ASTRO 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Planetary Science, Kuiper Belt, Sample-Return Mission
Document Summary
Comparative planetology: compare the worlds to one another, seeking to understand their similarities and differences. Small, rocky, dense, close to the sun, few rings or moons, warm, solid: jovian planets: jupiter, saturn, uranus, neptune. Large, gas-rich, less dense, not solid, farther from the sun, cool rings and moons. Hydrogen compounds: compounds contains hydrogen (water, ammonia, methane: asteroids and comets, asteroids: rocky bodies that orbit the sun, very small. Most within the asteroid belt (between orbits of mars & jupiter: comets: small, orbit the sun, made of ices mixed with rock. Most within the kuiper belt & the oort cloud: exceptions to the rules, only earth has large moon in inner planets, uranus tipped on its side. Goes by once and continues its way: orbiter. Orbit the world it"s visiting (longer-term study: lander or probe. Land on planet"s surface or probe it"s atmosphere: sample return mission.
