Flashcards: Planetary science

A gravity anomaly is the difference between the observed acceleration of a planet's reaction to gravity and a value predicted from a model.

The magnetosphere of Jupiter is the cavity created in the solar wind by the planet's magnetic field.

The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model in the field of cosmogony to explain the formation and evolution of the Solar System.

An aurora, sometimes referred to as a polar light, is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions.

A bolide (French via Latin from the Greek βολίς bolís, "missile") is an extremely bright meteor, especially one that explodes in the atmosphere.

Cosmochemistry (from Greek κόσμος kósmos, "universe" and χημεία khemeía) or chemical cosmology is the study of the chemical composition of matter in the universe and the processes that led to those compositions.

The Kuiper belt /ˈkaɪpər/ or Dutch pronunciation: ['kœy̯pǝr], sometimes called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a circumstellar disc in the Solar System beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun.

The scattered disc (or scattered disk) is a distant circumstellar disc in the Solar System that is sparsely populated by icy minor planets, a subset of the broader family of trans-Neptunian objects.

the Foucault pendulum (English pronunciation: /fuːˈkoʊ/ foo-KOH; French pronunciation: ​[fuˈko]), or Foucault's pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, is a simple device conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.

Tektites (from Greek τηκτός tēktós, "molten") are gravel-size bodies composed of black, green, brown or gray natural glass formed from terrestrial debris ejected during meteorite impacts.

Planetary nomenclature, like terrestrial nomenclature, is a system of uniquely identifying features on the surface of a planet or natural satellite so that the features can be easily located, described, and discussed.

Selenography is the study of the surface and physical features of the Moon.

(For the view from above the astronomical object's surface, see Extraterrestrial atmospheres.) In astronomy, the term extraterrestrial sky refers to a view of outer space from the surface of a world other than Earth.

An accretion disk is a structure (often a circumstellar disk) formed by diffused material in orbital motion around a massive central body.

The definition of planet, since the word was coined by the ancient Greeks, has included within its scope a wide range of celestial bodies.

The formation of the Solar System began 4.

In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region, as a function of time.

A magnetosphere is the region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are controlled by that object's magnetic field.

Space weathering is the damage that occurs to any object exposed to the harsh environment of outer space.

Earth radius is the distance from the Earth's center to its surface, about 6,371 km (3,959 mi).

Comparative planetary science or comparative planetology is a branch of space science and planetary science in which different natural processes and systems are studied by their effects and phenomena on and between multiple bodies.

Ideas concerning the origin and fate of the world date from the earliest known writings; however, for almost all of that time, there was no attempt to link such theories to the existence of a "Solar System", simply because almost no one knew or believed that the Solar System, in the sense we now understand it, existed.

A quake is the result when the surface of a planet, moon or star begins to shake, usually as the consequence of a sudden release of energy transmitted as seismic waves, and potentially with great violence.

A micrometeoroid is a tiny meteoroid; a small particle of rock in space, usually weighing less than a gram.

A satellite system is a set of gravitationally bound objects in orbit around a planetary mass object or minor planet.