Big Bang theory
- states that the universe began 13.7 billion years ago because of an outward explosion
- formed stars planets and other solar bodies
Evidence supporting Big Bang
-all things in space is spinning so they probably originated from an explosion.
Doppler affect
Objects in motion emit energy differently than objects that are still.
Solar flares and solar prominences
-Rapid discharges of charged gases or particles
- flares shoot directly from the sun into space
- prominences shoot back to the suns surface
What is the definition of the Universe?
Everything in space; all galaxies and time
What is the Big Bang Theory?
States that the world began with a massive outwards explosion.
What proof do we have to support the Big Bang Theory?
- Everything is spinning
- The Doppler Effect
What did Ury and Miller do?
They tried to make life from non living.
