no tails
far away
cos too far
to be
affected
by solar
winds
meteors
made
from
grains of
dust
they burn
up when
they pass
through the
earths
atmosphere
they heat
up the air
around
them
which glows
and the streak
is known as a
'shooting star'
black holes
formed
where
large
stars
used to
be
can't
see cos
light
cant
escape
from it
large mass,
very small
size
high density
moons orbit planets
planets orbit stars
due to the centripetal force acting upon them
CF acts towards the centre of the circular orbit
gravitational attraction is the source of the CF
light years
distance light travels in one year
300000km/s
light from sun takes 8 mins
light
from
nearest
star,
proxima
centurai
takes 4.22
years
exploring
planets
unmanned probes
go where humans cant, into deadly conditions
cost less
and don't
put
astronauts
life at risk
but have to be
reliable (no way
of easily
repairing)
manned probes
have to have food, water and o2
more
expensive
astronauts
suits
need
a dark visor
pressurised suit
and oxygen
supply
when travelling, they
are subjected to lower
gravitational forces
than on earth
space
asteroids
mini planets/asteroids
most orbit between mars and jupiter
asteroid belt
orbit the sun
they are large rocks left over from the formation of the solar system (big bang)
all bodies in space, inc. planets,
forming when clouds of gas and
dust collapsed together due to
gravitational forces of attraction
the mass of an object determines its gravitational force
asteroids have a relatively low mass compared to jupiter
jupiters gravitational force prevents
asteroids from joining together to form
another planet
origin of the moon
scientists believe
our moon was a
result of the collision
between 2 planets in
the same orbit
the iron core of the other planet melted
and joined with earths core, less dense
rocks began to orbit and they join
together to form our moon
evidence for this idea
the av. density of earth is 5500kg/m3 while the moon is only 3300kg/m3
there is no iron in the moon
moon has same o2 composition as earth but rocks on mars/ meteorites have different
asteroids
geologists examine
evidence to support
theory that asteroids
have collided with
earth
near to an (asteroid) crater
impact, large quantities of
iridium are found. (a metal
uncommon in earths crust, but
common in meteorites)
many fossils are found below the
layer of iridium, but few found
above it
tsunamis have disturbed the
fossil layers, carrying some
fossil fragments up to 300km
inland
comets orbit
as comets passes close to the sun, the ice melts
and solar winds blow dust into comets tail (which
always points away from the sun)
scientists monitor and plot the paths of comets and other near-earth objects, NEO's
the speed of a comet increases as it approaches the sun and decreases as it gets further away. this is because of changing gravitational attraction.
neo's
if an neo is on a collision
course w/ earth, we could
send a rocket to explode near
it which means its course will
change and miss earth
the big bang theory
almost all of the galaxies are moving away from each other w/ further galaxies moving faster
red shift
when a light source is moving away from an observer, its
wavelength appears to increase which shifts light slightly towards
the red end of the spectrum- red shift
when scientists look at light from the sun, there is a pattern of lines across the
spectrum...this same pattern is observed when they look at light from distant
stars but it is closer to the red end of the spectrum.
scientists can use this info to age the universe
the more red-shift, the further the star from us
tells us, that distant galaxies are moving away from us
the further the galaxy, the faster its moving
our sun contains helium. we know because of black
lines where helium has absorbed light.
positions of lines have
changed due to the doppler
effect.
their wavelengths have increased (and freq. decreased)
moon models
galileo observed jupiters 4 moons
this confirmed that not
everything orbits earth and
supported Copernicus' idea that
planets orbit the sun
roman catholic church did not support Galileo's model as
they believed that earth was at centre of universe and
took a long time before this was accepted
in 17th century, newton worked on his theory
of universal gravitation which suggested that
all bodies attract one another
today, we believe that gravitational collapse is prevented because
the universe is constantly expanding as a result of the big bang.
a nebula is a swirling cloud of gas and dust
nebulas are clouds, pulled together by gravity and as
the spinning ball of gas starts to get hot, it glows (this
protostar cannot be seen because of the dust cloud)
gravity causes the star to
become smaller, hotter and
brighter and after millions of
years, the core temp. is hot
enough for nuclear fission to
take place. as hydrogen nuclei
join together, to form helium
nuclei, energy is released and
the star continues to shine
while there is enough hydrogen
small stars shine for longer
cos they have less hydrogen
what happens at the end of a stars life
depends on its size