1404_Ch 18 Assignment Done

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Lone Star College System, Woodlands *

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1404

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Astronomy

Date

Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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4

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PHYS 1404: Chapter 18 – Origin of the Solar System and Extrasolar Planets – Assignment © 2018-2023 Lone Star College. All Rights Reserved. Write your Name. Do not alter header or question numbers. Abide by LSC Academic Integrity. Name: Alexis Diaz 1. “What in the World is an ‘Exoplanet?”. Read about it in the “Current events” under “Content” tab. Write 10 – 15 sentence summary of this article. Exoplanets have been discovered in the Milky Way, a small region of our galaxy. NASA's Kepler Space Telescope reveals that there are more planets than stars in the galaxy. Exoplanets have compositions ranging from rocky to gas-rich, with elements similar to those in our solar system but different mixes. They can be dominated by water, ice, iron, or carbon. The first exoplanets were discovered in the 1990s, and thousands have been identified using various detection methods. The count of confirmed planets is in the thousands and rising, with the count potentially rising to the tens of thousands within a decade as robotic telescopes are used more. Most exoplanets are found through indirect methods, such as measuring the dimming of a star with a planet passing in front of it, or monitoring the spectrum of a star for signs of a planet pulling on its star. Space telescopes have found thousands of planets through transits and gravitational lensing. The TRAPPIST- 1 planets have been examined with ground and space telescopes, revealing their diameters and gravitational influence, allowing scientists to estimate their temperatures and light levels. While much remains unknown about these seven worlds, they have become the best- known solar system apart from our own. 2. “Does this look appetizing? If you go to Mars, it may be your meal”. Watch the video and read the article in the “Current events” under “Content” tab. Write 10 – 15 sentence summary of your thoughts on this topic. 3. List the two main groups of planets, and the names of the planets that belong to each group. Which group of planets have higher average mass and which group have average density?
PHYS 1404: Chapter 18 – Origin of the Solar System and Extrasolar Planets – Assignment © 2018-2023 Lone Star College. All Rights Reserved. Write your Name. Do not alter header or question numbers. Abide by LSC Academic Integrity. a. Terrestrial Planets , These planets have a higher average density b. Jovian Planets , These planets have a lower average density 4. What is an Exoplanet and describe the technique Kepler planet finding mission uses to find exoplanets? Exoplanets are any planet beyond our solar system, In order to find planets, Kepler will use the detection method known as transit. A transit is an event in which a planet passes in front of a star as seen from Earth. Compared to a larger planet, transits by terrestrial-sized planets produce a small change in the brightness of the star. 5. Name two types of objects that orbit the Sun but are not classified as planets. a. Asteroids b. Comets 6. Why do the tails of comets always point away from the sun ? radiation pressure of sunlight 7. An element has a half-life of 120 years. A given sample originally contained 1000 grams of this element. After 480 years have passed, how many grams of this element remain in the sample? 62.5 grams 8. According to radioactive dating of meteorites, what is the approximate age of the solar system? 4.6 billion years 9. The most accepted theory for the formation of the solar system is called the Nebular hypothesis theory. Give a short description of this theory. is the idea that a spinning cloud of dust made of mostly light elements 10. Why are the oldest Earth rocks younger than the oldest moon rocks? because of the constant recycling of the crust by plate tectonics 11. Describe and differentiate Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites.
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