Planetary Science Review

What is a Solar Nebula

A swirling disc of material formed from the collapse of a cloud of interstellar gas and dust, leading to the creation of solar systems.

Terrestrial Planets

Planets composed mainly of rocky material; includes Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Jovian Planets

Gas and ice giants located in the outer solar system; includes Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Asteroid Belt

A region of space between Mars and Jupiter filled with rocky objects and remnants from the solar system's formation.

Kuiper Belt

A disc of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune, home to dwarf planets like Pluto.

Oort Cloud

A vast, spherical collection of icy debris that marks the boundary of the solar system.

Comets

Celestial objects made of ice and dust that originate from the Oort Cloud.

Asteroids

Rocky objects that orbit the sun, primarily found in the asteroid belt, with no ice content.

Meteoroid

A small object in space, typically a fragment of comets or asteroids, ranging from sand grain to boulder size.

Meteor

A visible streak of light produced when a meteoroid enters Earth's atmosphere.

Meteorite

A meteoroid that survives passage through the atmosphere and lands on Earth's surface.

Kepler's First Law

States that the orbits of planetary bodies are ellipses, with the sun at one focus.

Kepler's Second Law

A line drawn from the sun to a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times, indicating variable speeds of orbit.

Tidal Locking

When an object's orbital period matches its rotational period, resulting in the same face always facing the object it orbits.

Kepler's Third Law

States that the square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit around the sun.

What are moon phases?

The different stages of the moon's appearance as it orbits Earth, creating a cycle that includes the new moon, crescent, first quarter, gibbous, full moon, and back again.

Core

The innermost layer of the sun, where nuclear fusion occurs, generating energy and heat.

Radiative Zone

The layer surrounding the core, where energy is transferred outward through radiation, taking a long time to move through.

Convective Zone

The outer layer of the sun's interior where heat moves to the surface via convection currents.

Photosphere

The visible surface of the sun, emitting light and heat, and where sunspots can be observed.

Chromosphere

A thin layer above the photosphere, characterized by a crimson color during solar eclipses and containing solar prominences.

Corona

The sun's outer atmosphere, extending far beyond the solar surface, visible during a total solar eclipse and known for its high temperatures.

how many known solar systems are there in are galaxy?

500

what percent of stars in the galaxy host planets?

15

What is the Kuiper Belt?

A disc-shaped region of icy bodies located beyond the orbit of Neptune, containing many small planets and the dwarf planet Pluto. It is the origin of comets.