Albedo - Albedo The albedo of a surface is the ratio of reflected to incoming radiation. This ratio depends on the wavelength of the light: unqualified, it usually means visible light. Fresh snow albedos are high: up to 0.9. Powdered charcoal has a low albedo. Earth has an average albedo of 37-39%. According to the National Climatic Data Center's GHCN 2 data, which is composed of 30-year smoothed climatic means for thousands of weather stations across the world, the college weather station at Fairbanks, Alaska, is about 3°C (5°F) warmer than the airport at Fairbanks, partly because of drainage patterns but also largely because of the lower albedo at the college resulting from a higher concentration of pine trees and therefore less open snowy ground to reflect the.
Albedo RPG - Albedo RPG Albedo RPG is a role playing game based on Steve Gallacci's Erma Felna, EDF and Birthright storylines, from the funny animal comic anthologies Albedo and Critters. It is written by Craig Hilton and Paul Kidd. It was originally published as a box set of manuals (first edition); the RPG was later revised and published by Chessex in 1993 as a softcover (Second Edition.) There are several companion sourcebooks and ready-made scenarios, also in softcover. There also exists a third-party guide to converting Albedo for use with the GURPS RPG system..
Cloud albedo - Cloud albedo Cloud albedo is a measure of the reflectivity of a cloud - higher values mean that the cloud is blocking more solar radiation. Cloud albedo varies from less than 10% to more than 90% of the incoming solar radiation and depends on drop sizes, liquid water content, water vapor content, thickness of the cloud, and the sun's zenith angle. The smaller the drops and the greater the liquid water content, the greater the cloud albedo, if all other factors are the same..
Venus (planet) - 2.64° Albedo 0.65 Escape Speed 10.36 km/s Surface* temp min* mean max 228 K 737 K 773 K (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9321.9 kPa Carbon dioxide 96% Nitrogen 3% Sulfur dioxide Water vapor Carbon monoxide Argon Helium Neon Carbonyl sulfide Hydrogen chloride Hydrogen fluoride trace Venus is the second planet from the Sun, named after the Roman goddess Venus. It is a terrestrial planet, very similar in size and bulk composition to Earth; it is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" as a result of this similarity. Sometimes (inaccurately) referred to as the "morning star" or the "evening star", it is by far the brightest "star" in the sky. Because Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth is, it is always in roughly the.
Kuiper belt - The belt should not be confused with the Oort cloud, which is not only in the plane of the solar system and is more distant. The first astronomers to suggest the existence of this belt was Frederick C. Leonard in 1930 and Kenneth E. Edgeworth in 1943. In 1951 Gerard Kuiper suggested that objects did not exist in the belt anymore. More detailed conjectures about objects in the belt were done by Al G. W. Cameron in 1962, Fred L. Whipple in 1964, and Julio Fernandez in 1980. The belt and the objects in it were named after Kuiper after the discovery of 1992 QB1. It is difficult to estimate the diameter of KBOs. For objects with very well known orbital elements (namely, Pluto and Charon), diameters can be precisely measured.
Janus (moon) - Rotation period 16h 40m (synchronous) Axial tilt 0.015° Albedo 0.5 Atmosphere none Janus is a moon of Saturn discovered by the French astronomer Audouin Dollfus in 1966. Dollfus is credited with the discovery of Janus but it's not really certain whether the object he saw was Janus or Epimetheus and his observations led to a spurious orbit (Walker discovered it independently but his telegram arrived a few hours after Dollfus'). Larson and Fountain determined in 1978 that there are in fact two moons sharing one orbit. This was confirmed in 1980 by Voyager 1. For more information about Janus and Epimetheus' unusual shared orbit, see Epimetheus. Janus is extensively cratered with several craters larger than 30 km but few linear features. Its surface appears to be older than Prometheus' but younger.
James Croll - for orbital variations developed by Leverrier (whish had lead to the discovery of Neptune), Croll developed a theory of the effects of variations of the earths orbit on climate cycles. His idea was that decreases in winter sunlight would favour snow accumulation, and for the first time coupled this to the idea of a positive ice-albedo feedback to amplify the solar variations. He suggested that when orbital eccentricity is high, then winters will tend to be colder when earth is farther from the sun in that season and hence, that during periods of high orbital eccentricity, ice ages occur on 22,000 year cycles in each hemisphere, and alternate between southern and northern hemispheres, lasting approximately 10,000 years each. This is wrong, but that was not known then. Crolls theory predicted multiple.
Jupiter (planet) - 3.12° Albedo 0.52 Escape Speed 59.54 km/s Surface temp min mean max 110 K 152 K N/A K Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen >81% Helium >17% Methane 0.1% Water vapor 0.1% Ammonia 0.02% Ethane 0.0002% Phosphine 0.0001% Hydrogen sulfide <0.0001% Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and, by far, the largest within our solar system; some have described the solar system as consisting of the Sun, Jupiter, and assorted debris. It and the other gas giants Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are sometimes referred to as "Jovian planets." Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Overview 2 Physical characteristics 2.1 Planetary Composition 2.2 Atmosphere 2.3 Planetary Rings 2.4 Magnetosphere 3 The exploration of Jupiter 4 Jupiter's Moons 5 Cometary impact 6 Jupiter in fiction Overview Jupiter is 2.5 times more.
Juliet - Mean density 1.3 g/cm3 Surface gravity 0.017 m/s2 Rotation period ? Axial tilt ?° Albedo 0.07 Surface temp min mean max K K K Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Juliet is a moon of Uranus. It was named after the heroine in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. Other than its size and orbit, virtually nothing is known about it. Juliet is also the letter J in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
Iapetus (moon) - period 79d 7h 55m (synchronous) Axial tilt 14.84° Albedo 0.04-0.5 Atmosphere none Iapetus is the third-largest moon of Saturn, discovered by Giovanni Cassini in 1671. Its density is similar to that of Rhea, indicating that it has a small amount of rocky materials. Its leading side is dark (albedo 0.03-0.05) with a slight reddish color while its trailing side is bright (albedo 0.5, almost as bright as Europa). This difference is so striking that Cassini noted that he could see Iapetus only on one side of Saturn and not on the other. The dark surface might be composed of matter that was either swept up from space or oozed from the moon's interior; the real source is still unknown. The dark material might be a thin layer of organic material perhaps.
Ice age - cause of ice ages remain controversial, but the general consensus is that it is a combination of up to three different factors: atmospheric composition (particularly the fraction of CO2 and methane), changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun known as Milankovitch cycles (and possibly the Sun's orbit around the galaxy), and the arrangement of the continents. The present ice ages are the most studied and best understood, particularly the last 400 kyr, since this is the period covered by ice cores that record atmospheric composition and proxies for temperature and ice volume. Within this period, the match of ice age frequencies to orbital forcing periods is so good that orbital forcing is the generally accepted explanation, even though the strength of the forcing appears to be too small. Feedback from.
Io (moon) - Rotation period 1d 18h 27.6m Axial tilt ° Albedo 0.61 Surface temp min mean max K 130 K 2000 K Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure trace kPa Sulfur dioxide % Io is innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Volcanism 2 Physical characteristics 3 See also 4.
Himalia (moon) - 0.062 m/s2 Rotation period ~0.4d Axial tilt ?° Albedo 0.04 Surface temp min mean max K K K Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Himalia (pronounced "hih MAL yuh") is a moon of Jupiter. It was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory in 1904 and is named after the nymph Himalia who bore three sons of Zeus..
Hyperion (moon) - 1.1 g/cm3 Surface gravity 0.056m/s2 Rotation period chaotic Axial tilt 0.5° Albedo 0.25 Atmosphere none Hyperion is a moon of Saturn discovered by Bond and Lassell in 1848. It is the largest highly irregular (non-spherical) body in the solar system (Proteus is quite a bit larger but is almost spherical). It seems likely that Hyperion is a fragment of a larger body that was broken by a large impact in the distant past. The largest crater on its surface is approximately 120 kilometers in diameter and 10 kilometers deep. Like most of Saturn's moons, Hyperion's low density indicates that it is composed of water ice with only a small amount of rock. But unlike most of Saturn's moons, Hyperion has a low albedo (0.2 - 0.3) indicating that it is covered.
Ganymede (moon) - gravity 0.35 m/s2 Rotation period 7d 3h 42.6m Axial tilt ° Albedo 0.43 Surface temp min mean max K K K Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure trace Oxygen 100% Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon, and indeed the largest moon in the entire solar system; it is larger in diameter than Mercury but only about half its mass. Ganymede is much larger than Pluto. It was discovered in 1609 by Galileo Galilei and named for the cup-bearer of the Greek gods, beloved of Zeus. Ganymede is composed of silicate rock and water ice, with an ice crust floating over a slushy mantle that may contain a layer of liquid water. Preliminary indications from the Galileo probe data suggest that Ganymede is differentiated into a three layer structure: a small molten iron or iron/sulfur.
Greenhouse effect - greenhouse effect (see also anthropogenic global warming). The former is accepted by all; the latter is a matter of dispute. This page is about the former. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Controlling factors 2 Real greenhouses 3 Effects of various gases 3.1 Water vapour effects 4 Global warming 5 References Controlling factors Water vapor (H2O) causes about 60% of the Earth's naturally-occurring greenhouse effect, with others carbon dioxide (CO2) (about 26%), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ozone (O3) (about 8%), collectively known as greenhouse gases. This "greenhouse effect" occurs naturally in our atmosphere and is responsible for the earth's surface temperature which allows life on Earth. Visible light from the Sun is partially able to pass through the atmosphere and reach the planet's surface where much of it is absorbed,.
Earth - Albedo 37-39% Surface temperature min mean max 184 K 282 K 333 K Atmospheric characteristics Pressure 101.325 kPa nitrogen 78% oxygen 21% argon 1% carbon dioxide water vapor trace ''For alternate uses see: Earth (disambiguation). Earth or the Earth (Terra or Tellus) is the planet that humans live on; it is the third planet from the Sun, and it is the largest terrestrial planet of its solar system. The planet has one natural satellite, the Moon. It is the only planet known to host life; however, extraterrestrial life has been theorized. The planet is generally believed to have formed around 4.5 billion years ago. The image to the right is of Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula as taken en route to the Moon by Apollo 17 on December 7, 1972..
Earthshine - Earth to the night side of the Moon. The night side appears to glow faintly and the entire orb of the Moon is dimly visible. Leonardo da Vinci explained the phenomenon in the early 1500s when he realized that both Earth and the Moon reflect sunlight. Light is reflected from the Earth to the Moon and back to the Earth as Earthshine. Earthshine is used to help determine the current albedo of the Earth. The data are used to analyze global weather phenomena. Oceans reflect the least amount of light, roughly 10%. Land reflects anywhere from 10-25% of the Sun's light, and clouds reflect around 50%. So, the half of the Earth where it is daytime determines how bright the Moon's Earthshine appears at any given time. See also: André-Louis Danjon,.
Uranus (planet) - 97.86° Albedo 0.51 Escape Speed 21.29 km/s Cloudtop avg. temp 55 K Surface temp min mean max 59 K 68 K N/A K Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure Varies with depth Hydrogen 83% Helium 15% Methane 1.99% Ammonia 0.01% Ethane 0.00025% Acetylene 0.00001% Carbon monoxide Hydrogen sulfide trace Uranus (pronounced "YOOR-uh-nus", or "yer-ANE-us") is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gas giant and the third largest by diameter. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Physical characteristics 2 The exploration of Uranus 3 The moons of Uranus Physical characteristics Uranus is composed primarily of rock and various ices, with only about 15% hydrogen and a little helium (in contrast to Jupiter and Saturn which are mostly hydrogen). Uranus (and Neptune) are in many ways similar to the cores of Jupiter and.
Elara (moon) - 0.031 m/s2 Rotation period ~0.5d Axial tilt ?° Albedo 0.03 Surface temp min mean max K K K Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Elara (pronounced "EE lar uh") is a moon of Jupiter. It was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory in 1905 and is named after the mother by Zeus of the giant Tityus. This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it..
