Solar system Flashcards
The term is coined by Sir William Herschel
(discovered the planet Uranus).
- Based on Latin terms aster (star) and -oid (rock or
planet).
- Also called miniature planets or planetoids that are
rocky celestial bodies that vary in brightness, size,
shape, and composition.
Asteroids
sometimes referred to as “dirty snowballs”
- mixtures of ice and dust
- Comets has three parts: nucleus, coma, ion and dust
tail.
Comets
- streak of light you see in the atmosphere which
seems to appear falling on the ground - Commonly referred to as “falling star” or “shooting star”.
Meteors
a giant spherical shell surrounding the solar system and
is located far beyond our solar system and the most distant edges of
Kuiper belt
Oort Cloud
– is a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects around the
sun and is located just beyond Neptune’s orbit
Kuiper Belt
a disc shape located between the orbits of
Mars and Jupiter
Main Asteroid Belt
small chunks of outer space debris (from an asteroid or
a comet)
Meteoroid
bright streaks of light from the night sky
meteor shower - happens when there are many meteors
visible in one night
- Meteoroids, which are made from dust and fragments
(debris) of a comet, hurl through the atmosphere so
fast. As the debris plunges deeper and deeper, friction
with the atmosphere causes it to vaporize- burning from
the outside and appears as a bright streak of light in the
sky.
Meteors
Meteors that survive the frictional heating with Earth’s
atmosphere and fall to the ground which are likely to cause
damage when they hit the Earth’s surface.
Meteorite
- a celestial event in which several meteors enter the
Earth’s atmosphere - happens when Earth revolves around the sun, passes through
a trail of debris left by a comet or asteroids - dozens or hundreds of meteors are visible in one night
- can appear periodically or on a specific time of the year
Meteor Showers
– can be observed annually
- peak could fall in either July or August
- happens when the Earth passes through the orbit of the
comet Swift Turtle
- about 60 meteors can be seen radiating from a common
point
- considered as the best meteor shower of the year because of
its fast and bright meteors
- originate from the constellation Perseus
Perseids
King of Meteor Shower”
- happens every 33 years
- Earth is stormed with about thousands of meteors per minute
(depending on the location of the observer)
- the term “meteor shower” and “meteor storm” were coined
after astronomers viewed one of Leonids meteor shower in
1833
- latest Leonids meteor shower display – 2002; next Leonid
meteor shower display – 2028
- originate from the constellation Leo
Leonids
happens every 75 to 76 years
- occurs during October
- considered as one of the most beautiful meteor showers
because of their brightness and their speed
- happens when Earth passes through the orbit of Halley’s
comet
- peak of the meteor shower can last for a week
- observers can see 50 to 70 shooting stars per hour
- originate from the constellation Orion
Orionids
Constellation is NOT the source of the meteors. It serves to help the
viewers in determining which meteor shower they are viewing on a given
night.
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