Life in the Solar System –! 50%: 1 Larger (~1-2 Page) Essay (With Definition Terms) Next Class (Thursday): •! Must Be Typed, Not Handwritten
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Astronomy 330 Take Home Midterm •! Will email it to everyone after class Thursday. This class (Lecture 12): –! 50%: 4 short (few paragraphs) essays Life in the Solar System –! 50%: 1 larger (~1-2 page) essay (with definition terms) Next Class (Thursday): •! Must be typed, not handwritten. Life in the Solar System •! Will cover material up to and including Thursday. Se-Joon Chung •! It is a closed notes exam (honor system!). Nicholas Langhammer •! You can make 1 page of notes for use during the exam. HW 5 is due next Tuesday (special date) Music: We Are All Made of Stars– Moby HW 2 Outline •! Jeremy Morton •! Ne is broken into 2 terms http://www.thetruthbehindthescenes.org/ •! How Earth got Mooned 2011/09/15/denver-international-airport-alien- •! Early Earth connection-decoded/ •! Alison Melko http://www.ufoabduction.com Drake Equation n Frank e That’s 16 planetary systems/year Drake Complex term, so let’s break it into two terms: –! np: number of planets suitable for life per planetary system –! fs: fraction of stars whose properties are suitable for life to develop on one of its planets N = R* ! fp ! ne ! fl ! fi ! fc ! L http://nike.cecs.csulb.edu/~kjlivio/Wallpapers/Planets%2001.jpg # of # of Star Fraction Fraction advanced Earthlike Fraction Fraction Lifetime of formation of stars that civilizations planets on which that evolve advanced rate with commun- we can per life arises intelligence civilizations planets icate contact in system our Galaxy today 20 0.8 planets/ life/ intel./ comm./ yrs/ stars/ systems/ system planet life intel. comm. yr star Kepler’s Estimate Our Solar System Terrestrial planets and Gas Giants… but how many are valid planets/moons for np? The Kepler team estimated that at least 5.4% of all stars host Earth-like planets and that at least 34% of all stars have planets. X Others using the Kepler data estimated 1.4 to 2.7% of all Sun-like stars are expected to have earth-like planets within the habitable zones of their stars-- or two billion Earths in the Milky Way! But, do we need Earths for life? http://arxiv.org/pdf/1102.0541v1 Earth-Moon Comparison Formation of the Earth •! Earth formed from planetesimals in the circumstellar disk. •! Was hot and melted together. Radius 6378 km Radius 0.272 Earth •! The biggest peculiarity, Surface gravity 9.8 m/s2 Surface gravity 0.17 Earth compared to the other Mass 6.0x1024 kg Mass 0.012 Earth Distance to Sun 1.5x108 km Distance to Earth 384,000 km planets, is the large Year 365.2422 days Orbital Period 27.3 days moon. Solar day 1 day Solar day 27.3 days Feb 7, 2008 Astronomy 330 Spring 2008 A Double World The Moon Why a “double world”? Earth and The Moon's surface –! Most moons are tiny Moon together is barren and dead compared to the planet from •! The Moon is over 25% the Voyager 1 –! No water, no air, some diameter of Earth (1977) water ice. •! Jupiter's biggest moons are about 3% the size of the –! No life!! planet –! The Moon is comparable to the terrestrial planets •! Well, mostly dead. •! About 70% the size of Mercury •! Nearly the same density as Mars The Moon: Mostly Dead Formation of the Moon: Smack •! Well, mostly dead. •! Collision of Earth with a Mars-sized •! Recent results show body early in the solar some new (50 million system’s history years new) regions •! Iron-rich core of (called graben) that are the impactor free of cratering. sank within Earth •! So interior may still •! Earth’s rotation have significant molten sped up component •! Remaining ejecta thrown into orbit, coalesced into the Moon •! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibV4MdN5wo0&feature=related Why is this a good hypothesis? Moon Impact on Life? •! The Earth has a large iron •! Some think that our large Moon is very important core (differentiation), but the for life on Earth. moon does not. –! Tides! Important to move water –! The debris blown out of in and out of pools. collision came from the rocky –! Stable Axial Tilt: 23.5 deg mantles offset from the collision –! The iron core of the impactor –! Metals! Heavy elements at merged with the iron core of Earth’s surface may be from Earth core of impactor. •! Compare density of 5.5 g/cm3 to 3.3 g/cm3— the moon http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/odds_and_oddities/assets/extreme_iron.jpg lacks iron. http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/sze_moon/index.html Moon: Impact Implications Planetary Differentiation •!! Hot, Hot, hot, Hot! hot. Even if the moon theory is incorrect, other smaller bodies were playing havoc on the surface. •! When they impact, they release kinetic energy and gravitational potential. •! In addition, some of the decaying radioactive elements heated up the Earth– stored supernova energy! •! The planetesimals melt, and the Earth went through a period of differentiation. http://www.udel.edu/Biology/Wags/wagart/worldspage/impact.gif Differentiation: Early Earth Iron Catastrophe •! Average density of Earth •! No atmosphere is 5.5 g/cm3 •! No water •! Average density on the surface is 3 g/cm3 •! High temp •! So, something heavy •! No life……. must be inside •! Big rocks keep •! When the Earth formed it was molten falling on my head… –! Heavy materials (e.g. iron, nickel, gold) sank –! Lighter materials (e.g. silicon, oxygen) floated to the top http://www.black-cat-studios.com/catalog/earth.html Question Structure Which of the following does NOT well describe the early Earth? •! Luckily, not all of the iron sank to the center, else we would be still in the Stone Age. a)! So hot that the surface had molten rock. Outer Core •! Temperature increases as you b)! There was no water. go deeper underground. From Inner Core c)! The surface kept getting hit by really, really big rocks. around 290 K on surface to Mantle d)! The oxygen rich atmosphere caused quick oxidation nearly 5000 K at center. (rusting) of iron-rich rocks –! Heated by radioactive decay Crust e)! No chance of life at this stage. –! Supernovae remnants •! Earth’s magnetic field is established early on.. after the iron catastrophe… good for life. The Crust Today’s Earth Surface •! Outside layer of the Earth (includes oceans) floats on top •! 70% of the Earth's of still hot interior surface is covered –! About 50 km thick with water –! Coldest layer – rocks are rigid –! Ocean basins •! Mostly silicate rocks –! Sea floors are young, –! Made of lighter elements like silicon, oxygen, and aluminum none more than •! Oxygen and water are abundant 200 million years old •! Excellent insulator •! 30% is dry land – Continents –! Keeps the Earth’s geothermal heat inside! –! Mixture of young rocks and old rocks –! Up to 4.2 billion years old Geologically Active Surface Recycling Bio-elements •! The young rocks on •! From gravity and radioactivity, the core stays hot. the Earth's surface •! This allows a persisting circulation of bioelements through indicate it is continental drift— melting of the crust and re-release geologically active through volcanoes. •! Where do these rocks •! Otherwise, certain elements might get locked into sediment come from? layers– e.g. early sea life. –! Volcanoes •! Maybe planets being formed –! Rift valleys now, with less supernovae, would not have enough –! Oceanic ridges radioactivity to support •! Air, water erode rocks continental drifts and volcanoes. •! The surface is constantly changing http://www.pahala-hawaii.com/j-page/image/activevolcanoe.jpg The Earth’s 1st Atmosphere The Earth’s 1st Atmosphere •! The inner disk had most gases •! The interior heat of the Earth helped blown away and the proto-Earth with the Earth’s early atmosphere. was not massive enough to capture •! Volcanoes released gases (water vapor these gases. and CO2) •! Any impacts (e.g. the moon), •! Another scenario is that impacted would have blown any residual comets released – water (H O), atmosphere away. 2 carbon dioxide (CO2), and Nitrogen (N2) •! The first atmosphere was probably – the first true atmosphere. H and He, which was lost quickly. •! The water condensed to form the oceans and much of the CO2 was dissolved in the oceans and incorporated into sediments– such as calcium carbonate (CaCO3). http://www.udel.edu/Biology/Wags/wagart/worldspage/impact.gif http://www.fli-cam.com/images/comet-liner.jpg Our Atmosphere This New Planet •! Rocks with ages greater than •! Mostly oceans and some solid land (all volcanic). 2 billion years show that there was •! Frequent impacts little or no oxygen in the Earth’s of remaining atmosphere. planetesimals •! The current composition: 78% (ending about nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and trace 3.8 billion years amounts of water, carbon dioxide, ago). etc. •! Impacts would •! Where did the oxygen come from? have sterilized •! Cyanobacteria made it. the young Earth– http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~rixfury/conclusion.htm Mass extinctions and –! Life on Earth modifies the Earth’s maybe vaporized any oceans (more comets?). atmosphere. http://www.agnld.uni-potsdam.de/~frank/Images/painting.gif This New Planet Question The Earth’s first atmosphere was a)! much like today’s atmosphere, but older. b)! Trick Question. There was no atmosphere. c)! likely just H and He, and blown away quickly. d)! made from comets. e)! a combination of volcano gases and comet collisions. Water Water •! Water is a key to life on Earth. •! Primary role as a solvent •! Primary constituent of life– “Ugly bags of mostly –! Dissolves molecules to bring nutrients and remove wastes. water” Allows molecules to “move” freely in solution. –! Must be in liquid form, requiring adequate pressure and –! Life is about 90% water by mass. certain range of temperatures. •! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAlqp0_a0tE •! This sets a requirement on planets, if we assume that all life requires water.