Unit 5: Moon and other Terrestrial Planets Flashcards
What is the moon formation hypothesis
collision-ejection
- states that the newly formed earth was struck at an angle by a mars sized asteroid about 4.5 billion years ago, within the first 100 million years of the earths existence
What is Synchronous Rotation
- at all parts in the moons orbit, we only see the near side from earth, the far side cannot be seen from earth
Is colonization of the moon real?
2-way conversation: 1.3s x 2 = 2.6s
- lunokhod 1
Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt
How are tides caused
- tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon
- Newton explained 2 “bulges”, moon and counter moon
- friction between the earth and its oceans makes the earth rotate more slowly
- forward pull on the moon makes it spiral outward
Explain the earth and the moons speed of rotation and orbit
- the moon moves faster and its orbit in fact is spiral: the moons orbit gains 4cm every year
- the earth spins slower, the length of a day increases by 1.7 ms/ year
- 620 million years ago one day was only 21 hours long
What is the Bay of Fundy
- between the provinces of new brunswick and nova scotia
- highest tides on earth
- over 100 billion tons of seawater
- water levels change as high as a four storey building (15m)
Which planet is called the moons twin
- mercury
What is unique about mercury
- its surface temperature
negative 180 during night and + 430 at some regions during the day
Which planet has the greatest surface temperature variation in the solar system
mercury
Which planet is called the earths sister
- Venus
- venus is the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon
Explain the clouds of venus
- venus is covered with a dense layer of clouds that hide its surface
- they contain sulfur dust and sulfur compounds which gives them a yellow-orange color
what are the clouds of venus made out of
- concentrated sulfuric acid
Explain the greenhouse effect
- sunlight arrives at venus
- a percentage of the sunlight is scattered immediately by clouds
- sunlight that Is not scattered is absorbed by surface, heating it
- heated surface emits infrared radiation
- most of the infrared radiation is trapped by the atmosphere, heating both the atmosphere and surface
- Remaining infrared radiation leaks into space
What is the Magellan Spacecraft
- orbit around venus, was able to see through the thick clouds using radar, giving is the best view of our sister planet
What are the 2 reasons people used to think there was primate life on mars?
- Schiaparelli’s Martian canals: early telescope images showed features which were perceived as irrigation canals
- people used to fear an attack from mars
- there are many indentations on mars surface, wind, depressions and ridges
What is the largest volcano on mars
- Olympus Mons
- three times higher than mount everest
- clouds surround it, made of frozen ice crystals of carbon dioxide
What is an unusual feature on the martian surface
- the apparent “face” on the surface
- 22 years later with improved technology, they feature looked more natural (ridges)
Explain Martian Seasons
- mars is tilted on a 25.19 degree axis (almost the same as earth)
- the hemispheres experience seasons that can be observed by examining the polar caps
- only winter and summer
How are the ancient river channels on mars similar to those on earth
- layers of rock laid down by water
- hematite black rocks usually formed in water
- gullies formed by water running down crater walls
- martial life of bacteria was found as fossil remains
Earth-mars delay
- 13 min 48 seconds
- minimum delay of 4 min and max of 24
What is Spirit/Opportunity
- mars rover in 2004
- must choose its path v=by itself
- initially expected to be operative for 90 sols (solar days on mars)
What was spirit active
- 2004 to 2010
When was Opportunity active
- 2004 to 2019
What is the Curiosity Rover
- landed in mars in 2012
- was landed differently than other rovers
- took 8.5 months to travel there while the others took 7 months, this was due to the pathway taken
- parachutes and rockets lowered the rover
