ASTR 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Astronomical Unit
Document Summary
Au (astronomical unit): the distance between the earth and the sun. K: the moment of inertia ranging from 0-0. 4, with . 4 being a perfectly distributed planet, and 0 being very unevenly distributed. Standard temp/pressure = 20 degrees c or 70 degrees f / 1 atm. Earth = 1me (earth"s mass is used as the standard unit. Density is entirely independent of size of object, and does not determine the k-factor. Mercury -> venus -> earth -> mars -> jupiter -> saturn -> uranus -> neptune. Mercury through mars are rocky bodies, and jupiter through neptune are gas giants . Planets are upwards of 1000"s of kilometers in diameter, whereas asteroids are only 100"s of kilometers in diameter. The majority of asteroids are just a few kilometers in diameter. Ring particles are less than a kilometer in diameter. The force of gravity of a given planet is fg = m/r2.
