Chapter 8 — Jovian Planet Systems
Jupiter
Size — 11 Earths.
Rotation — about 10 hours.
Revolution — 12 years.
Mass — 318 Earths.
Great Red Spot — hurricane over 300 years old.
Zones — whitish bands; warmer.
Belts — dark bands; colder.
Ganymede — largest moon in the solar system.
Callisto — 3rd largest moon, most heavily cratered.
Io — active sulfur volcanoes due to tidal heating.
Europa — ice-covered cracked surface (subsurface ocean).
Saturn
Size — 9 Earths.
Rotation — about 10 hours.
Revolution — 29.5 years.
Mass — 95 Earths.
Titan — thick nitrogen atmosphere.
Roche Limit — area around a planet that will break up a moon.
Cassini Division — gap in Saturn's rings due to tides from shepherding moons.
Ringlets — Saturn's rings are in small ringlets, again due to shepherding moons.
Uranus
Size — 4 Earths.
Rotation — about 17 hours.
Revolution — 84 years.
Tilt — 98° on its side.
Neptune
Size — 4 Earths.
Rotation — about 16 hours.
Revolution — 165 years.
Great Dark Spot — hurricane found by Voyager.
Triton — Neptune moon with active nitrogen geysers (orbits retrograde — captured KBO).
Chapter 9 — Asteroids, Comets, Dwarf Planets
Asteroid — between Mars and Jupiter belt; rocks.
Trojan — Jupiter's family of asteroids.
Earth Crossers — Apollo class; can hit Earth — NEO (Near-Earth Objects).
Comet diagram from class — know nucleus + coma + plasma tail + dust tail (tails point AWAY from Sun).
Oort cloud — spherical cloud surrounding the solar system out to ~50,000 AU.
Kuiper belt — outside Neptune; leftover planetesimals (30–100 AU, disk plane).
Meteoroid — small piece in space.
Meteor — burning up in our atmosphere.
Meteorite — rock on the ground.
Chapter 10 — Other Planetary Systems (Exoplanets)
Doppler Method — radial velocity and astrometry.
Transit Method — star eclipses as planet crosses (dimming).
Direct Detection Method — taking a picture of the planet directly.
Properties known about exoplanets:
- Orbital period
- Distance from star
- Mass
- Size
- Density
- Atmosphere
Planetary Migration — gas-giants formed far out, migrated inward → "hot Jupiters."
Planetary Encounters — gravitational interactions that change orbits.
Chapter 11 — Our Star (the Sun)
Photosphere — part of Sun we see; about 500 miles thick; 5800 K.
Chromosphere — pink; ~10,000 miles above photosphere; 15,000 K.
Corona and Holes — outer atmosphere; 1,000,000 K+. Areas with no corona are called holes.
Luminosity — how much energy Sun gives off; Sun is the standard unit of 1 solar luminosity.
Convection Zone — area just below surface where energy moves and undulates the Sun's surface.
Radiation Zone — area around core of Sun that moves the energy outward.
Core — 15,000,000 K; dense; all fusion takes place here.
Helioseismology — study of convection undulations below the surface.
Granulation — salt-and-pepper texture on surface due to convection.
Sunspots — magnetic storms cooler by 2000 K on Sun's surface.
Cycle — 11 years if you look at numbers; 22 years if you look at total polarity switch.
Prominences — loops of gases that connect paired sunspots.
Flares — hot storms that last 5–20 minutes; 5 million degrees; sends out a lot of X-rays and solar radiation.
Fusion — combining hydrogen into helium, which releases energy; only in the core.
p-p reaction — proton-proton reaction in the Sun's core: 4 hydrogen → 1 helium.
E = mc² — E = energy, m = mass, c = speed of light.
Neutrinos — essentially massless particles created at the Sun's core; may let us study the core.
Study workflow
For Test 3, memorize the planet number table (size/rotation/revolution/mass). Drill in Flashcards filtered to U3 → Practice Exam → take Test 3.