Astronomy 1021 Midterm: Mid Term Exam #2 Prep

• School: Western University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: Astronomy 1021
• Professor: Robert Cockcroft

Document Summary

Solar system and telescopes: all three techniques used in study of solar system: Timing: major focus in last year or so: Asteroids, comets, kuiper belt objects, moon, mars. Measuring distances: kepler gave us relative (proportion to something else) distances, transit of venus gave us absolute distances. Measuring size: telescopes can measure the angular diameter of the planets, with distance and angular size we can know the actual size of planet. Measuring masses: observe moons going around planets. Tuesday, january 24, 2017: measure angular distances, orbits and periods, with the mass and radius we can calculate average density. Hampered by location (earth or earth orbit) Cheaper, can be used long-term and upgraded. Lots of new objects still to nd. Can get closer to solar system objects. Takes a long time to build, launch, travel. Orbiter: a spacecraft that goes into orbit around worlds. More time to gather data but cannot obtain detailed info about the worlds surface.