solar nebula stuff test Flashcards
The scientist that discovered that the planet’s orbits are elliptical
Kepler
The name of the Earth-centered model.
Geocentric model
What is the part of our solar system that lies outside the Kuiper Belt?
the Oort Cloud
Kepler’s first law of planetary motion states…
every planet’s orbit is an ellipse with the Sun at a focus.
The creator of the Heliocentric model
Copernicus
What caused the layering of the Earth to occur?
The density of the molten material Earth was made of
The creator of the Geocentric model
Ptolemy
The name of the Sun-centered model is…
the Heliocentric model
Eccentricity is…
the measure of how elliptical, or oval, an orbit is.
Kepler’s second law of planetary motion states…
a line joining the Sun and a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times
When did the solar system form?
4.6 billion years ago
Which of Kepler’s 3 laws help determine the length of years on other planets?
The third law
Another name for molecular cloud
Nebula
Why do all the planets travel counter clock-wise?
That was the direction the nebula was spinning when the solar system formed. (Solar nebula theory)
Why did the idea of an earth-centered solar system last for nearly 2,000 years?
Because the Roman Catholic church backed the idea, and there was no Church/State separation
What causes nebula to collapse on itself?
Gravity
A spinning cloud of dust and debris, where baby stars and planets are formed can be called both…
Stellar nurseries, or Nebula. (Plural = Nebulae)
What is retrograde motion?
When a planet appears to go backwards.
Pluto is no longer classified as a planet, what is it called now?
a Dwarf Planet, or Kuiper Belt Object (KBO)
Why are Pluto and other KBOs not classified as planets?
They haven’t cleared their neighborhoods.
What happened to Galileo after he supported the Heliocentric model?
he was imprisoned.
Kepler’s third law of planetary motion states…
the square of a planet’s orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.
When a planet is at the closest point to the sun on the axis, it is called…
the perihelion
When a planet is at the farthest point from the sun on the axis, it is called…
the aphelion
