AST_101_Lesson_7_Homework

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Estrella Mountain Community College *

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101

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Astronomy

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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AST 101 Lesson 7 Homework Student Name: Tabitha Ackermann Question 1 (5 points) Explain why it is essential to understand comets and asteroids for understanding our solar system’s history. Comets and astroids are important to scientist because they believe that scientist have kept a record of the ohysical and chemical processes that ccured during the early stages of the solar systems evolution. Question 2 (5 points): Describe the nucleus of a typical comet and compare it with an asteroid of similar size. The nucleus of a comet is a few kilometer is a diameter and is a made up of ices, organic compounds,grains,and dust.In comparison to astriods, who are denser and are composed of stones and metallic materials. Question 3 (5 points): What is the classification of bodies like Pluto and Eris, which are large enough to be round and have orbits beyond Neptune? Why are they not considered to be planets? These bodies are called dward olanets and they are not considered to be planets due to their size and location. Question 4 (15 points): Compare and contrast the Asteroid Belt, Kuiper Belt, and Oort Cloud. In your answer, discuss the orbital properties and composition of these groups, and relate these properties to the environment where they formed. Question 5 (5 points): Why have so many Kuiper belt objects been discovered during the last two decades but not before then? There are hundreds of thousands of bodies in the Kuiper belt, however the Kuiper belt was only discovered in 1992 and scientists and astronomers are still attempting to scratch the surface of research. Page 1 of 2

AST 101 Lesson 7 Homework Question 6 (5 points): The Oort cloud is estimated to contain 10 12 comets. Assume that we discover 10 new comets visiting the Sun from the Oort Cloud each year. Answer the following question: Since the beginning of the solar system, what percentage of the Oort Cloud comets have visited the Sun and been “used up”? Show your calculations . Answer: 4.6% (4.6x 10^9 years) (10 comets/year)= 46x10^9 comets Question 7 (5 points): Describe the solar nebula and outline the sequence of events within the nebula that gave rise to the planetesimals. The solar nebula was initially a cloud of dust and gas that began to rotate and its center. The central region of the nebula became a star while the outer regions flattened out into a disk shape. Things in the center remained hot, but the outer disk cooled off. Particals begin to cool and form compounds like rock and metal grains that grew larger. Accretion of these pierced formed planetesimals. Question 8 (5 points): Explain the origin of meteor showers and why they occur around the same date each year. A meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the orbit of a cloud of debris that were formed by a comet or asteroid breaking, hence why a particular meteor shower will occur in the same spot around the same time of year. Question 9 (10 points): Explain how the rock/metal line and frost line explain the difference between the properties of the terrestrial planets and Jovian (gas) planets. The terrestrial planets formed closer to the sun where temps suited rock and metal to condense, whereas rhe Jovian planets formed past the frost line where temperatures suited ice condensation. Page 2 of 2

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