How does the Earth-Sun radius compare with the Sun’s radius?
approx. 200 times larger
What is a planet?
Celestial body in orbit around the sun that is large enough to be round and clear its own orbit.
What is a dwarf planet?
Celestial body in orbit around the sun that is large enough to be round but hasn’t cleared its own orbit and is not a satellite
What is a satellite?
A body orbiting a planet / dwarf planet
What are patterns across the whole solar system?
Orbiting the same direction, in the same plane, and with mostly circular orbits
What are the size differences between rocky planets versus gas giants?
Rocky planets are small, gas giants are large
Where are the rocky planets versus the gas giants located relative to the sun?
The rocky planets are closer to the sun, the gas giants are farther
What are the rocky planets made of primarily?
Metal and rock
What are the gas giants made of primarily?
H, He, and hydrogen compounds
How do the rings and moons of rocky planets compare with gas giants?
Rocky planets typically have few moons and no rings, whereas ice giants have many moons and rings.
Approximately how much of the solar system’s mass is in the sun?
Approx. 99.8%
What is the sun made of?
H and He plasma / gas
What percentage of the angular momentum of the universe is the Sun?
Only 4%
What is the definition of Inertial Mass?
A quantitative measure of an objects resistance to acceleration.
What is the definition of gravitational mass?
Measure of the magnitude of gravitational acceleration experience by or caused by an object.
What is the definition of weight?
The gravitational force acting on a given body, which depends on the pull of the opposite body.
What is the definition of volume?
The quantity of 3 dimensional space that an object encompasses.
What is the formula for density?
D=M/V
What is Mercury’s core primarily made of?
Iron
When would you see stars in the sky on Mercury?
Always, because there is no atmosphere.
What is unique about Venus’s spin?
It spins the opposite direction of most other planets.
Does Venus have any moons?
No
What is surprising about Earth’s moon?
It is shockingly large
What is Mars’s terrain like?
Giant volcanoes (Olympus Mons), a huge canyon, polar caps
What is Jupiter mostly made of?
Hydrogen and Helium
What are the closest (dwarf) galaxies to us?
Large Magellanic Cloud & Small Magellanic Cloud
By what means is distance measured?
Redshift
What are Jupiter’s four galilean moons?
Io, Callisto, Ganymede, Europe
How are Saturn and Jupiter similar?
Both large, gaseous, have rings, many moons
What confused Galileo about Saturn’s rings?
They disappeared every few years
Why did Saturn’s rings disappear?
They actually just became edge-on to the Earth, and are so thin that they weren’t visible from Earth.
What is the nearest star system?
Proxima Centauri (4.2 ly)
How are inertial and gravitational mass related?
They are equivalent.
What is the formula for the volume of a sphere?
V= (4/3)pir^3
How large is Uranus?
Smaller than Jupiter / Saturn, much larger than Earth
What is unique about Uranus’s axis?
It has an extreme tilt
What is Uranus made of?
H, He, and Hydrogen compounds
What kind of geysers exist on Neptune?
Nitrogen ice geysers
What is unique about Neptune’s orbit?
It is retrograde
What is the name of pluto’s main moon?
Charon
What are the three main regions of smaller solar system bodies?
The asteroid belt, kuiper belt, and oort cloud
1 km is how many mi?
0.621 mi
What is the equation relating R, D, and T?
D=RT
How is Luminosity calculated?
Using the stephen boltzmann law, L = SA * sigmaT^4
How are kinetic energy and work related?
They are equal (and both dependent on only force and distance)
What are the northern lights?
Charged particles from the solar wind getting trapped in magnetic fields in the atmosphere and excited by electrons