Transcript Minor Bodies of the Solar System

Minor Bodies of the Solar
System
Chapter 7
Kepler’s Laws
• 1. Planets orbit the sun in elliptical orbits with
the sun at one focus of the ellipse
Keper’s Second Law
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As a planet moves in its orbit, a line connecting the planet to the sun sweeps
out equal areas in equal times
Kepler’s Third Law
• P2 = a3
(provided the period is in Earth years
and the semi-major axis in
astronomical units)
The Main Asteroid Belt
Ceres: Largest Main Belt Asteroids
Gaspra and Ida (and Dactyl)
Mathilde and Eros
NEAR close-ups of Eros
Resonances in the Asteroid Belt
Main Asteroid Types
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C type: carbonaceous, low albedo
S type: stony or stony-metallic, redder
E type: high albedo, magnesium silicate
D type: very dark and red
M type: mostly iron and nickel
E, S, and M types may be fragments from
a larger body that underwent
differentiation
Asteroid Light Curves
• Antigone
Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud
Pluto: Planet or Kuiper Belt Object
Pluto
Sedna
Comets: Dirty Snowballs
SOHO Comets
Comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp
Impact with Comet Tempel 1 at 23,000 mph on July 4, 2005
Shoemaker Levy 9
Hits Jupiter July 1994
Meteors and Meteorites
Meteor Showers