GLOSSARY 409
Meteor
A short-lived ‘shooting star’ created when a small fragment of dust or ice enters a planet’s atmosphere and burns up due to friction.
Meteorite
A fragment of rock from space, originating as part of an asteroid, that survives entry into a planet’s atmosphere and makes it to the surface.
Moon
When capitalized, the name of Earth’s single natural satellite. By extension, a moon (uncapitalized) is any natural satellite of a larger solar system object such as a planet, dwarf planet
or asteroid.
Near-Earth Object
An asteroid or comet whose orbit lies close to Earth’s, and which typically spends much of its time closer to the Sun than Mars.
Nebula
Any cloud of gas or dust floating in space. Nebulae are the material from which stars are born, and into which they are scattered again at the end of their lives.
Oort Cloud
A spherical shell of dormant comets, up to two light years across, that surrounds the entire solar system out to the limit of the Sun’s Hill sphere.
Orbit
The typically elliptical path that a less massive body follows around a more massive one under the influence of gravity. Circular orbits are just an unusual form of ellipse.
Orbital period
The length of
time taken for any astronomical object to complete a single orbit.
Planet
An object that follows its own orbit around the Sun, has enough mass and gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape, and which has cleared the region around it of other objects in long-term stable orbits (apart from its own satellites).
410 GLOSSARY
Planetary nebula
An expanding shell of gas thrown off by a Sunlike star at the end of its life.
Protoplanetary nebula
A dense, doughnut-shaped cloud of gas and dust left behind after the formation of a star, out of which planets and other objects coalesce in orbit.
Regular satellite
A natural satellite in a roughly circular orbit with low inclination to its planet’s equator, which probably formed in orbit around
the planet.
Resonance
A relationship between two objects orbiting a third, in which the orbital period of one object is a simple fraction of the other. As a result, the objects frequently return to the same alignment.
Retrograde orbit
An orbit in the opposite direction to the ‘normal’ patterns found in
the solar system: for example, an asteroid
or comet that orbits the Sun in the opposite direction to the planets, or a moon that orbits in the opposite direction to its planet’s rotation.
Rocky planet
A relatively small planet predominantly composed of solid matter – sometimes known as a terrestrial planet due to their resemblance to Earth.
Satellite
Any object in orbit around a planet or smaller solar system objects. Satellites may be natural or artificial, and natural satellites may be regular or irregular.
Star
A huge ball of gas, compressed under
its own gravity, that generates light and other forms of energy through nuclear reactions in its core.
Trojan
One of a group of asteroids that orbit the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter, and are found in clouds at two of the Lagrangian points of the Jupiter– Sun system.
THE ARTS 411 GLOSSARY
Index
Albion 354
Amalthea 230, 232
Apollo missions 378
Apophis (99942) 180
Ariel 296, 305
asteroid belt 160
asteroids 24, 160–96
missions to 390
astronomical unit (AU) 8
birth of solar systems
28
Bok globules 28
Callisto 226–8, 232, 396
Asgard and Valhalla
228
Calypso 262, 284
centaurs 26, 336–8
Ceres (1) 10–11, 16, 24,
168
Charon 346, 350, 402
chemical weathering
108
Chicxulub Basin 118
Chiron 336
chromosphere 58
Churyumov-
Gerasimenko (67P),
comet 326
comets 24, 46, 210,
320–44, 370
missions to 390
orbits 320
continental crust 102
Cordelia 292, 304
coronal mass ejections
(CMEs) 64
Cruithne (3753) 166,
186, 188
Dactyl (243) 174
Deimos 158
Dione 192, 258, 264, 266,
284
Earth 86, 92–106
atmosphere 104
climate 108
crustal geology 102
early 94
impacts from space
116
interior 100
life on 106
orbit of 96
origins 94, 334
in the solar system
108–18
Earth-Moon system
122, 188
Enceladus 46, 236, 250,
256–8, 284, 398
geysers 258
Encke, comet 328
Epimetheus 252, 284
Eris 10–11, 16, 362
Eros (433) 162, 190, 390
eukaryotes 106
Europa 46, 216–20, 232
ocean 220
Pwyll crater 218
Ganymede 222–4, 232,
268, 396
Tiamat Sulcus 224
Gaspra (951) 172, 174
giant planets 18, 20, 42
formation of 34
Goldilocks zone 92
gravity 12
412 INDEX
Hale-Bopp, comet 342
Halley, comet 340, 390
Hartley 2, comet 334
Haumea 360
Hektor (624) 192, 194
heliosphere 50, 66, 372
Hill sphere 372
Hills Cloud 366, 370
Hydra 352
Hyperion 276, 285
Iapetus 250, 278–80,
282, 285, 398
equatorial ridge 280
ice dwarfs 26
ice giants 286
interior 288
Ida (243) 174
Ikeya-Seki, comet 322
Io 206, 212–14, 232, 396
Pele volcano 214
ISON, comet 344
Itokawa (25143) 178
Ixion 356
Janus 252, 284
Jupiter 10–11, 20, 160,
192, 198–233, 288,
332
cloud belts and zones
202
comet crashes 210
Galileo mission 396
Great Red Spot (GRS)
204
interior 200
Juno mission 396
magnetosphere 206
moons 212–33, 396
Pioneer missions 386
Red Spot Junior and
Baby Red Spot 204
rings 208
Voyager missions
388, 396
Kerberos 352
Kirkwood gaps 162, 248
Kuiper Belt/Kuiper Belt
Objects (KBOs) 9, 26,
346–64, 402
Late Heavy
Bombardment 36,
44, 124
life 46, 106, 154, 220
lost planets 44
Mab 292, 304
magnetosphere 110
Makemake 364
manned exploration,
future of 404
Mars 10–11, 18, 30, 46,
136–58
atmosphere 136
Chryse Planitia 146,
150, 384
explorat
ions 384,
392–4
geography 140
interior 138
life on 154
moons 156–8
Olympus Mons 142
polar caps 148
rovers 154, 394
Valles Marineris 144
Viking missions 154,
384
water on 150–2, 392
Mars Global Surveyor
(MGS) 392
Mathilde (253) 176
Mercury 9, 10–11, 18,
68–78
Caloris Basin 74, 78
interior 72
MESSENGER mission
400
orbit 70
scarps and rupes 76
volcanism 78, 400
meteorites 30, 114
meteors 112
Milky Way 14
Mimas 254, 284
Miranda 294, 305
Moon 18, 30, 94, 120–34
INDEX 413
Apollo missions 378
exploration of 376–80
far side 134
Mare Crisium 128
Montes Apenninus
130
origins 126
seas and highlands
124
Tycho crater 132
moons 22 see also
individual planets
Near Earth Asteroids
162, 164, 188–90
Near-Earth Objects
(NEOs) 164–6
Neptune 9, 10–11, 20, 42,
288, 306–18
interior 288
moons 312–18
rings 310
storms 306, 308
Nereid 316, 318
Nice Model 42, 44, 192,
368
Nix 352
Oberon 302, 305
oceanic crust 102
oceans 104
Oort Cloud 9, 320, 366,
370
Ophelia 292, 304
orbital evolution 40–2
orbital resonance 40
orbits 12, 38, 40
Orion spacecraft 404
Panspermia theory 46
Patroclus (617) 192, 194
Phaethon (3200) 182
Phobos 156
Phoebe 250, 282, 285
Pholus 338
photosphere 52
Pioneer missions 386
Planet Nine 368
planets, defining 16
Pluto 10–11, 16, 346–52,
354, 368
moons 346, 350–2,
402
New Horizons mission
402
surface 348
Prometheus 248, 284
Proteus 314, 318
Quaoar 358
Rhea 266, 285
ring systems 22 see
also individual planets
rocky planets 18
formation 32
Saturn 10–11, 20,
234–85, 288
Cassini/Huygens
missions 398
interior 236
moons 248, 252–85,
398
Pioneer missions 386
polar hexagon 240
rings 242–50
storms 238
Voyager missions 388
Scattered Disc 362
Scheila (592) 184
seasons 98
Sedna 366
Shoemaker-Levy 9,
comet 210, 332–3
67P, comet 390
solar cycle 62
solar flares 60, 62
solar nebula disc model
32
solar system
definition 8
evolution 38
exploring 374–406
future 48
limits 372
major objects 10–11
origins 30
our future in 406
solar wind 48, 50, 64, 66
414 INDEX
Styx 352
Sun 8, 10–11, 30, 48,
50–66, 96
activity 60
atmosphere 58
interior 54
nuclear fusion 54, 56
surface 52
sunspots 52, 60, 62
Telesto 262, 284
Tempel 1, comet 332
Tethys 192, 260, 262,
264, 284
tides 122
Titan 268–74, 285, 398
atmosphere 270
methane cycle 274
surface 272
Titania 300, 305
Triton 312, 314, 318
Trojan asteroids 192,
194
2002 AA29 188
2015 BZ509 196
Umbriel 298, 305
Uranus 10–11, 20, 42,
286–305
interior 288
moons 292–305
ring system 292
tilt 290
Varuna 356
Venus 10–11, 18, 80–90
atmosphere 84
craters 86, 88
interior 82
landers and orbiters
382
volcanism 86, 90
Vesta (4) 170
Voyager missions 388
water cycle 108
Wild 2, comet 324
INDEX 415
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Solar System in Minutes Page 16
