Exam 3 Flashcards
What is a meteor?
Bright trail of light created when a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere
What is a meteorite?
solid remains of a meteor that falls to Earth
What is a meteoroid?
Small solid body moving within the solar system. Less than a yard in size
How big are the meteoroids that we see as meteors?
the size of a raisin or smaller
In which layer of Earth’s atmosphere do meteors burn up?
Mesosphere
How much meteoric material falls to Earth each day?
50 tons
What causes a meteor shower?
Earth passes through the trail of a comet or passes through a dense clump of material
What time of night is best for spotting meteors?
Early morning. Few meteoroids catch up with Earth at night
How can you tell how big an asteroid is?
Measure emitted infrared radiation
What is the total mass of the asteroids?
Less than the mass of the Moon or 1,100 tons
Where is the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft today?
On the surface of Eros
Which spacecraft visited Vesta and Ceres?
Dawn
Which spacecraft returned a sample from the asteroid Itokawa?
Hayabusa
Which spacecraft brought a 121.6 gram sample of asteroid material back?
OSIRIS-Rex
What is unique about the asteroid the Psyche mission that launched in October 2023 is headed for?
It might have an iron core and believed to be primarily composed of metal
How big was the crater found in the Tunguska event?
No impact crater leveled a lot of trees
What did the DART mission do?
dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact
What is the name of the crater believed to be the site of the impact that ended the rein of the dinosaurs?
Chicxulub
Why is Jupiter rightly called the king of the planets?
It’s mass and volume is greater than all the other planets combined
How does Jupiter’s diameter and mass compare to the Earth’s?
11 x Earth’s diameter and 300 x Earth’s mass
How long does it take Jupiter to orbit the Sun?
12 years
How many flybys, orbiters and probes have visited Jupiter?
7 flybys
2 orbiters
1 probe
What are the 7 flybys of Jupiter?
- Pioneer 10
- Pioneer 11
- Voyager 1
- Voyager 2
- Ulysses
- Cassini
- New horizons
What are the 2 orbiters of Jupiter?
Galileo and Juno
What was the probe sent to Jupiter?
Galileo Jupiter Atmospheric Probe
How did the five space crafts currently leaving the Solar System achieve escape velocity? Name them
By utilizing gravity assist
1. Pioneer 10
2. Pioneer 11
3. Voyager 1
4. Voyager 2
5. New horizons
What spacecraft was enroute to Jupiter when comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 struck Jupiter?
Galileo Orbiter
What has Juno told us about the interior of Jupiter?
Jupiter has a dilute core
Which spacecraft launched during this semester and is expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2030?
NASA’s Europa Clipper
Jupiter’s atmospheric winds are deflected into bands by the Coriolis effect. What causes this Coriolis effect?
Its large size and rapid rotation
What kind of winds cause Jupiter’s atmospheric vortices to form?
Sheer Winds
When was Jupiter’s Great Red Spot discovered?
1600s
How is Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field generated?
Convection with metallic hydrogen, rapid rotation
What are Jupiter’s rings made of?
Rock dust, radiation from the sun
How does Saturn’s diameter and mass compare to the Earth’s?
The diameter is 9.6 x Earth’s
The mass is 95 x Earth’s
How does Saturn’s density compare to the density of the other planets?
Its the least dense
How long does it take for Saturn to orbit the Sun?
29.4 Earth years
How many flybys, orbiters and probes have visited Saturn? Name them
3 flybys
Pioneer 11 and Voyager 1 & 2
Why doesn’t Saturn have cloud bands like Jupiter?
Cloaked by clouds formed from frozen ammonia gas. Smog or haze that cannot be seen through
What is the overall diameter of Saturn’s rings?
240,000 km
How does the diameter of Saturn’s rings compare to the distance between the Earth and the Moon?
Saturn and it’s rings would just in the distance between Earth and the Moon
How thick are Saturn’s rings?
Less than a 1/4 of a mile
In what year will Saturn’s rings next appear edge on and be difficult to see as viewed from Earth?
2025
What causes the gaps in Saturn’s rings?
Resonance with moons (Enceladus 1-3, Mimas 1-2) Shepherding moons (moonlets)
What happens to an object that is held together by gravity if it crosses a planet’s Roche limit
If something gets that close the tidal forces will tear it apart if its held together by gravity
How does Uranus’ diameter and mass compare to the Earth’s?
Diameter: 4 x earth’s
Mass: 15 x earth’s mass