ABOUT THE MIDTERM
About the Midterm Same rules Use your index card! About the same length/structure Objects in the Solar System through Stars & Galaxy Classification roughly 33% Solar System topics & 67% Stellar & Galaxy topics
About the Midterm KEY ideas: Terrestrial planet characteristics vs. Jovian planet characteristics Mars and water on Mars (importance of magnetic fields) Venus & Venus temperature Greenhouse effect/climate Change Saturn s rings, Jupiter s weather, Io, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, Titan & Enceladus Distances to stars: parallax & standard candles Temperature & Color and Temperature & Size & Luminosity for Stars Stellar Classification (Harvard Computers) HR diagram Stellar Evolution Galaxy types & Classification
SOLAR SYSTEM
Sun Size compared to earth What type of star is the sun? Its ultimate fate & that of the solar system NOT a supernova!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT!
Terrestrial Planets in General Definition of Terrestrial Planets Rotation and Revolution Structure Surface Current & past habitability Formation and Evolution Basic Stats and Key Characteristics Differentiation, Cratering
Earth Terrestrial planets in general; the habitable zone The Atmosphere -- origin of oxygen Water & its role Life unique Magnetic field -- dynamo effect Greenhouse effect and Climate Change and humans
Moon Characteristics and properties size cratering composition Highlands and maria Lunar exploration Formation Giant Impact Hypothesis
Venus Temperature! Atmosphere -- runaway greenhouse Odd rotation No magnetic field to speak of No moons recent (but not current) vulcanism Why did Venus become not-habitable?
Mars Cold desert world once had abundant surface water Minimal magnetic field (no liquid iron) very thin atmosphere Surface N/S differences Olympus Mons & other Volcanos Valles Marinaris two moons Exploration -- rovers, Curiosity What happened to the water? Why is Mars red?
Jovian Planets Common Characteristics Size, no solid surface, stripes, rings, lots of moons Basic Stats and Key Characteristics Rotation and Revolution Structure Composition -- much like solar nebula Magnetic fields
Jupiter Largest planet, 11x diameter of Earth Galilean Moons Many more moons rings -- faint Geat Red Spot Very strong magnetic field Cloud-belt circulation
Jovian Moons Galilean Family Portrait Io - currently active volcanos Europa -- water under thick ice Ganymede -- largest satellite Callisto -- most cratered object in SS NASA Planetary Photojournal
Saturn Similar to Jupiter Smaller weaker magnetic field Cassini composite image of Saturn Dramatic Rings Shepherd Moons Gaps Fairly large ice particles Up to person sized or so VERY thin NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Exploration -- Cassini
Saturn s Moons Titan -- sort of earthlike but with hydrocarbon sludge & nitrogen atmosphere. Cold. Shoreline featurs Enceladus -- water ice world, tidal flexing, ice vulcanism many more! shepherd moons within ring system
Uranus and Neptune Smaller & Colder than Jupiter and Saturn Blue/blue green color from methane Uranus unusual rotation Wierd poorly understood Magnetic Fields Neptune discovered due to irregularities in Uranus orbit
Dwarf Planets & Small Bodies Dwarf Planets The Pluto saga Meteroid, Meteor, Meteorite composition and significance Asteroids Comets The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud
STARS & GALAXIES
Stellar Properties Luminosity Distance ladder & difficulty of distances Stellar parallax know how angle & distance relate Standard Candle how does a standard candle work Magnitude system Apparent vs. Absolute magnitude review the ranking tasks
Spectral Type Color ~ temperature ~ spectral class be able to answer questions based on the blackbody LT Harvard computers & Harvard classification scheme OBAFGKM Brightness and temperature and size (Giants)
HR Diagram What is it? What can be plotted on it? Main sequence Red giants Supergiants White Dwarfs Evolution Sketch HR diagrams Pick out object types on HR diagrams
Stellar Lifecycles NASA Star formation Main Sequence lifetime End states and what determines them Mass is everything!!!!! More mass means shorter life high mass is > ~ 4 times Sun remnant of < 2-3 times sun forms neutron star larger remnant forms black hole
Main Sequence & Red Giant phase Main Sequence Hydrostatic Equilibrium H to He nuclear fusion mass conversion Most of a star s life Sun is on MS Red Giant loss of engine New hydrostatic equilibrium H to He fusion in shell He fusion in core 1/10th the duration of MS lifetime
Endgame Scenarios Low Mass Giant stars Planetary nebulae White dwarfs High Mass Stars Type II supernovae neutron stars & pulsars black holes type Ia supernovae
Galaxy Classification NASA/ESA
Characteristics of types Describe spirals, barred spirals, ellipticals, irregulars identify from image Which are most common? What are their overall properties? Which tend to have older/red or younger/blue stars Which tend to have black holes (all)