AST101 - Chapter 11: The Giant Planets
The synchrotron radiation (radio waves) that astronomers first observed from Jupiter in the 1950s comes from
High speed electron spiraling around the planet strong magnetic field
By far the most abundant element in the giant (Jovian) planets 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
In the far future, a daring interplanetary tourist wants to go "hang-gliding" on the jovian planet with the highest equatorial wind speeds. What planet would have the fastest wind at it's equator
Neptune
The jovian planet that has the longest year (period of revolution) is
Neptune
The first spacecraft to explore the environment of the planet Jupiter was called
Pioneer
The eccentricity of the outer planets orbit is close to zero, true or false
True
The length of the year on Jupiter is equal to 11.86 Earth years, true or false
True
The reason for the difference in aphelion and perihelion distances is because of Jupiter's orbit is not circular, but is instead elliptical, true or false
True
The sum of the aphelion and perihelion distances is equal to the diameter of Jupiter's elliptical orbit at its widest or greatest distance, true or false
True
The planet that orbits on its side is
Uranus
Much of what we have learned about the Jovian planets and their satellites has come from the work of two spacecraft called
Voyager
The length of the semi major access for Jupiter and its orbit is
5.204au
The aphelion distance for Jupiter is
5.457 AU
Astronomers believe that Jupiter strong magnetic field is caused by
A huge layer of metallic hydrogen inside Jupiter
Other centers all the Jovian planets have cores made of
A solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure
The red spot of Jupiter is
All of the above
What do the magnetic fields of Jupiter Uranus and Neptune have in common
All three have their magnetic axis offset from the center of the planet
The primary clouds in the atmosphere of Jupiter and Saturn are composed of
Frozen ammonia crystals
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
Which of the following spacecraft is not leaving the solar system?
Galileo
The eccentricity of Jupiter's orbit is
0.048
Approximately how long does it take Jupiter to complete one rotation
10 hours
Approximately how long does it take for Jupiter to complete one orbital revolution around the Sun
11 years and 10 months
What is the distance in kilometers from Saturn inside which a moon would be torn apart by title forces
147,000 km
Jupiter has enough Mass to make 318 earth. In contrast, Uranus and Neptune have only enough Mass to make
15 earths
The perihelion distance for Jupiter is
4.951 AU
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
Which of the following statements about the Galileo probe that dropped in a Jupiter is false?
It detected a lot of water and water vapor clouds on its way down
Which of the following characteristics distinguishes Uranus from every other planet in our solar system
It rotates on an access tilted almost 90° to the circle of its orbit
The big problem with the Galileo spacecraft is that:
It's main antenna is stuck in the closed position
Which of the following is not a way that Jupiter differs from terrestrial planets?
It's surface has many more craters from early collisions
The largest planet in the solar system ( by mass ) is
Jupiter
The planet that has an access that points roughly straight up, and thus has no seasons to speak of, is
Jupiter
Which of the Jovian planets has the shortest period of rotation (the shortest day)
Jupiter
Which of the following statements about the seasons on Jupiter is correct
Jupiter's access is hardly tilted so it has no real seasonal variations
One way to measure how long Jupiter takes to rotate is to watch the giant storms and its atmosphere go around. A more fundamental way to measure the rotation is to
Measure the changes in the planets radio waves, which are controlled by its magnetic field
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 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
To obtain the wonderful images of the Jovian planets in our textbooks ( out where the sunlight is a lot fainter ) what do 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
What was the surprise to astronomers when they carefully examined Neptune with the Hubble space telescope in 1994
The Great dark spot had disappeared
At the moment when the Voyager spacecraft got closest to uranus, the Sun was shining directly on the planet South pole. Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate once on its access. 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
Which of the following does the composition of a planet like Jupiter resemble
The Sun
What about the Voyager 2 spacecraft to make a "tour"of all four of the jobian planets in the late 1970s and the 1980s?
The four planets were approximately aligned on one side of the Sun and we use the gravity of each planet to speed up the spacecraft to get to the next one in its path
One reason that we have such a complex system of belts zones storms in Jupiter's atmosphere is that
The planets 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 warmer than we expect
