Astronomy: Vagabonds of the Solar System

Nice Model

-A theory that describes the formation of the planets and other objects orbiting the Sun, with Jupiter and the other giant planets forming first, followed by the inner planets, asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, and Oort comet cloud. -The Nice model explains that most of the debris in the present area of the asteroid belt was sent out there by the migration of young Jupiter through this region going both inward and then out again,

Comet Brooks & Comet Ikeya-Seki

-Comet Brooks has an exceptionally large head. -Comet Ikeya-Seki has a very small coma, its tail stretched to a length of more than 1AU.

Comet Linear & Comet Hale-Bopp

-Comet Liner passed within 0.74 AU of the Sun, fragment into many pieces. -Comet Hale-Bopp was observed to eject 7 to 10 times more mass than usual during its approach of the Sun in 1997.

Where is Eris located in the solar system?

-Eris was first observed in 2003 before the definitions of planets, dwarf planets, and SSSBs -This body is 98 AU from the Sun - 3 times farther out than Pluto -All bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune are called trans-Neptunian objects or TNOs. Pluto, along with Eris, Makemake, and Haumea, are dwarf planets and TNOs

What are the other moons in Pluto?

-In 2005, the Hubble Space Telescope detected two other moons orbiting Pluto. -Nix & Hydra: They are much smaller than Charon. -Styx & Kerberos: Discovered in 2011 & 2012. Kerberos is as dark as charcoal and tumbling chaotically under the changing gravitational attraction of Pluto and Charon. -They are very bright, covered with layers of ice

Many Objects Exist Far Out in the Solar System

-Just outside Pluto's orbit is a doughnut-shaped region of the solar system called the Kupier Belt. -Beyond this is a spherically-shaped region called the Oort Cloud, which contains billions of comets.

Giuseppe Piazzi (1746-1826)

-New Year's Day (1801) -Discovered Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt -He noticed a dim, previously uncharted "star" that shifted its position slightly over the next several nights while he was mapping faint stars in the constellation Taurus (The Bull). -Ceres also has a very thin atmosphere of water that waxes and wanes with solar activity—when the Sun is particularly active

Lagrange Points

-Places in the orbital plane of a binary star system where a bit of matter can reach stability -Asteroids also orbit the Sun at Lagrange points, located 60 degrees ahead and 60 degrees behind Jupiter in its orbit

Where is Pluto in relative of the Sun?

-Pluto is farther away from the Sun than Neptune and will continue to be so until April 5, 2231. -Pluto's orbital inclination, the tilt of its orbit with respect to the plane of the ecliptic, is just over 17°, far greater than that of any planet

What are different types of Meteorites?

-Stony & Iron -Stony-Iron Meteorites are the MOST exotic and all space debris found on Earth.

What is the atmosphere of Pluto?

-This dwarf planet is also observed to have a very thin, hazy atmosphere of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide -The force of gravity on Pluto is so low that hundreds of tons of this atmosphere drift into space every hour.

How far apart are the asteroids on average?

10 million kilometers

Widmanstatten pattern

A crystalline pattern found in iron meteorites.

What is a shooting star?

A piece of space debris plunging through the Earth's atmosphere.

Impact Crater

A round depression formed on the surface of a planet, moon, or other space object by the impact of a meteorite

Carbonaceous Chondrite

A type of meteorite containing many tiny spheres (chondrules) of rocky or metallic material stuck together by carbon-rich material

Apollo Asteroid

An asteroid that is sometimes closer to the sun than earth is

How are asteroids classified?

Asteroids are classified by their orbits. -Belt asteroids orbit in the asteroid belt. -Trojan asteroids orbit the Sun at special points in Jupiter's orbit. -Apollo asteroids have highly elliptical orbits in the inner solar system.

What is Pluto's largest moon?

Charon

What do comets produce?

Comets produce tails streaming from the Nucleus. -These tails, pushed by the solar wind, point away from the Sun regardless of the direction the comet is moving.

How many tails do Comets produce?

Comets produce two tails, a gas tail (ion tail), which points directly away from the Sun, and a dust tail, which curves.

Structure of a Comet

Core - center made of rock, metal, ice Coma - spherical cloud surrounding the core Tail - vaporized ice

In which direction does a comet's tail point?

Directly away from the Sun.

Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1977)

Discovered Pluto in 1930 Found it by examining photographic plates showing that it moved among the background stars from night to night New Horizons (Spacecraft) passed closest to Pluto on July, 14 2015.

What is Pluto considered as?

Due to the size and orbit, some scientists consider Pluto to be one of the Kupier Belt objects instead of a planet.

How do meteor showers occur?

During certain predictable times, Earth passes through sections of its orbit containing debris from a comet, resulting into a meteor shower.

Why do comets have tails?

Gas and dust evaporate from a comet's nucleus, and these tails are pushed away from the Sun by sunlight and solar wind.

Max Wolf (1863-1932)

He applied photographic techniques in 1891 to asteroid searching. A total of 300 asteroids had been found up to that time, each painstakingly discovered by scrutinizing the skies for faint, uncharted "stars" whose positions shifted slowly from one night to the next.

Daniel Kirkwood (1814-1895)

In 1867, called attention to gaps in the asteroid belt. These features, called Kirkwood gaps, show the influence of Jupiter's gravitational attraction there today.

What is the Allende Meteorite?

In 1969, the Allende Meteorite created a dazzling blue display in the skies near Chihuahua, Mexico, before impact. The dark blue color is due to carbon in the meteorite.

Kirkwood Gaps

Jupiter's gravitational attraction produces gaps (Kirkwood gaps) in the asteroid belt, where the orbital period of the asteroid is a simple fraction of Jupiter's.

Sable Lagrange Points

Locations throughout the solar system where the gravitational forces from the Sun and a planet keep space debris trapped

Long Period vs. Short Period Comets

Long-Period Comets: Are on highly elliptical orbits which, if undisturbed, will have orbital periods of hundreds of millions of years. Short-Period Comets: A close encounter with a large planet can deflect the comet into a smaller orbit around the Sun.

How do meteorites form?

Meteoroids pulled into our atmosphere by Earth's gravity heat the surrounding gases, causing them to glow, becoming meteorites.

Where do asteroids orbit?

Most asteroids orbit the Sun in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Are asteroids a planet that was somehow destroyed?

No. Jupiter's gravitational pull prevented planets from forming in the asteroid belt, and the total mass of the asteroids is much less than even that of Pluto.

What has the largest know orbit in our Solar System?

Sedna is the object with the largest known orbit in our solar system. Its orbit extends outside the Kuiper belt, approaching the Oort Cloud.

Centaurs

They have a roughly equal mix of rock and ice. Two Centaurs, Chariklo and Chiron, are also observed to have rings of ice particles in orbit around them. The ring material may have been acquired when these bodies each passed near a planet with rings. Because of their low gravitational attraction,

What happens when a comet approaches the Sun?

When a comet approaches the Sun, liberated gases from the surface create a tiny atmosphere called a coma, as well as a hydrogen envelope that cannot be seen in visible light.

How are Kupier Belt discovered?

White liners show the movement of the Kuiper Belt objects. There are at least 938 known objects orbiting in the Kuiper Belt.

The Tunguska impact in 1908

an explosion ripped through the air above a remote forest in Siberia, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska river. The fireball is believed to have been 50-100m wide. It depleted 2,000 sq km of the taiga forest in the area, flattening about 80 million trees