Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
31 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
How big are the average asteroids?
|
Tens of Kilometers
|
|
|
What are asteroids comprised of?
|
Rock and Metal
|
|
|
List the subjects in question from smallest to largest.
|
Meteoroids, Asteroids, Comets
|
|
|
What are meteoroids?
|
Essentially, dust.
|
|
|
Where is the Asteroid Belt located?
|
Between Mars and Jupiter
|
|
|
How far apart are the asteroids?
|
Millions of Kilometers
|
|
|
Where is the Kuiper Belt?
|
The Kuiper Belt is the region of the solar system extending out from Pluto's orbit.
|
|
|
How is the Kuiper Belt shaped?
|
Like a doughnut.
|
|
|
What is a comet?
|
Rock and ice
|
|
|
Why does a comet have a tail?
|
Because coma gases and dust get pushed outward by radiation and particles from the sun.
|
|
|
What are the 2 types of tails on a comet and how do they behave?
|
1. Gas (stream in a curve away from the sun)
2. Ion (stream straight away from the sun) |
|
|
Why do we have meteor showers?
|
Because the earth passes through debris fields (probably the same one over and over).
|
|
|
What are the types of Meteorites?
|
Stony, Iron, and Stony-Iron
|
|
|
Which type of Meteorites are easiest to spot?
|
Iron
|
|
|
What are the layers of the Sun (in order from Sun surface to outer layer)? Give characteristics.
|
Photosphere (400 km thick, low gas density, blackbody spectrum that corresponds to app. 5800K), Chromosphere (the part seen during a total eclipse, pinkish color, some 2000 km thick), Corona (several million km from chromosphere, transition zone precedes it, corona contains a sudden increase in temp to app. 10,000K)
|
|
|
What is Solar Wind?
|
When some of the gas in the corona is moving fast enough, around a million km per hour, to escape the sun's gravity forever and race into space.
|
|
|
What are Sunspots?
|
Regions of the photosphere that appear dark because they are cooler than the rest of the sun's lower atmosphere. Typically about 10,000 km across.
|
|
|
Describe the Sun's rotation...
|
Rotates once in about four weeks; differential rotation (equatorial regions rotate more rapidly than the polar regions)
|
|
|
Why should you never look at the Sun without aid?
|
It causes blindness.
|
|
|
What happens in a sunspot cycle?
|
Average cycle lasts app. 11 yrs.; During this period the sun experiences a sunspot maximum (lots of them) and a sunspot minimum (few of them); spots can last a few hrs. to a few months; spots have darker center (umbra) and lighter outer ring (penumbra); spots typically begin 30 degrees N or S of sun's equator and slowly move in.
|
|
|
What is a prominence?
|
When viewed from the side rather than from above, filaments form these gigantic loops or arches.
|
|
|
What is the energy source of the Sun?
|
Thermo-nuclear fusion in its core.
|
|
|
How old is the Sun?
|
"4.5-5 billion years old"
|
|
|
How far along is the Sun suspected to be in its cycle?
|
App. midway
|
|
|
What is Hydrostatic Equilibrium of the Sun?
|
The outward pressure balanced by the pull of gravity.
|
|
|
What does apparent magnitude measure?
|
How bright the sun looks to us.
|
|
|
How far away is Absolute Magnitude?
|
10 pc.
|
|
|
Luminosity of a star is...
|
Total energy outlook
|
|
|
What does "Oh, Be A Fine Guy, Kiss Me" mean?
|
The Spectral Types on the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (OBAFGKM); luminosities are plotted against their surface temp.; giants are to the right, supergiants are on the top, and white dwarfs are below the main sequence
|
|
|
What makes it possible for a star to be extremely bright but relatively cool?
|
Its size
|
|
|
White dwarfs are/are not included in luminosity classification Thermonuclear fusion in its dying phase.
|
are not
|
