Astronomy – Chapter 6 – the Solar System – Flashcards
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Early Astronomers knew
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moon, stars, mercury,Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, comets, and meteors
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Solar System
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has 166 moons, one star, 8 planets (added Uranus and Neptune), eight asteroids, and more than 100 Kuiper belt objects more than 300 km in diameter (smaller asteroids, comets, and meteoroids) - consists of sun and everything orbiting it
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400
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how many extrasolar planets found
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understanding planetary formation
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helps understand it's formation as well as formation of other systems
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distance from the sun
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known by kepler's laws
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Terrestrial Planets
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars - small and rocky - close to the sun - rotate slowly - have weak magnetic fields - few moons - no rings
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Jovian Planets
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Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune - large and gaseous - far from the sun - rotate quickly - have strong magnetic fields - many moons - rings
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Asteroids and Meteoroids
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have rocky composition
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comets
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icy, with some rocky parts
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Pluto
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once classified as a planet is closest large Kuiper belt object to the sun
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Soviet Venera
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landed on Venus from 1970 to 1978
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gravitational slingshots
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can change direction of spacecraft and can also accelerate it
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nebular contraction
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cloud of gas and dust contracts due to gravity; conservation of angular momentum means it spins faster and faster as it contracts - followed by condensation around dust grains
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accreation
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then leads to larger and larger clumps; finally gravitational attraction takes over and planets form
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planetary orbits
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lie almost in the same plane
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What are the chemical and physical properties of the solar system that any theory of its origin must explain?
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The inner planets have high densities, moderate atmospheres, and a mostly rocky composition. The outer planets have low densities, thick atmospheres, and a composition of mostly hydrogen and helium. The asteroids are composed of primitive, unevolved material unlike planets and the comets are icy objects that have also remained unchanged since the formation of the solar system.
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Pioneer 10
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first to cross the asteroid belt and head to Jupiter?
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all observed properties of the solar system.
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A successful theory of the formation of the solar system must explain
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beyond the orbit of Neptune
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The Kuiper Belt is found
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As the solar nebula contracts due to gravitation, the cloud
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spins faster
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titan
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while cassini launched toward saturn in 04 its Huygen probe in 05 went to
