ASTR 1P01 Lecture Notes - Oort Cloud, Star System, Kuiper Belt

• School: Brock University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: ASTR 1P01
• Professor: Bozidar Mitrovic

Document Summary

Time = earth-sun distance/speed of light = 150,000,000km/300,000km per/s. = 500 s= 500/60 min= 8 mins and 20 seconds = 8. 3 mins. So 1 au = 8. 3 light-minutes (lym) Light-minutes is the distance which light travels in 1 min. Solar system = sun+ 8 planets + the satellites and rings + asteroid belt (half way between mars and jupiter) + dwarf planets (pluto, eris ) + comets + meteoroids ( -> meteors (shooting star) -> meteorites) Kuiper belt flat ring from about 30 au to about 50 au which contains nuclei of short period comets. Spherical shell where the long period comets spend most of the time. 1 light- year (ly) = the distance which light travels in one year = 63,000 au=