EASC 108 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Terrestrial Planet, Meteoroid, Solar Wind

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Earth Sciences
• Course: EASC 108
• Professor: Glyn Williams- Jones

Document Summary

Asteroids (cratered, angular, rocky leftovers of planet formation) Satellite: an object that orbits a planet (e. g. , our moon) Asteroid: a relatively small (> 1 m), rocky object that orbits a star. Comet: a relatively small, icy object that orbits a star. All asteroids in the solar system would not even add up to even 1 small terrestrial planet. Largest is ceres with a diameter ard 1000km. Measuring orbit of asteroid"s moon gives us the asteroid"s mass. Some are solid rock; others are just piles of rubble. Most asteroids orbit in the asteroid belt btwn mars and jupiter. Meteoroid: a small (<1m) rock orbiting the sun. Meteorite: a rock falls through earth"s atm to the surface. Meteorite types: primitive: unchanged composition since they first formed 4. 6 billion years ago, stony or carbon-rich. Stony primitive meteorite: made of rock material with shiny metal flakes.