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Astronomy > Module 9A > Flashcards

Module 9A Flashcards

(81 cards)

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1
Q

Our star (the Sun), the eight regular planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, the Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs, including the Kuiper Belt), and the Oort Cloud.

A

What our Solar system is composed of

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2
Q

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

A

The eight planets of our solar system

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3
Q

Planets that have a rocky surface

A

Terrestrials

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4
Q

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

A

Terrestrials in our solar system

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5
Q

Planets that are composed of gas and ice

A

Jovians

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6
Q

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

A

Jovians in our solar system

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7
Q

The two planets closer to the sun than earth

A

Mercury and Venus

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8
Q

The inferior planets

A

Mercury and Venus.

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9
Q

The planets farther away from the sun than the earth

A

Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

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10
Q

The superior planets

A

Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

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11
Q

planetary retrograde motion

A

All planets can exhibit this

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12
Q

When the Sun, Earth and an inferior planet
are lined up, with the inferior planet between the Sun and the Earth

A

The three celestial bodies are in inferior conjunction

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13
Q

When the Sun, Earth and an
inferior planet are lined up, with the Sun
between the inferior planet and Earth

A

The three celestial bodies are in superior conjunction

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14
Q

When the Sun, Earth and a superior planet
are lined up, with the Earth between the Sun and the planet

A

The three celestial bodies are in opposition

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15
Q

When the Sun, Earth and a superior planet
are lined up, with the Sun between the Earth and the planet

A

The three celestial bodies are in conjunction

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16
Q

When an inferior planet is highest in the evening sky

A

It is at its greatest elongation east point in its orbit

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17
Q

When an inferior planet is highest in the morning sky

A

It is at its greatest elongation west point in its orbit

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18
Q

The last planet in our solar system

A

Neptune

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19
Q

situated about 30 AU from the Sun

A

Neptune

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20
Q

dividing line for “the regular Solar System, and everything outside, everything past Neptune

A

the Trans-Neptunian region

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21
Q

from 30 AU out to about 120 AU

A

home to Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs).

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22
Q

extends from 30 AU to 50 AU

A

The Kuiper belt

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23
Q

While there may be more than 100,000 of these objects

A

Kuiper belt objects

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24
Q

3 dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt

A

Pluto, Haumea and Makemake.

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25
objects that orbit the Sun and are spherically shaped, but are too small to rise to the designation of planet
Dwarf planets
26
discovered by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, was long considered the ninth planet in the Solar System, but it was demoted in 2006 to the status of a dwarf planet.
Pluto
27
Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, as well as a moon of Saturn called Phoebe
considered by some astronomers to be Kuiper Belt Objects gravitationally captured by their mother planets.
28
At the edge of the Trans-Neptunian region, at about 120 AU, the effects of the solar wind suddenly die off
Heliopause
29
In a hollow bubble that spherically surrounds our Solar System, there lies perhaps as many as a trillion icy objects
The Oort Cloud
30
ranges from 2000 to 100,000 AU
The Oort Cloud
31
its outer edge is almost 40% of the distance to the nearest star other than our Sun, the star Proxima Centauri.
The Oort Cloud
32
the Moon roughly follows the Ecliptic path
the apparent yearly orbit of the Sun around the Earth.
33
second planet from the Sun
Venus
34
is the second brightest reflecting object (after the Moon) in the solar system.
Venus
35
0.7 AU from the Sun
Venus
36
The Greeks called Venus, when the “morning star”
Phosphorus
37
Romans called Venus, when the “morning star”
Lucifer
38
The Greeks called Venus, when the “evening star”
Hesperus
39
the Romans called Venus, when the ”evening star”
Vesper
40
an atmosphere that is 96% carbon dioxide and 4% nitrogen
Venus
41
atmospheric pressure is a crushing 93 bar
Venus
42
One bar
100,000 Pascal
43
surface temperature is a steady 872 degrees Fahrenheit, day and night, due to a runaway greenhouse gas effect
Venus
44
Hot enough to melt lead
872 degrees Fahrenheit
45
clouds contain sulfur dioxide and microdroplets of sulfuric acid and Lightning
Venus
46
Air speed at the top of the cloud cover is a staggering 220 miles per hour, but at the surface it is a mere 2.5 miles per hour.
Venus
47
Only 5,000 to 10,000 lux of sunshine illuminates the surface
Venus
48
With a year being about 225 Earth days
Venus
49
each year is composed of about two days
Venus
50
the planet rotates clockwise.
Venus
51
you will weigh about 16% because of the gravity and the atmosphere
Venus
52
the sixth planet from the Sun
Saturn
53
is about 9.6 AU from the Sun
Saturn
54
the sixth brightest reflecting object in the Solar System
Saturn
55
Its volume is 764 times that of Earth
Saturn
56
A year is about 30 Earth years
Saturn
57
A day is about 11 Earth hours
Saturn
58
has 146 moons
Saturn
59
Titan, Enceladus, Iapetus, and Rhea
Saturn
60
is the largest and most interesting of Saturn’s main moons, having an atmosphere similar to Earth’s atmosphere, at 1.5 atmospheres
Titan
61
has a very low specific gravity, about 0.7 gm/cm3
Saturn
62
They were first noticed by Galileo, but first adequately described as rings by Cassini
Saturn's Rings
63
Rings
All the gas giants in our solar system have them
64
Polaris
The north star
65
Currently the only star in the northern celestial hemisphere that does not move circumpolarly over the course of the night.
Polaris
66
directly above the Earth’s Geographic North Pole
Polaris
67
a group of three stars, the brightest of which (Polaris Aa) is a cepheid variable star
The north star
68
433 light years away from Earth
Polaris
69
is at the end of the Little Dipper’s Handle
Polaris
70
the total or partial masking of an Earthbound observer’s view of a celestial body by another celestial body (including Earth)
Eclipse
71
the Moon’s masking of the Sun, as seen from an Earthbound observer’s view, at New Moon
Solar Eclipse
72
When the Moon is at or near perigee (its closest approach to the Earth), its angular size is almost exactly the same as the Sun’s angular size
A total solar eclipse
73
But when the Moon is at or near apogee (its farthest distance from Earth), its angular size is smaller than the Sun’s angular size,
Annular Solar Eclipse
74
the Earth’s masking of sunlight otherwise incident on the Moon, as seen from an Earthbound observer’s view, at the time of Full Moon.
Lunar Eclipse
75
the Earth’s shadow blocking sunlight to the otherwise Full Moon, the Moon appears to be a dark red or brown, not black.
Total Lunar Eclipse
76
celestial object is eclipsed by the Moon or another solar system body
Occulation
77
the masking of a planet or star by the Moon, or the masking of a star or moon by a planet.
Occulation
78
a minor masking occurring when one celestial body passes in front of another.
Transit
79
When the Egyptians were building their pyramids in 3000 BCE (5000 years ago)
The North Star was Thuban, of the constellation Draco
80
the Earth's North Pole points to different places (on a circle in the sky) repeating the pattern every 26,000 years
the Circle of Precession
81

Astronomy (14 decks)

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