Astronomy Final

Jupiter has enough mass to make 318 Earths. In contrast, Uranus and Neptune have only enough mass to make

15 Earths

Jupiter has enough mass to make 318 Earths. In contrast, Uranus and Neptune have only enough mass to make

15 earths

What year was Pluto discovered

1930

In which year did the first spacecraft successfully reach the surface of Venus?

1966

In which year was Uranus first visited?

1986

The rotation period ("day") of the Moon is

27.3 Earth days

How long does the Moon take to complete one orbit around the Earth with respect to the stars?

27.3 days

How many types of rocks are present on Earth?

3

Venus synodic orbital period is:

583 days

What rise in local mean sea level at New York City is projected for the year 2100 by the RCP2.6 scenario?

62cm

At what time did the ice coverage in the northern hemisphere begin to stabilize?

7,000 years ago

What rise in local mean sea level at New York City is projected for the year 2100 by the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios?

75cm, 96cm

Astronomers believe that Jupiter's strong magnetic field is caused by

A huge layer of metallic hydrogen inside Jupiter

What graphic is now visible?

A lump of coal

The largest continental (highland) area on Venus is called:

Aphrodite

the largest continental (highland) are on Venus is called.....

Aphrodite

Which part of the Earth has the greatest density?

Core

Which of the following spacecraft is NOT leaving the solar system?

Galileo

The largest satellite (moon) in the solar system is.....

Ganymede

The largest satellite (moon) in the solar system is:

Ganymede

The Galileo spacecraft measured that the moon Ganymede had a magnetic field, indicating that its interior was at least partly melted and warm. What do scientists think is the most likely reason for this?

Ganymede is heated by tidal forces from Jupiter

The spacecraft Galileo visited two asteroids, __________ and ____________, the later of which was found to have a moon that we call Dactyl.

Gaspra, Ida

What do all of the RCP scenarios predict is going to happen to global mean sea levels in the future?

Global mean sea levels will increase in the future

The type of rock we find predominant in the crust of the Earth's continents is called:

Granite

In radioactive dating, the measure scientists use to note how long (on average) a particular radioactive nucleus will take to decay is called its

Half-life

The synchrotron radiation (radio waves) that astronomers first observed from Jupiter in the 1950's comes from:

High speed electrons spiraling around the planet's strong magnetic field

Which of the following has no craters?

Jupiter

Why is it so much easier to determine the length of day on Mars than on Venus?

Mars' atmosphere is generally pretty clear (so that the surface is visible) while Venus is always cloudy

The asteroid belt is located between the orbits of ___________ and ____________.

Mars, Jupiter

The planet closest to the Sun in the solar system is:

Mercury

Which element plays the same role on Titan as water does on Earth (existing as gas, liquid, and solid)?

Methane

Sediments are solidified by:

Minerals deposited in pore spaces

The moon Triton orbits which of the planets?

Neptune

What's the name of the most recent exploration to mars?

Perseverance

Two small moons in the solar system, known since the 19th century, turn out to be captured asteroids. These two moons are

Phobos and Deimos around Mars

Two small moons in the solar system, known since the 19th century, turn out to be captured asteroids. These two moons are....

Phobos and Deimos around Mars

The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call:

Planetesimals

Which is not a feature on the surface of Uranus?

Plate tectonics

The first trans-Neptunian object astronomers found (in 1930) is called

Pluto

Which of the following worlds does NOT have a ring?

Pluto

Which of the following worlds does NOT have a ring? Saturn Neptune Pluto Jupiter Uranus

Pluto

Which planet has never been visited by a space craft?+

Pluto

Which planet has the biggest moon relative to its own size? Not the biggest moon in term of kilometers, but the biggest as a percentage of the size of the planet it orbits?

Pluto

Which planet has the least atmosphere?

Pluto

Which world has the biggest moon relative to its own size? Not the biggest moon in terms of kilometers, but the biggest as a percentage of the size of the world it orbits.

Pluto

The three dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt are:

Pluto, Haumea, Makemake

The slow tipping of the Earth's axis in a circle with a period of about 26,000 years is called...

Precession

Which of the following is NOT a way we have studied the planet Mars so far?

Sending spacecraft to Mars which have brought samples of the planet back to earth

The comet that broke into more than 20 pieces and then collided with Jupiter in 1994 was

Shoemaker-Levy 9

What was a surprise to astronomers when they carefully examined Neptune with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994?

The Great Dark Spot had disappeared

On Earth, we can get the age of various parts of our planet by finding rocks that contain radioactive atoms. Which other world do have a good number of rocks from to do this kind of age analysis?

The Moon

The period of the Moon's rotation on its axis is...

The same as its revolution around Earth

The process of convection involves

The slow upward flow of warmer material and downward flow of cooler material

The satellite which has the thickest atmosphere is: Triton Europa Calisto Titan

Titan

Which of Saturn's moons is most prominent in pop culture?

Titan

From a city in the U.S., where in the sky would you look to see a star that is not turning with the motion of the sky in the course of a night?

To the North Celestial Pole

Which of the following statements about the force of gravity is false?

its strength is inversely proportional to the mass: the more mass, the less gravity

Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT CORRECT?

jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

In what way is the moon similar to Earth?

none of these (these questions are taken directly from the quiz)

We determined the rotation period of many asteroids by

obtaining light curves of asteroids

Which of the following statements about our moon is FALSE?

on Earth, we can see all its sides in the course of a month as it goes around us

Which of the following is NOT a way we have studied the planet Mars so far?

sending spacecraft to Mars which have brought samples of the planet back to Earth

The smaller objects in the solar system made of rock and metal are called: Question 9 options: silicates satellites comets asteroids

asteroids

Why were asteroids not discovered until the 19th century?

asteroids are generally small compared to planets and require a good telescope and patient searching to spot them

How do asteroids differ from comets

asteroids are rocky objects, a comet nucleus has more ice and is less dense

Which of the following is NOT a way that the moon Titan probably resembles the Earth? sunlight interacts with the chemicals on the moon to create a rich mix of organic molecules the main consituent of its atmosphere is nitrogen at its surface the temperature and pressure are just right for water to exist it has clouds in its atmosphere it has a thick atmosphere

at its surface the temperature and pressure are just right for water to exist

Different asteroids reflect different percentages of the light falling on them. This is due to the fact that they have different:

compositions

During the process of differentiation,

heavier materials sink

The primary clouds in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are composed of:

frozen ammonia crystals

What features are abundant on Callisto and Ganymede and almost absent on Europa and Io? volcanoes lakes markings that show the surface is made of ice impact craters

impact craters

Which of the following characteristics distinguishes Uranus from every other planet in our solar system?

it rotates on an axis tilted almost 90 degrees to the plane of its orbit

Why is Pluto considered a dwarf planet?

it's large enough to be round

According to the theory of plate tectonics....

slow motions waiting the mantle of the Earth move large sections of the crust around

What method was used to discover Pluto in 1929-1930?

take pairs of photographs several days apart and "blink" them

Our modern understanding of Pluto is that it is a member of

the Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)

One reason we know more about the surface composition of the asteroid Vesta than about most other members of the asteroid belt is that

the anartic

The rotation of Uranus is peculiar in that

the axis is nearly parallel to the plane of its orbit

The process of convection involves....

the slow upward flow of warmer material and downward flow of cooler material.

Where or when was the hydrogen in Jupiter produced?

during the big bang

Comets get significantly brighter in our skies as they approach the Sun because

more than one of the above

Comets appear significantly brighter in our skies as they approach the Sun because

more than one of these

The spacecraft that visited Pluto and send back our first images:

more than one of these

The spacecraft that visited Pluto and send back our first images: is returning to Earth in the 22nd century was called New Horizons used plutonium to keep it warm got a gravity boost from Jupiter to get it to Pluto faster more than one of these

more than one of these

An increase in the Earth's temperature by several degrees Celsius wold result in...

the melting of many glaciers, a rise in sea levels, and more flooding of towns near the coasts of the continents

Which of the following is a way we believe that the early atmosphere of the Earth differed from the atmosphere we have today?

All of the above

Which of the following is evidence for volcanic activity on Venus?

All of the above

What appears above the dot?

An ordered pair, a set of coordinates, appears above the blue dot

Which of the following is a way that the planet Mercury is similar to the Moon?

Its surface is heavily cratered

The Earth is closest to the Sun in what mont of the year?

January

The large, roughly circular, dark, and somewhat younger regions on the Moon are called:

Maria

The spacecraft that really gave scientists their first good close-up look of the planet Mercury was:

Mariner 10

Which probe was the first mission to explore Mercury?

Mariner 10

The first spacecraft to orbit another planet circled Mars in 1971. It was:

Mariner 9

The largest volcanoes in the Solar System are found on: Venus Earth Mars Mercury the Moon

Mars

Which planet, besides Earth, has a "day" that is closest to 24 hours long?

Mars

One way in which Mars closely resembles the Earth is:

The length of its day (period of rotation)

What formation or formations are evidence that the planet Mercury may have shrunk (gotten a bit smaller) as it cooled?

The long scarps or cliffs

What formations are evidence that the planet Mercury may have shrunk (gotten a bit smaller) as it cooled?

The long scarps or cliffs

The region around the Earth where charged particles are trapped and spiral around is called:

The magnetosphere

The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and composition is

Venus

The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and internal composition is

Venus

The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and internal composition is Mars Mercury Venus the Moon

Venus

What planet can come closest to the Earth in its orbit and look brightest in our skies?

Venus

Which body has the densest atmosphere?

Venus

Which of the following planets do not have satellites (moons)

Venus

Which of these gets so bright as to be seen in daylight at times?

Venus

Which of these worlds is the most active geologically?

Venus

Which planet can come closest to the Earth in its orbit and look brightest in our skies?

Venus

Which planet in the solar system rotates the most slowly (has the longest "day")?

Venus

_____________ is the planet with the slowest rotation period.

Venus

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the rotation of Venus?

Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth

What do the magnetic fields of Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune have in common?

all three have their magnetic axes offset from the center of the planet

During what time period was there the greatest amount of change in the world's sea levels?

11,000 years ago and ending at about 7,000 years ago

What amount of CO2 emissions from liquid fuels are projected for 2025?

13.2 billion metric tons

The Moon takes 27.3 days to complete one orbit around the Earth. How many degrees of arc does the Moon move across Earth's sky every day? [HINT: One orbit is 360 degrees.]

13.2 degrees

Venus can reach a maximum magnitude of:

-4.7

How many times have we visited Pluto?

1

According to the fossil record, how old is the oldest evidence of life forms on the surface of the Earth?

About 3.5 billion years ago

Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?

About 4.5 billion years

One way in which the ozone layer is useful for life forms on the Earth's surface is that it

Absorbs ultra-violet light, preventing much of it from reaching the surface

The person who came up with the continental drift theory that led to our modern understanding of plate tectonics was

Alfred Wegner

What do all if the RCP scenarios predict is going to happen to mean global surface temperature in the future?

All of the RCP scenarios, even the unrealistic RCP 2.6, predict that the mean global surface temperature will increase in the future

Compare the graph projections for the two scenarios, RCP2.6 and RCP4.5.

All of the above

Describe what is happening in the graph window.

All of the above

The smaller objects in the solar system made of rock and metal (most of which orbit between Jupiter and Mars) are called:

Asteroids

Why were asteroids not discovered until the 19th century?

Asteroids are generally small compared to planets and require a good telescope and patient searching to spot them

Earth-crossers are?

Asteroids that actually cross earth's orbital path

Why are the largest craters we find on the Moon and Mercury so much larger than the largest craters we find on the Earth?

Because the largest craters were made early in each worlds history, and geologic activity has erased all traces of this early period on the Earth's surface

Compare the graph projections for the two scenarios, RCP2.6 and RCP4.5.

Both scenarios are relatively similar until the year 2020. After that they start to diverge with RCP 4.5 showing a much greater increase in mean global surface temperature

How does the stabilization in sea level compare with the stabilization of ice coverage in the northern hemisphere (i.e. question 5)?

Both the sea level and the ice coverage began to stabilize at about the same time, 7,000 years ago

Astronomers estimate that the runoff channels seen on Mars must be at least 3.9 billion years old. How do they estimate ages like this?

By counting impact craters in the regions containing these channels

What is the dominant gas in Venus's atmosphere?

CO2.

The largest impact basin on Mercury (located on that part of the planet which is closest to the Sun at noon) is called.....

Caloris

The largest impact basin on Mercury (located on that part of the planet which is closest to the Sun at noon) is called:

Caloris

The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. this gas is....

Carbon Dioxide

The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. This gas is:

Carbon dioxide

The average temperature on planet Earth is higher than you would expect just from the heating of sunlight alone. What is the explanation for this?

Carbon dioxide (and other gases) in the atmosphere cause a greenhouse effect

Why is Venus's surface hotter than Mercury's?

Carbon dioxide in Venus's atmosphere traps heat radiating from its surface, thereby making it warmer.

Which of these missions was the first to orbit Saturn?

Cassini-Huygens

The first asteroid to be discovered (which is also the largest one) is called

Ceres

The first asteroid to be discovered (which is also the largest one) is called.....

Ceres

The first, and largest, asteroid was discovered in 1801 and is called ______________.

Ceres

When the Dawn spacecraft explored the largest asteroid Ceres, it discovered white spots that appear to be salt and volcanic mountains made of water ice. This led astronomers to which of the following ideas.....

Ceres may have (or may have had) a liquid ocean under its crust

When the Dawn spacecraft explored the largest asteroid Ceres, it discovered white spots that appear to be salt and volcanic mountains made of water ice. This led astronomers to which of the following ideas:

Ceres may have (or may have had) a liquid ocean under its crust

Pluto's big satellite is called

Charon

Pluto's big satellite is called....

Charon

Pluto's largest satellite is called Charon Titan Tombaugh Christy

Charon

If no one has ever visited the core of the Earth, how do we know that it is made of metals?

Circulating liquid metals in the core set up a large (measurable) magnetic field

Pluto was discovered through the patient searching of

Clyde Tombaugh

Pluto was discovered through the patient searching of Percival Lowell Gerard Kuiper Clyde Tombaugh E. E. Barnard

Clyde Tombaugh

Foliated metamorphic rocks are created by

Directed pressure

The way scientists know that a hypothesis is a reasonable description of nature is to...

Do experiments and observations about predictions of the hypothesis

Which of the following statements about the atmosphere of Mars today is FALSE?

Droplets of liquid water rain irrigate the surface of mars regularly

heavier (denser) materials sink to the centers of molten planets

During the process of differentiation,

Venus resembles a young __________ (1 billion years)—no asthenosphere, & thin crust.

Earth

Which terrestrial planets have some type of active tectonic activity at the moment? Earth and Mars Earth and Venus Mars and Venus Mercury and Venus

Earth and Venus

Who was the second person to recognize a periodic comet?

Edmond Halley

The Satellite whose surface is characterized by a smooth icy crust with a complex network of cracks is....

Europa

The satellite whose surface is characterized by a smooth icy crust with a complex network of cracks is Europa Callisto Ganymede Io

Europa

The satellite whose surface is characterized by a smooth icy crust with a complex network of cracks is:

Europa

Rocks that cool as lava flows are called:

Extrusive igneous

What makes astronomers believe that Mars once had rivers and running water?

Images from orbiting spacecraft reveal ancient channels that look like dried-up river beds on Earth (and our rovers show geological formations made by running water)

The Magellan spacecraft revealed a wide variety of volcanic features on Venus, including some that looked like ticks and spiders. What instrument aboard Magellan was used for these investigations?

Imaging radar

The Magellan spacecraft revealed a wide variety of volcanic features on Venus, including some that looked like ticks and spiders. What instrument aboard the Magellan was used for these investigations?

Imaging radar

What features are abundant on Callisto and Ganymede and almost absent on Europa and Io?

Impact craters

Why are there no smaller craters on the surface of Venus, only bigger ones?

In Venus' thick atmosphere all smaller chunks of material burn up before they can reach the surface

its atmosphere (whether it has one and how thick it is)

In general, the further planets are from the Sun, the cooler they are. What other factor can have a significant influence on a planet's surface temperature?

Which of these movies involved Saturn?

Interstellar, Wall-E, Beetlejuice

Mercury's Caloris basin is aptly named, since:

It is the hottest region, turning to face the Sun when Mercury is at perihelion.

What is interesting about the status of Ceres in the Solar System?

It is the only dwarf planet in the main asteroid belt.

What is the source of the fine, powdery dust found on the Moon's surface?

It is the result of many impacts breaking surface rocks apart over billions of years

Right now the world community is trying to reach a consensus on restricting global temperature change to under 2°C (3.6°F). Which RCP scenario would achieve this?

RCP 4.5

Today, scientists believe that the main reason the Earth has had periodic ice ages is:

Slow changes in the tilt of our planet's axis of rotation

According to the theory of plate tectonics,

Slow motions within the mantle of the earth move large sections of the crust around

in 1980, scientists suggested that the great mass extinction of 65 million years ago (which ended the reign of the dinosaurs) may have been caused by a large impact from space. What discovery gives a big boost to this idea?

The discovery of a buried crater (about 200 km across) near Chicxulub, Mexico

In 1980, scientists suggested that the great mass extinction of 65 million years ago (which ended the reign of dinosaurs) may have been caused by a large impact from space. What discovery gives a big boost to this idea?

The discovery of a buried crater (about 200km across) near Chicxulub Mexico

A lightyear is....

The distance that light travels in one year

Newton's reformulation of Kepler's third law allows us to measure the masses of bodies in orbit around each other, if we can measure

The distances and periods of rotation

What is one important way in which both the Moon and Mercury are different from Earth?

The do not have an atmosphere

Scientists now understand that the Earth consists of layers, with the densest materials in the core. What allowed the differentiation of the Earth's layers to happen?

The early Earth much have been so hot it was like a liquid and heavier things sank to the middle/

Scientists now understand that the Earth consists of layers, with the densest materials in the core. What allowed the differentiation of the Earth's layers to happen?

The earth must have been so hot it was like a liquid and heavier things sank to the middle

Describe the shape of the graph showing how the surface area of ice sheets in the northern hemisphere has changed over the last 20,000 years.

The first part of the graph shows the surface of ice coverage in the northern hemisphere to be decreasing at a fairly regular rate. This rate then increases in the central area of the graph. The last third of the graph on the right is a horizontal line showing the area of ice coverage in the Northern hemisphere is relatively stable in this time period.

What allowed the Voyager 2 spacecraft to make a "tour" of all four of the jovian planets in the late 1970's and the 1980's?

The four planets were approximately aligned on one side of the sun and we used the gravity of each planet to speed up the spacecraft to get to the next one in its path

What is the primary reason why a Pluto flyby mission would be cheaper than a Pluto orbiter? Question 21 options: The fuel needed for an orbiter to slow down when it reaches Pluto adds a lot of weight to the spacecraft. The fuel needed for an orbiter to slow down when it reaches Pluto is very expensive in and of itself. The flyby can use less expensive cameras than the orbiter. The flyby is easier to design than the orbiter.

The fuel needed for an orbiter to slow down when it reaches Pluto adds a lot of weight to the spacecraft.

What was the global mean sea level in the year 2010?

The global mean sea level in the year 2010 was 4cm

What could account for this drastic change in area covered by ice sheets in the northern hemisphere?

The global surface temperature must have gradually increased. This resulted in much of the ice finally beginning to melt

Describe the sea level graph that the RCP2.6 carbon emissions scenario projects.

The graph is linear and rises at a quite steady rate right to the year 2100.

Describe the shape of the graph up to this point.

The graph is slowly aging upwards. The increase is more pronounced in the later half of the 20th century

During the process of differentiation,

The heavier materials sink to centers of molten planets

it was so hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated

The inner planets are made mostly of rock and metal because:

Why does Mars have an overall reddish color when we see its surface from afar?

The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide, the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish

A future interplanetary tourist whose parents kept him too warm as a baby asks for your help to find a "really cold place" in the solar system. Which of the following would be the coldest place to take him?

The moons of Neptune

What do astronomers think is the origin of the many irregular moons around the outer planets (irregular meaning they are orbiting backwards and/or have eccentric orbits)?

The moons were likely formed elsewhere and captured by the giant planets

In 2012, NASA's Spaceguard Survey concluded that astronomers had now identified 90% of the asteroids with diameters greater than 1 km. How could astronomers know that they had reached this goal?

The people doing the survey began to find the same objects over again, indicating they were reaching the limits of their survey

The Celestial Sphere turns once around each day because..

The planet on which we live on is rotating

One reason that we have such a complex system of belts/zones/storms in Jupiter's atmosphere is that:

The planet rotates very rapidly

What do astronomers think is the origin of the many irregular moons around the outer planets (irregular meaning they are orbiting backwards and/or have eccentric orbits)?

These moons were likely formed elsewhere and captured by the giant planets

What do astronomers think is the origin of the many irregular moons around the outer planets? These moons were likely formed elsewhere and captured by the giant planets. These moons had an early interaction with the rings of the giant planets and were moved to strange orbits as a result. These moons are fragments of a much larger moon around each planet that exploded. These moons were expelled by volcanoes on the surfaces of the giant planets. Astronomers do not have a complete picture for where these moons originated.

These moons were likely formed elsewhere and captured by the giant planets.

Which of the jovian planets does NOT have any satellites? They all have satellites. Neptune Uranus Jupiter Saturn

They all have satellites.

What do the four terrestrial planets have in common?

They all revolve about the Sun in the same direction.

In the future, a pair of astronauts are sent on a mission to the planet Mercury. They watch the Sun set one mercurian evening and decide they will go exploring in opposite directions and meet again the NEXT time the Sun is setting in the spot where they started. How long will they have to wait for the next sunset at that spot?

Two-mercury years, 176 Earth Days

The 17th Century astronomer who kept a roughly 20 year continuous record of the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets was...

Tycho Brahe

The planet that orbits "on its side" (i.e. has its rotation axis perpendicular to the plane of its orbit) is....

Uranus

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the rotation of Venus? Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth. Venus has the longest rotation period of any planet in the solar system. Venus rotates in a retrograde way (east to west). the rotation rate of Venus had to be determined from radar measurements.

Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth.

Which 3 planets have an atmosphere?

Venus, Earth, and Mars

We have not yet found meteoroids and meteorites derived from

Venus.

The spacecraft called Dawn visited two asteroids first _____________ then Ceres.

Vesta

Who discovered the planet Neptune?

Veyer

There was a pair of spacecraft whose components both orbited the planet Mars and landed on its surface in 1976. These spacecraft were called:

Viking

The Viking spacecraft were designed -- in part -- to search for life on Mars. Which of the following statements about the results of these experiments is true?

Viking found that the surface of mars in the two places it searched did not have any life or even life's building blocks

A spot where magma rises to the surface can be seen as a

Volcano

Much of what we have learned about the jovian planets and their satellites has come from the work of two spacecraft called:

Voyager

Why is Pluto a TNO?

Where it orbits

they all have solid surfaces with signs of geological activity on them

Which of the following characteristics do all four terrestrial planets have in common?

The Great Dark Spot is

a huge cyclone on Neptune

[An alternate phrasing of question 15]: These days the theory of the Earth's Moon's origin that best fits with the facts we have about the Moon is:

a large object hit the earth and the collision produced a filament of material that condensed to make the moon

When two objects in orbit have periods of revolution that are simple ratios of each other (such as 1 to 2 or 1 to 3) we say that we have:

a resonance

According to the fossil record, how old is the oldest evidence of life forms on the surface of Earth?

about 3.5 billion years old

Short-period comets like Comet Halley a. return to the Oort Cloud during each of their orbits b. come back again and again at predictable intervals c. have a long tail visible during their entire orbit around the Sun d. can never be observed without a telescope e. you can't fool me, the only short-period comet we know is Halley

b. come back again and again at predictable intervals

Different asteroids reflect different percentages of the light falling on them. This is due to the fact that they have different: a. temperatures b. compositions c. eccentricities d. rotation rates e. size of the moons orbiting them

b. compositions

The large, roughly circular, dark, and somewhat younger regions on the Moon are called: a. highlands b. maria c. rilles d. tectonic blobs e. anti-cyclones

b. maria

Today, scientists believe the main reason the Earth has had periodic ice ages is...

because of slow changes in the tilt of our planets axis of rotation

A main difference between asteroids and comets is that asteroids are mostly made of rock and comets are mostly made of a. metals b. carbon compounds c. ice d. vapor (gas) e. you can't fool me, astronomers don't really know what comets are made of

c. ice

More than 75% of the known asteroids:

can be found in a belt between Mars and Jupiter

More than 75% of asteroids

can be found in the belt between Mars and Jupiter

Which of the following is NOT something that was accomplished by the Apollo missions to the Moon?

discovering that the moon has a great deal of water under its surface

Which of the following statements about the atmosphere of Mars today is FALSE?

droplets of liquid water rain irrigate the surface of Mars regularly

Even with the best and largest telescopes, we can't see all the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, even though these show us other galaxies. Why is that?

dust in the space between stars builds up over large distances and blocks the light of stars behind the dusty Milky Way

The first asteroid confirmed to have a satellite (moon) was a. Vesta b. Eros c. Toutatis d. Chiron e. Ida

e. Ida

The comet that broke into more than 20 pieces and then collided with Jupiter in 1994 was a. Giacobini-Zinner b. Kohoutek c. Halley's Comet d. Eros e. Shoemaker-Levy 9

e. Shoemaker-Levy 9

The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. This gas is: a. water vapor b. nitrogen c. ozone d. ammonia gas e. carbon dioxide

e. carbon dioxide

The phases of Mercury can be seen best when Mercury is at its maximum __________.

elongation

Which of the following statements about Jupiter's magnetosphere is TRUE?

it completely covers the inner satellites of Jupiter and is one of the largest structures in the solar system

A planet in our solar system whose composition resembles that of our Sun is: Question 27 options: Earth Mercury Pluto Jupiter

jupiter

The planet Neptune was discovered by means of....

mathematical calculations of how it was perturbing the motion of a neighbor planet

A crucial difference that helps explain why Venus is so hot and the Earth isn't is that:

on Venus, there was eventually no rain to get the carbon dioxide from the surface back to the atmosphere

How do astronomers know that the age of the solar system is about 4.5 billion years old?

radioactive dating of the primitive meteorites indicates they have that age (since they are left-over building blocks of the solar system)

If I stood on the surface of Pluto, observing its big moon, I would see that moon:

remain in the same place in the sky

Which of the following was not done by Galileo Galilei?

resolving the Milky Way into many, many stars

In the for terrestrial planets, the densest, heaviest materials are at the center and not evenly distributed throughout the planet. Scientists interpret this observation to mean what?

the for four terrestrial planets must once have been hot enough to be molten (like a liquid)

What allowed the Voyager 2 spacecraft to make a "tour" of all four of the jovian planets in the late 1970's and the 1980's?

the four planets were approximately aligned on one side of the Sun and we used the gravity of each planet to speed up the spacecraft to get to the next one in its path

In the four terrestrial planets, the densest, heaviest materials are at the center and not evenly distributed throughout the planet. Scientists interpret this observation to mean that:

the four terrestrial planets must once have been hot enough to be molten (like a liquid)

Which theory of the Moon's origin do astronomers (and the evidence) favor:

the giant impact theory

What is the cause of its many volcanic/geyser-like eruptions on the moon Io?

the gravitational stress of being so close to Jupiter and its other large moons heats Io's inside

Comets change as they approach the Sun in their orbits. Which of the following statements about a comet approaching the Sun is FALSE?

the gravity of the comet nucleus holds on to the evaporated material, and it all eventually freezes back into the nucleus

What evidence can you give that shows the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa must be relatively young?

we see very few craters compared to the surfaces of Callisto and Ganymede

Use the now completed fuels table above to rank the three fuels based on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions; rank the fuels from the greatest to the least.

Coal, liquid fuels, natural gas

The smaller objects in the solar system composed mainly of ices (frozen gases) that usually orbit far from the Sun are called:

Comets

The 88 sectors into which astronomers today divide the celestial sphere (the whole sky) are called..

Constellations

the Renaissance Astronomer who wrote the pioneering book that suggested that Earth probably orbits the Sun (instead of the other way around) was...

Copernicus

just a little after 2 hrs

In a bad late-night science fiction film, a villain is using a large collection of rare radioactive atoms as energy for a weapon to threaten the good guys. The atoms have a half-life of 1 hour. The villain has 4 kilograms of the radioactive material now, and he needs a minimum of 1 kg. for his weapon to work. After how much time will the weapon no longer be a threat?

is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining

In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area):

You are on a camping trip, far away from city lights. You look up into the dark night sky, and see lots of stars, some stars are dimmer. All the stars you see with your unaided eye are....

In the Milky Way galaxy

A very rich and eccentric tourist in the future hires you to fly him to a region of Venus' atmosphere where the temperatures and pressures are the most Earth-like. Where would you take him?

In the cloud layers about 50km above the surface

the Sun

In the far future, visiting tourists from another planetary system ask to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take them?

The idea that objects (in the absence of an outside force) tend to continue doing what they are already doing is called the law of...

Inertia

In what way is the Moon similar to the Earth? a. roughly the same size b. similar atmosphere c. same gravity on the surface d. takes the same time to rotate on its axis e. none of the above

e. none of the above

The perseid Meteor shower is a "periodic meteor shower". It occurs

every year

By the term "universe" astronomers mean...

everything that we can observe

Of the people who landed on the Moon, how many were trained scientists?

exactly one

One piece of evidence that can help astronomers sort out how the planets in our solar system formed is

finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars

One piece of evidence that can help astronomers sort out how the planets in our solar system formed is Question 29 options: discovering other galaxies of stars beyond the Milky Way finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars counting the number of moons around each planet in our solar system counting the craters on the surface of Jupiter and Saturn

finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars

When a chunk of cosmic material the size of a golf ball or a baseball hits the Earth s atmosphere it makes a

fireball

When a chunk of cosmic material the size of a golf ball or a baseball hits the Earth's atmosphere it makes a

fireball

Which of the following statements about the planet Venus is true?

it has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets

Which of the following statements about the planet Venus is true? it rotates on its axis in the same direction as the Earth does the atmospheric pressure near the surface is about the same as Earth's it has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets its thick nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere acts like a greenhouse to keep the planet hot

it has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets

In addition to hundreds of smaller objects they have been discovering in the Kuiper Belt recently, astronomers were surprised to find

larger bodies, with sizes as big as Pluto (now called dwarf planets)

What caused the large network of channels and flood on Mars?

liquid water

The Oort cloud is thought to be the source of

long period comets

About 75% of the surface of Venus consists of

lowland lava plains

About 75% of the surface of Venus consists of high volcanic plateaus many of which are currently erupting lava lowland lava plains vast criss-crossing chanels carrying liquid lava wall-to-wall impact craters

lowland lava plains

The largest part of the Earth is its

mantle

Mars appears to have long branching channels that have the appearance of being formed by a flowing liquid. Yet we know that liquids would not stay liquid in the very thin atmosphere we have on the Martian surface? So how can we explain the channels?

mars had a thicker atmosphere long ago when the channels formed

One way to measure how long Jupiter takes to rotate is to watch the giant storms in its atmosphere go around. A more fundamental way to measure the rotation is to:

measure the changes in the planet's radio waves, which are controlled by its magnetic field

The first technique that allowed astronomers to find exoplanets involved:

measuring changes in the radial velocity (Doppler shift) of the star caused by the pull of orbiting planets

An important way that scientists have been able to study the interior of the Earth is by....

measuring how seismic waves are transmitted through Earth

An important way that scientists have been able to study the interior of the Earth is by:

measuring how seismic waves are transmitted through the earth

The most metal-rich planet is Question 8 options: Mars Venus Earth Mercury

mercury

Which planet is closest to the Sun? Question 25 options: Venus Mars Earth Mercury

mercury

Which planet was discovered using mathematics before it was seen in a telescope? Question 18 options: Neptune Uranus Jupiter Saturn

neptune

About how often does the surface of Venus receive direct sunlight, unflitered by cloud cover?

never

The most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere is

nitrogen

The mountains on Pluto are made of frozen water, which at Pluto temperatures, is as hard as rock. Pluto also has a smooth, round basin which could be thought of as a frozen sea. What material is in the basin (named Sputnik) likely to be made of?

nitrogen

The mountains on Pluto are mode of frozen water which at Pluto temperatures is as hard as a rock. Pluto also has a smooth round basin which could be thought of as a frozen sea. What material is the basin likely to be made of? nitrogen carbon dioxide (dry ice) warmer water complex carbon compounds which are the building blocks of life on Earth

nitrogen

On which world besides the Earth could a human being step out of his spacecraft without a space suit and air tanks and be confident of surviving?

none of these

The main reason for the runaway greenhouse effect on Venus is because Venus does not have

oceans

A crucial difference that helps explain why Venus is so hot and the Earth isn't is that on Earth there is additional argon which exerts a tremendous cooling effect. on Venus nearly all CO2 exist in the atmosphere causing a strong Greenhouse effect on Venus the rocks have enormous amounts of radioactivity heating up the environment. there are no volcanoes on Venus but many on Earth to produce the extra heat. on Venus the life forms give off more heat than they absorb.

on Venus nearly all CO2 exist in the atmosphere causing a strong Greenhouse effect

If our estimates of the number of comets in every part of the solar system are correct, the total mass contained in comets must be:

on the order of the mass of all the planets put together

How many of the 8 panets in our solar system have one (and only one) moon?

one

Mars has an atmospheric pressure that is about .... that of Earth's

one hundreth

The rate at which a collection of the same radioactive atoms will decay depends on:

only on internal processes within the atoms; nothing external matters

Why are there two planets that can never be seen at midnight? Because those two planets

orbit closer to the sun than Earth does

Consider Saturn's rings and think about the rings that are closer to Saturn than teh Cassini division is. The rings that are closer to Saturn are composed of particles that

orbit more quickly than the particles in rings farther out

Where is "Io" located?

orbiting Jupiter

The Murchison meteorite that was found in Australia in 1969 is important to scientists because it contained

organic materials, such as amino acids

What is believed to have been the main source of Titan's atmosphere? outgassing from the interior gas captured from the solar nebula comet impacts we have no idea

outgassing from the interior

Callisto, the fourth moon of Jupiter's, takes 17 days to orbit Jupiter. If I stand on the surface of Callisto and see Jupiter high in the sky over my head, and then wait 8.5 Earth days in the same spot, where I see Jupiter?

overhead, where it was before

When the Dawn spacecraft visited Ceres starting in 2015, it observed ________________, inside one of the craters.

patches of ice

One reason we know more about the surface composition of the asteroid Vesta than about most other members of the asteroid belt is that

pieces of Vesta have landed on Earth as meteorites

Which planet in the solar system has not been examined by spacecraft instruments that have either flown by or orbited them? Question 33 options: Saturn Venus Planet X Earth

planet x

The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call:

planetesimals

When the solar system was forming, the building blocks from which the protoplanets gathered together were the:

planetesimals (a few km to tens of km wide)

The first trans-Neptunian object astronomers found (in 1930) is called Question 19 options: Eris Pluto Ceres Uranus

pluto

Which planet has the biggest moon relative to its own size? Not the biggest moon in terms of kilometers, but the biggest as a percentage of the size of the planet it orbits

pluto

Which planet or dwarf planet in our solar system has the biggest moon relative to its own size? Not the biggest moon in terms of miles, but biggest compared to the size of the planet it orbits.

pluto

Despite its thick cloud cover, astronomers can observe the surface of Venus with _____________.

radar

The surface of Venus can be observed with

radar observations from Arecibo

What wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum should I use to examine the surface of a planet which is completely covered by a thick layer of clouds all the time? x-rays visible light radio waves any of the above would work

radio waves

The troposphere (the lowest layer in the atmosphere) of Venus...

resembles being about a kilometer or so under the Earth's ocean -- a huge mass of air keeps temperatures pretty much the same all over the planet

When a planet temporarily moves westward in the sky over the course of several weeks or months (instead of eastward as it typically does) we call it...

retrograde motion

All of the major planets (without exception)....

revolve around the Sun in the same direction

All the planets (without exception)

revolve around the Sun in the same direction

All the planets (without exception) Question 34 options: have satellites orbiting around them have atmospheres much thicker than Earth's rotate on their axes in the same direction that they revolve around the Sun revolve around the Sun in the same direction have solid surfaces

revolve around the sun in same direction

Regions where the continents or the sea floor are pulling apart are called

rift zones

If you want to locate someone precisely on the surface of the Earth, you specify his/her exact latitude and longitude. If you want to locate a star precisely in the sky, you need to specify its exact...

right ascension and declination

The lunar highlands are made mostly of rocks that

rose to the top as the moon cooled from a molten state early in its history

Among solid worlds, which type of world is most likely to have significant geological activity?

those that are the largest (and retain heat the best)

All molecules (like molecules of water or carbon dioxide) are made up of....

two or more atoms

Which planet in the solar system has not been examined by spacecraft instruments that have either flown by or orbited them?

you can't fool me, spacecraft have visited all the planets in our solar system

Which of the following planets does NOT have an atmosphere?

you can't fool me: all of these have an atmosphere

On which of the planets (other than Earth) could a human being step out of a spacecraft and survive without any protective gear (special suit, oxygen tanks, etc)?

you can't fool me; there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected

On which of the planets (other than Earth) could a human being step out of a spacecraft and survive without any protective gear?

you can't fool me; there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected.

Mercury's average density is about 50% greater than the Moon's, even though the two bodies have similar radii. This suggests that Mercury('s):

Interior is much richer in iron than the Moon's.

Non-foliated metamorphic rocks are usually found near:

Intrusive igneous rocks

The world in the solar system that is most active volcanically is Io Mars Neptune Earth

Io

The world in the solar system that is most active volcanically is....

Io

The world in the solar system that is most active volcanically is:

Io

Which of the following statements about Jupiter's magnetosphere is TRUE?

It completely covers the inner satellites of Jupiter and is one of the largest structures in the solar system

Why does the global sea level not go through 0 for the year 2010?

It does not go through 0 because the global sea level in the year in 2010 was already above the reference level set in the time period 1985-2005 (which is the zero level)

Astronomers believe that Mars formed with a much thicker atmosphere than it has today. Where did this atmosphere go?

It escaped into space (and some later froze out as Mars got colder)

Which of the following statements about the planet Venus is true?

It has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets

Which statement is true of Venus' surface?

It has remained unchanged for billions of years.

Which of the following characterizes a shield volcano?

It sits above a hot spot in the planet's mantle.

Valles Marineris is a wide, deep network of chasms stretching for some 2500 miles on the surface of Mars. How do we believe such a big set of canyons formed originally?

It was caused by tectonic pressures from deep within the planet

The canals that late 19th and early 20th century observers thought they saw on Mars turned out to be optical illusions very narrow oceans of water enormous cracks caused by extensive plate tectonics on Mars huge chains of thousands of large volcanoes

optical illusions

There are no planets in the asteroid belt, because the giant planet _____________, located just outside the belt, prevented a planet to form in that region, rather the asteroids just keep colliding and breaking apart.

Jupiter

Which of the Jovian planets has the shortest period of rotation (shortest day)?

Jupiter

Which of the following is NOT a terrestrial planet?

Jupiter

Which of the following is not a terrestrial planet?

Jupiter

Which of the following places is most likely NOT to be differentiated?

Jupiter

Which of the jovian planets has the shortest period of rotation (the shortest day)?

Jupiter

The number of degrees of arc that your location is north or south of the Earth's equator is called your....

Latitude

What percentage of the surface of Venus could be characterized as continental-sized highlands?

Less than 10%

Sometimes, when the moon is a thin crescent, you can still make out the full disk of our satellite. What is the reason for this?

Light reflecting from the Earth to the Moon

Sometimes, when the Moon is a thin crescent, you can still dimly make out the full disk of our satellite. What is the reason for this?

Light reflecting from the earth onto the moon

In the far future, an entrepreneur with a large fleet of space ships decides to capture and bring to Earth some valuable asteroids. If at that time, there is a shortage of usable metals on Earth, what type of asteroids should his employees search for?

M-type

In the far future, and entrepreneur with a large fleet of space ships decides to capture and bring to Earth some valuable asteroids. If at that time, there is a shortage of usable metals on Earth, what type of asteroids should his employees search for?

M-type asteroids

The spacecraft that sent back the most detailed radar images of Venus and showed us features as small as a football field is:

Magellan

If metamorphic rocks are melted they turn into:

Magma

The largest part of the Earth is its

Mantle

The large, roughly circular, dark, and somewhat younger regions of the Moon are called....

Maria

Which of the following show evidence of ancient river beds? Venus Mercury Mars all of the above the Moon

Mars

Which planet other than the Earth has visible water ice on it? Mercury the Moon Mars Venus

Mars

Why is it so much easier to determine the length of the day on Mars than on Venus?

Mars atmosphere is generally pretty clear (so the surface is visible) while Venus is always cloudy

Mars appears to have long branching channels that have the appearance of being formed by a flowing liquid. Yet we know that liquids would not stay liquid in the very thin atmosphere we have on the Martian surface? So how can we explain the channels?

Mars had a thicker atmosphere long ago when the channels formed

Venus

Of the following planets, which do NOT have satellites (moons)?

The largest volcano on Mars is called the Red Spot Hellas Olympus Mons Mariner Valley

Olympus Mons

the largest volcano on Mars is called...

Olympus Mons

The largest volcano on Mars is called:

Olympus Mons (Mt. Olympus)

The tallest mountain on a terrestrial world is:

Olympus Mons (Mt. Olympus) on Mars

the moon

On Earth, we can get the age of various parts of our planet by finding rocks that contain radioactive atoms. Which other world do have a good number of rocks from to do this kind of age analysis?

A crucial difference that helps explain why Venus is so hot and the Earth isn't is that:

On Venus, there was eventually no ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Which of the following statements about our Moon is FALSE?

On earth we can see all sides in the course of a month as it goes around us

What is the surface of Mercury like?

Rocky, with craters and scarps.

What is Pluto named after?

Roman God of the underworld

Which of the following planets have rings?

Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus

The observation that began the 19th and early 20th century fascination with Mars as a place for life was:

Schiaparelli's seeing what seemed to him to be long straight features on the red planet

When rocks are subjected to weathering and erosion, they change into which of the following?

Sediment

When the Sun and the Moon are lined up and pull together, the tides they raise are called...

Spring tides

What are the clouds of Venus mainly composed of?

Sulfuric acid droplets.

A type of planet that our surveys of exoplanets are revealing around other stars, but we don't have any examples of around the Sun are:

Super-Earth's

The total surface area of planet Mars is roughly equal to the

Surface area of the earths continents

Is Neptune really the last planet in the solar system?

Technically

One of the most impressive features of geology of Mars is an uplifted area about the size of North America, with volcanoes on it, which is called the.....

Tharsis Bulge

One of the most impressive features of the geology of Mars is an uplifted area about the size of North America, with volcanoes on it, which is called the

Tharsis Bulge

What is the name of the book that brings the fear of meteors/asteroids/comets into pop culture?

The Day of the Triffids

The main reason that the Earth does not turn to be as Venus is because

The Earth has a carbon cycle

Consider that the Earth and Moon are the same distance from the Sun. Why is the moon so much colder than Earth?

The Earth's atmosphere traps some infrared (thermal) radiation

In its overall composition, the Moon roughly resembles...

The Earth's crust and mantle

When it comes to our place in the Solar System, which model is accepted by Astronomers?

The Heliocentric Model

Why do astronauts (and cans of soft drink) float around in the International Space Station (ISS) instead of falling?

The ISS is falling around the Earth (and everything is in free fall)

Our modern understanding of Pluto is that it is a member of.....

The Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)

In its overall composition, the Moon roughly resembles:

The earth's crust and mantle

What do you think that the graphic is illustrating?

The extent of ice coverage in the northern hemisphere at a time of 20,000 years ago

Which of the following would NOT be one of the problems faced by an unprotected Earthling stranded on Mars? (Unprotected meaning no space suit.)

The extreme high heat at most latitudes

How has the factory graphic changed?

The factory has two smokestacks now

There is only one dwarf planet in the asteroid belt and it is called _____________.

ceres

If no one has ever visited the core of the Earth, how do we know that it is made of metals?

circulating liquid metals in the core set up a large (measurable) magnetic field

Venus has a high albedo because its surface is covered by dust storms light-colored rocks snow volcanic ash clouds

clouds

Compare the shape of the Natural Gas graph with the Liquid Fuels graph.

co2 emissions from natural gas gradually increase at a fairly steady rate in a manner similar to the liquid fuels graph

Describe the historical change in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from liquid fuels between 1990 and 2010.

co2 emissions have gradually increased at fairly steady rate between 1990 and 2010

Describe the projected change in carbon dioxide emissions from liquid fuels between 2010 and 2040.

co2 emissions will continue to increase at a steady rate right up until 2040

The fact that some asteroids cluster in what are called asteroid families is probably the result of:

collisions which broke up larger bodies into a number of smaller ones

Short-period comets like Comet Halley

come back again and again at predictable intervals

Short-period comets like Comet Halley...

come back again and again at predictable intervals

The smaller objects in the solar system composed mainly of ices that usually orbit far from the Sun are called: Question 12 options: comets asteroids satellites snowroids

comets

An increase in the Earth's temperature by several degrees Celsius would result in:

The melting of many glaciers, a rise in sea levels, and more flooding of towns near the coast of the continents

Mercury is named after what Roman God?

The messenger

What is false about Galileo (1995-2003)?

The mission collected more data than anticipated

On Earth, we can get the age of various parts of our planet by finding rocks that contain radioactive atoms. Which other world do have a good number of rocks from to do this kind of age analysis?

The moon

Which of the following statements about the rocks brought back from the Earth's Moon by astronauts is true?

The moon rocks were puzzling because they resemble rocks from he Earth's crust in many ways, but also have subtle differences

Which of the following statements about the rocks brought back from the Earth's Moon by the astronauts is TRUE?

The moon rocks were puzzling, because they resemble rocks from the earth's crust in many ways, but also have subtle differences

Different asteroids reflect different percentages of light falling on them. This is because that have different.....

compositions

According to our understanding of solar system formation, why do all the planets orbit the sun in the same direction and in nearly the same plane?

conservation of angular momentum ensures that a rotating , collapsing cloud will flatten to a disk

What is one way that astronomers have actually gotten an idea of the age of the surfaces of terrestrial planets other than the Earth?

counting craters

In Ptolemy's system the planets orbit Earth and not the Sun...How does the system explain retrograde motion of planets like Jupiter?

The planets moved on a small circle whose center, in turn, circled a point near the Earth

For scientists, one bar is

The pressure in which 1 square centimeter of the Earth's atmosphere presses down at the surface

What is the projected change in global surface temperature in the year 2050 for RCP8.5?

The projected change in global surface temperature in the year 2050 for RCP 8.5 is 1.78 degrees C

In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area):

The rate at which a collection of the same radioactive atoms will decay depends on:

The same process that explains why astronomers see less helium in the upper atmosphere of Saturn when they take spectra also explains

The reason Saturn is warming than we expect

Which of the following statements about Saturn's rings is TRUE?

The rings are made of billions and billions of individual "moonlets" (small chunks)

Which of the following statements about Saturn's rings is TRUE? The rings are made of particles no bigger than the particles that make up smoke The structure of the rings is completely indepedent of the moons The rings are made of billions and billions of individual moonlets There is really only one ring which looks unbroken from Earth

The rings are made of billions and billions of individual moonlets

We always see the same side of the Moon from the Earth because:

The rotation period of the Moon is the same as its period of revolution around the Earth

The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called:

The runway greenhouse effect

Compared to today's reference sea level (i.e. 0 m), what was the sea level 20,000 years ago?

The sea level 20,000 years ago was 129 m below today's current level

comets

The smaller objects in the solar system composed mainly of ices (frozen gases) that usually orbit far from the Sun are called:

asteroids

The smaller objects in the solar system made of rock and metal (most of which orbit between Jupiter and Mars) are called:

Our best evidence and theoretical calculations indicate that the solar system began with a giant spinning system of gas and dust that scientists call:

The solar nebula

Which of the following does the composition of a planet like Jupiter resemble:

The sun

Mercury is a small planet and therefore has trouble holding on to an atmosphere. How then do scientist account for the extremely thin atmosphere that was found around the planet in 1985?

The sun's wind of particles is chipping atoms off the surface of mercury

Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles Earth?

The thickness and pressure of its atmosphere

Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles the Earth?

The thickness and pressure of the atmosphere

What would have to change about the Earth to stop our planet from having significantly different seasons?

The tilt of its axis

In which region of the Earth's atmosphere have you spent most of your life?

The troposphere

Compare the shapes of the two graphs.

The two graphs are very similar; they are almost the mirror opposites of each other

Carbon cycle is one of the reasons that Earth is not as hot as Venus

True

Some asteroids are called near-Earth asteroids because they orbit around the Sun near the orbit of Earth.

True

The voyager was the only craft to travel to Uranus

True

The planet that orbits "on its side" (i.e. has its rotation axis perpendicular to the plane of its orbit) is:

Uranus

The rings that most resemble Saturn's narrow F ring in the solar system are

Uranus' rings

The rings that most resemble Saturn's narrow F ring in the solar system are Saturn's A ring Uranus' rings Jupiter's rings Neptune's rings

Uranus' rings

The Red Spot on Jupiter is...

Variable in size, made of reddish colored material, a high pressure storm system in the atmosphere, long-lived (observed since the 1600's)

The spacecraft that soft-landed successfully on the surface of Venus (and briefly sent back pictures while sitting in that destructive environment) was called

Venera

The spacecraft that soft-landed successfully on the surface of Venus (and briefly sent back pictures while sitting in that destructive environment) were called

Venera

Of the following planets, which do NOT have moons?

Venus

Of the following planets, which do NOT have satellites (moons)?

Venus

On which planet (besides the Earth) do we still see a high level of geological activity on the surface today?

Venus

One of the best ways to learn more about a world is to have samples from its surface to analyze in our laboratories. From which of the following worlds do we NOT yet have a sample to analyze here on Earth?

Venus

Which planet gets closest in distance to Earth?

Venus

Today, a significant amount of new gas is joining the atmosphere of the Earth from what source:

Volcanoes release gas that was trapped within the earth

Mountains on Earth often have sharp peaks and edges to them, while mountains on the Moon look smooth and kind of dull in comparison. What gives the Earth's mountains their dramatically sharp shapes?

Water and ice flow over the earth's mountains and erode them

What is one way that we humans are currently making the atmosphere of the Earth more like that of Venus?

We are adding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere which is leading to global warming

jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT CORRECT?

you can't fool me, spacecraft have visited all the planets in our solar system

Which planet in the solar system has not been examined by spacecraft instruments that have either flown by or orbited them?

Lets say we find a star that is located on the points or circle in the sky. Then, on the same night, we move to a location on Earth that is some significant distance from out first location. There will now be a different star at or on our:

Zenith

What relatively recent event shows that impacts continue to happen in our solar system even today?

a comet (which broke into more than 20 pieces) hit the planet Jupiter in 1994

Which of the following statements about the tails of comets is FALSE?

a comet always has a nice long tail, even when it is far from the Sun

Which of the following is farthest from the Sun? Question 15 options: an asteroid in the asteroid belt Neptune a comet in the Kuiper belt Pluto

a comet in the kuiper belt

Newton showed that to change the direction in which an object is moving, one needs to apply...

a force

When a projectile (a rock from space, say) hits the surface of the Moon, which of the following do we NOT get?

a gushing out of lots of water that had been frozen inside on the ground in the cold moon, but it is briefly heated by impact

When two objects in orbit have periods of revolution that are simple ratios of each other (such as 1 to 2 or 1 to 3) we say that we have a resonance a conjunction a tidal stability limit an occultation

a resonance

When two objects in the orbit have periods of revolution that are simple ratios of each other (such as 1 to 2 or 1 to 3) we say that we have:

a resonance

The typical meteor is

a small solid particle, no bigger than a pea

The typical meteor is:

a small solid particle, no bigger than a pea

At their centers, all the jovian planets have cores made of:

a solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure

A large body in space that consistently makes its own light (instead of merely reflecting another bodies light) is called...

a star

A baseball pitcher wants to impress his girl-friend with how strong his throwing arm is. On which of the following bodies would the pitcher be MOST likely to be able to throw a baseball (a fast ball) so fast it would actually go into orbit? a. Earth b. Mars c. Ganymede d. Titan e. Asteroid Ida

a. Earth

What planet can come closest to the Earth in its orbit and look brightest in our skies? a. Venus b. Mars c. Mercury d. Jupiter e. none of the above

a. Venus

Of the people who landed on the Moon, how many were trained scientists? a. exactly one b. about half of the astronauts were trained scientists c. all except one (the first one) d. all the astronauts were trained scientists e. none

a. exactly one

Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles the Earth? a. its size (diameter) b. its overall density c. the surface gravity (which tells us how much we would weigh there) d. the thickness and pressure of its atmosphere e. you can't fool me; Venus resembles Earth in all of the above ways

a. its size (diameter)

I want to examine the surface of a planet which is completely covered by a thick layer of clouds all the time. What wavelength of electromagnetic radiation would I be smartest to use: a. visible light b. x-rays c. radio waves (like radar) d. any of the above would work e. none would work

a. visible light

Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?

about 4.5 billion years

Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old? Question 6 options: about 6 about 2 million years about 100 million years about 4.5 billion years

about 4.5 billion years

One way in which the ozone layer is useful for life forms on the Earth's surface is that it.....

absorbs ultra-violet light, preventing much of it from reaching the surface

The presence of volcano, lack of erosion, apparent young age of Venus indicate that Venus is geologically

active

Besides the Earth which of these planets was known to ancient people? Question 11 options: Mercury all of the above none of the above Jupiter Mars Venus

all of the above

Which of these objects have we sent a probe to land on the surface of? Question 17 options: Venus all of the above the Moon none of the above Mars

all of the above

Which of the following is a group of asteroids orbiting in the same orbit as Jupiter?

all of the other answers are correcct

The Red Spot of Jupiter is:

all of these

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the ways the jovian and terrestrial planets differ?

all the jovians have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the ways the jovian planets differ from the terrestrial planets?

all the jovians have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do

If there are at least a million asteroids, how did spacecraft like Galileo survive their trip through the asteroid belt?

although there are many asteroids, they are widely spaced (there is lots of space between them)

Within a constellation, a smaller, recognizable pattern of stars is often called...

an asterism

We now know the orbit of a stable planet around a star like the Sun is always in the shape of....

an ellipse

We believe that the Maria on Earth's Moon are...

ancient impact craters in which Lava beds welled up from inside the moon

We believe the maria on the Earth's Moon are:

ancient impact craters in which lava beds welled up from inside the moon

The __________ brightness of Venus varies, due to changes in phase and distance from Earth.

apparent

When chemists say that a planet's outer regions are reduced, they mean that these regions

are dominated by the element hydrogen and its compounds

When chemists say that a planet's upper regions are reduced, they mean that these regions

are dominated by the element hydrogen and its compounds

One of the key reasons that professional astronomers (as opposed to the public) are interested in comets is that they

are icy pieces left over from the time that our solar system formed that can give us clues about that early time

Like Olympus Mons, volcanoes on Venus

are shield volcanoes.

The mountains on the Moon

are the result of giant impacts during the moons long history of being hit

An odd phenomenon of Venus is the ______________, an apparent brightening of the night side of the crescent Venus when seen against a dark sky

ashen light

A baseball pitcher wants to impress his girl-friend with how strong his throwing arm is. On which of the following bodies would the pitcher be MOST likely to be able to throw a baseball (a fast ball) so fast it would actually go into orbit?

asteroid Ida

Which of the following is NOT a way that the moon Titan probably resembles the Earth?

at its surface the temperature and pressure are just right for water to exist in all three phases (gas, liquid, and ice)

The greenhouse effect keeps Venus hot because the

atmosphere is rich in carbon dioxide

According to Kepler's 3rd law, there is a relationship between the time a planet takes to revolve around the Sun and its....

average distance from the sun

Which of these is a way to date a planetary surface? Question 32 options: measuring the height of the tallest mountain measuring the thickness of the atmosphere measuring the amount of ices counting the craters

counting the craters

Comet Shoemaker-Levy-9

crashed into Jupiter

Triton's retrograde orbit is consistent with it having undergone a massive impact formed from a rotating disk of gas and dust around Neptune formed from a rotating disk of gas and dust around Neptune been captured by Neptune's gravity

been captured by Neptune's gravity

The rings of the outer planets consist of

billions of chunks (of various sizes) that all orbit the equator of each planet

The rings of the outer planets consist of

billions of chunks (of various sizes) that all the equator of each planet

The rings of the outer planets consist of sheets of ice that stretch in round planes millions of miles wide around each planet billions of ice chunks that all orbit the equator of each planet many large moons about the size of Io all crowded together subatomic charged particles all kept in line by each planet's magnetic field

billions of ice chunks that all orbit the equator of each planet

Astronomers estimate that the plains of Venus are only about 500 to 600 million years old. How do they estimate dates like this?

by counting the craters visible on the surface and comparing crater counts to other worlds

Astronomers estimate that the plains of Venus are only about 500 to 600 million years old. How do they estimate dates like this? by counting the craters visible on the surface and comparing crater counts to other worlds by looking at the radioactive rock samples that have been returned to Earth from Venus by noting that all the plains on all the terrestrial planets have the same age by looking for little brass plates that give the founding date

by counting the craters visible on the surface and comparing crater counts to other worlds

How have we been able to construct detailed maps of the surface features on Venus? by studying Venus with powerful optical telescopes on spacecraft that were sent to orbit Venus by studying Venus from Earth with powerful telescopes by using radar from spacecraft that were sent to orbit Venus by making computer models of geological processes on Venus by landing spacecraft on the surface for close-up study

by using radar from spacecraft that were sent to orbit Venus

How were the rings of Uranus discovered?

by using the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (the telescope aboard an airplane) to observe Uranus moving in front of a distant star

The spacecraft that sent back the most detailed radar images of Venus and showed us features as small as a football field is: a. Viking b. Pioneer c. Venera d. Magellan e. Mariner

d. Magellan

The first human being to step out onto the surface of another world was: a. Luke Skywalker b. Jack Schmitt c. James Van Allen d. Neil Armstrong e. Yuri Gagarin

d. Neil Armstrong

Two small moons in the solar system, known since the 19th century, turn out to be captured asteroids. These two moons are: a. Io and Europa around Jupiter b. Dione and Titan around Saturn c. the Earth's moon and antimoon d. Phobos and Deimos around Mars e. none of the above

d. Phobos and Deimos around Mars

The main source of the greenhouse effect on Venus due to the presence of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere

carbon dioxide

The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus is nitrogen ozone carbon dioxide water vapor

carbon dioxide

The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. This gas is:

carbon dioxide

What is teh dominant atom/molecule in Mars' atmosphere?

carbon dioxide

What is the main constituent of the atmosphere of Venus?

carbon dioxide

The Van Allen belt is

A region of trapped charged particles in the Earths magnetosphere

Which of the following is most likely NOT to be differentiated?

A small asteroid

Which of the following places is most likely NOT to be differentiated?

A small asteroid

The time it takes for the Sun to return to the same place in our sky after the Earth has rotated once is called....

A solar day

In what way is the Moon similar to the Earth?

None of the above

A comet's tail results when

the solar wind carries some of teh gas of the coma away from the sun

At their centers, all the jovian planets have cores made of:

A solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure

From a particular location on Earth, why can we see many more total eclipses of the Moon than total eclipses of the Sun?

A total Lunar Eclipse is visible of a much larger part of the Earth's surface than a total solar eclipse

Which of the following is NOT one of largest moons in the Solar System? the earth's moon Ganymede(around Jupiter) Atlas (the shepherd moon near Saturn's A ring) Titan (around Saturn) Triton (around Neptune)

Atlas (the shepherd moon near Saturn's A ring)

How might Mars's weakened magnetic field have allowed for major changes in its climate? The heat combined with the magnetic field and disappeared with it. They are completely unrelated. Atmospheric gases were left vulnerable to being stripped into space by solar wind particles. Mars has actually heated up since the magnetic field weakened since the solar rays no longer have such a dense layer to go through.

Atmospheric gases were left vulnerable to being stripped into space by solar wind particles.

On some parts of Mars, it gets cold enough for a gas to freeze out of the atmosphere that does not freeze out by itself at the temperatures and pressures on Earth. This gas makes up some of the polar caps on Mars and is:

Carbon dioxide

Greenhouse effect is always bad

False

If we move and place the Earth on Venus orbit, the Earth would still be habitable

False

Venus is geologically dead since it does not have an atmosphere to protect it

False

Water exists on the surface of Mars since it is protected by the Martian atmosphere

False

By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is:

Hydrogen

If you were to take a large sample of the four giant planets, the most common element you would find in them is:

Hydrogen

The element that can act like a metal when it is under tremendous pressure and is probably responsible for Jupiter and Saturn's magnetism is:

Hydrogen

The first asteroid confirmed to have a satellite (moon) was

Ida

According to our textbook, what is the best way to defend ourselves against an asteroid which is on course to collide with the Earth in 7 years?

If we do it early enough, we could explode something on or near the asteroid to deflect it slightly, so that years later it would then miss the Earth

hydrogen

If you were to take a large sample of the four giant planets, the most common element you would find in them is:

Any rock in the Earth's crust that has cooled from an originally molten state is called

Igneous

Metamorphic rocks are formed from pre-existing rocks. These are:

Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic

What makes astronomers believe that Mars once had rivers and running water?

Images from orbiting spacecraft reveal ancient channels that look like dried up river beds on earth (and our rovers show geological formations made by running water)

In addition to nitrogen, the other main components of Titan's atmosphere are ammonia and water vapor hydrocarbons like methane and ethane oxygen and carbon dioxide hydrogen and helium

hydrocarbons like methane and ethane

By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is:

hydrogen

CH11-- By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is

hydrogen

If you were to look at the four giant planets the most common element you would find would be: Question 10 options: iron hydrogen silicon oxygen

hydrogen

If you were to take a sample from the four giant planets, the most common element you would find in them is...

hydrogen

The element that can act like a metal when it is under tremendous pressure and is probably responsible for Jupiter and Saturn's magnetism is....

hydrogen

The element that can act like a metal when it is under tremendous pressure and is probably responsible for Jupiter and Saturn's magnetism is:

hydrogen

A main difference between asteroids and comets is that asteroids are mostly made of rock and comets are mostly made of

ice

A main difference between asteroids and comets is that asteroids are mostly made of rock and comets are mostly made of......

ice

Comets are made of _________ and rock, while asteroids tend to be mostly just ___________.

ice, rock

The largest planet in the solar system (by mass) is...

Jupiter

The planet that has an axis that points roughly straight up, and thus has no seasons to speak of, is:

Jupiter

Which of the following statements about Mercury's orbit is TRUE?

Mercury has the highest speed in its orbit of any planet

What features are abundant on Callisto and Ganymede and almost absent on Europa and Io?

impact craters

Neil Armstrong's footprints on the moon will eventually be removed by

impacts from very small meteorites

In Australia (in the Southern Hemisphere), when are the days the shortest and the nights the longest?

in Late June

Where is most of the water on Mars? frozen on the peaks of its tall volcanoes in its polar caps and subsurface ground ice in deep underground deposits in its clouds

in its polar caps and subsurface ground ice

Venus' rotation on its axis

is clockwise, unlike most other solar system objects.

The atmospheric pressure on Venus

is much higher than on Earth.

In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area).....

is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining

In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area):

is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining

In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area): Question 16 options: is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining follows no discernible rules or relationships at all is greater as you get closer to the Sun is about the same on every world

is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining

Which of the following statements about the Galileo probe that dropped into Jupiter is FALSE?

it detected a lot of water and water vapor clouds on its way down

Astronomers believe that Mars formed with a much thicker atmosphere than it has today. Where did it go? it escaped into space (and some later froze out as Mars got cold it was drawn into the crust and mantle of Mars through the enormous cracks of the Mariner Valley canyon system it is trapped in bubbles inside the rocks on the martian surface it was absorbed by the rocks on Mars which are much more absorbent than on Earth

it escaped into space (and some later froze out as Mars got cold

Astronomers believe that Mars formed with a much thicker atmosphere than it has today. Where did this atmosphere go?

it escaped into space (and some later froze out as Mars got cold)

Which Jovian planet does NOT have any satellites?

you can't fool me, all of the Jovian planets are accompanied by satellites

Which of the eight planets has a smaller mass than Mercury?

Mercury has the smallest mass

The four inner planets of the solar system in order of distance from the Sun are:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Which of the Jovian planet does NOT have any satellites?

you can't fool me, all the Jovian planets are accompanied by satellites

Which of the jovian planets does NOT have any satellites?

you can't fool me, all the jovian planets are accompanied by satellites

The location of the Milky Way Galaxy is....

A little less than 30,000 LY from the center

What year is showing in the year slider in the bottom left of the page?

20 thousand years ago

After what year does data stop appearing?

2005

In which year did the most recent exploration of Venus end?

2014

A star is 230 light years away. the light we see tonight from that star left it....

230 years ago

What is the approximate distance in au between the Sun and the farthest gas giant planet? Use the Angular Separation Tool to measure the appropriate distance.

30 AU

How much surface area did ice sheets in the northern hemisphere lose in the last 20,000 years?

31,540,000 km^2

Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?

4.5 billion years

How many missions have been to mars?

49

What rise in global mean sea level is projected for the year 2100 by the two scenarios, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5?

55cm, 74cm

When did the changes in sea level begin to stabilize and taper off?

7,000 years ago

What do you see in the graph window? (liquid fuels)

A black liquid droplet

which of the following statements about the tails of comets is false?

A comet always has a nice long tail, even when it is far from the Sun

What do you see in the graph window?

A factory with one smokestack.

In 2013, a small stony asteroid collided with the Earth above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. What was the result?

A fireball briefly brighter than the Sun could be seen in the sky

What graphic is now visible?

A flame representing natural gas

What rise in global mean sea level is projected for the year 2100?

A global mean sea level rise of 44 cm is projected for the year 2100.

What rise in global mean sea level is projected for the year 2100 by the RCP4.5 scenario?

A global mean sea level rise of 53cm is projected for the year 2100.

How does projected sea level rise in New York City compare with global mean sea level rise predictions?

All of the above

The Red Spot of Jupiter is:

All of the above

What do you think accounts for the increased amount of CO2 emissions from coal in the 21st century?

All of the above

What do you think accounts for the projected steady rise in CO2 emissions from liquid fuels right up to 2040?

All of the above

Where do you think all of this glacial meltwater eventually ended up?

All of the above

Why might the local sea level projection be different from the global sea level projection?

All of the above

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the ways the jovian planets differ from the terrestrial planets?

All the jovian's have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do

revolve around the Sun in the same direction

All the planets (without exception)

What do the magnetic fields of Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune have in common?

All three have their magnetic axes offset from the center of the planet

The largest continental area of all Venus is _______________, the size of south America, & is cut by a system of rift valleys that extends for thousands of kilometres.

Aphrodite Terra

What mean global temperature change is predicted in 2100 by the RCP4.5 model?

Approx 1.8 degrees C

Which Ancient Greek thinker suggested (long before Copernicus) that the Earth is moving around the Sun?

Aristarchus

How do asteroids differ from comets? Question 23 options: Asteroids are rocky bodies and are less dense than the comets which are made of icy material. Asteroids are rocky bodies and are denser than the comets which are made of icy material. Asteroids are made of icy material and are less dense than comets which are rockier. Asteroids are made of icy material and are denser than comets which are rockier.

Asteroids are rocky bodies and are denser than the comets which are made of icy material.

The largest and most massive of Saturn's rings is the

B

Why do astronomers today think that we have and asteroid belt and not a planet between Mars and Jupiter?

Because Jupiter's gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together

If everything in the solar system is moving around, why do the Perseid meteors repeat regularly around August 11th or so?

Because the Earth in its orbit intersects the same swarm of meteor particles at the same time each year

Why is there a 4-minute difference between the solar day and the sidereal day?

Because the Earth is going around the Sun in the course of a year

Why are the largest craters we find on the Moon and Mercury so much larger than the largest craters we find on the Earth?

Because the largest craters were made early in each world'd history, and geologic activity has erased all traces of this early period on the earth's surface

What is one way that astronomers have actually gotten an idea of the age of the surfaces of terrestrial planets other than the Earth?

Counting craters

Where does magma originate?

Deep in the earth's crust

Where has frozen water been discovered on the Moon?

Deep inside craters in the regions near the moon's poles.

Where has frozen water has been discovered on the Moon?

Deep inside craters in the regions near the moons poles

The satellite whose surface is characterized by a smooth icy crust with a complex network of the cracks is:

Europa

The first spacecraft which did not merely fly by a jovian (or giant) planet, but actually went into orbit around it for an extended period of time was

Galileo

The four large moons of Jupiter were first discovered by...

Galileo with his early telescope

The four large moons of Jupiter were first discovered by:

Galileo with his early telescope

The largest satellite (moon) in the solar system is Ganymede Io Charon Earth's Moon Titan

Ganymede

The Galileo spacecraft measured that the moon Ganymede has a magnetic field indicating that its interior was at least partly melted and warm. What do scientists think is the most likely reason for this? Ganymede has thousands of volcanoes which then send material downward to heat up its interior Ganymede is a relatively small moon and therefore much easier to heat up than its neighbor moons Ganymede is heated by tidal forces from Jupiter Ganymede is so far away from Jupiter it is an independent world and can compress its core without interference

Ganymede is heated by tidal forces from Jupiter

Does Mercury have an atmosphere? Why or why not?

No. It has only traces of gases temporarily captured from space. Mercury's gravitational force is too weak to retain an atmosphere in its hot environment.

What theory of Mercury's origin can best explain the fact that its core is made of such dense materials?

Giant impacts in its early history may have torn away much of its original crust and mantle

The spacecraft that got the closest to the nucleus of Halley's Comet and sent back dramatic photographs of what the nucleus looked like was:

Giotto

Who was the first asteroid discovered by?

Giuseppe Piazzi

Sediment can be transported to the oceans by:

Gravity, rivers and ice

The "prime meridian" (where longitude equals zero) passes through...

Greenwich, England

Describe the change in carbon dioxide emissions predicted by the RCP2.6 scenario.

Historical data is marked in black up till 2005. The projection from the RCP2.6 scenario then follows and is marked in blue. Carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase in the RCP2.6 scenario until roughly the middle of the 21st century. Emissions after that date flatten out into a plateau and appear to remain constant.

By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is....

Hydrogen

Valles Marineris is a deep wide network of chasms stretching for 2500 miles on the surface of Mars. How do we believe such a big set of canyons formed originally? It was made by hundreds of impacts from space billions of years ago. It was produced suddenly by flooding water some four billion years ago. It was scoured out of the Martian sands by the action of the regular dust storms. It was caused by tectonic pressures from deep within the planet.

It was caused by tectonic pressures from deep within the planet.

The inner planets are made of mostly rock and metal because......

It was so hot where the inter planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated

Which of the following is a way that the planet Mercury is similar to the Moon?

It's surface is heavily cratered

What other factor can have a significant influence on a planet's surface temperature?

Its atmosphere

The big problem with the Galileo spacecraft is that

Its main antenna is stuck in the closed position

Why doesn't Venus have seasons like Mars and Earth do? It does not have an ozone layer. all of the above. It is too close to the Sun. Its rotation axis is not tilted. It does not rotate fast enough.

Its rotation axis is not tilted.

Which of the following statements about the Earth's magnetosphere is FALSE?

Its shape and size are the same on the sides facing toward and away from the sun

Which of the following is NOT a way that Jupiter differs from terrestrial planets?

Its surface has many more craters from early collisions

The scientist who formulated the three laws of planetary motion by analyzing the data on the precise location of planets in the sky was..

Johannes Kepler

Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets in NOT CORRECT?

Jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

A planet in our solar system whose composition resembles that of our Sun is:

Jupiter

The largest planet in the solar system (by mass) is

Jupiter

Which of the following statements about the seasons of Jupiter is correct?

Jupiter's axis is hardly tilted so it has no real seasonal variations

Which of the following statements about the seasons on Jupiter is correct?

Jupiter's axis is hardly tilted so it has no real seasonal variations

Which of the following statements about the seasons on Jupiter is correct?

Jupiter's axis is hardly tilted, so it has no real seasonal variations

Why do astronomers today think that we have an asteroid belt and not a planet between Mars and Jupiter?

Jupiter's gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together

The four outer planets of the solar system in order of distance from the Sun are:

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

In a bad late-night science fiction film, a villain is using a large collection of rare radioactive atoms as energy for a weapon to threaten the good guys. The atoms have a half-life of 1 hour. The villain has 4 kilograms of the radioactive material now, and he needs a minimum of 1 kg. for his weapon to work. After how much time will the weapon no longer be a threat?

Just a little after 2 hours

The telescope in space that allowed astronomers to find thousands of exoplanets and exoplanet candidates by making very careful measurements during a planet transit was called:

Kepler

When NASA and a group of astronomers sent up a spacecraft designed to find planets orbiting other stars, they named it after Kepler. Why was this an appropriate name?

Kepler figured out the rules of planetary motion, which planets in our solar system and planets everywhere must obey

The mass of a planet and it's moon can be found using

Kepler's 3rd law

Between 1992 and today, astronomers using large telescopes have discovered many icy pieces that orbit in the same region as the orbit of Pluto. These are believed to be members of the

Kuiper belt

Which of the following statements about Valles Marineris, the great "grand canyon system" on Mars is true?

Landslides have helped broaden the canyons since they were first formed

Why is it so much easier to determine the length of the day on Mars than on Venus? Mars is always much closer to the Earth than Venus. Mars' atmosphere is generally pretty clear (so the surface is visible) while Venus is always cloudy. Mars rotates really slowly so it's easy to follow while Venus rotates very fast. Mars is much larger in diameter than Venus is so it's easier to see.

Mars' atmosphere is generally pretty clear (so the surface is visible) while Venus is always cloudy.

The Shoemaker-NEAR spacecraft explored two asteroids, Mathilde and Eros. A big difference between them is that:

Mathilde appears to be pile of "rubble" (a collection of separate rocks) while Eros is solid

The highest mountain on Venus is also the only feature to be named after a man; its namesake is the Scottish scientist who laid the foundations for our understanding of electro-magnetic waves. This is Mount....

Maxwell

The highest mountain on Venus is also the only feature to be named after a man; its namesake is the Scottish scientist who laid the foundations for our understanding of electro-magnetic waves. This is Mount:

Maxwell

The planet in our solar system with the shortest period of revolution is.....

Mercury

Which of the following is made of the densest material?

Mercury

Which of these terrestrial planets is considered geologically dead? Venus Mercury Earth Mars

Mercury

You are the captain of an interplanetary tour ship and a wealthy tourist from Texas asks you to take him to see only the "largest darn planets" in the solar system. Which of the following would you NOT include in your tour?

Mercury

the planet closest to the Sun in the solar system is...

Mercury

The most likely models of the planet Mercury indicate that more than half the planet may be composed of:

Metals

The bluish color that makes the atmosphere of Neptune so beautiful to the human eye is caused by the interaction of sunlight with what gas?

Methane

The upper clouds in the atmosphere of Neptune are composed of...

Methane

The upper clouds in the atmosphere of Neptune are composed of:

Methane

The natural object (not built by humans) that is closest to Earth is the....

Moon

What does Mercury most resemble in size and appearance?

Moon

According to the geocentric view, everything in the heavens had to go around Earth, which was the center of the universe. What objects did Galileo discover with his telescope that clearly didn't go around Earth?

Moons around the planet Jupiter

The dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in 1930. Since that time, which jovian planet has completed a full revolution around the Sun?

More than one of the above

Astronomers estimate that there may be a trillion (a thousand billion) comet nuclei orbiting beyond Pluto. Why then do we not see more comets in our skies?

Most comets remain in stable orbits beyond Pluto, only a few have their orbits disturbed and come into the inner solar system

Which of the following statements about NEO's (Near Earth Objects) is TRUE?

NEO's can include both asteroids and comets that cross the Earth's orbit

Which cities will experience sea level rise above the global average?

NYC, Halifax, Key West, San Francisco

Rank the five cities in order from greatest sea level rise to least sea level rise.

NYC, Halifax, Key West, San Fransisco and Vancouver

The first human being to step out onto the surface of another world was:

Neil Armstrong

In the far future, a daring interplanetary tourist wants to go "hang-gliding" on the Jovian planet with the highest equatorial wind speeds. which planet would have the fastest wind at its equator?

Neptune

In the far future, a daring interplanetary tourist wants to go "hang-gliding" on the jovian planet with the highest equatorial wind speeds. Which planet would have the fastest wind at its equator?

Neptune

The Jovian planet that has the longest year (period of rotation) is....

Neptune

The jovian planet that has the longest year (period of revolution) is:

Neptune

The moon Triton orbits which of the planets? Mars Neptune Saturn Jupiter

Neptune

What's different about the discovery of Neptune compared to other planets?

Neptune is impossible to see

hich city will experience greater sea level rise, New York City or San Francisco?

New York City

What phase of the Moon must it be to have a Solar Eclipse?

New moon

The most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere is...

Nitrogen

Earthquake producing faults are much more likely to be found

On the boundaries of continental plates, where they meet other plates

Venus

On which planet (besides the Earth) do we still see a high level of geological activity on the surface today?

finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars

One piece of evidence that can help astronomers sort out how the planets in our solar system formed is

The canals that late 19th and early 20th observers thought they saw on Mars turned out to be:

Optical illusions

Which of the following is the most recent mission to an asteroid?

Osiris Rex

the solar nebula

Our best evidence and theoretical calculations indicate that the solar system began with a giant spinning system of gas and dust that scientists call:

Today, the chemistry of the terrestrial planets does not include a lot of free hydrogen. Chemists call the chemistry in places like the Earth:

Oxidized

Rocks that have not been chemically modified by being significantly heated are called

Primitive

The person who really publicized the idea of canals on Mars and impressed it on the public mind was Asaph Hall Orson Welles Frank Drake Percival Lowell

Percival Lowell

The person who really publicized the idea of canals on Mars and impressed it on the public mind was:

Percival Lowell

when a comet like Hale-Bopp comes closest to the sun in its orbit, we say that it is at..

Perihelion

Two small moons in the solar system, known since the 19th century, turn out to be captured asteroids. These two moons are:

Phobos and Deimos around Mars

The first spacecraft to explore the environment of the planet Jupiter was called

Pioneer

What was the first spacecraft to explore Jupiter?

Pioneer 10

The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call....

Planetesimals

Do you consider the RCP2.6 scenario to be a realistic scenario for the future? Explain (a bit of research into issues like population projections might assist you here).

RCP 2.6 is not considered to be a plausible climate change scenario because it requires carbon dioxide emissions to remain at today's level

Is there much difference between the projections for RCP4.5 and RCP6.0?

RCP 4.5 and RCP 6.0 have a sea level rise projections that are very similar. There is very little difference between the two projections.

I want to examine the surface of a planet which is completely covered by a thick layer of clouds all the time. What wavelength of electromagnetic radiation would I be smartest to use:

Radar waves (like radar)

about 4.5 billion years

Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?

The troposphere (the lowest layer in the atmosphere) of Venus

Resembles being about a kilometer or so under the earth's ocean--a huge mass of air keeps temperatures pretty much the same all over the planet

Scientists have been concerned about a set of industrial chemicals called CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) because they:

Rise into the atmosphere and destroy ozone

The Moon appears to grow successively larger and smaller during the libration cycle. Which statement correctly explains this phenomenon?

The Moon's orbit is elliptical and the Earth-Moon distance varies thereby producing changes in the Moon's apparent size as seen from Earth.

What part of a comet is the most dense?

The Nucleus

The large reservoir of comet nuclei far beyond Pluto, from which we believe new long-period comets come into the inner solar system, is called.....

The Oort Cloud

In what year should the temperature change begin to level off according to the RCP2.6 scenario?

The RCP2.6 scenario predicts that the mean global temperature change should begin to level off sometime around 2050

Which of the following is Earth located in?

The Solar System, Milky Way galaxy, the Virgo Supercluster, local group of galaxies

In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks us to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?

The Sun

The Star that provides energy for the Earth is.....

The Sun

which of the following does the composition of Jupiter resemble?

The Sun

Which of the following is not an argument for showing that the Earth must be round?

The Sun is seen blocking different constellations in the course of a year

the moon is heavily cratered, but the Earth which "lives right next door" is not. Why?

The active geology and weather on Earth destroy traces of impacts over millions of years

The Moon is heavily cratered, but the Earth which "lives next door" is NOT. Why?

The active geology and weather on earth destroy traces of impacts over millions of years

Why does the Moon show phases in the course of a month?

The angle the Moon makes with the Sun changes and we see differing amounts of reflected sunlight

Calculate the average rate of sea level change (i.e. the slope) during this time period.

The average change in sea level was 0.026

The Astronomical Unit (AU) as defined by astronomers is...

The average distance between Earth and the Sun

Which of the following is NOT evidence that objects from space collide with the Earth?

The crater at the top of the Mount St. Helens volcano

One way in which Mars closely resembles the Earth is...

The length of its day (period of rotation)

Why does Mars have an overall reddish color when we see its surface from afar? The giant volcanoes on Mars are constantly spewing out reddish lava. This is an optical illusion caused by the Earth's atmosphere scattering the colors of light differently. The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish. Mars is completely cloudy and its clouds are make of red materials.

The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish.

Why does Mars have an overall reddish color when we see its surface from afar?

The material of mars surface contains lots of iron oxide, the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish

planetesimals

The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call:

Describe how the mean global surface temperature has changed during the 20th century.

The mean global surface temperature has generally been steadily increasing during the course of the 20th century

What quantities are being mapped by your new data point?

The x coordinate is mapping the year while the y coordinate is mapping the change in global surface temperature for RCP 8.5.

What quantities do you think are being measured by these coordinates?

The x coordinate is measuring the year, and the y coordinate is measuring the amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

What quantities do you think are being measured by these coordinates?

The x coordinate is measuring time and y is measuring the surface area

How does the change in the factory graphic reflect the change in carbon dioxide emissions predicted by the RCP2.6 scenario?

There are now two smokestacks

What makes astronomers think that impact rates for the Moon must have been higher earlier than 3.8 billion years ago?

There are ten times more craters on the older highlands than the younger Maria

Which of the following observations indicates that conditions on Mars may have been suitable for life in the past? Question 4 options: There is liquid water as well as a significant number of dried-up riverbeds on Mars. There is a very deep and long canyon that extends across Mars. There are very large extinct volcanoes on Mars. Mars has polar caps made of dry ice.

There is liquid water as well as a significant number of dried-up riverbeds on Mars.

What do the four terrestrial planets and the four gas giant planets have in common?

They all revolve about the Sun in the same direction.

Which of these did the June 1908 impact event in Siberia and the 2013 event in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk have in common?

They both exploded high in the atmosphere and produced a shock wave that reached the ground

What is one important way in which both the Moon and Mercury are different from Earth?

They do not have an atmosphere

How have astronomers learned what different asteroids are made of?

They examine the spectrum of the sunlight that reflects from the asteroid

Mars rovers (such as Opportunity and Curiosity) have identified evidence that their landing sites were once under water. Which of the following is among the kinds of evidence they have identified?

They found rock formations that show the area that was under water and also minerals that only form in water

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the outer planets? Question 13 options: They all have rings. They are primarily made of hydrogen and helium. They have very few satellites. They are all large balls of gas.

They have very few satellites.

Why do satellites launched into low-Earth orbits remain there indefinitely?

They lose speed due to friction with the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere

What mean global temperature change is predicted in 2100 by the RCP2.6 model?

This model predicts a mean global surface temperature change of approximately 1.0 degrees C by 2100.

The satellite which has the thickest atmosphere (so thick that it's quite a surprise for a satellite) is:

Titan

The satellite which has the thickest atmosphere (so thick that its quite a surprise for a satellite) is.....

Titan

The atmosphere of Venus is mostly carbon dioxide, and the atmosphere of the Earth has water vapor. Why are these two gases absent in the atmosphere of the satellite around Saturn called Titan?

Titan is so cold that carbon dioxide and water vapor freeze out

In 2013, a small stony asteroid collided with the Earth above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. What was the result? a. A large earthquake was felt all over Europe and Asia b. A fireball briefly brighter than the Sun could be seen in the sky c. It broke apart and large pieces of rock fell from the sky, killing thousands of innocent people d. The Earth's orbit around the Sun changed in a measurable way e. It burned up so high in the atmosphere, absolutely nothing could be felt or seen on the ground

b. A fireball briefly brighter than the Sun could be seen in the sky

The scientist who first proposed that comet nuclei were "dirty snowballs" was: a. Edmond Halley b. Fred Whipple c. Eugene Shoemaker d. Isaac Newton e. Jan Oort

b. Fred Whipple

The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and internal composition is a. Mars b. Venus c. Mercury d. Jupiter e. the Moon

b. Venus

We believe the maria on the Earth's Moon are: a. giant volcanoes produced when the Moon tried to get plate tectonics going b. ancient impact craters in which lava beds welled up from inside the Moon c. large rifts filled with colder material made when the Moon's surface was cooling d. large, flat, ancient plateaus on the Moon's highland areas e. advertisements for the musical "West Side Story"

b. ancient impact craters in which lava beds welled up from inside the Moon

In addition to hundreds of smaller objects they have been discovering in the Kuiper Belt recently, astronomers were surprised to find a. clear evidence of the building blocks of life in their atmospheres and tails b. larger bodies, with sizes as big as Pluto (now called dwarf planets) c. objects whose orbits bring them as close to the Sun as Mars d. objects whose composition indicates that they are made mostly of stone and metal, not ice e. souvenirs from Earth's tourist attractions, such as Bayonne, New Jersey

b. larger bodies, with sizes as big as Pluto (now called dwarf planets)

The large reservoir of comet nuclei far beyond Pluto, from which we believe new long-period comets come into the inner solar system, is called: a. the Lowell reservoir b. the Oort Cloud c. the Kohoutek Cloud d. the Alvarez belt e. Bayonne, New Jersey

b. the Oort Cloud

Halley's Comet was given that name because Edmond Halley was a. the first person to ever see that comet b. the scientist who pointed out that the orbit of the comet was such that it should return every 76 years or so c. the chief scientist who designed the probe that flew by the comet d. the first person to be hurt by pieces falling off the comet e. prime minister of England at the time the comet was discovered

b. the scientist who pointed out that the orbit of the comet was such that it should return every 76 years or so

Why are images of Venus's surface mostly obtained with radio waves instead of visible light?

because radio waves penetrate the clouds on Venus

Why are almost all the craters we see on the Moon circular?

because the rocks and icebergs that hit the moon are moving so fast, they explode on impact, making a circular hole

When the Dawn spacecraft explored the largest asteroid Ceres, it discovered white spots that appear to be salt and volcanic mountains made of water ice. This led astronomers to which of the following ideas: a. all asteroids are made of frozen water b. Ceres is really one of the terrestrial planets that got kicked out of its former orbit c. Ceres may have (or may have had) a liquid ocean under its crust d. Ceres formed from the breakup of a much larger body, a solid planet bigger than Jupiter e. The next thing to search for on Ceres are spots made of pepper

c. Ceres may have (or may have had) a liquid ocean under its crust

Why do astronomers today think that we have an asteroid belt and not a planet between Mars and Jupiter? a. a planet exploded and broke apart b. Io's volcanoes produced asteroids c. Jupiter's gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together d. the Sun's wind stops "blowing" there the solar system needed fashion accessories

c. Jupiter's gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together

Why does Mars have an overall reddish color when we see its surface from afar? a. This is an optical illusion caused by the Earth's atmosphere scattering the colors of light differently b. Mars is completely cloudy, and its clouds are made of red materials c. The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide, the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish d. the giant volcanoes on Mars are constantly spewing out reddish lava e. The martians are constantly at war, and spilling a lot of red blood

c. The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide, the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish

If there are at least a million asteroids, how did spacecraft like Galileo survive their trip through the asteroid belt? a. NASA sends its spacecraft above and below the orbits of the asteroids in the belt to avoid collisions b. spacecraft use a magnetic repulsion tool to make sure asteroids do not come too close c. although there are many asteroids, they are widely spaced (there is lots of space between them) d. the known asteroids are typically less than a centimeter across, so they do not represent a danger to spacecraft e. you can't fool me, NASA has lost over a dozen spacecraft to collisions with asteroids

c. although there are many asteroids, they are widely spaced (there is lots of space between them)

Astronomers have realized that the surface of Ida is older than the surface of Gaspra. How do they measure this? a. we have radioactive rock samples from each asteroid to analyze b. the surface composition (elements and compounds) can easily tell us the ages c. from counting craters on each asteroid's surface d. from the magnetic field of each body, which weakens with age e. it's purely a guess; astronomers have no way of really measuring the ages of these asteroids

c. from counting craters on each asteroid's surface

What is the source of the fine, powdery dust found on the Moon's surface? a. it is sand, produced in exactly the same way sand is produced on the Earth's beaches b. it is the result of volcanic activity on the Moon over billions of years c. it is the result of many impacts, breaking surface rocks apart over billions of years d. it is the result of gas bubbling up from inside the Moon, which chemically changes the surface soil e. even though the astronauts brought home lots of samples of Moon dust, we have no idea why there is such a layer on the Moon's surface

c. it is the result of many impacts, breaking surface rocks apart over billions of years

On some parts of Mars, it gets cold enough for a gas to freeze out of the atmosphere that does not freeze out by itself at the temperatures and pressures on Earth. This gas makes up some of the polar caps on Mars and is:

carbon dioxide

Which of the following statements about our Moon is FALSE? a. its average density is less than that of the Earth (it seems to have fewer heavy materials) b. most of what we know about its geology is the result of the Apollo landings c. on Earth, we can see all its sides in the course of a month as it goes around us d. its mass is less than that of the Earth e. it has no real atmosphere to speak of

c. on Earth, we can see all its sides in the course of a month as it goes around us

One reason we know more about the surface composition of the asteroid Vesta than about most other members of the asteroid belt is that a. Vesta's volcanoes still spew out a lot of material that goes into orbit around Vesta b. Vesta's surface is made of water ice and is extremely reflective c. pieces of Vesta have landed on Earth as meteorites d. Vesta's orbit crosses the Earth's orbit roughly once a century e. Vesta's surface markings happen to resemble a human face and thus have intrigued astronomers ever since this large asteroid was discovered

c. pieces of Vesta have landed on Earth as meteorites

The lunar highlands are made mostly of rocks that a. fell on to the Moon from space b. were recently expelled by volcanoes from the deep interior of the Moon c. rose to the top as the Moon cooled from a molten state early in its history d. that were pushed upwards due to active plate tectonics on the Moon e. don't have a good scientific explanation yet

c. rose to the top as the Moon cooled from a molten state early in its history

According to astronomical tradition, who gets to suggest the name for a newly discovered asteroid? a. the president of the country of the discoverer b. a special committee of the U.N. set up for this purpose c. the discoverer of the asteroid d. a special committee in Italy, where the first asteroid was discovered e. authors of astronomy textbooks

c. the discoverer of the asteroid

Which of the following is NOT one of the key reasons that so many spacecraft from Earth have visited Venus and Mars? a. they are the two planets closest to the Earth b. they resemble the Earth in a number of significant ways c. their atmospheres are very similar to the Earth in terms of their chemical make-up d. both have tantalized us when seen through a telescope -- one because it is perpetually covered by clouds, the other because it shows seasonal changes e. they each have a solid surface on which we can trace their geological history

c. their atmospheres are very similar to the Earth in terms of their chemical make-up

What is one important way in which both the Moon and Mercury are different from Earth? a. they are made mostly of frozen gases, not rock b. they are both much further from the Sun's heat than Earth is c. they do not have an atmosphere d. they are both significantly larger than the Earth e. they both turn on their axes much faster than the Earth

c. they do not have an atmosphere

More than 75% of known asteroids.....

can be found in a belt between mars and Jupiter

In 2012, NASA's Spaceguard Survey concluded that astronomers had now identified 90% of the asteroids with diameters greater than 1 km. How could astronomers know that they had reached this goal? a. Asteroids larger than 1 km are so rare and so big, they have always been easy to keep track of b. NASA is now able to keep track of everything in the solar system out to Pluto with great precision; nothing remains to be discovered in that region c. Most of the near-Earth objects that big are comets, and they all have big tails which are easy to see d. The people doing the survey began to find the same objects over again, indicating they were reaching the limits of their survey e. This was fake news; in fact, we can't ever know if we have found 90% of the larger near-Earth objects

d. The people doing the survey began to find the same objects over again, indicating they were reaching the limits of their survey

Which of the following statements about the tails of comets is FALSE? a. the tail always points away from the Sun b. some comets have both a gas tail and a dust tail c. the tail of a comet can sometimes be ahead of the comet in its orbit d. a comet always has a nice long tail, even when it is far from the Sun e. the Earth can pass through the tail of a comet without suffering any harm

d. a comet always has a nice long tail, even when it is far from the Sun

The mountains on the Moon a. have been formed in the same way as the mountains on the Earth b. were formed through the eruption of volcanoes early in the Moon's history c. were formed by the collision of continental plates early in the Moon's history d. are the result of giant impacts during the Moon's long history of being hit e. are a complete mystery, which astronomers have not been able to explain

d. are the result of giant impacts during the Moon's long history of being hit

If our estimates of the number of comets in every part of the solar system are correct, the total mass contained in comets must be: a. about the mass of Ceres, the largest asteroid b. about the mass of the Earth c. about the mass of the Moon d. on the order of the mass of all the planets put together e. since comets are mostly vapor, their total mass is less than that of the moons of Mars

d. on the order of the mass of all the planets put together

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the rotation of Venus? a. Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth. b. Venus rotates in a retrograde way (east to west) c. the two definitions of a day (how long it takes for a star to return to the same position in the sky and how long it takes the Sun to return to the same position) do not agree on Venus d. the rotation rate of Venus had to be determined from radar measurements e. Venus has the longest rotation period of any planet in the solar system

d. the rotation rate of Venus had to be determined from radar measurements

One of the best proofs that our theory of how the solar system formed is correct is that astronomers now observe

disks around other stars which show evidence of gaps where planets may be forming

Evidence that Mars once had a fairly thick atmosphere includes

dry riverbeds on Mars

Astronomers have realized that the surface of Ida is older than the surface of Gaspra. How do they measure this?

from counting craters on each asteroid's surface

the primary clouds in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are composed of....

frozen ammonia crystals

Which one of the following features/phenomena is not seen on Mars? frozen lake dust devil sand dune yardang

frozen lake

Generally, planets and moons in our solar system are named after

gods and goddesses from mythology

Mars is about ------ size of Earth

half

In radioactive dating, the measure scientists use to not how long (on average) a particular radioactive nucleus will take to decay is called its.....

half-life

In radioactive dating, the measure scientists use to note how long (on average) a particular radioactive nucleus will take to decay is called its Question 24 options: radioactive ratio geological activity parent-daughter criterion half-life

half-life

When astronomers say that Ganymede is a "differentiated body", they mean that it.....

has a heavier core, surrounded by a lighter, icy mantle and crust

When astronomers say that Ganymede is a differentiated body, they mean that it:

has a heavier core, surrounded by a lighter, icy mantle and crust

When astronomers says that Ganymede is differentiated body, they mean it:

has a heavier core, surrounded by a lighter, icy mantle and crust

Saturn's icy moon Enceladus has a smooth, icy surface crisscrossed like dark cracks has fountains of ice particles and water vapor spraying out from its surface has an ancient, heavily cratered surface reminiscent of our Moon is small and irregular in shape like an asteroid

has fountains of ice particles and water vapor spraying out from its surface

When a periodic comet leaves its dusty debris behind in its orbit, the Earth can intercept this debris and

have a meteor shower as the dust burns up

During the process of differentiation,

heavier materials sink to the centers of molten planets

Despite its heavenly name, Venus turns out to be an incarnation of _______________.

hell

The synchrotron radiation (radio waves) that astronomers first observed from Jupiter in the 1950's comes from:

high speed electrons spiraling around the planet's strong magnetic field

What actually were the canals the Percival Lowell saw on Mars?

his active imagination

One of the most perplexing issues raised by the discovery of thousands of exoplanets is the existence of "hot Jupiters" -- planets with the masses and compositions of Jupiter, but orbiting closer to their stars than Mercury does in our solar system. What is our best idea currently about how such "hot Jupiters" came to be?

hot Jupiters formed further out in their star system, and then migrated inward somehow

typically, astronomers express the right ascension of a star in the sky in what units?

hours, minutes, and seconds

Which of the following statements about the unusual object Chiron is FALSE?

it is one of the largest asteroids, just a little smaller than Vesta

Which of the following characteristics distinguishes Uranus from every other planet in our solar system?

it rotates on an axis that is roughly parallel to the circle of its orbit

Which of the following characteristics distinguishes Uranus from every other planet in our solar system?

it rotates on an axis tilted almost 90 degrees to the circle of its orbit

The inner planets are made mostly of rock and metal because it was hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated the Sun is made mostly of rock and metal and the inner planets are closest to the Sun Jupiter's gravity is so large it immediately attracted all the lighter materials lighter materials cannot orbit the Sun; they would fall in

it was hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated

The inner planets are made mostly of rock and metal because:

it was so hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated

In general, the further planets are from the Sun, the cooler they are. What other factor can have a significant influence on a planet's surface temperature?

its atmosphere (whether it has one and how thick it is)

Which of the following points about our planet's atmosphere is FALSE?

its mass is a substantial part of the mass of the earth

Astronomers in Hawaii discovered the asteroid now named Oumuamua. What distinguished this asteroid from all the others that had been found up to that time?

its orbit indicated it came from outside the solar system

Which of the following is NOT a way that Jupiter differs from terrestrial planets?

its surface has many more craters from early collisions

Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT correct?

jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT corret? Question 3 options: jovians are made of lighter elements on average that terrestrials jovians have rings while terrestrials do not jovians rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials jovians have more mass than the terrestrials jovians are further from the Sun than terrestrials

jovians rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

Besides the Sun where is most of the mass of the solar system? Question 20 options: Earth the Asteroid belt Saturn the Kuiper belt Jupiter

jupiter

Which of the following is NOT a terrestrial planet? Question 14 options: Mars Venus Earth Jupiter

jupiter

The large circular coronae on Venus are:

large regions where hot magma rising from the interior of Venus puts pressure on the surface material

Astronomers estimate that about 25 million meteors strike the Earth s atmosphere each day. How come we haven t run out of meteors in the long history of the Earth?

meteors are pieces of dirt left over from the formation of our solar system and from old comets; there is a huge supply of small dirt particles from both sources

The bluish color that makes the atmosphere of Neptune so beautiful to the human eye is cause by the interaction of sunlight with what gas?

methane

The bluish color that makes the atmosphere of Neptune so beautiful to the human eye is caused by the interaction of sunlight with what gas?

methane

The lakes found in the north polar region of Titan are filled with liquid

methane

The upper clouds in the atmosphere of Neptune are composed of:

methane

Which element plays the same role on Titan as water does on Earth (existing as gas, liquid, and solid)?

methane

In terms of numbers, the most common life-forms on Earth are

microscopic creatures

Three kinds of worlds are round in our solar system. Which of the following is NOT a type of world that is typically round?

minor planet (asteroid)

Which of these would be considered the coldest location? Question 7 options: the moons of Neptune Halley's comet when it is closest to the Earth in its orbit the deep atmosphere of Jupiter Earth's polar regions

moons of neptune

About how many asteroids have been discovered so far?

more than 100,000

Astronomers estimate that there may be a trillion (a thousand billion) comet nuclei orbiting beyond Pluto. Why then do we not see more comets in our skies?

most comets remain in stable orbits beyond Pluto, only a few have their orbits disturbed and come into the inner solar system

Which of the following statements is not an observed pattern of motion in our solar system? Question 22 options: Most planets rotate in the same direction in which they orbit. All planets orbit the Sun in the same direction. Most planets orbit at the same speed. Most planetary orbits lie nearly in the same plane.

most planets orbit at same speed

The polar caps on Mars are composed of mostly water ice and some solid carbon dioxide pure solid carbon dioxide mostly solid carbon dioxide and some water ice pure water ice

mostly solid carbon dioxide and some water ice

When a planet, in its orbit, is closer to the Sun, it...

moves faster than average

Which of the following is NOT a way we have studied the planet Mars so far? sending a spacecraft into orbit around it landing a spacecraft on the surface and examining the soil in an automated laboratory studying samples of Mars that were blasted off the surface by impacts long ago and later found on Earth sending spacecraft to Mars which have brought samples of the planet back to Earth observing it through telescopes from Earth

sending spacecraft to Mars which have brought samples of the planet back to Earth

The majority of the moons orbiting the outer (Jovian) planets are:

small moons orbiting in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction their planet turns and orbits)

The majority of the moons orbiting the outer (jovian) planets are:

small moons orbiting in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction their planet turns and orbits)

The majority of the moons orbiting the outer (jovian) planets are: small moons spinning in the same direction that their planet turns much warmer than the planet they orbit small moons orbiting in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction their planet turns and orbits) large moons roughly the size of Pluto or Mercury

small moons orbiting in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction their planet turns and orbits)

To obtain the wonderful images of the jovian planets in our textbook (out where the sunlight is a lot fainter) what did the Voyager spacecraft cameras have to do as they flew by each world?

swivel the cameras backwards to keep pointing in the same direction as the craft flew by

Our best evidence and theoretical calculations indicate that the solar system began with a giant spinning system of gas and dust that scientists call:

the solar nebula

What method was used to discover Pluto in 1929-1930? use one of the first radio telescopes to measure cold radio waves from Pluto take pairs of photographs several days apart and blink them look at irregularities (wobbles) in the motions of Uranus and Neptune look for paterns in the orbits of the moons of Neptune to see which direction Pluto would have escaped

take pairs of photographs several days apart and blink them

Astronomers now believe that the differences in composition among the planets reflect what characteristic in the early solar system

temperature

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic that worlds in our solar system have in common:

that all the planets have solid surfaces on which we can see impact craters

In the 4 terrestrial planets, the densest, heaviest materials are at the center and not evenly distributed throughout the planet. Scientist interpret this observation to mean that....

the 4 terrestrial planets must once have been hot enough to be molten (like a liquid)

One region on Earth that has become a rich source of new meteorites in recent decades (including the meteorite from Mars that got famous because some scientists claimed they had found evidence for the building blocks of life on Mars) is:

the Antarctic

Our modern understanding of Pluto is that it is a member of the Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects) the giant planets the asteroid belt the terrestrial planets

the Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)

Our most detailed maps of Venus come from

the Magellan space probe.

Which of these is not part of our solar system? Question 5 options: the planets the Milky Way the Sun the asteroids

the Milky Way

In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?

the Sun

Which of the following does the composition of a planet like Jupiter resemble:

the Sun

The reason that worlds like the Earth are differentiated is that

the continuing impacts on a growing protoplanet eventually melted the entire body

Which part of the Earth has the greatest density?

the core

Which of the following statements about temperature changes on Mercury is correct?

the difference in temperature between Mercury's daylight side and its night side is the greatest difference of any planet in the solar system

Which of the following statements about temperature changes on Mercury is correct?

the difference in temperature between mercurys daylight side and its night side is the greatest difference of any planets in the solar system

According to astronomical tradition, who gets to suggest the name for a newly discovered asteroid?

the discoverer of the asteroid

Some years some meteor showers, such as the Leonids, feature many more meteors than in other years. What is the cause of these "meteor storms"?

the dust freed from some comets is clumpy and not evenly distributed along its orbit

How have astronomers learned what different asteroids are made of?

the examine the spectrum of the sunlight that reflects from the asteroid.

Which of the following would NOT be one of the problems faced by an unprotected Earthling stranded on Mars? (Unprotected meaning no space suit.) the lack of any ozone layer shielding the lack of liquid water today on the surface the low atmospheric pressure the composition of the atmosphere the extreme (high) heat at most latitudes

the extreme (high) heat at most latitudes

Our best evidence and theoretical calculations indicate that the solar system began with a giant spinning system of gas and dust that scientists call: Question 30 options: a planetesimal the beltway the solar nebula the asteroid belt

the solar nebula

According to the giant impact hypothesis about the formation of the Moon, why did the Earth not break apart into many pieces when the giant impact happened?

the impactor was about the same size as mars or smaller, so it ejected material from the earth but did not break it

What causes a comet to have a tail?

the interaction of the comet with the solar wind

Astronomers have decided that rather than being a planet Pluto is really just a large member of Question 26 options: the Kuiper belt. an extrasolar planetary system. the moon system around Neptune. the asteroid belt. the Oort cloud.

the kuiper belt

One way in which Mars closely resembles the Earth is the make-up and thickness of its atmosphere the length of its day its mass the length of its year

the length of its day

One way in which Mars closely resembles the Earth is:

the length of its day (period of rotation)

A future interplanetary tourist whose parents kept him too warm as a baby asks for your help to find a "really cold place" in the solar system. Which of the following would be the coldest place to take him?

the moons of Neptune

Which part of a comet is the DENSEST?

the nucleus

The ecliptic is

the path of the Sun among the stars through the year

Which of the following pieces of observational evidence does our modern "solar nebula" theory of the formation of the solar system NOT explain directly?

the plane of the orbit of Pluto

One reason that we have such a complex system of belts/zones/storms in Jupiter's atmosphere is that:

the planet rotates very rapidly

The same process that explains why astronomers see less helium in the upper atmosphere of Saturn when they take spectra also explains...

the reason Saturn is warmed than we expect

The same process that explains why astronomers see less helium in the upper atmosphere of Saturn when they take spectra also explains

the reason Saturn is warmer than we expect

Which of the following is not an exception to the general patterns in the solar system? Question 28 options: the rings of Saturn the large size of Earth's Moon the extreme axis tilt of Uranus the counterclockwise rotation of Venus

the rings of saturn

The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called the runaway greenhouse effect radioactivity tectonic displacement ozone depletion

the runaway greenhouse effect

The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called:

the runaway greenhouse effect

Halley's Comet was given that name because Edmond Halley was

the scientist who pointed out that the orbit of the comet was such that it should return every 76 years or so

At the moment when the Voyager spacecraft got closest to Uranus, the Sun was shining directly on the planet's south pole. Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate once on its axis. If Voyager took a photo of the south pole 8.5 hours later, what would it observe?

the south pole was brightly lit, with the Sun shining down on it

In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?

the sun

Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles the Earth?

the thickness and pressure of its atmosphere

In which region of the EArth's atmosphere have you spent most of your life?

the troposphere

Which of the following is NOT one of the key reasons that so many spacecraft from Earth have visited Venus and Mars?

their atmospheres are very similar to Earth in terms of their chemical make-up

How does Saturn's F ring stay so thin (narrow) when the other rings are so wide? the further away from Saturn a ring is Saturn's huge magnetic field keeps ice boulders from expanding there are 2 shepherding satellites on either side of it the F ring is in the same orbit as the moon Enceladus

there are 2 shepherding satellites on either side of it

How does Saturn's F ring stay so thin (narrow), when the other rings are so wide?

there are 2 shepherding satellites on either side of it

What makes astronomers think that impact rates for the Moon must have been higher earlier than 3.8 billion years ago?

there are ten times more craters on the older highlands than the younger Maria

Which of the following characteristics do all four terrestrial planets have in common?

they all have solid surfaces with signs of geological activity on them

What makes the rings of Neptune different from those of other planets we know?

they are clumpy (or bulging) in places

When larger fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter in 1994,

they exploded in Jupiter s atmosphere, releasing energy equal to millions of megatons of TNT

When larger fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter in 1994,

they exploded in Jupiter's atmosphere, releasing energy equal to millions of megatons of TNT

Which of the following statements about the geysers on the moon Triton is True?

they involve plumes of nitrogen on the sunlight side of Triton

Which of the following statements about the geysers on the moon Triton is TRUE? the are caused by collisions with the rings of Neptune the geysers are sulfur volcanoes which stick out of Triton's crust they involve plums of icy materials on the sunlit side of Triton they are caused by the impact of small comets on Triton's fragile surface

they involve plums of icy materials on the sunlit side of Triton

What properties are comon to all planets in the solar system?

they rotate in the same direction and they orbit the sun in roughly the same plane

Which of the following best describes the internal structure of Europa? surface ocean of water, thick rocky mantle, central iron core thin icy crust, thick rocky mantle, central iron core thin icy crust, subsurface ocean of water, thick rocky mantle, central iron core thin icy crust, subsurface ocean of water, thick iron mantle, central rocky core

thin icy crust, subsurface ocean of water, thick rocky mantle, central iron core

A key difference between the protoplanets that formed in the outer solar system and those that formed in the inner solar system was that

those in the outer solar system were in a place where ice, not just rock, condensed and thus could grow larger

Which of the following was NOT a method by which astronomers have learned about the surface of Titan? using an infrared camera aboard Cassini to take images of the surface in infrared using the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit to take a photo of Titan using a radar instrument to penetrate the smog in Titan's atmosphere using instruments on the Huygens spacecraft to take pictures as it was decending

using the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit to take a photo of Titan

Of the following which do NOT have satellites? Question 31 options: Earth Jupiter Mars Venus

venus

Which of these worlds is the most active geologically?

venus

he spacecraft that visited Pluto and send back our first images:

was called New Horizons (WRONG)

A student in your class whom you kind-of like asks you come to watch a meteor shower. What exactly are you being invited to?

watching the left-over dirt from a comet burn up by friction as the pieces hit the Earth's atmosphere

Saturn's ring particles are composed mainly of....

water ice

Saturn's ring particles are composed mainly of:

water ice

A main difference between asteroids and comets is that asteroids are mostly made of rock and comets are mostly

water vapor

What is one way that we humans are currently making the atmosphere of the Earth more like that of Venus?

we are adding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, which is leading to global warming

What is the most important reason that astronomers have learned more about our planetary system in the last 30-40 years than all of history before then.

we have been able to send spacecraft to gather information about planets and moons up close

What is the most important reason that astronomers have learned more about our planetary system in the last 30-40 years than all of history before then?

we have been able to send spacecraft to gather information about planets and moons up close

What evidence can you give that shows the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa must be relatively young? the interior of Europa is made of metals like iron and nickel we see very few craters compared to the surfaces of Callisto and Ganymede there are thousands of active volcanoes on Europa's surface radioactive rocks from Europa that have been brought back to Earth by our probes show that Europa is a young moon

we see very few craters compared to the surfaces of Callisto and Ganymede

What is the Greenhouse effect?

when a planet absorbs visible sunlight and radiates infrared light which cannot pass through the atmosphere

When would Jupiter be closest to Earth?

when it's at opposition