Week 1

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Total cards: 24•Content version: v4•Public deck•Updated: 8/1/2026

Card preview (24)

Front (Question)

Explain what retrograde means

Back (Answer)

outer planets have smaller orbits so the earth overtakes it and it makes the planets look like they’re going back and forth.

Front (Question)

How long is Mar’s retrograde cycle

Back (Answer)

Two years

Front (Question)

What do we call the earths orbit?

Back (Answer)

The Milankovitch cycle

Front (Question)

Name the three factors effecting the Earth’s orbit

Back (Answer)

Obliquity, Eccentricity and Procession

Front (Question)

What is the definition of Obliquity?

Back (Answer)

This is the tilt of the earth

Front (Question)

What is the earth’s current obliquity?

Back (Answer)

23.45 degrees

Front (Question)

How long is the obliquity cycle?

Back (Answer)

It ranges from 22.1 to 24.5 every 41,000 years

Front (Question)

What is the definition of eccentricity?

Back (Answer)

The distance to the sun, this is dictated by its position in its orbit

Front (Question)

What is the furthest point of the earth’s orbit to the sun called?

Back (Answer)

Aphelion

#10

Front (Question)

What is the closest point of the earth’s orbit to the sun called?

Back (Answer)

Perihelion

#11

Front (Question)

How long is the eccentricity cycle

Back (Answer)

100,000 years

#12

Front (Question)

What is the definition of a procession?

Back (Answer)

The wobble of earth’s rotation

#13

Front (Question)

How long is a procession cycle

Back (Answer)

26,000 years

#14

Front (Question)

Explain what causes northern hemisphere ice growth

Back (Answer)

• Low obliquity • Northern hemisphere summers in aphelion • High eccentricity

#15

Front (Question)

Explain what causes northern hemisphere ice shrinkage

Back (Answer)

• High obliquity • Northern hemisphere summers in perihelion • Low eccentricity

#16

Front (Question)

How did the moon arise?

Back (Answer)

The collision of earth with a mars-like protoplanet, the outfall came together in orbit to become our moon

#17

Front (Question)

How far away is the sun from earth?

Back (Answer)

1 Astronomical unit=1.49x10^8 km

#18

Front (Question)

What is the earth’s tilt with the moon?

Back (Answer)

The moon helps stabilise the earth to 22.1 degrees

#19

Front (Question)

What is the name of the furthest point of the moons orbit?

Back (Answer)

Apogee

#20

Front (Question)

What is the closest point of the moon’s orbit?

Back (Answer)

perigee

#21

Front (Question)

What is a spring tide and how are they formed?

Back (Answer)

This is an increased tide and is caused by the combine gravitational pull of the sun and moon as it aligns

#22

Front (Question)

What is a neap tide and how do they form?

Back (Answer)

This is the decreased tide and is caused by the sun and moon being perpendicular from eachother.

#23

Front (Question)

Umbra definition

Back (Answer)

The full shadow caused by an eclipse

#24

Front (Question)

Penumbra

Back (Answer)

Partial shadow caused by an eclipse