Quiz #2 Flashcards
Inner Planet Characteristics
- uniform rotation
- dense (rocky/metallic)
- not all have moons
- inside the asteroid belt
- solid surface
- core, mantle, crust interior
- no rings
Mercury
- strong magnetic field
- has one moon
- no atmosphere
- has phases similar to the moon
Venus
- known as Earth’s twin
- gravity similar to Earth
- size, mass similar to Earth
- no moons
- rocky crust
- no known surface liquids
- almost no magnetic field
- very high pressure atmosphere
- sulfuric acid precipitation
- greatest average temperature
- only planet to have a retrograde rotation
Earth
- moon (biggest ratio)
- atmosphere
- only planet with plate tectonics
- has both geysers and volcanoes
- tilt gives seasons (23.5°)
- moon and sun cause tides
- life (plant life creates O2 in the atmosphere)
Mars
- very thing CO2 atmosphere
- Olympus mons
- polar ice caps
- seasons (similar tilt)
- red color is caused by iron oxide
- valles marineris
Gaseous Giants
- massive and voluminous
- mostly made of hydrogen
- gas
- strong magnetic field
- low density
- far from the sun (outside the asteroid belt)
- all have many moons
- ring system
Jupiter
- core procedures on Jupiter produce more heat than the sun
- faint purple gas ring
- banding
- 4 Galilean moons
4 reasons why banding occurs
- differential rotation
- fast rotation
- fast winds
- chemical sorting due to convection currents
Galilean moons
- Europa
- Io
- Callisto
- Ganymede
Europa
- icy
- water oceans
- possible host to life
Io
- rocky
- most volcanically active object
- global aurora
Ganymede
- icy
- largest moon
Callisto
- icy
- most heavily cratered surface
Characteristics of a planet
- enough mass for its gravity to turn it into a spheroid
- orbits the sun but doesn’t orbit another object
- clears the orbital path of all significant neighboring objects
Dwarf Planets
They fail to meet the third criteria, that they clear the orbital path of all significant nearby objects. (Pluto crosses Neptune’s orbital path)
Volcanism
- number 1 thing that renews the surface of an object in space
- geysers
- volcanoes
What object comprises 99% of our solar system
The sun
Age of the solar system
4.65 billion years
What was here before the sun
Nebulous
How long until the end?
5 billion years
Event that triggers star formation
Clumping event
Signifying event for the birth of a star
Self sustained nuclear fusion
What caused the early solar system to start spinning
Unbalanced gravity and heating
Two edges of the solar system
- heliosheath
- far end of the Oort Cloud
Which boundary is furthest from the sun?
Far end of the Oort Cloud
How do you know if an asteroid is in the solar system
It is moving in relation to background objects
What is the difference between a moon planet and a binary planet
- moon planets have their center of mass in the middle of the planet
- binary planets have their center of mass outside of the planet
5 major types of objects in the solar system
- planets
- moons
- sun
- asteroids
- Kuiper Belt Objects
Between which two planets is the asteroid belt
Jupiter and Mars
Why did material from the asteroid belt not form into a planet
The gravitational pull of Jupiter is too large
Rotational observations of a planet
- period of rotation is speed
- type of rotation (uniform or differential)
- obliquity- the tilt of the axis of rotation
Static observations that can be made about a planet
- texture (smooth, cratered, etc.)
- temperature (max, min, average)
- albedo
- number of moons
- magnetic field strength
- molecular composition
- plate tectonics
- radius (diameter, circumference, volume)
- color (variations)
Orbital observations about a planet
- eccentricity
- distance from the sun
- how long it takes to complete an orbit
