Questions on Astronomy: Types of Planets and the Distance Between Them

Why Pluto was Demoted to a Dwarf Planet

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

A dwarf planet refers to a planetary mass object that is not a natural satellite. The implication is that it is not in the direct orbit of the sun. Additionally, it is not massive enough to allow its gravity to crush it into a spheroid. As such, the planet Pluto can be referred to as a dwarf planet because of the following reasons. In essence, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet since it has not cleared its surrounding. Pluto follows the rule of being round and orbiting the sun. However, it has not yet cleared the surroundings of its orbit. Clearing the surrounding of the orbit means that when a planet is revolving around the sun, its gravity should be in a position to sweep and remove any objects that may be in the orbit. Otherwise, the chances of other bodies clashing into the planet are very high, and some may even become additional moons. For this reason, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet.

Difference between Terrestrial and Jovian Planets

Jovian planets refer to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune while terrestrial planets refers to Mercury, Venus, and Earth. Several significant distinctions separate these two. First, their surfaces make all the differences as Jovian planets have a gaseous surface while the terrestrial ones are made of solid surfaces. Additionally, Jovian planets are much larger than terrestrial planets as seen in the difference in their diameters. Regarding atmospheric composition, terrestrial planets have carbon dioxide and nitrogen while hydrogen and helium are found in abundance in the atmospheres of Jovian planets. Their cores are another major point of disparity. For example in Jovian planets, the core is denser as compared to Terrestrial planets. The Jovian planets are far away from the sun as compared to Terrestrial ones. What is more, the Jovian planets have numerous moons as compared to those of the Terrestrial planets.

How a Black Hole Forms

The supernova in an exploding star is one of the many ways of forming the black hole. When a star is nearly twenty-five times the mass of the sun, its longevity ends, and it therefor explodes. Its outer part comes outwards at high speed; while on the contrary, its inner side that is its core crumbles underneath. Supposing there is enough mass in the collapsing inner core, then the gravity will compress it to the extent that it transforms into a black hole. As the process finishes, the black hole will have a few times regarding mass as compared to the sun. Such a phenomenon is referred to as the stellar-mass black hole, and it is what many astronomers refer to as the regular black hole.

Describe the vertical temperature strata for each type of precipitation and how such a sequence of precipitation might occur.

The vertical temperature profile is a significant aspect in controlling snow, sleet, or freezing rain whenever the weather is changing. Surface precipitation turns to snow when the atmospheric temperature is at zero degrees to make sure that no melting occurs. On the other hand, there is a thin layer above the ground that is above the freezing point. Such a difference in temperature explains why the snow changes to rain when it's afternoon. In the example given, the change again from rain to sleet is because of the temperatures that are just above the freezing point. In truth, sleet only occurs if snowflakes partially melt and then refreezes, which, in this case, explains the changes observed when the sleet changes to snow and vice versa. For incomplete melting to happen, the highest temperature in the melting layer lies between (1 and 30C), for a relatively thin layer (less than 2,000 feet thick). When the snowflake fully melts, and the surface temperature is under freezing, freezing rain will be the dominant precipitation type as in the case of this example. When the greatest temperature in the liquefying layer exceeds (30C), the snowflake completely melts and becomes raindrop. Considering the freezing zone just above the covering is icy. Therefore, there is not enough time for the raindrops to solidify into sleet. As a result, the raindrops freeze on meeting with the covering and can creating a glaze.

Method of Calculating the Distance from the Sun and Related Limitation

Scientists use the parallax method in estimating the distance to the stars. It is so because of the Earth's rotation around the sun. Ideally, stars, which are near, shift their positions against those that are farther away in a phenomenon referred to as the parallax shift. The distance observed in the change coupled with the diameter of earth allows for the calculation of the distance between stars across the galaxy. The only limitation to this method lies in the accuracy of estimating the shift in the position of the stars. Markedly, the distance between near-stars and those far away may be hard to figure since measurement may be in light years. The units used in measuring the distance between stars are light years, astronomical units, and parsec. The distance helps in classifying stars because the intensity of brightness is taken into consideration. The distance of stars is seen in their luminosity and color, which is measured in temperature. These factors help in the classification of stars and are helpful in measuring their distances. As seen in both the parallax shift and the other method for the determination of the distance of stars, brightness plays a huge role in both cases and as seen in this case, it is significant in the classification of the stars themselves. For instance, the sun is classified due to its brightness and color as mentioned earlier.