The Cosmic Perspective (9th Edition)
9th Edition
ISBN: 9780134874364
Author: Jeffrey O. Bennett, Megan O. Donahue, Nicholas Schneider, Mark Voit
Publisher: PEARSON
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Videos
Textbook Question
Chapter 12, Problem 51EAP
Comet Temperatures. Find the “no greenhouse” temperatures for a comet at distances from the Sun of 50,000 AU (in the Oort cloud), 3 AU, and 1 AU (see Mathematical Insight 10.1). Assume that the comet reflects 3% of the incoming sunlight. At which location will the temperature be high enough for water ice to vaporize (about 150 K)? How do your results explain comet anatomy?
Expert Solution & Answer
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solution
Students have asked these similar questions
Tutorial
You observe a comet 0.32 AU from Earth with a tail that is 1.7 degrees long. How long is the tail in AU?
How long is the tail in kilometers?
How many times could the U.S. fit along the length of the tail? (The width of the U.S. is 4,313 km.)
Part 1 of 3
You observe a comet 0.32 AU from Earth with a tail that is 1.7 degrees long. How long is the tail in AU?
We use the small angle formula to calculate the length of the tail in AU.
arc seconds d
Ꮎ
2.06 x 105
D
Solving for the linear distance gives:
dAU = DAU
dAU =
=
AU
arc seconds
2.06 x 105
Using the version of Kepler's laws of planetary motion.
Calculate the orbital period of an Oort cloud comet if the semimajor axis of the comet's orbit is 50,000 AU.
The mass of an average comet's nucleus is about 1.0 x 1014 kg. If the Oort cloud contains 2.0 x 1011 comet nuclei, what is the mass of the cloud in units of Earth masses? (Note: Earth's mass is
5.97 x 1024 kg.)
M.
Compare that with Saturn's mass. (Note: Saturn's mass in units of Earth's mass is 95.2 Ma)
mass of the Oort cloud
mass of Saturn
Need Help?
Read It
Chapter 12 Solutions
The Cosmic Perspective (9th Edition)
Ch. 12 - Prob. 1VSCCh. 12 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 12 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 12 - Prob. 4VSCCh. 12 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 12 - 1. Briefly define asteroid. comet, dwarf planet,...Ch. 12 - Briefly describe asteroid sizes, shapes, masses,...Ch. 12 - 3. Distinguish between primitive meteorites and...Ch. 12 - 4. What do meteorites and spacecraft observations...Ch. 12 - Prob. 5EAP
Ch. 12 - Prob. 6EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 7EAPCh. 12 - How do we know the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud...Ch. 12 - Prob. 9EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 10EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 11EAPCh. 12 - Briefly describe the evidence suggesting that an...Ch. 12 - Prob. 13EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 14EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 15EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 16EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 17EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 18EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 19EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 20EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 21EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 22EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 23EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 24EAPCh. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - The Role of Jupiter. Suppose that Jupiter had...Ch. 12 - Prob. 41EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 42EAPCh. 12 - Comet Tails. Describe in your own words why comets...Ch. 12 - Prob. 44EAPCh. 12 - Adding Up Asteroids. It’s estimated that there are...Ch. 12 - Impact Energies. A relatively small impact crater...Ch. 12 - The “Near Miss” of Toutatis. The 5-kilometer...Ch. 12 - Prob. 50EAPCh. 12 - Comet Temperatures. Find the “no greenhouse”...Ch. 12 - Comet Dust Accumulation. A few hundred tons of...
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- We have a lot of good images of the large moons of Jupiter and Saturn from the Galileo and Cassini spacecraft missions (check out NASA’s Planetary Photojournal site, at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov, to see the variety). Now that the New Horizons mission has gone to Pluto, why don’t we have as many good images of all sides of Pluto and Charon?arrow_forwardThe mass of an average comet's nucleus is about 1.0 x 1014 kg. If the Oort cloud contains 2.0 x 101 comet nuclei, what is the mass of the cloud in units of Earth masses? (Note: Earth's mass is 5.97 x 1024 kg.) M. Compare that with Saturn's mass. (Note: Saturn's mass in units of Earth's mass is 95.2 M.) mass of the Oort cloud mass of Saturnarrow_forwardThis is a challenging problem. Solve it on paper, writing out each step carefully. When doing calculations, do not round intermediate values. Note: If you have approached the problem in a principled way, do not abandon your approach if your numerical answer is not accepted; check your calculations! This problem is closely related to the spectacular impact of the comet Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter in July 1994. (More information about the event can be found here.) A rock far outside a solar system similar to ours is initially moving very slowly relative to its sun, in the plane of the orbit of a large planet (about the size of Jupiter) around its sun. The rock falls toward the sun, but on its way to the sun it collides with the planet. The mass of the planet is 4 x 1027 kg, the mass of its sun is 3.2 x 1030 kg, the radius of the planet is 1.4 x 10® m, and the center-to-center distance from the planet to the sun is 9.2 x 1011 m. Part 1 (a) Calculate the rock's speed just before it…arrow_forward
- The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission reached Comet 67P at the time when the comet approached perihelion. Figure 20 shows jets emerging from the comet. Do these images confirm that comets are ‘dirty snowballs’? Why, or why not?arrow_forwardA comet’s perihelion distance is 1 AU, and its aphelion distance is 15 AU. In the following, we make a very crude calculation of the average rate of shrinkage of the comet.(a) Calculate the comet’s orbital period.(b) Estimate how many meters of ice the comet will lose each time it orbits the Sun. (Hint: To simplify the calculations, you may assume that ice sublimates off the comet’s surface during one tenth of its orbital period, that the average cometary distance over that period is 1.5 AU and the density of the cometary ice is 600 kg m−3.)arrow_forwardOriginally thought to be the realm of comets, over the past two decades we discovered that the Kuiper Belt region hosts also many other objects similar in size to Pluto (Figure 22). This seems to imply that there are two completely different types of objects in the region. Do you think that both types of objects formed in this region, or some of these may have migrated to this region at a later time? Briefly explain your reasoning.arrow_forward
- A new Terrestrial planet has been discovered orbiting a nearby Sun-like star. Astronomers have obtained spectra of this planet and determined that the atmosphere is composed of roughly 99% CO2, and the remaining 1% is mostly N2 and is very thin compared to Earth's atmosphere. Briefly describe how the planet could have developed such an atmosphere.arrow_forwardA typical comet contains some 1013 kg of water ice. How many comets would have to strike Earth in order to account for the roughly 2×1021 kg of water presently found on our planet? (Hint: simple division) If this amount of water accumulated over a period of 500 million years, how frequently must Earth have been hit by comets during that time? (Hint: Calculate, on the average, how many comets hit the Earth per year during that time.)arrow_forwardIn the previous lab, we calculated the area in between Mars' and Jupiter's orbit to be ~1.6e18 km2. Since there are roughly 750,000 asteroids, how much area (in km2) is available for one asteroid? Use this calculation to argue whether you are likely (or not) to hit an asteroid while flying through the asteroid belt. (Hint: To answer the first part of the question, find the area per asteroid)arrow_forward
- A typical comet contains some 1013 kg of water ice. How many comets would have to strike Earth in order to account for the roughly 2×1021 kg of water presently found on our planet? If this amount of water accumulated over a period of 500 million years, how frequently must Earth have been hit by comets during that time?arrow_forwardWhy Wait? To explore a planet, we often send first a flyby, then an orbiter, then a probe or a lander. There’s no doubt that probes and landers give the most close-up detail, so why don’t we send this type of mission first? For the planet of your choice, based just on the information in this chap- ter, give an example of why such a strategy might cause a mission to provide incomplete information about the planet or to fail outright.arrow_forwardCalculate the radius of Jupiters Roche limit for a satellite with density equal to the planet. Which of Jupiters moons is closest to the Roche limit? What might that tell you about the relationship between that moon and Jupiters ring? (Note: Necessary data are given in Celestial Profile: Jupiter and Appendix Table A-11.)arrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
SEE MORE QUESTIONS
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
AstronomyPhysicsISBN:9781938168284Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. WolffPublisher:OpenStax
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399920Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana BackmanPublisher:Cengage Learning
Astronomy
Physics
ISBN:9781938168284
Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher:OpenStax
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399920
Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Kepler's Three Laws Explained; Author: PhysicsHigh;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyR6EO_RMKE;License: Standard YouTube License, CC-BY