Astronomy of the Solar System Unit 1 Question Answer 2022

Running Head: UNIT 1 QUESTIONS
Astronomy of the Solar System
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1UNIT 1 QUESTIONS
Q21. Are there objects in our solar system that aren’t planets? How would
you categorize these objects?
Answer: The solar system comprises of a central yellow dwarf star that is called the sun with
several planetary bodies that are revolving around it on constant basis and motion. However,
other than the sun and the planets revolving around the sun, there are also numerous other
objects in the solar system (Batygin & Brown, 2016). These objects include planetary satellites,
asteroids, meteors, meteorites, comets, dust particles and others. These objects can be
categorized as explained as follows.
Planetary Satellites – These objects are almost similar in appearance with the planets except they
are much smaller than the planets and they revolve around the planets similar to the motion of
the planets around the sun. Mercury and Venus are confirmed to have no satellites, Earth has
one, Mars has two and the giant planets have many. For the giant planets, the satellites do not
have much effect on the climate and conditions inside the planet but for the smaller terrestrial
planets (Earth and Mars), the satellites play major role (Way et al., 2016). For example, the
Earth’s satellite the Moon helps in controlling the tide cycle on the Earth by the force of gravity.
Some satellites of the giant planets like Titan (Saturn) and Europa (Jupiter) are considered to
have possible conditions for terraforming and developing future human habitability. For the
planet Saturn, it is assumed that the rings of the planet have been caused by the destruction of
one or more of its satellites and the debris that are now revolving around Saturn.