Solar System Chapter 1
What is the mass of Mercury in relation to earth?
.05
What is the mass of Mars compared to earth?
.11
What is the density of Jupiter compared to earth?
.25
What is the radius of Mercury in relation to earth?
.38
How does the radius of Mars compare to that of earth?
.53
What is the mass of Venus compared to earth?
.82
What is the radius of Venus compared to earth?
.95
What is the radius of Jupiter compared to earth?
11.0
How many times a year does the moon orbit earth ?
13
What is the average/mean temperature of Earth's surface?
288 K or 15 degrees celsius, which allows water to exist over much of the planet
What is the mass of Jupiter compared to earth?
318
What would be the difference in temperature if Earth did not have an atmosphere
33 K
How does the size of gas giants compare to the size of earth?
4x to 10x bigger
How many satellites does Jupiter have?
63
What is earth's atmosphere composed of?
78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen with other gases including carbon dioxide being just a small part
How many planets are in the solar system?
8
How fast does Jupiter rotate around?
9.9 hours
What is Jupiter's atmosphere composed of?
90% hydrogen and 10% helium with traces of methane, ammonia, and water vapor
What is the atmosphere of Mars composed of?
95% carbon dioxide, which is similar to the atmosphere of Venus
What is the Venus atmosphere composed of?
97% carbon dioxide(unlike earth which is mostly nitrogen and oxygen) The carbon dioxide gives rise to a strong greenhouse effect that traps heat below the lower layers of the atmosphere
How do the sizes of the moon and sun compare as seen from earth?
about the same
In what areas are Venus and earth different?
composition of the atmosphere and the resulting surface environment
What is the third planet in the solar system?
earth
What color is Venus?
green and blue
What are different AU throughout the solar system?
1.0 AU= earth, 5.2=Jupiter, 30.1=Neptune,
How fast does Saturn rotate?
10.7 hrs
How thick are the rings of Saturn?
100 m, very thin because they are all on the same plane
How many satellites does Neptune have?
13
What is the mass of Uranus compared to earth?
14 M
How does the radius of Saturn compare to jupiter?
15% smaller
What is the mass of Neptune compared to that of earth?
17
What is the radius of Neptune compared to that of Earth?
3.8
What is the radius of Uranus compared to earth?
3.9
What is the radius of Saturn compared to earth?
9
What is the mass of Saturn compared to earth?
95
What is the Kuiper Belt?
A belt of planetary bodies beyond Neptune, of which Pluto is one of the largest members
What are plantesimals?
A body of 10o m to 10 km formed by coagulation of dust grains. They were the building blocks of planets
How big are the rings of Saturn?
A centimeter to a few meters in size?
What is the Oort cloud?
A cloud of comets that surrounds the solar system
What is the protoplanetary disc?
A disc of gas and dust around a star from which planets may form as a result of condensation, coagulation, and accretion
What is the sun?
A huge ball of gas at the center of the solar system, consisting mainly of hydrogen and helium. At the center, nuclear reactions release energy. It is extremely hot at its surface
What is Valles Marineris?
A huge canyon system on Mars that represents a fracture in the planet's surface that extends 4000 km across the planet. It is much bigger than the Grand Canyon
What are comets?
A minor body composed mainly of water-ice and rocky material. They originate from the Kuiper Belt or the Oort cloud and usually have elongated orbits, and a wide range or orbital periods
What is a star?
A self-luminous celestial body consisting of a mass of gas held together by its own gravity that produces energy by nuclear fusion
What are terrestrial like bodies?
A term applied to planetary bodies to denote that they have many of the same characteristics of the terrestrial planets
What are moons?
Also called satellites, they are celestial bodies that orbit a planet in the same way the moon orbits the earth
How are winds on Mars?
Although the atmosphere is thin, winds on the planet can be formidable, giving rise to large dust storms that can last for weeks or months
What are minor bodies?
Any of the small, rocky, icy, or metallic bodies in the solar system that are not classified as planets or their satellites
What happened next during the cloud's contraction?
Any random rotational motion that it had begun would become faster like someone spinning their arms.
What is the difference between comets and asteroids?
Asteroids are predominantly rocky and metallic bodies, whereas comets have a large fraction of icy material in them
Which voyage to Saturn discovered that Titan had an icy surface?
Cassini
How did the rings originate?
Catastrophic break up of a satellite due to impact
What are planets?
Celestial bodies that orbit the sun or another star. Planets can consist of rock and metal(inner planets) or of liquid and gas (giant outer planets)
What caused planetary embryos to form?
Collisions between the numerous plantesimals
Who discovered that the earth rotates around the sun?
Copernicus
What is the largest Kuiper Belt object?
Eris, has 27% more mass than Pluto
How do the sizes of Uranus and Neptune compare to Jupiter and saturn?
Half the size
What is tidal heating?
Heating of a planetary body caused when varying tidal forces continually distort it
How does Earth travel in the solar system?
In a circular orbit around the sun, which is at the center of the universe
What is Jupiters innermost satellite?
Io
What is the most volcanically active body in the solar system?
Io
How are the temperatures on Mars?
It can get reasonably warm during the day and extremely cold at night
How does the earth atmosphere work?
It carries heat away from the equator, so that the equator is not as hot as it might be and the polar regions are not as cold as they might be. This allows life to thrive at a greater range of latitudes than would otherwise be the case if there was no atmospheric circulation
What happened after the cloud started spinning faster?
It flattened into a disc with the young sun at the center, this structure is known as the protoplanetary disc
How is the atmosphere of earth?
It has a lot to do with it being habitable, it is thin and less than the mass of earth. The atmosphere causes a significant rise in surface temperature because of a greenhouse effect, which is mainly due to carbon dioxide and water vapor(modest compared to Venus )
How is the atmosphere of Mars?
It has a low atmospheric pressure (.006 times that on earth)
How is the surface of Io?
It has a pizza like appearance and incredible amounts of volcanic activity. It is mainly rocky and a terrestrial like body.
How is Jupiter's atmosphere?
It has extreme temperatures at the cloud tops and extreme pressures all over the planet
How is the surface of Mars?
It has large boulders and has a dry landscape. Lava flows have altered the terrain in some regions of the planet and even evidence of ancient running water has now been identified. It is very desert like
How is the climate of Mercury?
It has very extreme temperatures. During the day, it can reach up to 470 degrees and at night it drops to around -190 degrees, which makes it not very hospitable
What is lava like in icy satellites?
It is a melt produced from ices
How is the density of Mercury?
It is almost as high as earth, which is quite surprising considering it is the smallest planet. It indicates that Mercury must include a large portion of dense material
How is the atmosphere of Venus?
It is an extremely hostile atmosphere, which makes it difficult to take images of the planet. The surface atmospheric pressure was almost 100 times that of earth and the temperature was around 400 degrees celsius
How is the cratering on Mercury's surface?
It is dense,(so we know it must be old) but it is not uniform. Some areas are smoother, indicating some volcanic resurfacing has taken place. There are also some scarps crossing the surface, which indicates tectonic faults
What does a lack of craters on a surface reveal about that surface?
It is either not old or has renewed in some way, wiping out craters from the surface
Why is the moon just the right size?
It is just the right size to cover the sun for solar eclipses
What are some characteristics of pluto?
It is not so much a primary with a satellite but more of a binary system. It has synchronous rotation, nitrogen atmosphere, weak atmosphere,
How is Venus seen from earth?
It is often seen as an extremely bright star an hour or two before sunrise or after sunset
What does a surface that is very cratered mean about that surface?
It means that it is relatively old because any undisturbed surface will accumulate impact craters over time
What is the effect of the tilted axis of Uranus?
It means that one pole of the planet can point towards the Sun for long periods of time. The resulting polar heating drives the atmospheric flow on the planet with winds flowing from the south to the equatorial regions
What is the reason for Io being so volcanically active?
It needs energy to heat the body, and because it is the innermost satellite it undergoes tidal heating
How did the formation process start?
It started with a huge, weak cloud of gas and dust, which underwent contraction due to mutual gravitational attraction.
What is an oddity of Uranus?
Its axis is tilted 98 degrees from the vertical. This is most likely due to a huge impact event early in the planet's history that literally knocked Uranus on its side
What is the 5th planet from the sun?
Jupiter
What is the largest planet?
Jupiter
What is the reason for Jupiter's low density?
Jupiter consists mostly of hydrogen and helium
What are the giant planets?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They are predominantly or wholly fluid and are located on the outer part of the solar system
Who discovered that planets move in elliptical, rather than circular orbits?
Kepler
What is the fourth planet in the solar system?
Mars
Which planet is known as the red planet?
Mars, although most people would describe it as orange
What is the smallest planet?
Mercury
Which planet is closest to the sun?
Mercury
What are the terrestrial planets?
Mercury, venus, earth, and mars. They are dominantly rocky objects with iron-rich cores and silicate mantles, and high densities
What are the 8 planets in order of increasing distance from the sun?
Mercury, venus, earth, mars, jupiter, saturn, uranus, and neptune
What is the 8th and final planet?
Neptune
Does Uranus have bands?
No
What was the final step in the formation of the planets?
One planetary embryo will have dominated and accreted all the other significantly sized bodies in its region of the disc. When all the material in that region had been exhausted, the planet was complete
Why is it important to study earth?
Our understanding terrestrial-like bodies, volcanism, and atmospheres is greatly enhanced by looking at what happens on earth and using this knowledge to consider what must happen elsewhere
Who came up with the solar system formation theory?
Pierre-Simon Laplace
What were the larger particles formed from accretion?
Plantesimals
What is the asteroid belt?
Region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter from about 2.0-3.3 AU, where the majority of the asteroids are found. It extends all the way around the Sun and each asteroid orbits the Sun.
What is lava?
Rock that is erupted onto the surface of a planetary body in a molten state. Before it reaches the surface it is known as magma. After it has been erupted as a lava flow and cooled down, the solidified rock may still be described as lava
What is the 6th planet from the Sun?
Saturn
Who discovered Uranus?
Sir William Herschel
What are asteroids?
Small rocky or metallic bodies orbiting the Sun. They are small pieces of planets, rocky bodies, smaller body of bigger rocks that crashed into each other and got broken up. Most are members of the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter from about 2.0-3.3 Au. Of the many thousands of known asteroids, most are only a few kilometers(or less) in diameter, but about 30 exceed 200 km in diameter. A small proportion have earth crossing orbits.
What causes Mars to look reddish?
Some minerals have iron and when it oxidizes it causes rust and makes it look reddish
Which direction was Venus in relation to the RLM?
Southwest 210-240 degrees. it was right below Mars
What is the Solar system?
The Sun together with the 8 planets and all planetary and minor bodies gravitational bound to the system
What is an astronomical unit?
The astronomical unit is a convenient measure of distance within the solar system. The average distance between Earth and the sun is 146.9 km
What is synchronous rotation?
The circumstance in which a satellite spins on its axis in the same time as it takes to orbit a planet, thereby keeping the same face turned towards the planet at all times. Most major satellites including the moon are synchronous
When we look through Jupiter on a telescope, what on Jupiter are we seeing?
The cloud tops
What happened in the protoplanetary disc?
The dust particles collided and stuck together. As more and more stuck together, larger particles formed. This was accretion
What did Galileo discover?
The existence of other bodies in the solar system, including the first asteroid
What are impact craters?
The formation of craters on the surfaces of solid planetary bodies through hypervelocity impacts. They can range from thousands of millimeters to kilometers
What is the effect of the weak atmosphere of Mars?
The greenhouse effect you might expect from the high CO2 content is very modest, only adding 6 K in temperature
What is accretion?
The growth of bodies during the formation of the solar system, as a result of collisions that are not energetic to fragment and disperse the colliding bodies
What is Olympus Mons?
The largest volcano on Mars and the solar system. It has a volume 100 times of Mauna Loa in Hawaii
What is density?
The mass per unit volume of a substance under specified conditions of pressure and temperature
What is volcanism?
The processes associated with the transfer of magma and volatiles from the interior of a planet or planetary body to its surface
What is an orbit?
The regularly repeated elliptical path of a celestial object or artificial satellite about a star or planet
What causes the Saturn atmosphere to peak/bulge at the equator?
The rotation speed and the bands that it has. Winds are at intense speeds near the equator
What is the most striking feature of the surface of mercury?
The round "scars" on the surface, which represent impact craters
What is orbital period?
The time taken measured in seconds, days, or years for a celestial object to complete one revolution around its orbit. Time it takes for the moon to travel around the earth
What do the giant planets share?
Their atmospheres consist mostly of hydrogen and helium
Why are the rings easily visible?
They are highly reflective
What are the rings of Saturn made of?
They are not solid, but are made of icy particles and boulders
How are the rings of Uranus?
They are the most obvious after the rings of Saturn. They are extremely dark, and there is evidence of small dust particles and boulders that are a meter in size. They are separated by gaps, just as Saturn is
What are the similarities with asteroids and comets?
They both have broadly similar effects when they crash into a surface-they crash at great speed and leave impact craters
How are impact craters formed?
They have been made by the 'leftovers' of the planetary formation process, mostly from asteroids and comets. Caused from asteroids crashing into Mars
Why is the tail of a comet seen?
Tiny dust particles reflecting sunlight and can extend millions of kilometers into space. Gas and dust particles stream from its surface and are released as sunlight heats the icy surface
What is the 7th planet from the sun?
Uranus
What is the second planet in the solar system?
Venus
Which of the terrestrial planets has the hottest surface?
Venus
What is cyrovolcanism?
Volcanic processes taking place at low temperatures, involving icy magmas with melting points less than 273 K. Cold slurries of ice and liquid erupt and flow across the surface like 'cool volcanoes'. It is the reason for the icy surface of Europa
What is the most prevalent form of resurfacing?
Volcanism
What would happen if the moon were bigger?
We would get more solar eclipses
What causes the colorful bands and red spot on Jupiter?
Weather; wind blowing one direction and wind blowing the other
What is Venus mostly covered in?
White clouds, which have no features and also make it extremely bright to viewers on earth
Does Saturn have bands?
Yes,but not as obvious as Jupiter
Why is it best to view the moon when it is not full?
You get the best visual contrast of the bright and dark regions because they are both clearly seen
What are mare regions?
Younger formations formed by the flooding of lava that buried many ancient impact craters
How does Mars appear with the naked eye?
a star with a very obvious orange hue to it
About how big is Mercury in relation to earth
about half the size
How many satellites does Saturn have?
at least 61
What features are apparent on Neptune?
banding, great dark spot and pale clouds, but not as evident as Jupiter
What color is Neptune?
electric blue
What has the action of the Venus atmosphere given rise to?
erosion
How is the atmosphere of Mercury?
extremely weak, it is a thousand million million times less dense than earth
Which part of the moon is darker?
less cratered mare regions
How does Venus appear through a telescope?
like a disc, or crescent or gibbous object. Powerful telescopes tend to show it as a featureless planet due to the presence of a thick atmosphere
What are characteristics of the giant planets?
low densities, huge dimensions
What are planetary bodies?
not only the planets, but also to their satellites and other small bodies that orbit the earth
What are properties of the terrestrial planets?
rather dense, large bodies, denser component is thought to be metallic iron
What is in the interior of earth?
rocky and metal stuff
In what areas are Venus and earth similar?
size and mean density and the fact that it has a significant atmosphere
What are the most striking features of Jupiter?
the colorful bands and swirling clouds
Which part of the moon is brighter?
the highland regions peppered with impact craters
What is the elliptic plane?
the orbit of all planets around the sun except pluto and mercury
What is rotation period?
the time it takes for a celestial body to make one complete rotation or turn on its axis
How is the surface of Venus?
very complex with far fewer impact craters than on Mercury, but with many volcanoes and and lava plains suggesting surface renewal. It also has a cracked rugged appearance
What is Venus an example of?
what would happen if CO2 and greenhouse gases became a significant part of earth's atmosphere (global warming)
