Elementary Astronomy
Elementary Astronomy
Elementary Astronomy
SOLAR SYSTEM
Difference between a Star and a Planet
The solar system is made up of the sun and the celestial objects bound to it by
gravity. These objects include the eight planets and their known moons and
billions of small bodies that include asteroids, comets, meteoroids and
interplanetary dust.
Stars and planets
A star is a large celestial body made up of hot gases known as plasma which
are held together by own gravity.
Plasma is an ionized gas in which a certain proportion of electrons are free
rather than bound to an atom or molecule.
The sun is a large star. The sun is also the closest star to the earth. The
distance between the earth and the sun is approximately 149.60 million
kilometers.
A Galaxy is a giant collection of stars, gas and dust.
Most stars in the universe are in the galaxies. Nearly all of the stars visible in
the night sky are within our own galaxy, sometimes called the Milky Way
Galaxy.
Planet is a major (large) object which is in orbit around a star.
There are eight planets which are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Characteristics of a planet
It is a celestial body that orbits a star.
It is massive enough so that its own gravity cause it to assume a spherical
shape.
It has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.
Pluto is not considered as a planet because it resides in an area of space
populated by numerous other objects. It is now designated a dwarf planet. The
dwarf planet does not meet the third characteristic i.e. has not cleared the
neighborhood around its orbit.
Differences between stars and planets
Stars Planets
Very big in size but they appear small because Very small in size as compared to stars.
they are very far away
Asteroids (minor planets) are small solar system bodies in orbit around the
sun, especially in the inner solar system. Asteroids are smaller than planets
but larger than a speck of dust.
Or one of many rocky objects, with widths from over 900 km to less than one
kilometre, which circle the sun
A comet is a solid body orbiting the sun typically composed of rock dust or ice.
Most comets were formed from condensed interstellar gas and dust clouds in
the early stages of the creation of the universe.
Or an object that moves around the sun, usually at a great distance from it,
that is seen on rare occasions from Earth as a bright line in the sky
Where:
F is the magnitude of the attractive force between the two point masses.
G is the universal gravitation constant.
m₁ is the mass of the first point mass.
m₂ is the mass of the second point mass.
r is the distance between the centers of the two point masses.
Constellations
The Concept of Constellation
Explain the concept of constellation
Constellation is a group of stars that form a definite shape or pattern when
viewed from the earth.
Or any of the groups of stars in the sky which seem from Earth to form a
pattern and have been given names
Constellations are usually named after mythological characters, people,
animals and things. There are about 88 known constellations. The various
constellations are visible during a particular period of the year.
Types of tides
There are two types of tides:
Spring tides
They occur during the full moon and the new moon. During this time, the
earth,the sun and the moon are in a line. The gravitational forces of the moon
and the sun both contribute to the tides.
At these times, the high tides are very high and the low tides are very low.
These are known as spring high tines and spring low tides respectively.
Spring tides are especially strong tides.Proxigen spring tide is a rare unusually
high tide. It occurs when the moon is both unusually close to the earth (at its
closest perigee, called the proxigee) and in the new moon phase(when the moon
is between the earth and the sun).
The proxigen spring spring tide occurs at most once every 1.5 years.
Neap tide
When the sun and the moon are not aligned, the gravitational forces cancel
each other out, and the tides are not very high or very low. These are called
neap tides.
They occur during quarter moons. During this time, the gravitational forces of
the moon and the sun are perpendicular to one another (with respect to the
earth).
This causes the bulges to cancel each other. The result is a smaller difference
between high and low tide and is known as a neap tide. Neap tides are
especially weak tides.