AST 1002 STUDY GUIDE -- HOUR TEST 2
- cratering history of Moon, early vs. late bombardment, impact basins and
lunar maria; giant impact theory of Moon's origin; cratering history
of Mercury
- other planetary systems -- direct detection and difficulties; indirect
detection using astrometry ("wobble"), orbital Doppler effect, transits,
microlensing
- interior structure of terrestrial planets -- core, mantle, crust and
lithosphere; differentiation; heat sources (accretion, radioactivity,
differentiation itself) and transport (conduction, convection and
circulation)
- Earth's magnetic field -- dynamo mechanism and requirements
(electrically conducting liquid, rotation, convection); geometry and
solar wind; other terrestrials
- geological activity of terrestrials -- plate tectonics, continental drift
(Earth only); mantle convection and uplift, other tectonic processes;
shield volcanoes on Earth, Mars, and Venus; bulges on Venus and Mars
(e.g. Tharsis); relative activity levels on terrrestrial planets and Moon
- atmospheres of terrestrial planets -- original and solar wind stripping;
outgassing; thermal escape of gases from planetary atmospheres: factors
that determine whether atmosphere present, which gases (distance from
Sun, albedo, greenhouse effect set temperature; escape velocity,
atomic/molecular mass/weight); greenhouse effect, relative effects on Earth,
Venus, and Mars, "runaway" greenhouse effect; non-thermal escape
- water on Mars, past and present -- evidence; reason why no liquid
water today, idea about loss of most of amosphere (core and magnetic
field)
- interior structures of jovian planets, relative densities and effect
of compression, different composition for Jupiter and Saturn vs. Uranus
and Neptune
- atmospheres of jovian planets -- belts and zones on Jupiter, differential
rotation, convection and white ovals, Great Red Spot; differences with
Saturn and causes, other jovians; magnetic fields of jovians
- Galilean satellites of Jupiter -- interior structure, mix vs. distance
from Jupiter; Io volcanic activity, tidal heating, radial tides, resonance;
Europa ice melt, young surface; Ganymede, Callisto, and old surfaces with
craters
- Titan -- atmosphere; Triton -- capture into retrograde orbit with
strong tidal heating; thin atmosphere, ice geology
- ring systems -- Saturn's: particles with ice surface, gaps from Mimas
resonances, gap and shepherd moons; other jovians' rings; Roche limit
- definitions -- asteroid, comet, meteoroid, meteor, meteorite
- Asteroid Belt -- location, orbital elements, Kirkwood gaps and chaos
theory, Hirayama families
- connection between asteroids and some meteorites -- colors and reflection
spectra, meteor orbits from radar; albedos and characteristics as function
of distance
- meteorites -- falls vs. finds, primitive vs. processed; stony, stony-iron,
iron, carbonaceous chondrite and organics; Widmanstaetten figures and parent
meteorite bodies
- comet structure -- nucleus, coma, tail (dust, absorption-line, radiation
pressure; gas or plasma, emission-line, solar wind); development of tail with
distance
- loss of comets -- evaporation and breakup; ejection from Solar System;
collisions with planets or other bodies; resupply from Oort Cloud,
orbits of long-period comets; short-period comets (origin, rapid wastage)
- Kuiper Belt -- orbits; discovery of Uranus, Neptune's prediction and
discovery, Pluto and Pluto's moon
- energy sources considered for Sun and reason for rejection (if any) --
chemical, gravitational potential, nuclear
- hydrostatic equilibrium -- balance of forces, connection with temperature
and energy supply
- energy transport -- radiation, convection, conduction; different zones
in Sun
- interior structure of Sun; nuclear energy, fusion vs. fission, iron at
boundary; proton-proton chain, carbon or CNO cycle, approximate temperatures;
neutrino problem
- solar atmosphere -- photosphere (limb darkening, granulation, sunspots,
magnetic field and "cooling"); chromosphere (plages, spicules); corona
(prominences, coronal holes); magnetic field geometry, flares; sunspot
cycle, "butterfly" diagram, Zeeman effect and polarity, true solar cycle;
Babcock mechanism