The solar system - Secondary Education
... asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, was also declared a dwarf planet. The third and final (for now!) dwarf planet is Eris, an icy body on the edge of our Solar System that was discovered recently in 2005. Eris was ...
... asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, was also declared a dwarf planet. The third and final (for now!) dwarf planet is Eris, an icy body on the edge of our Solar System that was discovered recently in 2005. Eris was ...
Worksheet 1
... N. A region from which some comets come. The region extends from the orbit of Neptune to beyond Pluto O. A region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in which most of the Solar System’s asteroids are located P. A rocky planet similar to the Earth in size and structure Q. A vast region in which co ...
... N. A region from which some comets come. The region extends from the orbit of Neptune to beyond Pluto O. A region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in which most of the Solar System’s asteroids are located P. A rocky planet similar to the Earth in size and structure Q. A vast region in which co ...
Wasp-17b: An Ultra-Low Density Planet in a Probable Retrograde
... Due to low surface gravity the planet has the largest known atmospheric scale hight for a planet (1100 – 2100 km) ⇒ good prospect for transmission spectroscopy ...
... Due to low surface gravity the planet has the largest known atmospheric scale hight for a planet (1100 – 2100 km) ⇒ good prospect for transmission spectroscopy ...
Completing the Census of Exoplanetary Systems with
... • A complete census is likely needed to understand planet formation and evolution. – Most giant planets likely formed beyond the snow line. – Place our solar system in context. – Water for habitable planets likely delivered from beyond the snow line. – Understand the frequency of planet formation in ...
... • A complete census is likely needed to understand planet formation and evolution. – Most giant planets likely formed beyond the snow line. – Place our solar system in context. – Water for habitable planets likely delivered from beyond the snow line. – Understand the frequency of planet formation in ...
What Makes Up the Solar System?
... Pluto is small and rocky, unlike the other outer planets. It also has an unusual orbit. Sometimes part of Pluto's’ orbit passes inside the orbit of Neptune, making Neptune the farthest planet from the sun at times. Pluto’s moon, Charon, is nearly as big and the planet itself. Scientist claim that Pl ...
... Pluto is small and rocky, unlike the other outer planets. It also has an unusual orbit. Sometimes part of Pluto's’ orbit passes inside the orbit of Neptune, making Neptune the farthest planet from the sun at times. Pluto’s moon, Charon, is nearly as big and the planet itself. Scientist claim that Pl ...
powerpoint version
... • Confirmed by Marcy and Butler Nothing like Mercury / the solar system. How did it get there? Massive planet formed further out and dragged in by gas and dust? If so, any terrestrial planets would have been kicked out into interstellar space - not good for life as we know it! ...
... • Confirmed by Marcy and Butler Nothing like Mercury / the solar system. How did it get there? Massive planet formed further out and dragged in by gas and dust? If so, any terrestrial planets would have been kicked out into interstellar space - not good for life as we know it! ...
EXOPLANETS The search for planets beyond our solar system
... Astronomers are good at finding ingenious ways of exploiting the laws of nature to explore the universe. Einstein showed that a gravitational field acts like a lens in bending the path of light. The astonishing effects are seen in the distorted multiple images of distant galaxies. This phenomenon al ...
... Astronomers are good at finding ingenious ways of exploiting the laws of nature to explore the universe. Einstein showed that a gravitational field acts like a lens in bending the path of light. The astonishing effects are seen in the distorted multiple images of distant galaxies. This phenomenon al ...
Where to Look: Habitable Zones
... A. Habitability can be subsurface, enabled by geothermal heat B. Liquid water is possible on bodies without substantial atmospheres if it ...
... A. Habitability can be subsurface, enabled by geothermal heat B. Liquid water is possible on bodies without substantial atmospheres if it ...
Circumstellar habitable zone
In astronomy and astrobiology, the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), or simply the habitable zone, is the region around a star within which planetary-mass objects with sufficient atmospheric pressure can support liquid water at their surfaces. The bounds of the CHZ are calculated using the known requirements of Earth's biosphere, its position in the Solar System and the amount of radiant energy it receives from the Sun. Due to the importance of liquid water to life as it exists on Earth, the nature of the CHZ and the objects within is believed to be instrumental in determining the scope and distribution of Earth-like extraterrestrial life and intelligence.The habitable zone is also called the Goldilocks zone, a metaphor of the children's fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, in which a little girl chooses from sets of three items, ignoring the ones that are too extreme (large or small, hot or cold, etc.), and settling on the one in the middle, which is ""just right"".Since the concept was first presented in 1953, stars have been confirmed to possess a CHZ planet, including some systems that consist of multiple CHZ planets. Most such planets, being super-Earths or gas giants, are more massive than Earth, because such planets are easier to detect. On November 4, 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarfs in the Milky Way. 11 billion of these may be orbiting Sun-like stars. The nearest such planet may be 12 light-years away, according to the scientists. The CHZ is also of particular interest to the emerging field of habitability of natural satellites, because planetary-mass moons in the CHZ might outnumber planets.In subsequent decades, the CHZ concept began to be challenged as a primary criterion for life. Since the discovery of evidence for extraterrestrial liquid water, substantial quantities of it are now believed to occur outside the circumstellar habitable zone. Sustained by other energy sources, such as tidal heating or radioactive decay or pressurized by other non-atmospheric means, the basic conditions for water-dependent life may be found even in interstellar space, on rogue planets, or their moons. In addition, other circumstellar zones, where non-water solvents favorable to hypothetical life based on alternative biochemistries could exist in liquid form at the surface, have been proposed.