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Study Notes

Planetary Bodies and Solar System Components

Moon cycles include new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, and full moon, with surface features such as Maria and Highlands.
The moon was formed after an impact on Earth by a protostar named Theia, leading to the Condensation Theory.
Venus rotates retrograde, has evidence of volcanic activity, temperatures of 450 degrees Celsius, a CO2 atmosphere, and a rigid crust.
Mars, the red planet, is cold and dry, with extreme and longer seasons, half the size of Earth, and evidence of past water.
The Solar System components include planets, asteroids, moons, dwarf planets, and comets.
Asteroids are rocky or metallic objects larger than 100m across, while comets are composed of nucleus and some have a tail.
Meteoroids are small, less than 1m across, meteors are the bright trail left behind, and meteorites are rocks from space that fall through Earth's atmosphere.
Planets orbit the sun, are spherical, and have cleared their orbit, while dwarf planets have only orbited the sun and are spherical.
Jupiter's moons, the Galilean moons, include Ganymede, Europa, Io, and Callisto, each with distinct characteristics.
The Solar System has gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and ice giants (Neptune and Uranus).
Terrestrial planets are inner planets with a composition of rock or iron, while Jovian planets are outer planets composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
Prograde motion is when the object spins in the same direction as its orbit, while retrograde motion is the opposite, and most planets have prograde motion.