AST101H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Kuiper Belt, Asteroid Belt, Oort Cloud

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Michael Reid

Document Summary

Lecture 13 - the formation and age of the solar system. More gaseous bodies (jovian planets) are farther away from the sun and terrestrial bodies are closer. Planets all orbit in the same direction prograde: moons mainly orbit prograde, planets mainly rotate prograde. Asteroid belt in between mars and jupiter: a true asteroid field is actually pretty empty despite thousands of asteroids (lots of space between them) Oort cloud sphere around solar system, far outside the kuiper belt. The interstellar medium (ism) fills space between the stars: has dense parts, called molecular clouds. Might be the initial stages of new stars forming. The orion nebula is a nearby molecular cloud. Several lightyears across and 1500 lightyears from earth. Pieces of the molecular cloud collapse under their own gravity, which results in faster rotation and more gravity. As the molecular cloud contracts to form a disc conservation of energy will the cause the cloud to. Gravitational energy kinetic energy thermal energy.