AST101H1 : Mastering Astronomy notes 4-8

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Stefan Mochnacki

Document Summary

carbon cycle keeps the temperature of the earth not too cold or too hot. Small icy moons are more active than small rocky planets because a) icy compositions b) heating source tidal heating the ice on these moons requires a lower temperate to melt than the rocks on the rocky planets. This is why tidal heating occurs easily on icy moons. The ice melts enabling tidal heating to drive geological activity, more likely to have geological activity than terrestrial planets (example: mercury and. Ganymede similar in size, ganymede ongoing geological activity, mercury geologically dead) The small moons have i r regular shapes, their gravities a re too weak to force them into spheres. only la rge planets can retain enough heat to stay geologically active blackbody hotter, produces more l ight = shorter wavelength (blue side: asteroid belt.