Lecture 11 Meteors Flashcards
how was the solar system formed
a cloud of gas and dust in space was distrupted by a super nova 4.6 million years ago, the expolasion masde waves in sapce this caused the formation of a solar nebula, the center of the cloud grew hotter resulting in the formation of the sun, the outer edges of the cloud cooled causeing clumps of particles to stick together and form planets
what is a galaxy
a cluster of billions of stars, our solar system makes up a tiny protion of the milky way
what is a star
a hot lgowin ball of gas that gerneates energy by converting hydrogen into helium
describe the sun in relation to the earth’s climagte
the core of the sun is 15 million degrees C, the photosphere (surface) is 600 degrees C, the energy control the earth’s climate system, the Earth only receives 1 billionth of the suns energy
what is the life cycle of a star
lifetime depends on the mass, sun have an expantacy of 10 billion years, gradual warming -> red giant -> palentary nebula -> white dwarf
what is a boldie
an extra terrestial body that ravel rapdily through space ex. asteriod, meteroried, comet
what is a meteor
a merteoride that has entered earth’s atmosphere
what is a meteroeite
a meteor that strikes earth’s atmosphere
what is a comet
glowin tail, rocky core surrounded by ice, beleived that is it formed outisde the soail system in Kuiper belt
what are air burts
boldies that explode at an altitude of 12 to 50 km and will colldie with earth’s surface
what are impact craters
rock is reffered as breccia, creates ejacta balnket on impact
what are the types of impact craters
simple: less thena few km in diamter and do not have an uplift centre
complex: a rim collapses under extreme faulting and a centre floor that ides following an impact greater then 6 km
why are craters more common on the mooon
most impacts with earth are in the ocean where craters are not produced, impacts have been eroded or buried thus have more subtle features then moon craters, smaller boldies often burn up and intergrate in earth’s atmosphere before strking the surface
what is the shoemaker levy comet
comet entered jumpiters atmosphere in 1994, massive amounts of energy were produced and gas plumes were produced as 21 fragemnts of the comet collided with jupiter
what is the KT boundry
35 million years ago, abrupt cooling caused by an asteroid impact, sperates the cretaceous and tertiary periods
70% of all plant and animal species became extinct
