Extrasolar Planets
Death from Above!
Making a Solar System
Our Beacon (the Sun)
Heart of the Sun
100
This is the most common type of extrasolar planet detected to date (though it might not be the most prevalent).
What is "Hot Jupiters"
100
The region between 2AU and 3.5AU, home to millions of asteroids is known as this.
What is the Asteroid Belt
100
Based on dating of rocks from Earth, Mars and Meteorites (as well as several other observations) the solar system is estimated to be this old.
What is 4.5 billion years
100
This layer of the sun has a temperature of roughly 5800K and is where most of the visible light from the Sun comes from.
What is the Photosphere
100
Photons created by fusion in the Sun’s core take approximately this long to reach the photosphere.
What is 100,000 years
200
This method of exoplanet detection requires a planets orbit to take it between its host star and the Earth.
What is the Transit method
200
Popularized in the 1760’s this relation between planets and their relative distance from the sun lead to the discovery of Ceres but was ultimately shown inaccurate with the discovery of Neptune
What is the Titius-Bode rule
200
The early solar system was home to thousands of planetesimals which were continuously colliding and forming larger and larger bodies (protoplanets then eventually planets), because of these collisions this time in the solar system’s history is known as this.
What is the Period of Heavy Bombardment
200
Due to the Sun’s gaseous nature (not a solid body like Earth or Mars) stuff at the equator rotates faster than stuff at the poles an effect known as this.
What is Differential Rotation
200
DOUBLE JEOPARDY!! The process requiring temperatures in excess of 7 million Kelvin by which 4 Hydrogen atoms become 1 Helium atom produces vast quantities of energy and neutrinos is known as this.
What is the P-P chain (fusion)
300
This method of exoplanet discovery is difficult to use due to the relative brightness of the host star compared to the exoplanet (match vs lighthouse).
What is Direct Imaging
300
Asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit are called this
What are Apollo Asteroids
300
According to Nebular Theory as gas and dust collapse into the middle of a cloud of dust (nebula), gravitational energy becomes heat energy giving off light and heat. The confluence of this energy is called this.
What is a Protostar (Protosun)
300
Powerful magnetic field “loops” protruding through the Sun’s photosphere shuts down convection and causes cooler areas known as these.
What are Sun Spots
300
The Sun outputs roughly 3.85x10^26 Watts of energy every second, a measurement which is referred to as this.
What is 1 Solar Luminosity
400
This method of exoplanet detection is possible because planets have gravitational influence on their host stars and not just stars influencing their planets.
What is the Wobble method or Radial Velocity
400
The Earth passes through the dust trail left by a comet resulting in more shooting stars than a typical night. An event we call this
What is a Meteor shower
400
DOUBLE JEAPORDY!! When fusion first began in the sun solar wind blew light elements and ices out of the inner solar system. The outermost distance to which ices were vaporized is called this.
What is The Frost Line
400
Thanks to these features in the Sun’s spectrum we can determine its composition.
What are Absorption Lines
400
Unlike the center of the Sun this process, used in nuclear power plants, requires splitting atoms rather than combining them.
What is Fission
500
Named for a famous astronomer, this space telescope was designed to observe a patch of sky for transiting exoplanets by measuring the light intensity of the same set of stars night after night.
What is the Kepler Space Telescope
500
Discovered in 1979 this geologic layer was likely deposited globally by the same impact that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
What is the Iridium Layer
500
Planetesimals who’s initial orbits placed them beyond the orbit of Neptune are still largely present in their original orbits is a region of the solar system know as this.
What is the Kuiper Belt
500
The element Helium was first discovered in this extremely hot-sparse gas layer of the Sun.
What is the Chromosphere
500
The Sun is in a constant state of balance between its gravitational collapse and expansion due to fusion energy known as this.
What is Hydrostatic Equilibrium
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