Solar System Division B - NY - States (coaches meeting, October 2010)

Goals Integrate student experiences at regional competitions cover wide range of topics balance broad understanding and familiarity with basic facts emphasis on quantitative questions

Resources JPL Cornell Planetary Society Wikipedia APOD NASA planetary probes Hubble archives Audubon field guide to night sky (good reference, but not quite on target for this exam - appendices are okay, any college textbook would have better reference tables)

Exam format 40 questions: What is.... (fact-based) 10 questions: What would be... (quantitative) 10 questions: Describe.... (qualitative)

Sample Topics Orbital mechanics - tides,transits, retrograde motion, resonance/rings Solar system composition - members of solar system, Planetary motion: name the planets, when do meteor showers occur, planetary motion characteristics Physical properties: magnitude of magnetic fields, density/relative mass of major solar system objects Kepler's laws, Newton's laws, Gravity Some planetary and satellite surface feature identification (only lightly)

General coaching guidelines There will be at least one question from each topic. Emphasis will be on quantitative concepts - not too much stamp-collecting (though there will be some!) Process skills should focus on: o How could we know this? o By using what measurements? o Example: how do we come to know the density of Io? A couple of questions will ask, "What does this picture tell us?" (some background on picture will be provided)

This view of Europa shows a portion of the surface that has been highly disrupted by fractures and ridges. This picture covers an area about 238 kilometers (150 miles) wide by 225 kilometers (140 miles), or about the distance between Los Angeles and San Diego. Symmetric ridges in the dark bands suggest that the surface crust was separated and filled with darker material, somewhat analogous to spreading centers in the ocean basins of Earth. Although some impact craters are visible, their general absence indicates a youthful surface. The youngest ridges, such as the two features that cross the center of the picture, have central fractures, aligned knobs, and irregular dark patches. These and other features could indicate cryovolcanism, or processes related to eruption of ice and gases. This picture, centered at 16 degrees south latitude, 196 degrees west longitude, was taken at a distance of 40,973 kilometers (25,290 miles) on November 6, 1996 by the solid state imaging television camera onboard the Galileo spacecraft during its third orbit around Jupiter.Galileo spacecraft Europa as seen by Galileo