ASTR 103 – June 2008 Checklist of Names and Concepts to Remember – Solar System

Solar System Objects
General facts
– Which are the 4 terrestrial planets
– Which are the 4 jovian planets
– Which are the three dwarf planets and two plutoids
– Which 5 planets were known in antiquity
– Which planets / dwarf planets have satellites, and how many (if more than three, just the approximate value)
– Which of those same objects have rings
– Which objects have a solid surface / Of those, which ones have an atmosphere, and which ones water / ice
– Which objects have spacecraft flown by, orbited, landed on, humans been on
– Which (four) places are considered more likely than others to have (had) life
– What and where are the Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort Cloud
Main objects: Origin of name, size, distance from the Sun, appearance, main features, extent of exploration
– The Sun (including different parts, and features of the active Sun)
– Mercury
– Venus
– Earth's Moon
– Mars (+ Phobos, Deimos)
– Jupiter (+ Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and many more)
– Saturn (+ Titan, Mimas, and many more)
– Uranus (+ Miranda and others)
– Neptune (+ Triton and others)
– Ceres
– Pluto (+ Charon and two more)
– Eris (+ one satellite)
Other Solar System objects and related phenomena
– Meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites
– Comets
– Solar wind
– Auroras
– Zodiacal light
– What is a resonance?
– What are tidal forces? What is the Roche limit?
Objects outside the Solar System
Individual objects: What is each one, and why was it mentioned
– Polaris
– Sirius
– Alpha (and Proxima) Centauri
– M31, the Andromeda Galaxy
– The Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud
Notice: For all numbers listed above you are only asked to know approximate values