ASTR 1101 Lecture : Final Notes
Document Summary
Impact sped up earth"s rotation and tilted its orbital plane by 23o: earth reformed as a largely molten body, the moon aggregated from the debris, ancient moon rocks brought back by the apollo astronauts support this theory. Roman mythology played a big role in the naming of the planets: mercury is the god of correspondance and travel in roman mythology. The planet most likely received this name because of its quick movement across the sky: venus is the roman goddess of love and beauty. The planet is very bright and beautiful in the sky, so the name fits. Saturn is the slowest planet in orbit around the sun, so perhaps that is why the name seemed fit. Distance from the sun and the mass of the planet can explain: planet composition and radius, density, surface gravity, escape velocity, plate tectonics, volcanoes, atmosphere thickness and composition, surface temperature. Iron-rich d~ 5. 5 g/cm3: silica-rich d~ 3. 5 g/cm3.
