ASTR103 - Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
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Created by:
bbarocho Plus on October 25, 2011
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Description:
Test 2 - Topics on Weeks 1 - 10; emphasis on Weeks 6 - 10.
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79 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 SUN - Three layers | Photosphere Chromosphere Corona |
| SUN - Photosphere | Bright visible surface of the sun. It is a thin layer of gas from which Earth receives most of the sun's light. |
| SUN - Chromosphere | Visible just above the photosphere, is a thin layer of bright gas |
| SUN - Corona | Sun's faint outer atmosphere |
| SUN - Convection | Occurs when hot fluid rises and cool fluid sinks |
| SUN - Solar wind | Gas flows away from the sun in a breeze. Pass Earth at 300 to 800 km/s, with gusts as high as 1000 km/s. |
| SUN - Positron (e+) | Particle emitted when two hydrogen nuclei (two protons) combine |
| SUN - Neutrino (v) | Subatomic particle having an extremely low mass and a velocity nearly equal to the velocity of light |
| SUN - Deuterium | Heavy hydrogen nucleus |
| SUN - Convective zone | Packet of energy is carried outward as circulating gas. Rising hot gas carries energy outward but sinking cool gas is a necessary part of the cycle that results in the net transport of energy outward. |
| SUN - Sunspots | Cool spots on the sun's surface caused by strong magnetic fields. |
| SUN - Sunspot cycle | 11-year cycle becoming more numerous, reaching a maximum and then becoming much less numerous |
| SUN - Zeeman effect | Gives astronomers a way to measure the strength of magnetic fields on the sun and provide evidence that sunspots contain strong magnetic fields. |
| SUN - Affects of sunspots on Earth's climate | Intensity of sunspots cycle can very from cycle to cycle and appears to have almost faded away during the Maunder minimum (late century). Seems to have affected Earth's climate. |
| SUN - Active regions | Evidence is clear that sunspots are part of this region dominated by magnetic fields that involve all layers of the sun's atmosphere |
| SUN - Dynamo effect | When an electrical conductor rotates and is stirred by convection, it can convert some of the energy flowing outward as convection into a magnetic field. |
| SUN - Solar activity | Activity is magnetic. |
| SUN - Prominences | Arched shapes of solar activity produced by magnetic fields. When two arches encounter each other a reconnection can release powerful eruptions called flares. |
| SUN - Filaments | Prominences seen from above |
| SUN - Flares | Tremendous energy can be stored in arches of magnetic field when two arches encounter each other a reconnection can release powerful eruptions |
| SUN - Coronal Mass Ejections | CMEs can trigger communications blackouts and auroras |
| SUN - Coronal holes | In some regions of the solar surface, the magnetic field does not loop back. these high-energy gases from this area of the sun flows outward and produces much of the solar wind. |
| MERCURY - Facts | Innermost planet in the solar system Passes through phases like the moon and Venus |
| MERCURY - Rotation | Tidally coupled with Sun Rotating period - 59 days Orbital period - 88 days Period of rotation is 2/3 its orbital period |
| MERCURY - Resonance | Slowed rotation and coupled its rotation to its revolution |
| MERCURY - Surface | Temperatures extreme related to proximity to Sun Daytime temps can exceed 700 K (800 F); 500 K is usual high temps Shadow/night temps cool to 100K (-280 F) due to no atmosphere Looks like Earth's moon Uniform gray |
| MERCURY - Lobate scarps | Great curved cliffs found on Mercury As high as 3 km and reach hundreds of km across surface. Believed to have been produced by tidal stresses generated when sun slowed Mercury's rotation. |
| MERCURY - Plains | Mercury has two different kinds of plains; Intercrater and smooth. |
| MERCURY - Intercrater plains | Less heavily cratered areas on Mercury. Marked by meteorite crates less than 15 km in diamter and secondary craters produced by chunks of ejecta from larger impacts. Plains are not saturated by craters. |
| MERCURY - Smooth plains | Smaller region on Mercury appear to be younger than the intercrater plains. They have fewer craters and appear to be lava flows that occurred after most cratering had ended. |
| MERCURY - Interior | Large metallic core 60% denser than Moon Impact theory explains the small planet size and dense world with an unusually large core |
| VENUS | Venus is a twin to Earth (size, density, composition) Covered by thick clouds preventing observations from earth Dry and hot surface Very slow rotation (243 Earth days to rotate once) Retrograde (backward) direction |
| VENUS - Atmosphere | 96% carbon dioxide; 3.5% Nitrogen; .5% Water Vapor (Sulfuric Acid, Hydrochloric acid, Hydrofluoric acid) Thick cloud made up of sulfuric acid droplets an microscopic sulfur crystals Clouds much higher and more stable than Earth's Cool upper atmosphere Hot lower atmosphere |
| VENUS - Atmospheric circulation | Highly stable Rotates in 4 days Planetwide wind patterns Believed to be related to the planet's slow rotation |
| VENUS - Surface | 470 C/880 F temp Atmospheric pressure 90 times than Earth's No ozone layer Once had significant amounts of water Mountains, plains and some craters |
| VENUS - Greenhouse | Carbon dioxide is transparent to light but opaque to infrared heat radiation. For this reason, Venus' surface is hotter than Mercury. Since Venus has no significant amount of water now, the carbon dioxide isn't absorbed. |
| VENUS - Volcanism | Volcanoes on Venus are shield volcanoes produced by hot-spot volcanism and not by plate tectonics. Large size volcanoes due to repeated eruptions at the same place in the crust. |
| VENUS - Coronae | Circular bulges up to 2100 km in diameter containing volcanic peaks and lava flow. Appear to be caused by rising currents of molten magma below the crust that create an uplifted dome and then withdraw to allow the surface to subside and fracture. |
| VENUS - Rotation | Nearly all planets in our solar s ystem rotate counter-clockwise (as seen from the north). Uranus and Venus are the exception. |
| VENUS - History | It is believed that Venus does not have a magnetic field and is therefore unable to protect itself from solar winds. |
| MARS | Intermediate size terrestrial planet. Twice diameter moon, little more than half Earth's diameter. Smaller sized caused it to cool faster than Earth. Most of the atmosphere has leaked away and it's carbon dioxide atmosphere is less than 1% as dense as Earth's. |
| MARS - Canals | Martian day approximately 24 hrs 40 mins, axis tipped 25.2 degrees, has seasons about the same as winter/summer contrast as Earth. Based on ancient observations, it was believed that intelligent life forms lived on Mars due to what appeared to look like canals on the planet. However, these "canals" are actually optical illusions. |
| MARS - Atmosphere | 95% of air on Mars is Carbon dioxide; few % of Nitrogen and Argon. (Similar to Venus) Reddish color of Martian soil is caused by iron oxides (rusts). Contains almost no water vapor or oxygen Density about 1% of Earth's Water can exist in Mars only as ice or vapor Winds are strong enough to produce dust storms that envelope entire planet Polar caps are frozen carbon dioxide ("dry ice") with frozen water underneath |
| MARS - Geology | Nights are deadly cold but hot summer days are comfortable. Weather, complex geology, and signs that water once flowed surface Mars is divided into two parts: Southern highlands and Northern lowlands |
| MARS - Southern highland | Heavily cratered, number of craters show they are old |
| MARS - Northern lowlands | Smooth and free of craters that they must have been resurfaced no more than a billion years ago. Scientist believe volcanic floods filled the northern lowlands ad buried craters. Evidence suggest this region were once filled by an ocean of liquid water. |
| MARS - Volcanoes | Volcanoes on Mars are shield volcanoes that form over hot spots of rising magma below the crust. The largest volcano in the solar system is on Mars called Olympus mons |
| MARS - Water | Evidence shows there was once water on Mars. it can not exist in the current conditions because it would evaporate in the atmosphere. |
| MARS - Outflow channels | Appear to have been cut by massive floods carrying 10,000 time more water than the Mississippi River |
| MARS - Valley networks | Look like meandering riverbeds that may have formed over long periods of time. Located in the old, cratered, southern hemisphere and are very old. |
| MARS - History | Most of the activity of Mars creation happened in the first part of total existence; three periods - Noachian, Hesperian, Amazonian |
| MARS - Noachian period | From formation until 3.7 billion years ago Crust battered during heavy bombardment Flooding by great lava flows, smoothed some regions Volcanism active in Tharsis and Elysium regions Valley networks formed during this period when water fell as rain or snow Oceans or lake may have formed during this period; however we don't know how long they existed |
| MARS - Hesperian period | Extended from 3.7 billion years ago to 3 billion years ago Massive lava flows covered some regions Most of outflow channels date from this period Suggests the loss of atmosphere drove Mars to become deadly desert world with water frozen in its crust Volcanic heat or lg impacts melted subsurface ice, water could have produced violent flooding and shaped the outflow channels |
| MARS - Amazonian period | From 3 billion years ago to present Planet has lost much of internal heat Core no longer generates magnetic field Crust is too thick to be active with plate tectonics, hence no folded mountains |
| MARS - Moons | Mars has two moons believed to have been asteroids that were captured. Named Deimos and Phobos shaped like potatoes. Low density Heavily cratered |
| MARS - Moons 3 principles of comparative planetology | 1-Some satellites are probably captured asteroids 2-Small satellites tend to be irregular in shape and heavily cratered 3-Tidal forces can affect small moons and gradually change their orbits |
| EARTH - 4 stages of planetary formation | Differentiation Cratering Flooding Evolution |
| EARTH - Differentiation | Separation of material according to density |
| EARTH - Cratering | Can not begin until solid surface is formed Phase happens during heavy bombardment |
| EARTH - Flooding | Radioactive decay continue to heat interior and caused rock to melt in the upper mantle, the molten welled up through rocks and flooded basins with lava then with water to form today's oceans |
| EARTH - Evolution | Has continued for the past 3.5 billion years does not stop due to plate tectonics and erosion |
| EARTH - Unique qualities | 1 - Abundant amounts of water 2 - Presence of life |
| EARTH - Water | Covers 75% of surface, no other planet in solar system has this element on the surface. Rare material in most planets. |
| EARTH - Life | No evidence of this on other planets in the solar system. Humankind actively altering our planet. |
| EARTH - Interior | Information about the make up of the earth is studied through seismic waves measured during earthquakes; look at Pressure P Waves and Shear S Waves. Information confirm that interior consists of three parts: Central core, thick mantle, thin crust. |
| EARTH - Pressure P Wave | Travel as a sequence of compressions and decompressions. As waves passes, particles of matter vibrate back and forth parallel to the direction of wave travel. |
| EARTH - Shear S Wave | Waves move as displacements of particles perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel. Waves distort the material but do not compress it. |
| EARTH - Core | S waves prove the core is mostly liquid with the size being approx 55% of Earth's radius. Mathematical models predict the core is hot (6000 K); dense ( 14g/cm^3) and composed of iron and nickel. Inner core is solid and is about 22% of Earth |
| EARTH - Mantle | Seismic data shows the mantle is not molten but not solid either, it behaves like plastic (material with properties of a solid but capable of flowing under pressure. Mantle is most plastic just below the crust |
| EARTH - Crust | Rocky crust is made up of low-density rocks and floats on the denser mantle. Crust is thickest under the oceans, where it is only about 10 km thick. Crust is brittle and can break when it is stressed. |
| EARTH - Magnetic field | Magnetic field direct result of its rapid rotation and its molten metallic core. Internal heat forces the liquid core to circulate with convection while Earth's rotation turns it about an axis. Core is highly conductive iron-nickel alloy. Process called dynamo effect, same process that generates solar magnetic field in the convective layers of the sun. Protects from solar wind by deflecting it |
| EARTH - Active Crust | Motion of crust and erosive action of water makes Earth's crust highly active. Plate tectonics - motion of crustal plates - produces much of geological activity on Earth. Continents of Earth have moved - where one land mass at one point, have separated into the different continents of today. Most of geological features of today are recent products of Earth's active surface. |
| EARTH - Atmosphere | It is believed that Earth formed very rapidly and went straight to a secondary atmosphere (volcanic) and never had a hydrogen-rich primeval atmosphere. |
| EARTH - Early atmosphere (carbon dioxide) | As the early atmosphere cooled, the water condensed to form the first oceans. Carbon dioxide is easily soluble in water and the first oceans began to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Once in solution, carbon dioxide reacted with dissolved substances in the sea water to form mineral sediments in the ocean floor, freeing the seawater to absorb more carbon dioxide. |
| EARTH - Early atmosphere (oxygen) | When Earth was young, its atmosphere had no free oxygen (not combined with other elements). Oxygen is reactive and quickly forms oxides in soil and other substances dissolved in water. Only action of plant life keeps a steady supply of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere via photosynthesis which makes energy for plants by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. There is oxygen on Earth's atmosphere because of life (not the other way around). |
| EARTH - Ozone layer | Earth's lower atmosphere is not protected from ultraviolet radiation by a layer about 15-30 km above surface that exists because the atmosphere contains abundant ordinary oxygen from which the ozone is made. |
| EARTH - Greenhouse effect | Concentration of CO_2 in Earth's atmosphere is important because CO_2 can trap heat in this process. Earth's atmosphere is transparent to sunlight, and when the ground absorbs the sunlight, it grows warmer and radiates at infrared wavelengths. However, CO_2 makes the atmosphere less transparent to infrared radiation, so infrared radiation from the warm surface is absorbed by the atmosphere and cannot escape back into space. That traps heat and makes Earth warmer. |
| EARTH - Global warming | The increased concentration of CO_2 (thought to be caused by humans burning fossil fuels) is increasing the greenhouse effect and warming Earth. |
| EARTH - Albedo | Fraction of the sunlight hitting it that gets reflected away. Planet with albedo of 1 would be white, albedo of 0 would be black. Earth is .39 meaning reflects into space 39% of sunlight that hits it. |
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