AST 101 Exam 3
Which of the giant planets was predicted to exist mathematically before it was ever seen through a telescope?
Neptune
Which planet receives the least amount of energy from the Sun? -Neptune -Earth -Saturn -Jupiter
Neptune
If we could find a large enough ocean, which one of these planets would float in it? -Saturn -Uranus -Neptune -Mars
Saturn
Why is Europa considered to be one of the most interesting moons in our solar system?
because it has a huge subsurface ocean
How do we know that some planets have an internal heat source?
because we can predict mathematically how hot a planet should be
Which of the following is not considered to be a hospitable place for life in the solar system? -Io -Titan -Mars -Europa
Io
How long is a day on Jupiter?
10 hours
Which of the following asteroids represent the greatest threat to Earth?
Apollo asteroids
Where can you find explosive rock (silicate) volcanoes in our solar system (besides Earth)
Io
Which of the following planets has 2 times the mass of all the other planets combined? -Earth -trick question - the mass of the planets is distributed much more evenly -Saturn -Jupiter
Jupiter
Meteorite hypothesis -Aten asteroids -Kuiper Belt asteroids -Apollo asteroids -Amor asteroids
Kuiper Belt asteroids
Which of the following planets has a rotational axis that lies nearly in the plane of the ecliptic? -Neptune -Uranus -both Uranus and Neptune -neither Uranus nor Neptune
Uranus
What do we call a bit of matter that enters Earth's atmosphere and survives to reach the ground?
a meteorite
Which of the following is not a way to renew particles in a ring system? -all of these are ways to renew particles in a ring system -eruptions on a nearby moon, sending particles into space -shredding an object that came within a planet's Roche limit -a planet's gravity drawing particles from the nearby interstellar medium
a planet's gravity drawing particles from the nearby interstellar medium
The nuclei of a comet is mostly
a porous mix of ice and dust
What is the Great Red Spot?
a storm on Jupiter that has lasted for at least 300 years
What is a "cryovolcano"?
a volcano that has water magma instead of rock (silicate) magma
What is the reason Mercury has so little gas in its atmosphere? -it is close to the Sun -its temperature is high -its escape velocity is low -all of the listed choices are reasons -its mass is small
all of the listed choices are reasons
Which of the following things can be discovered during a stellar occultation? -whether or not the star has a planet (aka the transit method) -the diameter of a body passing in front of a star -all of these are useful applications of stellar occultation -whether or not the body passing in front of the star has faint rings
all of these are useful applications of stellar occultation
Which of the following can not be found in our solar system? -a dwarf planet with an atmosphere -an asteroid with a moon -diamond rain (hypothesized) -all of these can be found in our solar system
all of these can be found in our solar system
Which of the following can be found in our solar system? -a dwarf planet with one or more moons -ice volcanoes -none of these can be found in the solar system -all of these can be found in the solar system -moon with an atmosphere thicker than the Earth's
all of these can be found in the solar system
Which of the following have been visited by spacecraft? (i.e. a spacecraft has landed on it, not just flown by!) -all of these have been visited by spacecraft -Titan -comets -asteroids
all of these have been visited by spacecraft
When you look at the visible surface of a gas giant planet, you are looking at that planet's
atmosphere
The main greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of the terrestrial planets are
carbon dioxide and water vapor
What is the difference between climate and weather?
climate refers to the average state of an atmosphere
Which of the following choices best describes the main similarity between the atmospheres of Venus and Mars? -composition -temperature -none of the listed choices; there are no similarities between the atmospheres of Mars and Venus -pressure
composition
We refer to some of the inner regions of Jupiter and Saturn as metallic hydrogen because they
efficiently conduct electricity
Which statement(s) about planetary rings in our solar system is/are false? -they did not form when the planets formed -all 4 gas giants have them -none of these statements are false -every ring in our solar system lies within the Roche limit of its planet
every ring in our solar system lies within the Roche limit of its planet
When a comet comes close to the Sun, its volatile ice sublimates and transforms directly from the solid to the __________ phase
gas
Jupiter and Saturn are composed primarily of
hydrogen
Which of the following is not a real type of asteroid? -s-type (silicate) -m-type (metallic) -i-type (icy) -c-type (carbonaceous)
i-type (icy)
As you move from the top atmospheric layer toward the center of a gas planet, the temperature ___________ and the pressure _________.
increases; increases
Which of the following is a reason that Earth has less carbon dioxide in its atmosphere than Venus despite having the same amount on the planet overall? -it is because of life and because some of the carbon dioxide is tied up in rocks and water -life -trick question - Earth does not have less carbon dioxide in its atmosphere than Venus -some of the carbon dioxide is tied up in rocks and water
it is because of life and because some of the carbon dioxide is tied up in rocks and water
What is Ganymede's claim to fame?
it is the largest moon in our solar system
Why is Triton considered special?
it is the only large moon in a retrograde orbit
What makes Titan special?
it is the only moon in our solar system with an atmosphere denser than Earth's
What is one special thing about Pluto?
it was the first Kuiper Belt object to be discovered (though the Kuiper Belt itself had not yet been discovered)
All of the following are acceptable classifications for Pluto except -major planet -Kuiper Belt Object -trans-Neptunian object -any of these are acceptable -Dwarf planet
major planet
Of the giant planets, only Jupiter and Saturn have thick inner layers of
metallic hydrogen
Where can you find a shepherd moon?
orbiting inside the Roche limit of a giant planet
A meteor shower is produced when
the Earth passes through the orbital path of a comet that has left behind grains of dust after perihelion
Suppose we discover a comet whose orbit was highly eccentric, retrograde, had a very large tilt with respect to the ecliptic plane, and a period of 200,000 years. Where is the most likely place of origin for this comet?
the Oort cloud
Which of the following contributes most to the large difference in the average daytime and nighttime temperatures on Earth's moon? -the lack of an atmosphere -the lack of a magnetosphere -the lack of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere -the lack of geologic activity
the lack of an atmosphere
Given the thickness and chemical composition of Venus's atmosphere, by how much would you expect its average surface temperature to change between day and night?
there should be almost no change in temperature
Which of the following is not a characteristic of regular moons? -they are usually tidally locked to their parent planets -they formed in an accretion disk around their parent planet -they have orbits that lie nearly in the planets' equatorial plane -they revolve around their planets in the same direction as the planets rotate -they are much smaller than all of the known planets
they are much smaller than all of the known planets
Why are Jupiter and Saturn not perfectly spherical?
they rotate rapidly
What causes the geological activity on some of the inner moons of Jupiter?
tidal friction as a result of being so close to Jupiter heats some of their interiors
Of what are Saturn's rings primarily made?
water ice
How can we determine the mass of a planet?
we combine Kepler's laws and Newton's laws along with observations of that planet's moon(s)
How were the rings of Uranus and Neptune discovered?
when Uranus and Neptune passed in front of stars
