Earth Science chapter 21, 22

comets

"dirty snowball", composistion frozen gases, rocky & metallic materials, frozen gases vaporize when near the Sun, forms at a distance from the sun,

Mars

"red planet" high mount of iron oxide on surface

Mars atmosphere

1% as dense as Earth, carbbon dioxide, cold temps of -193F, polar caps of water ice, extensive dust storms with very fast winds

Jupiters Moons

28 moons, 4 largest (Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Io) discovered by Galilieo

What is the approximate length of the cycle of the phases of the Moon?

29 ½ days

Venus

2nd to the moon in brillance, similar to Earth in size, density, and location, shrouded in thick clouds

What major change did Copernicus make in the Ptolemaic system? Why was this change philosophically different?

Copernicus constructed a heliocentric model for the solar system. Everyone else believed in a geocentric solar system.

Newton discovered that the orbits of the planets are the result of opposing forces. Briefly explain these forces.

Each and every item in the solar system has a gravitational pull of some sort. The larger an item the greater the pull and the farther away an item the less the gravitational pull it has. Therefore if a larger planet is farther away, then it would have the same pull as a smaller planet closer together.

In the Ptolemaic (Greek) model of the universe the

Earth was in the center of the universe

The first successful attempt to establish the size of Earth is credited to

Eratosthenes

The scientist that wrote a book that compared the Earth-centered system with the Sun-centered system entitled Dialogue of the Great World Systems

Galileo

This scientist was the first to use the telescope in astronomy

Galileo

Explain why Galileo's discovery of a rotating sun supports the Copernican view of a Sun-centered universe.

Galileo saw moons revolving around Jupiter so they couldn't be revolving around the Earth.

The true shape of the planetary orbits was discovered by

Johannes Kepler

Three laws of planetary motion were discovered by

Johannes Kepler

Who discovered that planetary orbits were ellipses rather than circles?

Johannes Kepler

Explain the difference between the mean solar day and the sidereal day.

Mean solar day - The time interval from one noon to the next. 24 hrs. Sidereal day - Time it takes Earth to make one complete rotation with respect to a star other than our sun. 23 hrs. 56 min. 4 s.

The first modern astronomer to propose a Sun-centered universe was

Nicolaus Copernicus

Who wrote the book entitled Of the Revolutions of Celestial Spheres (De Revolutionibus)?

Nicolaus Copernicus

What phase of the Moon occurs approximately one week after the New Moon? Two weeks?

One week - First Quarter Two weeks - Full Moon

Does the Earth move faster in its orbit near perihelion (January) or near aphelion (July)?

Perihelion (January) - Days are shorter in Winter

Charon

Pluto's moon discovered in 1978

The Earth-centered system of the universe that was accepted for nearly seventeen centuries was presented in a treatise called the Almagest that was written by

Ptolemy

Describe the three main primary motions of Earth.

Rotation - Turning or spinning, of a body on its axis. Revolution - Motion of a body such as a planet or a moon. Axial Precession - Gradual change in the orientation of Earth's axis over a period of 26,000 yrs.

Titan

Saturn's largest moon, second largest moon in solar system, has a substantial atmosphere

According the the Ptolmaic (Greek) model of the universe, how many "heavenly" bodies could be observed wandering along the background of the stars?

Seven

The _____ day is the time it takes for the Earth to make one complete rotation with respect to a star other than the Sun

Sidereal

This scientist determined the nature of the forces that kept the planets in their orbits

Sir Isaac Newton

Who formulated the Law of Universal Gravitation

Sir Isaac Newton

What is different about the crescent phase that precedes the new-Moon phase and that which follows the new-Moon phase?

The crescent phase that precedes the new-Moon is the Waning or lit up on the left side. The crescent phase that follows the new-Moon is the Waxing or lit up on the right side.

What phenomenon results from the fact that the Moon's period of rotation and revolution are the same?

The same lunar hemisphere always faces Earth.

The Moon rotates very slowly (once in 27 ⅓ days) on its axis. How does this affect the lunar temperature surface?

The surface temperature in the daytime is 127C (261F) and during its nighttime -173C (280F)

What data did Tycho Brahe collect that was useful to Johannes Kepler in his quest to describe planetary motion.

Tycho Brahe collected data that is the stellar parallax. It is used to measure distances to the nearest stars.

stony-irons

a type of composistion of meteoroids, mixtures

Irons

a type of composistion of meteoroids, mostly iron, 5-20% nickel

carbonaceous chondrites

a type of composistion of meteoroids, rare, simple amino acids and other organic material

stony

a type of composistion of meteoroids, silicate minerals with inclusions of others

A very slow motion of Earth's axis that requires 26,000 years to complete is

axial precession

In the Ptolemaic (Greek) model of the universe, the stars are attached to the

celestial sphere

One of the discoveries which led to the modern view of the solar system was that the orbits of the planets are

circles

Pluto

dwarf planet in 2007, not visible, 1930, hihgly elongated orbit, travels inside of Neptune's orbit, moon Charon, -210C, kuiper belt object

Neptune

dynamic atmosphere, one of windiest places in solar system, Great Dark Spot, white cirrus, 8 satellites, moon Triton

terrestial planets

earth-like, mercury-mars, small, dense, rocky, low escape velocities

The apparent path of the Sun upon the celestial sphere is called the

ecliptic

planets composed of..

gases - hydrgogen, helium, rocks - silicate minerals, metallic iron, ices - ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, water

Great Red Spot

in Jupiter's Southern Hemisphere, counterclock roatating cyclonic storm

Io

inermost moon, volcanically active because of the gravitaional feild

Mercury

intermost planet, smallest planet, no atmosphere, cratered highlands, revovles quickly (years are 88 days) rotates slowly (days are 59 earths days), vast, smooth terrains, very dense

composistion on tail of a comet

ionized gases and dust

Jovian planets

jupiter-like, jupiter-neptune, large, low density, gaseous, massive, thick atmosphere made of hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia

Valles Mirineris

laregst canyon located on Mars

Ganymede

largest Jovian satellite

Triton

largest neptune moon, orbit opposite direction of all planets, temperature of -391F, atmosphere of mostly nitrogen with methane, volcanic-like activity, composed of water ice

Jupiter

largest planet, 2.5 more massive than combined Mass of the planets, rapid rotation, one day = 10 hours, multicolored because of wond systems

Mons Olympus

largest volcanor located on Mars

asteroids

lies b/n mars & jupiter, 260 miles in diameter, smaller bodies/ microplanets, some have ecentric orbits, irregular shapes, origin certain

Venus's Surface

mapped by radar, 80% subdued plains that are mantled by volcanice flows, low density of impact craters

Halley's comet

most famouos short peroid comet, 76 year period, potato-shaped nucleus

Saturn's rings

most prominent feature, discovered by Galileo, complex, composed of small particles - moonlets that orbit the planet, origin still being debated

Uranus

nearly twins with Neptune, rotates on its side, rings, large moons varied terrains

Mars surface

numerous large volcanoes, less abundant impact craters, tectonically dead, several canyons, "stream drainage" patterns

meteor shower

occurs when Earth encounters a swarm of meteoroids associted with a comet's path

Callisto

outermost Galilean moon, one of jupiters largest moons

Any variance in the orbit of a planet from it predicted path is referred to as

perturbation

nebular hypothesis

planets formed about 5 bill. years ago, solar system condensed from a gaseous nebular

The apparent westward "drift" of the planets compared to the background stars is called

retrograde motion

The apparent westward drift of the planets as compared to the background of stars is called

retrograde motion

chemical differentation

seperation of materials by density

Saturn

similar to Jupiter, dynamic atmosphere, large cyclonic storms, 31 moons

Europa

smallest of the Galilean Moons

solar system includes...

sun, 8 planets and satelittes, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, meteroids, kuiper belt, ort cloud

The period of time required for the Moon to complete one cycle of phases is called the ______ month

synodic

hydrogen and helium

the jovian planets contain a large percentage of the gases...

orbital plane

the plane on which a body is orbiting, inclined, similar to a flat sheet of paper

Galileo observed several features using the telescope. Which did he NOT discover?

the two moons of Mars

The length of daylight on the Moon is about

two weeks

meteroites

what meteroids are referred to when found on Earth

meteors

whe it enters Earth's atmospher

coma

when a comet produces a glowing head

meteroids

when they are still in outer space

The belt of constellations through which all the planets move is called

zodiac