JLora_HWK9
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School
Brooklyn College, CUNY *
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Course
101
Subject
Astronomy
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
2
Uploaded by MateCrowMaster747
Johanna Lora
Professor Ris
AST 101
05.01. 2022
Problem Set:
1. A friend of yours who has not taken astronomy sees a meteor shower (she calls it a bunch of
shooting stars). The next day she confides in you that she was concerned that the stars in the Big
Dipper (her favorite star pattern) might be the next ones to go. How would you put her mind at
ease?
I will tell her to breathe and inform her that a meteor shower contains meteors that come
from pieces of comets and asteroids, which aren’t shooting stars. The objects then enter
Earth's atmosphere, forming a meteor shower.
5. Describe the solar nebula, and outline the sequence of events within the nebula that gave rise
to the planetesimals.
The solar nebula is a flattened spinning cloud of dust and gas that formed our planetary
system. The central region of the nebula became a star, where things remained hot, and
objects in the outer areas of the disk cooled off.
The outer areas of the nebula were cooler
so substances like droplets or ice were able to survive and form. Particles began to cool and
form compounds that grew larger by gravitational impacts and fusions closer into the
center. Farther out, the droplets and icy pieces were able to grow. Accretion of these larger
pieces along with numerous dust particles surrounding the sun in an orbit formed
planetesimals.
7. How do the planets discovered so far around other stars differ from those in our own solar
system? List at least two ways.
Planets of Jovian mass known as "hot Jupiters" have been found orbiting close to other
stars, which is different from what we thought was possible (we thought that a giant planet
cannot be formed without the condensation of water ice, and water ice is not stable when
near heat). There are also super-Earths, planets two to ten times the mass of our planet in
other solar systems.
8. Explain the role of impacts in planetary evolution, including both giant impacts and more
modest ones.
Impacts on planet evolution led to the heating of the protoplanets, allowing material
changes and lighter element outgassing. Giant impacts probably help create the rare
aspects of planets, such as the formation of the Moon around Earth, stripping Mercury of
part of its mantle and crust, and the reversed rotation of Venus. Smaller-scale impacts
added mass to inner protoplanets.
10. Summarize the origin and evolution of the atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars.
These atmospheres were formed by a mic of gas escaping from the interior of the planet,
and the impacts of volatile-rich debris from the outer solar system. The primary volatile
gas on the terrestrial planets is currently carbon dioxide, but originally there were
probably also hydrogen-containing gases. The reducing molecules were split apart by
ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. Most of the light hydrogen atoms escaped into space,
creating oxygen-dominated atmospheres that are on Earth, Venus, and Mars today. On
Venus, large amounts of carbon dioxide produced a runaway greenhouse effect, leading to
the loss of water and the hot atmosphere it has today. On Mars, it couldn’t retain its thick
atmosphere, and abundant liquid water, so temperatures dropped as more of the
atmosphere was lost. The cold temperatures froze the water leading to the present thin
atmosphere made up of about 96% carbon dioxide. On Earth, it had the presence of water
in marine sediment that could absorb carbon dioxide leading to an atmosphere of mostly
nitrogen that contained free oxygen.
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