The Disappearance of Dinos
What is the definition of mass extinction?
When many species die at the same time
Who was Gene Shoemaker?
A Planetary Scientist
What is a satellite?
An object orbitting a larger object
What are the four terresterial planets?
Mecury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
True or False: A planet can transit its star twice per orbit
False :(
It can only do it once per orbit.
When was the last mass extinction?
65 million years ago
Where is the Barringer Crater located?
It is located near Winslow, Arizona.
Define astronomical unit. What is equivalent to in kilometers?
AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun. It is about 150 million kilometers.
Name the planets in order from the Sun? (include Ceres and Pluto
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Neputne, and Pluto
Spectrum lines show what?
They show what wavelengths of light the gases in a star emit.
What are the two theories that explain the most recent mass extinction?
Climate change and a huge asteriod
What did Gene Shomaker use to learn about the Moon's geology?
Telescopes
What is the difference between a comet and a meteor?
A comet is a chunk of ice, dust, and rock material a few kilometers in size which orbits the Sun. While a meteor is a streak of light in the sky from gravel and pebble sized meteriods; also know as a shooting star.
True or False: Venus' surface is hot enough to melt lead
True!
Define transit.
Transit is when one object appears to move across another object as seen from the perspective of an observer
Who is Glen Penfield and what did he discover?
He is a geophysicist that discovered the Chicxulub Crater in 1978 in Chicxulub in Yucatan, Mexico. Found shocked quartz and tektites in the crater and that it measures 180kn instead of 160kn in diameter.
What did he discover in the Barringer Crater and why is it important to the asteriod theory(relating to the mass extinction of the dinos)?
He found shocked quartz(coesite) which is formed by a large impact. That evidence suggested that it could not have formed from a volcanic explosion.
What is a nebula and how is it created?
A nebula is a cloud of gas and dust in space between stars. Stars can be created here. It can be created from dying planets (when planets run out of fuel to burn off).
Does Mars have satelites? If so, how many and what are their names?
Yes. Mars has 2 satelites, Phobos and Deimos (moons)
Define the Wobble Method and the Doppler Shift.
The wobble method is a method to detect a possible planet by studying the spectrum lines of stars. Doppler Shift is the shifting of a star's spectrum as it moves.
What evidence did Walter Alvarez and his team discover that helped contribute to the mass extinction theory? What did they conclude from this evidence?
They discovered a band of sedimentary rock that contained unusually high levels of the element iridium (found in asteroids), which dated to be around 65 million years old. That helped them conclude that the vaporization of an asteroid released large amounts of iridium into the atmosphere, which then fell to the ground as dust as the dinosaurs disappeared.
Name 2 important discoveries that he made.
-helped map the geological structures on the Moon using telescopes
-discovered the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (with wife Carolyn and David Levy)
-discovered more than 800 asteroids
Name three of the criteria that scientist use to classify a planet as a dwarf planet.
- has to orbit the Sun
-has to be big enough to be round
-does not pull in the objects near it
After what roman god was Saturn named after?
After what roman god was Mars named after?
The roman god of agriculture
The roman god or war (Ares)
What is an exoplanet and name the two problems of finding exoplanets.
An exoplanet is a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
-the stars are very far away
-light coming from a star is too bright