The document discusses ring systems of the gas giant planets. It explains that ring systems are shaped by processes like the Roche limit and shepherding moons. It then provides details on the ring systems of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Saturn's rings are the most extensive and are composed primarily of ice particles. The rings of the other planets are thinner and less is known about their compositions. Over time, ring systems evolve and may be temporary structures unless replenished.
Planetesimal ejection describes how leftover debris from the formation of the planets was captured as moons or ended up in the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, or Oort cloud. Asteroids and meteoroids are small rocky or metallic objects found primarily in the inner solar system, with asteroids larger than 100 meters and meteoroids smaller. They orbit near the plane of the solar system in regions like the asteroid belt. When these objects enter the Earth's atmosphere, they appear as meteors and some survive impact as meteorites. Larger impacts are rarer but can cause global effects like the extinction of dinosaurs.
In 1995, two Swiss astronomers became the first to detect a planet in orbit around a far off star similar to our Sun. Since then, more than 400 of these worlds, called exoplanets, have been found. With the discoveries come hopes for finding life outside our solar system.
Stephane Udry, an astrophysicist from the University of Geneva, is part of a team leading the search for exoplanets. In 2007, he was among scientists to discover a celestial body within the “habitable zone” of its solar system in orbit around a red dwarf star called Gliese 581, some 20 light-years away near the constellation Libra. Being in the habitable zone means that any water on its surface could exist in liquid form as it does here on Earth. Could life flourish there, too?
On Sunday, February 28, 2010, Professor Udry invites the swissnex San Francisco audience to join him for an enlightening journey into the questions and methodology behind his work. He’ll explain how astronomers go about searching for exoplanets, how they now view planet formation, and what new findings mean for the future and for the search for life beyond Earth.
- The International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet due to its small size and eccentric orbit.
- Students are tasked with analyzing data about objects in the solar system to determine what characteristics qualify a body as a planet.
- The IAU decided that to be a planet, a body must orbit the sun, have a nearly circular orbit, and not cross the orbits of other planets. Students are asked if they agree with reclassifying Pluto as a dwarf planet.
The document discusses the history of models of the solar system. For thousands of years, the geocentric model placed Earth at the center. Ptolemy created an influential geocentric model in the 2nd century AD. In 1543, Copernicus published a heliocentric model placing the Sun at the center, though he was afraid to publish it while alive due to religious opposition. Galileo's observations of Jupiter's moons in 1609 provided further evidence supporting the heliocentric model.
The document summarizes the life cycles of stars of different masses, including our Sun. It describes that:
1) The Sun will spend most of its life fusing hydrogen into helium, then expand into a red giant in 5 billion years and shed its outer layers as a planetary nebula.
2) More massive stars live fast and die young, becoming red supergiants or exploding as supernovae after only a few million years.
3) The most massive stars may collapse into neutron stars or black holes.
Planetesimal ejection describes how leftover debris from the formation of the planets was captured as moons or ended up in the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, or Oort cloud. Asteroids and meteoroids are small rocky or metallic objects found primarily in the inner solar system, with asteroids larger than 100 meters and meteoroids smaller. They orbit near the plane of the solar system in regions like the asteroid belt. When these objects enter the Earth's atmosphere, they appear as meteors and some survive impact as meteorites. Larger impacts are rarer but can cause global effects like the extinction of dinosaurs.
In 1995, two Swiss astronomers became the first to detect a planet in orbit around a far off star similar to our Sun. Since then, more than 400 of these worlds, called exoplanets, have been found. With the discoveries come hopes for finding life outside our solar system.
Stephane Udry, an astrophysicist from the University of Geneva, is part of a team leading the search for exoplanets. In 2007, he was among scientists to discover a celestial body within the “habitable zone” of its solar system in orbit around a red dwarf star called Gliese 581, some 20 light-years away near the constellation Libra. Being in the habitable zone means that any water on its surface could exist in liquid form as it does here on Earth. Could life flourish there, too?
On Sunday, February 28, 2010, Professor Udry invites the swissnex San Francisco audience to join him for an enlightening journey into the questions and methodology behind his work. He’ll explain how astronomers go about searching for exoplanets, how they now view planet formation, and what new findings mean for the future and for the search for life beyond Earth.
- The International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet due to its small size and eccentric orbit.
- Students are tasked with analyzing data about objects in the solar system to determine what characteristics qualify a body as a planet.
- The IAU decided that to be a planet, a body must orbit the sun, have a nearly circular orbit, and not cross the orbits of other planets. Students are asked if they agree with reclassifying Pluto as a dwarf planet.
The document discusses the history of models of the solar system. For thousands of years, the geocentric model placed Earth at the center. Ptolemy created an influential geocentric model in the 2nd century AD. In 1543, Copernicus published a heliocentric model placing the Sun at the center, though he was afraid to publish it while alive due to religious opposition. Galileo's observations of Jupiter's moons in 1609 provided further evidence supporting the heliocentric model.
The document summarizes the life cycles of stars of different masses, including our Sun. It describes that:
1) The Sun will spend most of its life fusing hydrogen into helium, then expand into a red giant in 5 billion years and shed its outer layers as a planetary nebula.
2) More massive stars live fast and die young, becoming red supergiants or exploding as supernovae after only a few million years.
3) The most massive stars may collapse into neutron stars or black holes.
Slides of a presentation I gave at the Mauna Kea Visitor Center on May 7, 2011, as part of a series called the Universe Tonight, about extrasolar planets and the means of detecting them. It was followed by a stargazing session on the Visitor Center Parking Lot.
This provides a visual map of the exhibition gallery. It helps teachers highlight major themes and key objects to students before the visit. Most of the key objects are hyperlinked to the Museum Online Collection Database for easy reference. It also feature relevant online resources on teaching and learning on the topic of Space.
When it comes to planetarium shows, “questions and answers” is our absolutely favourite time. But last week one primary school visitors took Q&A to the next level. They came to their Wonderdome Astronomy lesson with questions already prepared and written down! More questions came up during the show, so some of the prepared questions we didn’t have time to go through. There was only one thing we could do!
The document discusses the formation of the solar system from a molecular cloud. It describes how:
1) The cloud collapsed due to gravity, forming a hot solar nebula with a temperature gradient.
2) Atoms condensed into microscopic particles in different regions based on temperature, then accreted into planetesimals.
3) Terrestrial planetesimals grew into protoplanets through collisions, then differentiated into cores and mantles.
4) Jovian protoplanets captured gas and ice from the nebula through gravitational collapse, forming large atmospheres.
Kako smo videli nevidljivo - od crne rupe do Nobelove nagrade za fizikuMilan Milošević
Predavanje održano 27. septembra 2021. godine u okviru serije naučno-popularnih predavanja povodom obeležavanja 50 godina studija fizike, hemije i matematike na Univerzitetu u Nišu i dana Prirodno-matematičkog fakultetu u Nišu.
Afm Deep Sky Divas- Galileo Nights 10-24-09Astronomy.FM
The document summarizes the Galileo spacecraft mission and its discoveries. It discusses (1) Galileo's launch and trajectory to Jupiter, (2) its exploration of asteroids, comet impacts and Jupiter's moons, and (3) the images it captured of Jupiter's atmosphere, lightning, auroras and rings. The mission helped validate Copernicus' heliocentric model of the solar system and greatly expanded human knowledge of the Jovian system.
The document discusses different definitions and criteria for classifying objects as planets. Originally, planets referred to objects that appeared to move among the fixed stars. Modern definitions consider physical characteristics like mass, pressure and luminosity sources, as well as orbital attributes. There is no consensus on where to draw the line between planets, brown dwarfs and stars. The International Astronomical Union provisionally defined planets as objects below 13 Jupiter masses that orbit stars, while free-floating objects are sub-brown dwarfs. However, the definition is meant to be gradual and evolve as knowledge improves.
The document provides an introduction to astrophysics concepts. It outlines the general structure of the solar system as having 8 planets orbiting the sun on orbital paths that are not circular. It distinguishes stellar clusters as groups of stars that are gravitationally bound and relatively close together, compared to constellations which are patterns of stars that can greatly vary in distance from Earth. It defines a light year as the distance light travels in one year and compares the distances between stars within our galaxy and between galaxies. The document describes the apparent motion of stars due to the rotation and revolution of the Earth.
Three astronauts - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin - launched aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft on a mission to land on the Moon in July 1969. The 8-day mission was successful, with Armstrong and Aldrin becoming the first humans to walk on the lunar surface. However, some conspiracy theorists argue that the Moon landings were faked and did not actually occur. The document then presents several of the most common arguments made by conspiracy theorists claiming to prove the landings were hoaxed, such as the lack of stars or impact craters in photos, unusual shadows, and mysterious reflections. NASA has provided counterarguments for each of these claims based on scientific explanations.
IB Astrophysics - intro to the universe - Flippingphysics by nothingnerdyNothingnerdy
This document provides an introduction to the universe through 3 sentences: It begins with an overview of the contents of the universe from asteroids and comets to galaxies and galaxy clusters. Next, it describes our solar system and includes data on planets, their orbits, and surface temperatures. Finally, it discusses astronomical units of distance such as light years and compares the relative distances of objects in our solar system and galaxies.
This document provides an overview of an academic presentation on interstellar flight given by Kelvin F. Long, the executive director of the Institute for Interstellar Studies. The presentation discusses the history of interstellar studies and proposals, including projects by the British Interplanetary Society. It also examines the fundamental requirements and challenges of interstellar travel such as the large amounts of energy needed and long mission times. Finally, it introduces the Institute for Interstellar Studies and its mission to promote education and technologies that could enable interstellar spacecraft.
1) The Solar System consists of the Sun and objects that orbit it, including 9 planets.
2) The planets follow elliptical orbits around the Sun due to the balance between gravitational pull and inertia.
3) There are several theories for how the Solar System formed, with the most widely accepted being the Nebular Hypothesis where a large cloud collapsed and spun to form a disk that condensed into planets.
The document contains facts about various astronomical objects including:
- The Sun has a mass of 1980100 and a surface temperature of 5800K.
- Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and has surface temperatures ranging from 800°F during the day to -300°F at night.
- Comets are small icy bodies that originate outside Neptune that melt and form tails as they get closer to the Sun.
- Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the Sun and range in size from hundreds of feet to hundreds of kilometers. Most asteroids orbit in the inner Solar System.
The document discusses the birth of the universe through several key topics:
1) Olber's Paradox - The question of why the night sky is dark if the universe contains an infinite number of stars. Explanations include a finite age universe and the expansion of space stretching light wavelengths.
2) Hubble's Law - The observation that more distant galaxies are moving away faster, indicating an expanding universe.
3) The Big Bang Theory - Proposed to explain the expansion of the universe and supported by evidence like the cosmic microwave background radiation. It provides an explanation for how the universe began from an extremely dense and hot initial state.
The international Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997 and had a marathon 7-year 2-billion mile journey to the distant planet Saturn. The 23-foot tall, 14-foot wide, 6-ton spacecraft is the largest most sophisticated outer planet spacecraft ever built, and is in its third year of operation in orbit around the planet Saturn. Cassini-Huygens has been returning extraordinary data about the entire Saturn system: the spectacular rings; the numerous icy satellites with a variety of unique surface features; the giant planet itself; a huge magneto-sphere teeming with particles that interact with the rings and moons; and the intriguing moon Titan, which is slightly larger than the planet Mercury, and whose hazy atmosphere is denser than that of Earth. This talk will be an overview of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn with a summary of the top science returns of its first three years in orbit.
The Minnesota Space Grant Consortium, run out of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota, hosts Trina Ray of NASA JPL on January 22, 2008.
Early astronomers discovered and described key facts about the shape and size of the Earth and the structure of the solar system:
- Aristotle discovered that the Earth is round in 350 BC based on observations of lunar eclipses and changes in stars viewed from different locations.
- Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth to be about 25,000 miles in 240 BC by comparing shadows cast at different locations.
- Ptolemy proposed the geocentric model in 140 AD to explain the apparent retrograde motion of planets based on their orbits around the Earth.
- Copernicus proposed the heliocentric model in 1543 AD, placing the Sun at the center of the solar system with planets in
Cassini has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, conducting numerous science investigations of the planet, its rings and moons. It discovered water plumes erupting from Enceladus, signs of possible oceans and organic activity on Titan, and continues monitoring Saturn's weather, rings and developing new insights into the moons. Cassini remains in excellent health and its Solstice mission extends through 2017, promising more discoveries to come from this unprecedented exploration of the Saturn system.
This document provides an overview of comets, predictions of the end of the world, and the alleged "Planet X." It discusses comet composition, past comet and asteroid impacts on Earth, the solar system's scale and amateur astronomy. It examines data from comets Wild 2, Halley and Tempel 1, as well as comet probe missions. The document analyzes the story of Comet Hale-Bopp and its link to an apocalyptic prediction. It also reviews theories about comets, including the standard "dirty snowball" model and alternative "electric comet" theory. Finally, it summarizes the controversy over an alleged companion object photographed near Hale-Bopp by amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek.
UK Space Conference: James Webb Space Telescope (Gillian Wright)A. Rocketeer
The document discusses the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It will have a 6.5 meter primary mirror, be optimized for infrared observations, and passively cooled to around 40K. The telescope will launch in June 2013 and be placed in an L2 orbit, with an expected mission lifetime of 5-10 years. It is a joint project between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency.
The document discusses asteroids, comets, and Pluto. It explains that asteroids formed from leftover material from planet formation and are found mainly in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter due to Jupiter's gravitational influence. Comets formed beyond the frost line and have icy compositions; their tails form when they near the Sun and ice sublimates. Most comets originate from the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Pluto has properties matching Kuiper Belt objects. An impact likely caused the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. While impacts pose a real threat, the likelihood of a major impact within our lifetimes is low. Other planets can affect Earth's impact rates through their gravitational influence on small solar system bodies.
Asteroids are spread far apart in the asteroid belt, making collisions unlikely. They formed from collisions of early planetary bodies. Most asteroids have a covering of dust called regolith. While planets have large moons, some asteroids also have small moons. Asteroids group together in the main belt, Kuiper belt, as Trojans, or in the scattered disc. Meteoroids range in size from dust grains to baseballs and the largest may be asteroid fragments. Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through debris left by comets. There are about 9 major annual meteor showers.
Michael SeedsDana BackmanChapter 8Origin of the So.docxARIV4
Michael Seeds
Dana Backman
Chapter 8
Origin of the Solar System and Extrasolar Planets
*
The solar system is our home in the universe. As humans are an intelligent species, we have the right and the responsibility to wonder what we are. Our kind has inhabited this solar system for at least a million years. However, only within the last hundred years have we begun to understand what a solar system is.
*
You are linked through a great chain of origins that leads backward through time to the first instant when the universe began 13.7 billion years ago.The gradual discovery of the links in that chain is one of the most exciting adventures of the human intellect.
The Great Chain of Origins
*
Earlier, you have studied some of that story:Origin of the universe in the big bangFormation of galaxiesOrigin of starsProduction of the chemical elementsHere, you will explore further and consider the origin of planets.
The Great Chain of Origins
*
By the time the universe was three minutes old, the protons, neutrons, and electrons in your body had come into existence. You are made of very old matter.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Although those particles formed quickly, they were not linked together to form the atoms that are common today.Most of the matter was hydrogen and about
25 percent was helium. Very few of the heavier atoms were made in
the big bang.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Although your body does not contain helium, it does contain many of those ancient hydrogen atoms that have remained unchanged since the universe began.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
During the first few hundred million years after the big bang, matter collected to form galaxies containing billions of stars. You have learned how nuclear reactions inside stars combine low-mass atoms, such as hydrogen, to make heavier atoms.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Generation of stars cooked the original particles, fusing them into atoms such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Those are common atoms in your body.Even the calcium atoms in your bones were assembled inside stars.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Most of the iron in your body was produced by:Carbon fusion in type Ia supernovae Decay of radioactive atoms in the expanding matter ejected by type II supernovae
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Atoms heavier than iron, such as iodine, were created by:Rapid nuclear reactions that can occur only during supernova explosions
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Elements uncommon enough to be expensive—gold, silver, and platinum in the jewelry that humans wear—also were produced: during the violent deaths of rare, massive stars.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Our galaxy contains at least
100 billion stars, of which the sun is one.The sun formed from a cloud of gas and dust about 5 billion years ago.The atoms in your body were part of that cloud.
Th ...
Slides of a presentation I gave at the Mauna Kea Visitor Center on May 7, 2011, as part of a series called the Universe Tonight, about extrasolar planets and the means of detecting them. It was followed by a stargazing session on the Visitor Center Parking Lot.
This provides a visual map of the exhibition gallery. It helps teachers highlight major themes and key objects to students before the visit. Most of the key objects are hyperlinked to the Museum Online Collection Database for easy reference. It also feature relevant online resources on teaching and learning on the topic of Space.
When it comes to planetarium shows, “questions and answers” is our absolutely favourite time. But last week one primary school visitors took Q&A to the next level. They came to their Wonderdome Astronomy lesson with questions already prepared and written down! More questions came up during the show, so some of the prepared questions we didn’t have time to go through. There was only one thing we could do!
The document discusses the formation of the solar system from a molecular cloud. It describes how:
1) The cloud collapsed due to gravity, forming a hot solar nebula with a temperature gradient.
2) Atoms condensed into microscopic particles in different regions based on temperature, then accreted into planetesimals.
3) Terrestrial planetesimals grew into protoplanets through collisions, then differentiated into cores and mantles.
4) Jovian protoplanets captured gas and ice from the nebula through gravitational collapse, forming large atmospheres.
Kako smo videli nevidljivo - od crne rupe do Nobelove nagrade za fizikuMilan Milošević
Predavanje održano 27. septembra 2021. godine u okviru serije naučno-popularnih predavanja povodom obeležavanja 50 godina studija fizike, hemije i matematike na Univerzitetu u Nišu i dana Prirodno-matematičkog fakultetu u Nišu.
Afm Deep Sky Divas- Galileo Nights 10-24-09Astronomy.FM
The document summarizes the Galileo spacecraft mission and its discoveries. It discusses (1) Galileo's launch and trajectory to Jupiter, (2) its exploration of asteroids, comet impacts and Jupiter's moons, and (3) the images it captured of Jupiter's atmosphere, lightning, auroras and rings. The mission helped validate Copernicus' heliocentric model of the solar system and greatly expanded human knowledge of the Jovian system.
The document discusses different definitions and criteria for classifying objects as planets. Originally, planets referred to objects that appeared to move among the fixed stars. Modern definitions consider physical characteristics like mass, pressure and luminosity sources, as well as orbital attributes. There is no consensus on where to draw the line between planets, brown dwarfs and stars. The International Astronomical Union provisionally defined planets as objects below 13 Jupiter masses that orbit stars, while free-floating objects are sub-brown dwarfs. However, the definition is meant to be gradual and evolve as knowledge improves.
The document provides an introduction to astrophysics concepts. It outlines the general structure of the solar system as having 8 planets orbiting the sun on orbital paths that are not circular. It distinguishes stellar clusters as groups of stars that are gravitationally bound and relatively close together, compared to constellations which are patterns of stars that can greatly vary in distance from Earth. It defines a light year as the distance light travels in one year and compares the distances between stars within our galaxy and between galaxies. The document describes the apparent motion of stars due to the rotation and revolution of the Earth.
Three astronauts - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin - launched aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft on a mission to land on the Moon in July 1969. The 8-day mission was successful, with Armstrong and Aldrin becoming the first humans to walk on the lunar surface. However, some conspiracy theorists argue that the Moon landings were faked and did not actually occur. The document then presents several of the most common arguments made by conspiracy theorists claiming to prove the landings were hoaxed, such as the lack of stars or impact craters in photos, unusual shadows, and mysterious reflections. NASA has provided counterarguments for each of these claims based on scientific explanations.
IB Astrophysics - intro to the universe - Flippingphysics by nothingnerdyNothingnerdy
This document provides an introduction to the universe through 3 sentences: It begins with an overview of the contents of the universe from asteroids and comets to galaxies and galaxy clusters. Next, it describes our solar system and includes data on planets, their orbits, and surface temperatures. Finally, it discusses astronomical units of distance such as light years and compares the relative distances of objects in our solar system and galaxies.
This document provides an overview of an academic presentation on interstellar flight given by Kelvin F. Long, the executive director of the Institute for Interstellar Studies. The presentation discusses the history of interstellar studies and proposals, including projects by the British Interplanetary Society. It also examines the fundamental requirements and challenges of interstellar travel such as the large amounts of energy needed and long mission times. Finally, it introduces the Institute for Interstellar Studies and its mission to promote education and technologies that could enable interstellar spacecraft.
1) The Solar System consists of the Sun and objects that orbit it, including 9 planets.
2) The planets follow elliptical orbits around the Sun due to the balance between gravitational pull and inertia.
3) There are several theories for how the Solar System formed, with the most widely accepted being the Nebular Hypothesis where a large cloud collapsed and spun to form a disk that condensed into planets.
The document contains facts about various astronomical objects including:
- The Sun has a mass of 1980100 and a surface temperature of 5800K.
- Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and has surface temperatures ranging from 800°F during the day to -300°F at night.
- Comets are small icy bodies that originate outside Neptune that melt and form tails as they get closer to the Sun.
- Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the Sun and range in size from hundreds of feet to hundreds of kilometers. Most asteroids orbit in the inner Solar System.
The document discusses the birth of the universe through several key topics:
1) Olber's Paradox - The question of why the night sky is dark if the universe contains an infinite number of stars. Explanations include a finite age universe and the expansion of space stretching light wavelengths.
2) Hubble's Law - The observation that more distant galaxies are moving away faster, indicating an expanding universe.
3) The Big Bang Theory - Proposed to explain the expansion of the universe and supported by evidence like the cosmic microwave background radiation. It provides an explanation for how the universe began from an extremely dense and hot initial state.
The international Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997 and had a marathon 7-year 2-billion mile journey to the distant planet Saturn. The 23-foot tall, 14-foot wide, 6-ton spacecraft is the largest most sophisticated outer planet spacecraft ever built, and is in its third year of operation in orbit around the planet Saturn. Cassini-Huygens has been returning extraordinary data about the entire Saturn system: the spectacular rings; the numerous icy satellites with a variety of unique surface features; the giant planet itself; a huge magneto-sphere teeming with particles that interact with the rings and moons; and the intriguing moon Titan, which is slightly larger than the planet Mercury, and whose hazy atmosphere is denser than that of Earth. This talk will be an overview of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn with a summary of the top science returns of its first three years in orbit.
The Minnesota Space Grant Consortium, run out of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota, hosts Trina Ray of NASA JPL on January 22, 2008.
Early astronomers discovered and described key facts about the shape and size of the Earth and the structure of the solar system:
- Aristotle discovered that the Earth is round in 350 BC based on observations of lunar eclipses and changes in stars viewed from different locations.
- Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth to be about 25,000 miles in 240 BC by comparing shadows cast at different locations.
- Ptolemy proposed the geocentric model in 140 AD to explain the apparent retrograde motion of planets based on their orbits around the Earth.
- Copernicus proposed the heliocentric model in 1543 AD, placing the Sun at the center of the solar system with planets in
Cassini has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, conducting numerous science investigations of the planet, its rings and moons. It discovered water plumes erupting from Enceladus, signs of possible oceans and organic activity on Titan, and continues monitoring Saturn's weather, rings and developing new insights into the moons. Cassini remains in excellent health and its Solstice mission extends through 2017, promising more discoveries to come from this unprecedented exploration of the Saturn system.
This document provides an overview of comets, predictions of the end of the world, and the alleged "Planet X." It discusses comet composition, past comet and asteroid impacts on Earth, the solar system's scale and amateur astronomy. It examines data from comets Wild 2, Halley and Tempel 1, as well as comet probe missions. The document analyzes the story of Comet Hale-Bopp and its link to an apocalyptic prediction. It also reviews theories about comets, including the standard "dirty snowball" model and alternative "electric comet" theory. Finally, it summarizes the controversy over an alleged companion object photographed near Hale-Bopp by amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek.
UK Space Conference: James Webb Space Telescope (Gillian Wright)A. Rocketeer
The document discusses the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It will have a 6.5 meter primary mirror, be optimized for infrared observations, and passively cooled to around 40K. The telescope will launch in June 2013 and be placed in an L2 orbit, with an expected mission lifetime of 5-10 years. It is a joint project between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency.
The document discusses asteroids, comets, and Pluto. It explains that asteroids formed from leftover material from planet formation and are found mainly in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter due to Jupiter's gravitational influence. Comets formed beyond the frost line and have icy compositions; their tails form when they near the Sun and ice sublimates. Most comets originate from the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Pluto has properties matching Kuiper Belt objects. An impact likely caused the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. While impacts pose a real threat, the likelihood of a major impact within our lifetimes is low. Other planets can affect Earth's impact rates through their gravitational influence on small solar system bodies.
Asteroids are spread far apart in the asteroid belt, making collisions unlikely. They formed from collisions of early planetary bodies. Most asteroids have a covering of dust called regolith. While planets have large moons, some asteroids also have small moons. Asteroids group together in the main belt, Kuiper belt, as Trojans, or in the scattered disc. Meteoroids range in size from dust grains to baseballs and the largest may be asteroid fragments. Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through debris left by comets. There are about 9 major annual meteor showers.
Michael SeedsDana BackmanChapter 8Origin of the So.docxARIV4
Michael Seeds
Dana Backman
Chapter 8
Origin of the Solar System and Extrasolar Planets
*
The solar system is our home in the universe. As humans are an intelligent species, we have the right and the responsibility to wonder what we are. Our kind has inhabited this solar system for at least a million years. However, only within the last hundred years have we begun to understand what a solar system is.
*
You are linked through a great chain of origins that leads backward through time to the first instant when the universe began 13.7 billion years ago.The gradual discovery of the links in that chain is one of the most exciting adventures of the human intellect.
The Great Chain of Origins
*
Earlier, you have studied some of that story:Origin of the universe in the big bangFormation of galaxiesOrigin of starsProduction of the chemical elementsHere, you will explore further and consider the origin of planets.
The Great Chain of Origins
*
By the time the universe was three minutes old, the protons, neutrons, and electrons in your body had come into existence. You are made of very old matter.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Although those particles formed quickly, they were not linked together to form the atoms that are common today.Most of the matter was hydrogen and about
25 percent was helium. Very few of the heavier atoms were made in
the big bang.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Although your body does not contain helium, it does contain many of those ancient hydrogen atoms that have remained unchanged since the universe began.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
During the first few hundred million years after the big bang, matter collected to form galaxies containing billions of stars. You have learned how nuclear reactions inside stars combine low-mass atoms, such as hydrogen, to make heavier atoms.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Generation of stars cooked the original particles, fusing them into atoms such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Those are common atoms in your body.Even the calcium atoms in your bones were assembled inside stars.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Most of the iron in your body was produced by:Carbon fusion in type Ia supernovae Decay of radioactive atoms in the expanding matter ejected by type II supernovae
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Atoms heavier than iron, such as iodine, were created by:Rapid nuclear reactions that can occur only during supernova explosions
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Elements uncommon enough to be expensive—gold, silver, and platinum in the jewelry that humans wear—also were produced: during the violent deaths of rare, massive stars.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Our galaxy contains at least
100 billion stars, of which the sun is one.The sun formed from a cloud of gas and dust about 5 billion years ago.The atoms in your body were part of that cloud.
Th ...
1. The document is a presentation by Bharat Aggarwal on asteroids and comets.
2. It discusses how asteroids and comets formed in the early solar system and their orbits, with minor planets mostly located between Mars and Jupiter.
3. Comets formed farther out in the solar system and were flung outward by planetary encounters, while some became trapped in the inner solar system.
This document provides an overview of meteorites and their origins, including:
- A brief history of meteorite classification over the past 200 years.
- Evidence that meteorites formed in the early solar system 4.6 billion years ago from the nebula that formed the sun and planets.
- Open questions remain about their precise formation mechanisms and origins.
- Recent NASA missions have obtained images and samples from asteroids to help address these open questions.
- Further missions are planned to return more samples to analyze on Earth.
This document discusses deep sky objects such as asteroids, meteorites, and comets. It provides information on what asteroids are made of and where they are located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Meteorites are pieces of asteroids or comets that have fallen to Earth. Comets are described as "dirty snowballs" made of dust, ice, and rock that originate from the Oort cloud or Kuiper belt and have tails pointing away from the Sun. Examples of famous comets like Halley and comets that have impacted planets like Jupiter are mentioned. The differences between asteroids, meteorites, and comets are summarized.
Professor’s Questions Set 5Provide comprehensive answers to th.docxwkyra78
Professor’s Questions Set 5
Provide comprehensive answers to the following questions. Remember to support your arguments where necessary by websites and pictures.
Chapter 7 and 8 Readings
1. Why is Jupiter so much richer in hydrogen and helium than Earth?
2. Why do astronomers conclude that none of the Jovian planets’ rings can be left over from the formation of the planets?
3. How can Jupiter have a liquid interior and not have a definite liquid surface?
4. Why are Uranus and Neptune respectively green-blue and blue?
5. What evidence indicates that catastrophic impacts have occurred in the solar system’s past?
6. Why do astronomers refer to carbonaceous chondrites as unmodified or “primitive” materials?
7. What evidence indicates that the asteroids are mostly fragments of larger bodies?
8. What is the difference between condensation and accretion?
9. Why does the solar nebula theory predict that planetary systems are common?
10. Why is the evidence of “hot Jupiters” puzzling? What is the current hypothesis of how they formed?
Michael Seeds
Dana Backman
Chapter 8
Origin of the Solar System and Extrasolar Planets
*
The solar system is our home in the universe. As humans are an intelligent species, we have the right and the responsibility to wonder what we are. Our kind has inhabited this solar system for at least a million years. However, only within the last hundred years have we begun to understand what a solar system is.
*
You are linked through a great chain of origins that leads backward through time to the first instant when the universe began 13.7 billion years ago.The gradual discovery of the links in that chain is one of the most exciting adventures of the human intellect.
The Great Chain of Origins
*
Earlier, you have studied some of that story:Origin of the universe in the big bangFormation of galaxiesOrigin of starsProduction of the chemical elementsHere, you will explore further and consider the origin of planets.
The Great Chain of Origins
*
By the time the universe was three minutes old, the protons, neutrons, and electrons in your body had come into existence. You are made of very old matter.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Although those particles formed quickly, they were not linked together to form the atoms that are common today.Most of the matter was hydrogen and about
25 percent was helium. Very few of the heavier atoms were made in
the big bang.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
Although your body does not contain helium, it does contain many of those ancient hydrogen atoms that have remained unchanged since the universe began.
The History of the Atoms in Your Body
*
During the first few hundred million years after the big bang, matter collected to form galaxies containing billions of stars. You have learned how nuclear reactions inside stars combine low-mass atoms, su ...
Robots help explore space by carrying cameras and instruments to send images and scientific data back to Earth. Astronauts can live and work in space, exploring the Moon, repairing satellites, and building the International Space Station. The document explores how both robots and astronauts contribute to space exploration, with robots able to survive long missions and astronauts able to improvise solutions on the Moon and in space.
Asteroid mining has the potential to provide tremendous value and resources while minimizing environmental impacts. There are over 800,000 asteroids in our solar system, some containing $70 quintillion worth of precious metals and minerals. Mining asteroids involves choosing ones with desirable compositions, applying heat to evaporate and separate materials, then transporting pieces back to Earth. It could be hundreds of times more sustainable than terrestrial mining and help meet global resource demands as supplies on Earth dwindle. With technological advancements, asteroid mining represents a future opportunity for exploration and profit in space.
The tour brochure summarizes a tour of the Milky Way galaxy and solar system. It begins with an introduction to the Milky Way galaxy and then discusses the solar system, including the sun, terrestrial planets, gas giants, Kuiper belt, comets, and schedule for alien and earthling tours. Key points are that the tour explores the unique life of the Milky Way galaxy and magnificent solar system, with descriptions of the sun, planets, and other celestial objects within our galaxy.
The document discusses evidence that asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets originated from a planet called Astra that was destroyed billions of years ago. Data from the Rosetta mission showed that Comet 67P resembled material from Earth's oceans, supporting the theory that it originated from Astra's oceans. Images of asteroids revealed some have spherical shapes, likely from molten rock ejected during Astra's destruction. The document argues this new data contradicts older theories and supports Astra being shattered to form the asteroids and comets we observe today.
Comets are balls of ice and dust that develop tails when approaching the sun. They are leftovers from the formation of the universe. Asteroids are small rocky objects leftover from the formation of the solar system between Mars and Jupiter. Meteoroids become meteors as they burn up in Earth's atmosphere, and meteorites if they reach the ground. The difference is meteoroids travel in space until entering the atmosphere, meteors are what we see as "shooting stars", and meteorites reach the ground.
The formation of the solar system began from a large cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula. As the nebula collapsed due to gravity, it formed a disc with the sun at the center. Planetesimals within the disc collided and accreted to form the planets. The nebular theory explained many characteristics of the solar system but did not account for all observations. The modern condensation theory expanded on this model and better explained features such as the asteroid belt and comets through processes like condensation and fractionation within the early solar system.
comets and asteroidssssssssssssssssspptxMikeeMercado3
This document provides information about comets, asteroids, and meteors. It defines each term, describes their characteristics and locations in the solar system. Comets are icy bodies that develop tails as they near the sun, while asteroids are rocky fragments left over from the solar system's formation. Meteoroids enter the earth's atmosphere and become meteors, with larger ones surviving as meteorites. The document also includes a quiz to test comprehension.
the slides about the solar system and beyond. to assist the grade seven and eight with better understandin of the planets and the sun, and how are they scintificaly linked.
The document provides information about the Sun and planets in our solar system. It states that the Sun is a yellow dwarf star composed primarily of hydrogen that generates energy through nuclear fusion. It accounts for 99.9% of the mass in the solar system. The temperature at the Sun's core is 15 million degrees Celsius. The document also provides brief descriptions of the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and dwarf planet Pluto.
Asteroids that grow tails (or everything we know about active asteroids) wonderdome
Classification, i.e. putting things into groups based on their common characteristics, is a basic way of studying objects in many branches of science. Astronomy is, of course, no exception. That is why the question of Pluto being or not being a planet steered such a debate among planetary scientists.
Fomalhaut B is the first planet imaged outside our solar system, orbiting the star Fomalhaut 25 light-years away. Estimated to be no more than three times Jupiter's mass, it orbits 17 billion kilometers from Fomalhaut with an orbital period of 872 years. The discovery provides insight into the formation of new planetary systems and a chance to study the development of a system much younger than our own.
The Moon is Earth's natural satellite and the fifth largest in the Solar System. It has one quarter the diameter of Earth and 1/81 its mass. The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth and always shows the same face. Comets originate from the Oort Cloud or Kuiper Belt and travel great distances, spending most of their time far beyond Pluto before making brief close passes by the Sun.
Comets, asteroids, meteoroids, and meteorites are different types of small solar system bodies. Comets are icy bodies that develop tails as they heat up when passing near the sun. Asteroids orbit the sun and most reside in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Meteoroids are smaller objects that enter the earth's atmosphere and are called meteors when burning up in the sky. Those that survive entry and hit the ground are meteorites.
The document summarizes key information about the atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars:
- Venus has a dense, 96% carbon dioxide atmosphere with a surface pressure of 90 bars and average temperature of 850°F, caused by a runaway greenhouse effect. Its clouds are composed of sulfuric acid.
- Earth has an atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen and oxygen with a pressure of 1 bar and average temperature of 59°F. It hosts water clouds.
- Mars has a thin, 95% carbon dioxide atmosphere with a surface pressure of 0.007 bars and average temperature of -67°F, caused by a runaway refrigerator effect that stripped it of gases over time. It can host clouds of
The document summarizes key information about the geology of Venus. It states that Venus' surface is only about 500 million years old, as evidenced by impact craters, yet erosion rates are very low. Notable surface features include pancake-shaped volcanoes, coronae, and tectonic ridges and cracks. Venus has a slow 243-day rotation period that results in low wind speeds and erosion. Its atmosphere is extremely hot and dense.
The document provides information about Earth's moon, Luna. It discusses Luna's interior structure, including its crust, mantle, and core. It also describes Luna's surface features such as impact craters, maria (large dark plains), and regolith (loose rock and soil). Additionally, it discusses Luna's origin from a giant impact event about 4.5 billion years ago and its surface ages, with the highlands being the oldest at 4.4 billion years. The document also summarizes the Earth-Moon system, particularly how the Moon causes Earth's tides and is tide-locked in its orbit.
The document discusses the geology and evolution of Earth. It describes Earth's interior structure with a core, mantle, and crust. It explains tectonic plates, geological features like impact craters, and extinction events from impacts and climate change. It also summarizes the composition and evolution of Earth's atmosphere from early outgassing to today, including the role of greenhouse gases and life in transforming the atmosphere.
The document discusses factors involved in estimating the number of technological civilizations that may exist among stars using the Drake Equation. It examines each variable in the equation - R* (rate of formation of suitable stars), fp (fraction with planets), ne (number of planets suitable for life), fl (fraction where life appears), fi (fraction where intelligent life emerges), fc (fraction emitting detectable signals), and L (length of time signals emitted). It provides estimates and considerations for each variable based on current astronomical and biological understandings.
Galaxies are organized into clusters and superclusters that are separated by immense voids, creating a vast foam-like structure known as the "cosmic web". The largest known structure is the Sloan Great Wall, which is nearly 1.5 billion light years in length. Dark matter seems to come in standard clumps of about 30 million solar masses and 300 parsecs across, with a temperature of about 10,000 K. The cosmological principle assumes the universe is uniform on large enough scales, both homogeneous meaning no preferred locations and isotropic meaning no preferred directions.
Active galaxies can be categorized into three main types: Seyfert galaxies, radio galaxies, and quasars. Seyfert galaxies are active spiral galaxies with non-stellar spectra. Radio galaxies are active elliptical galaxies that also have non-stellar spectra and are strong radio emitters. Quasars are the most luminous active galaxies known, far brighter than normal galaxies, with non-stellar spectra. Centaurus A is the closest active galaxy and provides a unique laboratory for studying these powerful objects, showing evidence of a past merger that fuels activity at its center.
The document discusses different methods for measuring distances to galaxies. The Cepheid variable method can be used for galaxies in our Local Group. The Tully-Fisher relation uses the correlation between luminosity and rotational velocity of spiral galaxies to estimate distances to more distant spirals. Galaxy clusters and superclusters like the Local Supercluster provide context on larger scales of structure in the universe.
The document discusses the discovery of the Milky Way galaxy. It describes how in the early 20th century, Shapley and Curtis debated whether spiral nebulae were inside or outside our galaxy. Hubble later proved with Cepheid variables that they were actually other galaxies. The Milky Way is now understood to be a barred spiral galaxy about 30,000 light years wide, with a bulge, disk containing spiral arms, and halo of globular clusters. It formed from a cloud of gas that contracted under gravity and began rotating to form the spiral structure seen today.
The document summarizes key concepts about high mass stars and binary systems from sections 22.1, 22.2, and 23.5 of the textbook. It notes that high mass stars (>10 solar masses) end their lives as Type II supernovae, sometimes gamma-ray bursters. Binary systems produce novae, Type Ia supernovae, x-ray binaries, and x-ray bursters. All stars enrich the interstellar medium with heavier elements through their evolution and deaths. The goal is to answer fundamental questions about the universe and our origins.
Typical stellar evolution proceeds through several stages:
1. Red Giant Branch: Stars expand and cool as hydrogen fuses to helium in a shell around the core.
2. Horizontal Giant Branch: A helium flash occurs, followed by helium fusing to carbon in the core while hydrogen fuses in a shell.
3. Asymptotic Giant Branch: Helium and hydrogen shells alternately fuse heavier elements, causing the star to further expand and cool before ejecting its outer layers as a planetary nebula.
The document discusses the distance ladder, which is an attempt to determine astronomical distances by using a series of methods that build on one another. Within the Solar System, distances are measured using radar ranging. Within the galaxy, distances are measured using stellar parallax, main sequence fitting, and properties of Cepheid variable stars. Further out in the universe, distances are measured using the Tully-Fisher relation, Type Ia supernovae, brightest cluster galaxies, and Hubble's law. The document aims to answer fundamental questions about what exists in the universe and how large it is.
The document discusses the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, which plots stars' spectral classifications and luminosity classes to show overall trends of stellar properties. It notes that spectral class indicates a star's temperature from hot (OBA) to cool (KM), while luminosity class reflects size from supergiants to dwarfs. The distribution of stars in the diagram relates their masses and lifetimes, with high-mass blue main sequence stars having short lives versus low-mass red main sequence stars with long lives. The diagram aims to understand what types of stars exist.
The document discusses the solar interior and surface features. It explains that nuclear fusion in the core powers the sun, generating energy through the p-p chain reaction of converting hydrogen to helium. It also describes the solar neutrino problem, where fewer neutrinos are detected than models predict. The interior has different zones - the core, radiative zone, and convection zone. Surface features include sunspots, the 11-year sunspot cycle, prominences, and filaments.
The document provides information about outer solar system objects including Trans-Neptunian objects, Centaurs, Kuiper Belt objects, asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets. It discusses their classification, composition, formation processes, and what they reveal about the early solar system. Images show various outer solar system bodies like Pluto, Eris, asteroids, and comets, helping to illustrate their characteristics and relative sizes.
The document discusses asteroids and meteorites. Asteroids are remnants of planetary formation in the solar system. They are classified based on composition and location in relation to gravitational resonances with Jupiter. Ceres is the largest asteroid and is now classified as a dwarf planet. Meteorites provide information about early solar system conditions. They are classified based on composition as iron, stony, or stony-iron meteorites. Carbonaceous chondrites contain organic compounds and water, indicating the early solar system environment allowed these to form. Meteorites can also originate from the Moon or Mars.
The document discusses the moons of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, focusing on Jupiter's large Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) and Saturn's moon Titan. It provides information about the surface conditions and geological features of these moons, including active volcanoes on Io, evidence that oceans may exist under the icy crusts of Europa and Ganymede, and liquid hydrocarbon seas on Titan. The document uses images from spacecraft like Galileo and Cassini to illustrate these characteristics and how they have been shaped by tidal interactions with the giant planets.
The document discusses the gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It describes how the conditions in the early solar system led to their formation and composition primarily of hydrogen and helium. It explains what gives each planet its distinctive color through the composition of their clouds and atmospheres. Key details about the interiors, atmospheres, and cloud formations of each planet are provided.
The document summarizes the formation of the solar system based on the nebular hypothesis. It describes how:
1) A giant cloud of dust and gas gravitationally contracted to form a solar nebula.
2) Condensation occurred within the solar nebula, with different materials condensing at different temperatures.
3) Accretion and differentiation led to the formation of planetesimals and eventually planets, with terrestrial planets like Earth forming near the sun and gas giants like Jupiter forming farther out where temperatures allowed hydrogen and helium to condense.
The document discusses optical telescopes, including refracting vs reflecting designs, and different types of reflecting telescopes like Newtonian and Cassegrain. It asks why telescopes are made big, and answers that it is to gather more light and achieve higher angular resolution, allowing dimmer and more distant objects to be observed. Bigger telescopes have larger light collecting areas. The document also notes that telescope technology aims to detect objects normally too dim for human vision and discusses using space-based and adaptive optics to overcome limitations from the atmosphere.
Strategies for Effective Upskilling is a presentation by Chinwendu Peace in a Your Skill Boost Masterclass organisation by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan on 08th and 09th June 2024 from 1 PM to 3 PM on each day.
Executive Directors Chat Leveraging AI for Diversity, Equity, and InclusionTechSoup
Let’s explore the intersection of technology and equity in the final session of our DEI series. Discover how AI tools, like ChatGPT, can be used to support and enhance your nonprofit's DEI initiatives. Participants will gain insights into practical AI applications and get tips for leveraging technology to advance their DEI goals.
it describes the bony anatomy including the femoral head , acetabulum, labrum . also discusses the capsule , ligaments . muscle that act on the hip joint and the range of motion are outlined. factors affecting hip joint stability and weight transmission through the joint are summarized.
The simplified electron and muon model, Oscillating Spacetime: The Foundation...RitikBhardwaj56
Discover the Simplified Electron and Muon Model: A New Wave-Based Approach to Understanding Particles delves into a groundbreaking theory that presents electrons and muons as rotating soliton waves within oscillating spacetime. Geared towards students, researchers, and science buffs, this book breaks down complex ideas into simple explanations. It covers topics such as electron waves, temporal dynamics, and the implications of this model on particle physics. With clear illustrations and easy-to-follow explanations, readers will gain a new outlook on the universe's fundamental nature.
This presentation was provided by Steph Pollock of The American Psychological Association’s Journals Program, and Damita Snow, of The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), for the initial session of NISO's 2024 Training Series "DEIA in the Scholarly Landscape." Session One: 'Setting Expectations: a DEIA Primer,' was held June 6, 2024.
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
How to Fix the Import Error in the Odoo 17Celine George
An import error occurs when a program fails to import a module or library, disrupting its execution. In languages like Python, this issue arises when the specified module cannot be found or accessed, hindering the program's functionality. Resolving import errors is crucial for maintaining smooth software operation and uninterrupted development processes.
Assessment and Planning in Educational technology.pptxKavitha Krishnan
In an education system, it is understood that assessment is only for the students, but on the other hand, the Assessment of teachers is also an important aspect of the education system that ensures teachers are providing high-quality instruction to students. The assessment process can be used to provide feedback and support for professional development, to inform decisions about teacher retention or promotion, or to evaluate teacher effectiveness for accountability purposes.
Physiology and chemistry of skin and pigmentation, hairs, scalp, lips and nail, Cleansing cream, Lotions, Face powders, Face packs, Lipsticks, Bath products, soaps and baby product,
Preparation and standardization of the following : Tonic, Bleaches, Dentifrices and Mouth washes & Tooth Pastes, Cosmetics for Nails.
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty, In...Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
at Integral University, Lucknow, 06.06.2024
By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
1. Rings of the Gas Giants
LACC §11.1, 11.4
• Understand what conditions and processes
shaped the gas giant planets’ ring systems:
Roche limit, shepherding moons
• Know the following ring systems in some
detail: Jupiter (dust from moons?), Saturn
(recent break up of icy object?), Uranus (break
up of a moon?), Neptune (unknown)
• Bright = icy and young, Dark = dusty and old
An attempt to answer the “big questions”: what is
out there? Are we alone?
Monday, October 19, 2009 1
2. Ring Systems
http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/distance/strobel/solarsys/solsysb.htm
Monday, October 19, 2009 2
3. Ring Systems
http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/distance/strobel/solarsys/solsysb.htm
Monday, October 19, 2009 3
4. Ring Systems
Moons of Saturn:
Moons of Jupiter:
1.Atlas
1.Metis
2.1980S27
2.Adrastea
3.1980S26
3.Amalthea
4.Janus
4.Thebe
5.Epimetheus
5.Io
6.Mimas
6.Europa
7.Enceladus
7.Ganymede
8.Telesto
8.Callisto
9.Tethys
9.Leda
10.Calypso
10.Himalia
11.Dione
11.Lysithea
12.1980S6
12.Elara
13.Rhea
13.Ananke
14.Titan
14.Carme
15.Hyperion
15.Pasiphae
16.Iapetus
16.Sinope
17.Phoebe
http://www.astro.rug.nl/%7Eetolstoy/ACTUEELONDERZOEK/JAAR2000/moons/aoz.html
Monday, October 19, 2009 4
5. Jupiter’s Ring
Jupiter's intricate, swirling
ring system is formed by
dust kicked up as
interplanetary meteoroids
smash into the giant
planet's four small inner
moons, according to...
NASA's Galileo
spacecraft.
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/
status980915.html
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/captions/jupiter/jupring.htm
Monday, October 19, 2009 5
6. Saturn’s Rings
Most of the rings are only a few tens of meters
thick with a total mass equivalent to a medium
sized moon. The rings are made out of particles
ranging from microscopic dust to barnyard sized
boulders with perhaps a few kilometer-sized
objects as well. ...the rings are composed mostly
of ice crystals with some impurities.
Scientists once thought that the rings were
formed at the same time, as the planets when
they coalescing out of swirling clouds of
interstellar gas 4.8 billion years ago. Under this
model, remnants of material within the Roche
limit could not condense and would become
rings. However, in recent years this idea seems
to be flawed. The rings appear to be young,
perhaps only hundreds of millions of years old.
One of the clues to this theory is that the rings
are bright. As Saturn travels though space, the
rings accumulate dust particles that have been
darkened from solar radiation. If the rings were
old, they should appear dark. Another theory
suggests that perhaps a comet few too close to
Saturn and tidal forces broke it into pieces....
Perhaps one of Saturn's moons was struck by
an asteroid smashing it into the bits and pieces
that form the rings.
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/captions/saturn/2moons.htm saturnrings.htm
Monday, October 19, 2009 6
7. Saturn’s Rings
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/12feb_rings.htm
Monday, October 19, 2009 7
8. Saturn’s Rings
This image shows Saturn's rings and the shadow of nearby Mimas.
They are now nearly edge-on toward the Sun, and long moon
shadows drape across them. Scientists are now studying the
clumpy, disturbed ring material, stretching up to two miles above
the ring plane - contrasted with an estimated normal ring
thickness of only six feet
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1172205/Saturn-
close-Sensational-cosmic-images-bring-ringed-planet-life.html
Monday, October 19, 2009 8
9. Saturn’s Rings:
Shepherd Moons
This composite of two images shows Pan, left, and Prometheus, right, in
nearby rings. Pan is trailed by a series of edge waves in the outer boundary
of the gap. Prometheus just touches the inner edge of Saturn's F ring, and is
followed by a series of dark channels
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1172205/Saturn-
close-Sensational-cosmic-images-bring-ringed-planet-life.html
Monday, October 19, 2009 9
10. Saturn’s Rings: New
Ring Discovered in
Infrared
This diagram highlights a slice of Saturn's
largest ring. The ring (red band in inset photo)
was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space
Telescope, which detected infrared light, or
heat, from the dusty ring material. Spitzer
viewed the ring edge-on from its Earth-trailing
orbit around the sun.
The ring has a diameter equivalent to 300
Saturns lined up side to side. And it's thick too
-- about 20 Saturns could fit into its vertical
height. The ring is tilted about 27 degrees from
Saturn's main ring plane.
http://gallery.spitzer.caltech.edu/Imagegallery/image.php?image_name=ssc2009-19a
Monday, October 19, 2009 10
12. Saturn’s Rings: New Ring
Discovered in Infrared
Saturn's newest halo is tilted at about 27 degrees from the main ring
plane and encompasses the orbit of the moon Phoebe. Both the ring
and Phoebe orbit in the opposite direction of Saturn's other rings
and most of its moons, including Titan and Iapetus.
Why did it take so long to find something so big? The answer is that
the ring is very tenuous, made up of a sparse collection of ice and
dust particles. If you could transport yourself to the ring, you
wouldn't even know you were there because the particles are so far
apart. There's not a lot of sunlight out at Saturn, so this small density
of particles doesn't reflect much visible light. Spitzer was able to spot
the band because it sees infrared light, or heat radiation, from
objects. Even though the ring material is very cold, it still gives off
heat that can Spitzer can see.
http://gallery.spitzer.caltech.edu/Imagegallery/image.php?image_name=ssc2009-19b
Monday, October 19, 2009 12
13. Uranus’s Ring(s)
Radio measurements showed
the outermost ring, the epsilon,
to be composed mostly of ice
boulders several feet across.
However, a very tenuous
distribution of fine dust also
seems to be spread throughout
the ring system.
The particles that make up the
rings may be remnants of a
moon that was broken by a high-
velocity impact or torn up by
gravitational effects.
http://www.nineplanets.org/uranus.html
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/captions/neptune/neprings.htm
Monday, October 19, 2009 13
14. Shepherd Moons
Shepherd moons work in pairs on the inner and outer edge of rings to
gravitational push and pull (accelerate and de-accelerate) ring particles.
The result is to confine the ring particles to within the shepherd moons
orbits.
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/captions/neptune/neprings.htm
Monday, October 19, 2009 14
15. Neptune’s (Rings)
None of Neptune’s rings were detected from
scattering effects on Voyager’s radio signal
propagating through the rings, which indicates
that they are nearly devoid of particles in the
centimetre size range or larger. The fact that the
rings were most visible in Voyager images when
backlit by sunlight implies that they are largely
populated by dust-sized particles, which scatter
light forward much better than back toward the
Sun and Earth.Their chemical makeup is not
known, but, like the rings of Uranus, the surfaces
of Neptune’s ring particles (and possibly the
particles in their entirety) may be composed of
radiation-darkened methane ices.
The present rings are narrow, and scientists have found it difficult to explain how the orbits of the
known moons can effectively confine the natural radial spreading of the rings. This has led many
to speculate that Neptune’s present rings may be much younger than the planet itself, perhaps
substantially less than a million years. The present ring system may be markedly different from any
that existed a million years ago. It is even possible that the next spacecraft to visit Neptune’s rings
will find a system greatly evolved from the one Voyager 2 imaged in 1989.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/409330/Neptune/54304/The-ring-system
Monday, October 19, 2009 15
16. Rhea’s (Rings!? 6 March ‘08)
http://planetary.org/news/2008/0306_A_Ringed_Moon_of_Saturn_Cassini.html
Monday, October 19, 2009 16
17. Ring Systems
They are not stable; they evolve and change over time.
Unless something replenishes them or keeps them from
dissipating, they will not last longer than a few 100
millions years; one of Neptune’s might not last a century.
They generally form inside a planet’s Roche limit.
Object’s that come closer than this distance to a planet
tend to be ripped apart by tidal forces. Since the gas
giants have strong gravitational fields, they have strong
tidal forces.
Shepherding moons are moons that keep a ring system
nice an tidy, by not letting material drift out of a ring and/
or into gaps.
http://planetary.org/news/2008/0306_A_Ringed_Moon_of_Saturn_Cassini.html
Monday, October 19, 2009 17
18. HW Ch 11: Franknoi, Morrison, and
Wolff, Voyages Through the Universe,
3rd ed.
• Ch 11, pp. 263-264: 9.
• Ch 13: Image Analysis Quiz accessible from:
http://www.brookscole.com/cgi-brookscole/course_products_bc.pl?
fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=9780495017899&discipline_number=19
Due at the beginning of next class period.
Be working your Solar System project.
Monday, October 19, 2009 18