CK12 Earth Science

Figure 25.25: This composite image compares Saturn’s largest moon, Titan (right) to Earth (left). Titan has an atmosphere simila ...

Uranus Uranus, shown inFigure25.26, is named for the Greek god of the sky. In Greek mythology, Uranus was the father of Cronos, ...

Figure 25.27: This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the faint rings of Uranus. The planet is tilted on its side, so t ...

Uranus has 27 moons that we know of. All but a few of them are named for characters from the plays of William Shakespeare. The f ...

Figure 25.29: This image of Neptune was taken by Voyager 2 in 1989. The Great Dark Spot seen on the left center in the picture h ...

km/h (700 mi/h), close to the speed of sound. This extreme weather surprised astronomers, since the planet receives little energ ...

Pluto Pluto was once considered one of the outer planets, but when the definition of a planet was changed in 2006, Pluto became ...

What causes gaps in Saturn’s rings? Why are scientists interested in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan? What liquid is foun ...

Explain where comets come from and what causes their tails. Differentiate between meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites. Introdu ...

Figure 25.31: Asteroid 951 Gaspra was the first asteroid photographed at close range. This picture was taken in 1991 by the Gali ...

Figure 25.32: The asteroid belt is a ring of many asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The white dots in the figure ...

caused many organisms to die and many species to go extinct. Astronomers are always on the lookout for new asteroids, and follow ...

Figure 25.33: This photo captures a meteor - also called a ’shooting star,’ streaking across the sky to the right of the Milky W ...

Figure 25.34: A lunar meteorite ( 27 ) they move back to the outer solar system. The time between one appearance of a comet and ...

Figure 25.35: Comet Hale-Bopp, also called the Great Comet of 1997, shone brightly for several months in 1997. The comet has two ...

Dwarf Planets Thedwarf planetsof our solar system are exciting proof of how much we are learning about our solar system. With th ...

Pluto From the time it was discovered in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was considered the ninth planet of the solar system. However, it ...

Figure 25.37: Largest Known Trans-Neptunian Objects. ( 36 ) Lesson Summary Asteroids are irregularly-shaped, rocky bodies that ...

cloud? Why is Pluto no longer considered a planet? Name the four known dwarf planets in our solar system. Further Reading / Su ...

meteorite The solid portion of a meteor that hits Earth’s surface. meteoroid Asmall rock in interplanetary space that has not ye ...