Lecture 14 Flashcards
List of criteria to be considered a planet
The body must orbit around the Sun
The body must be massive enough to have a nearly round shape
The body must have cleared its orbit
Minor Planets Definition
typically much smaller than planets and do not have sufficient mass to have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium
Asteroid
mall, rocky solar system body that orbits around the Sun
comet
small, icy solar system body that orbits around the Sun
Moon
a natural satellite that orbits a planet or a dwarf planet
all known dwarf planets lie
outside the orbit of Neptune and are so-called
‘trans-Neptunian object
5 trans-Neptunian dwarf planets are
Pluto
Eris
Haumea
Makemake
Gonggong
Contrast the typical orbits of dwarf planets with those of the true planets
Size and mass: smaller
Distance from the Sun: futher
Orbital inclination: More inclined
Where is pluto located
located in the Kuiper Belt, beyond neptune
Pluto has five known moons:
Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx.
Charon is the largest of Pluto’s moons and is about half the size of Pluto itself. Charon and Pluto are _____ locked.
tidally
tidally locked
means that they always show the same face to each other as they orbit around a common center of gravity. gravitational forces have caused their rotation periods to become synchronized.
Asteroid compositions
they are generally composed of a mixture of rock, metal, and other materials
Asteroids that are located in the outer solar system, beyond the asteroid belt, tend to be composed of a
mixture of rock and ice and are often referred to as “icy” or “C-type” asteroid
Asteroid’s closer to sun
rockier
comets composition
composed of a mixture of ice, rock, and dust
ice in a comet is mostly made up of
frozen water, but can also include other volatile compounds such as
carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia.
Coma
When a comet approaches the Sun, its ice begins to vaporize and form a cloud of gas and dust around the comet called a
comets tail
The solar wind and radiation pressure then push the gas and dust away from the comet, creating a tail
The ion tail,
is made up of charged particles (ions) that are ionized by the solar wind. These particles are pushed away from the comet by the solar wind’s magnetic field and form a thin, bright tail that points directly away from the Sun.
