AST101H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Earth Mass, Solar Wind, Oort Cloud
11 Dec 2013
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AST101H1 Full Course Notes
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Galileo"s telescopic observations sparked a new era in which the sun, moon and planets could be studied as worlds rather than just mere lights. Comparative planetology: we also study these worlds by comparing one to another (this term is used by astronomers broadly as it includes moons, asteroid, comets and planets) The planets are all quite small compared to the distance between them. All the planets in our solar system orbit the sun in the same direction: pattern. By studying a planet in the context of other objects in the solar system, we are able to learn more about that individual world. Analogy: getting to know a person by learning more about their culture, family, friends. Cosmic context figure 7. 1: large bodies in the solar system have orderly motions all planet s have nearly circular orbits going in the same direction on the same plane, planets fall into 2 categories:
