ASTRO-110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Dwarf Planet, The Moons, Volatiles
Document Summary
Unlike earth, the rest of titan"s atmosphere consists of argon, methane, and other hydrogen compounds like ethane (c2h6) and titan"s atmosphere is much colder than the earth"s. Titan has a dense nitrogen atmosphere, methane rain and lakes, and perhaps active volcanism. Titan"s lakes : radar imaging of titan"s surface has revealed dark, smooth regions that are lakes of liquid hydrocarbons (ethane) Uranus has 4 medium-sized moons and many smaller moons of these, miranda is the most interesting with its evidence of extreme tectonic activity. Neptune has one medium-sized moon, triton, and other small moons. Triton is quite unusual, having a thin atmosphere and being in a retrograde orbit (cantaloupe terrain, wind streaks, and maybe frost deposits) Triton is probably a captured kuiper belt object. Asteroids, comets, meteors, and meteorites are the unused remains of planet formation. Asteroid: rocky and metallic leftover planetesimals from inside the frost line. Comet: icy leftover planetesimals from outside the frost line.
