
Comets and the Age of the Solar System
... so far is that of Slusher1). The case is usually made as follows. The standard model of a comet is one in which all of the material observed is released by an icy nucleus only a few kilometres across. This model strongly suggests that comets are very fragile, losing much of their material during eac ...
... so far is that of Slusher1). The case is usually made as follows. The standard model of a comet is one in which all of the material observed is released by an icy nucleus only a few kilometres across. This model strongly suggests that comets are very fragile, losing much of their material during eac ...
Computer Lecture Notes
... the motion of stars and galaxies in their mutual gravity fields. As a result, techniques that once formed the basis of astronomy are no longer part of the regular teaching programme, and many astronomers would be hard put to compute the time of sunrise, the position of a planet with respect to the h ...
... the motion of stars and galaxies in their mutual gravity fields. As a result, techniques that once formed the basis of astronomy are no longer part of the regular teaching programme, and many astronomers would be hard put to compute the time of sunrise, the position of a planet with respect to the h ...
Penn State Astronomy 11 Laboratory
... the closest and brightest stars, and what it shows about the nature of the stars. 10. The Lives of the Stars (page 63) — Stellar evolution and evolutionary states using astronomical data and luminosity-temperature diagrams. 11. The Structure of the Milky Way Galaxy (page 69) — Structure of our Milky ...
... the closest and brightest stars, and what it shows about the nature of the stars. 10. The Lives of the Stars (page 63) — Stellar evolution and evolutionary states using astronomical data and luminosity-temperature diagrams. 11. The Structure of the Milky Way Galaxy (page 69) — Structure of our Milky ...
Astronomy
... They have a lifetime of ~10-20,000 yrs so why are they still here? • They are replenished from the Kuiper belt • This has been directly observed • It is a reservoir of objects outside the orbit of Neptune (30 AU) to beyond Pluto (55 AU) • Objects can live here indefinitely – It’s cold enough out the ...
... They have a lifetime of ~10-20,000 yrs so why are they still here? • They are replenished from the Kuiper belt • This has been directly observed • It is a reservoir of objects outside the orbit of Neptune (30 AU) to beyond Pluto (55 AU) • Objects can live here indefinitely – It’s cold enough out the ...
Galileo`s miraculous year: 1609 and the revolutionary telescope
... notebooks have been identified that suggest Galileo was aware of the possibility of a new planet. If Galileo had used his observations to propose the discovery of a new planet, it would have been the first time a planet had been discovered by humanity since deep antiquity, and would be without precede ...
... notebooks have been identified that suggest Galileo was aware of the possibility of a new planet. If Galileo had used his observations to propose the discovery of a new planet, it would have been the first time a planet had been discovered by humanity since deep antiquity, and would be without precede ...
Chapter-by-Chapter Guide
... A geocentric universe is one in which Earth is assumed to be at the center of everything. In contrast, our current view of the universe suggests that Earth is a rather ordinary planet orbiting a rather ordinary star in an ordinary galaxy, and there is nothing “central” about Earth at all. The larges ...
... A geocentric universe is one in which Earth is assumed to be at the center of everything. In contrast, our current view of the universe suggests that Earth is a rather ordinary planet orbiting a rather ordinary star in an ordinary galaxy, and there is nothing “central” about Earth at all. The larges ...
The Exploration of Neptune and Triton
... cryovolcanic in origin (see Croft et al., 1995), and are likely formed by the same complex interaction between tidal dissipation, heat transfer, and tectonics that drives resurfacing on Europa, Ganymede, and Enceladus. However, Voyager’s limited coverage and spatial resolution prevents us from unrav ...
... cryovolcanic in origin (see Croft et al., 1995), and are likely formed by the same complex interaction between tidal dissipation, heat transfer, and tectonics that drives resurfacing on Europa, Ganymede, and Enceladus. However, Voyager’s limited coverage and spatial resolution prevents us from unrav ...
Chapter 27 - cloudfront.net
... Section 1 Formation of the Solar System Section 2 Models of the Solar System ...
... Section 1 Formation of the Solar System Section 2 Models of the Solar System ...
Thinking Outside the Sphere
... revolutionized astronomy by transforming the concentric spheres model into a highly effective tool for predicting the motions of the planets. His epic mathematical achievement was simply called the Almagest, or “great work.” This fifteenth century epitome of his book is one of the most highly regard ...
... revolutionized astronomy by transforming the concentric spheres model into a highly effective tool for predicting the motions of the planets. His epic mathematical achievement was simply called the Almagest, or “great work.” This fifteenth century epitome of his book is one of the most highly regard ...
March 2016 BRAS Addendum Newsletter
... times? Testimony of Aratus, Cicero, Horace, Seneca, and Ptolemy – all of these ancient writers described Sirius with terms that can only be described as “ruddy”, “reddish”, “blazing as fire”, etc. Al Sufi, in the tenth century does not mention Sirius among stars which he classified as red. There are ...
... times? Testimony of Aratus, Cicero, Horace, Seneca, and Ptolemy – all of these ancient writers described Sirius with terms that can only be described as “ruddy”, “reddish”, “blazing as fire”, etc. Al Sufi, in the tenth century does not mention Sirius among stars which he classified as red. There are ...
Research Papers-Cosmology/Download/6307
... galaxies rotate around a common center under the law of the rotation of a rigid body and only the stars in the spiral arms have a speed which decreases with the increasing the distance from the nucleus. The same picture of the velocity distribution, as is known, is characteristic for the flows insid ...
... galaxies rotate around a common center under the law of the rotation of a rigid body and only the stars in the spiral arms have a speed which decreases with the increasing the distance from the nucleus. The same picture of the velocity distribution, as is known, is characteristic for the flows insid ...
Hands-On Activities
... Milky Way: The galaxy which is the home of our Solar System together with at least 200 billion other stars and their planets. nova: A cataclysmic nuclear explosion caused by the accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of a white dwarf star. Pluto: The second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar Sy ...
... Milky Way: The galaxy which is the home of our Solar System together with at least 200 billion other stars and their planets. nova: A cataclysmic nuclear explosion caused by the accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of a white dwarf star. Pluto: The second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar Sy ...
Downloaded - Royal Society Open Science
... The term also includes brown dwarfs, for which many physical relations presented here also apply. ‘Planetary systems’ is defined as systems which include SBs. The ‘disambiguation’ equations identified in figure 1 refer to relations that have appeared in multiple different forms in the previous post- ...
... The term also includes brown dwarfs, for which many physical relations presented here also apply. ‘Planetary systems’ is defined as systems which include SBs. The ‘disambiguation’ equations identified in figure 1 refer to relations that have appeared in multiple different forms in the previous post- ...
black hole
... indicates that these red dwarfs should use up nearly all their hydrogen and live very long lives on the lower main sequence. ...
... indicates that these red dwarfs should use up nearly all their hydrogen and live very long lives on the lower main sequence. ...
Family Space Day Overview - Lunar and Planetary Institute
... end of one of the string through the semi-circle cut and knot it around a straw at the box top so that the string does not pull through when tugged on from the inside of the lid. When the lid is placed on the box, the pompom should hang down in the box in front of the flashlight. It should be able t ...
... end of one of the string through the semi-circle cut and knot it around a straw at the box top so that the string does not pull through when tugged on from the inside of the lid. When the lid is placed on the box, the pompom should hang down in the box in front of the flashlight. It should be able t ...
Definition of planet

The definition of planet, since the word was coined by the ancient Greeks, has included within its scope a wide range of celestial bodies. Greek astronomers employed the term asteres planetai (ἀστέρες πλανῆται), ""wandering stars"", for star-like objects which apparently moved over the sky. Over the millennia, the term has included a variety of different objects, from the Sun and the Moon to satellites and asteroids.By the end of the 19th century the word planet, though it had yet to be defined, had become a working term applied only to a small set of objects in the Solar System. After 1992, however, astronomers began to discover many additional objects beyond the orbit of Neptune, as well as hundreds of objects orbiting other stars. These discoveries not only increased the number of potential planets, but also expanded their variety and peculiarity. Some were nearly large enough to be stars, while others were smaller than Earth's moon. These discoveries challenged long-perceived notions of what a planet could be.The issue of a clear definition for planet came to a head in 2005 with the discovery of the trans-Neptunian object Eris, a body more massive than the smallest then-accepted planet, Pluto. In its 2006 response, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), recognised by astronomers as the world body responsible for resolving issues of nomenclature, released its decision on the matter. This definition, which applies only to the Solar System, states that a planet is a body that orbits the Sun, is massive enough for its own gravity to make it round, and has ""cleared its neighbourhood"" of smaller objects around its orbit. Under this new definition, Pluto and the other trans-Neptunian objects do not qualify as planets. The IAU's decision has not resolved all controversies, and while many scientists have accepted the definition, some in the astronomical community have rejected it outright.