General Geology UP Reviewer (Space)

10^-43 secs

The cosmos goes through a superfast “inflation” expanding from the size of an atom to that of a grapefruit in a tiny fraction of a second

10^-32 secs

Post-inflation, the universe is a seething, hot soup of electrons, quarks, and other particles

10^-6 secs

A rapidly cooling cosmos permits quarks to clump and into protons and neutrons

3 mins

Still too hot to form into atoms, charged electrons and protons prevent light from shining: the universe is a superhot fog

300,000 years

Electrons combine with protons and neutrons to form atoms, mostly hydrogen and helium. Light can finally shine

1 billion years

Gravity makes hydrogen and helium gas coalesce to form the giant cloud that will become galaxies smaller clumps of gas collapse to form the first stars.

13.8 billion years

As galaxies cluster together under gravity, the first stars die and spew heavy elements into space; those will eventually turn into new stars and planets

Nebula

a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust.

Quarks

a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter.

UY Scuti

The biggest star currently known in the universe is

Planetisimals

Solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and debris disks.

Conservation of Angular Momentum

The rotation and contraction of nebula to spin faster and faster is due to the

Terrestrial Planets

also known as rocky or telluric planets, are planets primarily composed of silicate rocks and metals

Jovian Planets

also known as gas giants or giant planets, are the four largest planets in our solar system

Venus

sometimes referred to as Earth's "sister planet" due to its similar size and composition but has a runaway greenhouse effect, making it one of the hottest planets

Mars

called the "Red Planet," is home to the tallest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons.

Neptune

This planet in our solar system has winds that can reach up to 1,500 miles per hour, making it one of the windiest planets.

Uranus

The only planet in the solar system that rotates on its side

Saturn

least dense planet in our solar system and its density is actually lower than that of water

Ceres

Resides in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and is the largest object in that region.

Kuiper Belt

a region beyond Neptune, is home to countless icy bodies and dwarf planets.

Oort Cloud

a giant spherical shell surrounding the Sun, planets and Kuiper Belt Objects.

Valles Marineris

Mars also has a massive canyon system called

The Great Red Spot

It is a massive storm on Jupiter that has raged for at least 350 years.

Galilean moons

Jupiter has at least 79 known moons, with the four largest known as the

Titan

The only moon (Saturn’s moon) in the solar system with a thick atmosphere and lakes of liquid methane and ethane.

Water, ammonia, and methane

Uranus and Neptune are known as "ice giants" because they contain a large amount of ____ in their atmospheres

Neptune

the first planet to be discovered through mathematical predictions before its actual observation.

New Horizon

This spacecraft provided the first close-up images of Pluto and its moons in 2015, revealing a diverse landscape.

Eris

A dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, is about the same size as Pluto and caused Pluto's reclassification.

Comet Halley

The comet that passes near Earth every 76 years, is the most famous periodic comet.

Asteroid Belt

Located between Mars and Jupiter, contains millions of rocky objects, but they are widely spaced apart.

Earth

the only known planet with a strong magnetic field generated by a liquid iron core.

Northern Lights

also known as the Aurora Borealis, are a stunning result of charged particles from the Sun interacting with Earth's magnetic field.

Heliosphere

a protective bubble created by the Sun's solar wind that shields the solar system from harmful cosmic rays.

16 Psyche

asteroid believed to be made mostly of metal and could be worth over 10,000 quadrillion dollars if mined.

Voyager 1 and 2

launched in 1977, continue to send back valuable data as they explore the outer regions of the solar system.

Asteroid Vesta

the second-largest body in the asteroid belt and was visited by NASA's Dawn spacecraft.

Goldilocks Zone

known as the habitable zone, is the region around a star where conditions are just right for liquid water to exist on a planet's surface.

Carl Sagan

The concept introduced by Carl Sagan, highlights the Earth's smallness and fragility in the vastness of space.

8 minutes and 20 seconds

How much time does it take for the Sun’s light reach the earth?

Io

one of Jupiter's moons, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system.

Triton

Neptune's largest moon, orbits the planet in the opposite direction of its rotation

Ganymede

one of Jupiter's moons, is the largest moon in the solar system, even larger than the planet Mercury.

Europa

Jupiter's moon that is believed to have a subsurface ocean and may harbor conditions suitable for life.

330,000

The Sun's mass is approximately _____ times that of Earth

Enceladus

one of Saturn's moons, has geysers that shoot icy particles into space, possibly originating from a subsurface ocean.

Salt

The solar system's largest asteroid, Ceres, is also considered a dwarf planet and has bright spots on its surface that are believed to be deposits of

The Great Dark Spot

on Neptune, a massive storm similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot, was discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Retrograde Rotation

Venus rotates in the opposite direction of most planets, including Earth, a phenomenon known as

Tunguska Event

in 1908 there was a powerful explosion caused by the airburst of a small asteroid or comet over Siberia, which flattened over 770 square miles of forest.

Roche Limit

the closest distance at which a celestial body, like a moon, can orbit another body without being torn apart by tidal forces.

Itokawa

The asteroid that was visited by Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft, which collected and returned samples to Earth.

Nucleosynthesis

The formation of new elements due to fusion in the Sun and other stars

Iron Catastrophe

a significant event in Earth's early history, occurring roughly 4.5 billion years ago, where the planet's iron and other heavy metals melted and sank to form the core.