These compressional waves travel through solids faster than the transverse waves that cannot travel through liquids.
What are P waves
100
This outermost spherical part of the solar system is thought to be the source of most comets.
What is the Oort Cloud
100
This event likely explains why Uranus’ rotational axis lies nearly parallel to the ecliptic.
What is an impact
100
As of January 2013 Kepler had found 2740 of these.
What are exoplanets
200
Convergent, divergent and transform
What are 3 types of plate boundaries
200
Archae
What type of bacteria are found in today’s hydrothermal vents, the earliest bacteria, bacteria that can survive under extreme conditions.
200
This name is given to volcanoes that “erupt” ice and water.
What is cryovolcanism
200
This layer is probably responsible for Jupiter’s and Saturn’s strong magnetic fields.
What is liquid metallic hydrogen
200
Exoplanets with the possibility to have this compound are of great interest in the search for other worlds.
What is water
300
Frozen in the crust or poles, under the surface, or into hydrated minerals.
What is where scientists think Mars is presently storing water
300
This type of atmosphere is thought to be close to the original atmospheres planets had before planetary dynamics changed the atmospheric composition.
What are primitive atmospheres
300
Lakes of liquid methane with icy methane rafts have been observed on this moon of Saturn.
What is Titan
300
All gas giants except this one emit more energy than they take in from the Sun.
What is Uranus
300
Planetary scientists are most interested in planets of this size.
What is Earth-size
400
Basalt
What is the most prevalent type of rock at the surface of the terrestrial planets
400
Audio: Jimi Hendrix likely did not pay homage to this planetary moon’s methane rich atmosphere when he wrote his famous song.
What is Titan's purple haze
400
This chemical property might explain why small icy worlds are still active and constantly resurfacing themselves
What is the lower melting point of ice
400
These air flows on the gas giants appearance as bands.
What are zonal jets
400
Planetary scientists are most interested in planets found in this area around a star.
What is the habitable zone
500
This theory describes how planets develop magnetic fields by having a planetary-scale convecting, electrically conductive fluid in a planet’s interior that is subject to an external magnetic field.
What is the Dynamo Theory
500
Of the planetary-scale processes that drive biological change, this may be the most difficult to constrain in the geologic record.
What is irradiation by a nearby supernova
500
This process likely has increased the density of Io and Europa over time by driving off water.
What is tidal heating
500
Most gas giants have a layer of this beneath their gaseous atmospheres.
What is liquid molecular hydrogen
500
This is how the Kepler mission works.
What is by tracking changes in brightness through rapid digital imaging of stars