Our Solar System Test Questions – Flashcards
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extends from 30 to 55 au's from the sun. is filled with many asteroids and dwarf planets
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the kuiper belt
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1. orbit the sun 2. be spherical due to its own gravity 3. not be a satellite of another object
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to be a dwarf planet:
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what dwarf planets are called in the Kuiper Belt
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plutoids
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pluto and eris
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2 dwarf planets:
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small objects made up of iron, rock and carbon that orbit around the sun. millions exist in our solar system
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asteroids
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very dark, carbonaceous chondrite
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C-Type (asteroid)
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bright, nickel, iron and rock
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S-Type (asteroid)
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very bright, pure nickel and iron
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M-Type (asteroid)
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full of the remains of planetesimals because the composition are formed from the same materials as the planets. located 2-4 au's away from the sun, between Mars and Jupiter.
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asteroid belt
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4-6 years
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how long does it take for an asteroid to revolve around the sun?
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ranges from pebbles to 940 km across
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how big can an asteroid be?
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asteroid that was originally named a planet, today is classified as a dwarf planet
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Ceres
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small bits of rock or metal that moves through our solar system. not in orbit around the sun. many are pieces of asteroids, which were bounced out of orbit due to gravitational forces. others are debris left by comets. most are less than 1mm, some are over 60 meters
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meteoroids
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mostly iron and nickel
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iron (meteoroids)
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like the mantle of planets
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chondrite (meteoroids)
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basalts like planetary crust
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achondrites (meteoroids)
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when meteoroids come close enough to Earth, they are caught in our gravitational pull. then enter Earth's atmosphere, producing streaks of light called meteors.
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meteors
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a meteoroid is burning uo in our atmosphere due to friction.
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what is the streak of light from meteors caused by?
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shooting stars
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what are meteors often called?
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a meteor shower
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what is the phenomena called when many meteoroids enter our atmosphere at once?
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when the Earth intersects the orbits of comets that have left behind a trail of debris.
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when do meteor showers usually occur?
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a meteoroid that hits the Earths surface.
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meteorites
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located in Arizona, 1.3 km (or 3/4 mile) in diameter, and 180 m (550 ft) deep. hit about 50,000 years ago
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Barrigner Crater
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largest crater in the solar system, located on Mars over 1550 km across and 2km deep.
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Caloris Basin
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less than 1kg
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what's the mass of most meteorites?
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information about the composition of the solar nebula that existed before Earth and its moon formed.
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what can meteorites provide?
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frozen gasses, water and dust
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comets
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solid ball of ice and dust, a few km across
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nucleus (comet)
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spherical cloud of gas and dust surrounding the nucleus that can be millions of km wide
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coma (comet)
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the sun's heat causes the ice from the comet to evaporate, forming a tail that is 10 million km long
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what happens when a comet gets close to the sun?
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away from the sun, because it forms as solar wind pushes gas and dust away from the head of the comet
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where does the tail always point and why?
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the oort cloud (100,000 au's away)
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where do comets originate from?
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yes
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do comet's orbit around the sun?
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highly elliptical
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how would you describe the comet's orbit?
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140 meters per second, faster where they are closer to the sun
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how fast do they travel? and where do they travel faster?
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the size of a comet's orbit
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what determines how long the comet would revolve around the sun?
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orbits sun every 76 years, last seen in 1986
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Halley's Comet
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takes 2380 years for one orbit, last seen in 1997
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Comet Hale-Bopp
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29,500 years for one orbit, last seen in 1996
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Comet Hyakutake
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storms on the surface; usually occur in 11 year cycles. cooler, darker areas of the sun.
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sunspots
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inner layer of the sun's atmosphere; the part we see
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photosphere
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huge fiery arms or loops extending from the sun's surface
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solar prominences
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thickest layer of the sun
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radiation zone
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keeps energy moving to surface
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convection zone
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where nuclear reactions occur
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core
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halo of gasses around the sun
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corona
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mostly hydrogen, some helium
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gases found in sun
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93 million miles; 150 million kilometers
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distance to the sun from Earth
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because the sun is by far the largest and most massive object in it
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why is it called the solar system?
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99.86%
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how much mass does the sun contain in the solar system? (percentage)
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the most gravity because it is the most massive object
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the sun has...
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8 planets, 44+ dwarf planets, comets and asteroids in orbit
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the sun's gravity can hold...
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because the sun is an average size, yellow star with and average absolute magnitude.
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why is our solar system like other solar systems?
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because the sun is a single star
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why is our solar system unusual?
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in pairs, called binary pairs, or in groups called clusters.
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how do most stars form?
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outward through the radiation and convection zones, then finally to the sun's atmosphere
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how do the energy levels of the sun travel?
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photosphere, temperatures reach 6,000K. layer that we see, generates light
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lowest layer of sun
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chromosphere, this layer has a reddish glow to it.
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layer after photosphere
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corona, largest layer of the sun's atmosphere, extending millions of kilometers into space. too faint to be seen normally, but appears during a solar eclipse as a halo around the moon
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final layer
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a stream of charged particles, continually escapes from the corona
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solar wind
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sun's uneven rotation. The sun takes 25 days to complete one rotation at the equator and 35 days at the poles. this generates a powerful magnetic field and sunspots.
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what causes sunspots?
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A phenomenon where gases near sunspots brighten suddenlyand shoot outwards at high speeds
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Solar flare
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huge arching columns of gas that can erupt from the suns magnetic field
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prominences
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occurs when large amounts of electrically charged gas are ejected suddenly from the suns corona
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coronal mass ejections (CME's)
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2 to 3 times a day
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how often can CME's occur each day?
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when there are more sunspots the sun puts out more energy and it is warmer. when there are less sunspots the average temperature becomes cooler
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how does the sunspot cycles relate to Earths temperature?
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billions of years ago a huge star that lived right where we live today went supernova, leaving nebula
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how did the solar system form? (1)
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from this nebula our solar system was born
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how did the solar system form? (2)
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nebula left over after the death of the star began to swirl and collapse
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how did the solar system form? (3)
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when the gas and dust compressed enough, nuclear fusion began and our sun was born
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how did the solar system form? (4)
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The swirling dust and gas at the edges of the cloud came together to form rocky clumps of matter
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how did the solar system form? (5)
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these rocky clumps of matter collided to form protoplanets
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how did the solar system form? (6)
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The protoplanets were held in orbit by the sun's gravity
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how did the solar system form? (7)
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for millions of years they were bombarded with meteoroids
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how did the solar system form? (8)
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as the planets cooled, the denser elements like iron and nickel sank to the center
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how did the solar system form? (9)
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The less dense elements like silicon rose to the surface. this created the layers of the earth
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how did the solar system form? (10)
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gasses escaped from the cooling earth and formed the atmosphere
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how did the solar system form? (11)
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early atmosphere was not like the atmosphere of today it was filled with carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen and water vapor. you would not have been able to breathe
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how did the solar system form? (12)
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The oxygen in our atmosphere would not be formed for another billion years
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how did the solar system form? (13)
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photosynthesis began, comets bombarding the earth brought ice down to the surface that then evaporated into water vapor
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how did the solar system form? (14)
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when the earth cooled enough the water vapor condensed and it began to rain. it rained for millions of years creating the oceans
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how did the solar system form? (15)
