Astronomy 2232F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Bright Spot, Dwarf Planet, Gulli
12 Feb 2017
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Solid, rocky bodies that orbit the sun. Irregularly shaped to spherical: size range ~1km 950km in diameter, often pitted or cratered. Left over remnants from the formation of solar system. Total mass of all asteroid is less than that of the moon. More than million known: probably many more unknown. Asteroid-moon systems: over 150 have satellites, some have two. Ida was the first discovered with its small moon dactyl: two bodies of equal size orbit each other, also triple asteroid systems. Main asteroid belt lies between the orbits of mars and jupiter. Large gap between mars and jupiter thought that there may be a planet between there: no planet, just asteroid belt. ~1. 1-1;9 million over 1km; millions of smaller ones. Trojans share orbit with a larger planet: l4 and l5 lagrangian points keep asteroids from colliding with planet (green dots, trojan associated with jupiter. 2011 western discovered earth"s first trojan asteroid and mapped its orbit with the earth.
