Astro
Compared to the Earth, the planet Jupiter is roughly
10 times as large.
The number of near-Earth asteroids that are more than one kilometer in diameter appears to be close to
1000
The time it takes for Jupiter to travel once around the Sun is closest to
12 Earth years.
Which of the following planets has a magnetic field that is thought to be generated by liquid metallic hydrogen?
Jupiter
Which of the following planets has a system of rings that consists of dark rocks that are difficult to see?
Jupiter
Which of the following planets has at least 62 moons?
Jupiter
Which of the following planets or moons has an atmosphere consisting mainly of Hydrogen and Helium?
Jupiter
The Far Horizons space probe made close approaches to
Jupiter and Pluto.
As seen from far above the Earth's South Pole, the Earth orbits the Sun clockwise and
No planet orbits the Sun counterclockwise.
The Moon Charon orbits a point that is
Not inside Pluto at all.
Which of the following models for the formation of life on Earth would most likely apply if it turns out that the first step of forming a self-copying molecule is rather easy and happens as soon as conditions are right for it?
The Abiogenesis Model.
A technological civilization that lasts for astronomically significant periods of time should make an obvious and visible impact on the galaxy and should have figured out how to visit us by now. That leads to the question "So, where are they"? This statement and question is usually referred to as
The Fermi Paradox.
The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
Went into orbit around the planet Saturn and dropped a probe into Titan's atmosphere.
The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
Went into orbit around the planet Saturn.
In Astronomy, the term "Microlensing" refers to the
bending of light from a distant star by the gravity of a nearer object such as a planet.
The Kuiper Belt is mostly located
beyond the orbit of Neptune.
The Tau-Tauri wind from the Sun's final collapse toward ignition
blew away the fuel that Jupiter needed to become a star.
The current effort to defend the Earth against space impacts consists of
finding most asteroids that are capable of global effects.
The semi-liquid rock that is found inside the Earth
flows like a liquid under gradual pressure but is stiff like a solid under sudden pressure.
Carbon is essential for all life we know about because it
forms complex compounds.
The nucleus of a comet consists of
frozen gas, ice, and dust.
The absorption and re-radiation of infrared light by gases such as carbon dioxide is the key process in the
greenhouse Effect.
Which of the following types of radiation has the lowest frequency on this list?
infrared light.
Seismic waves are used to determine the Earth's
interior structure.
Comets that originate in the Inner Oort Cloud would be expected to have orbits that are
mostly close to the plane of the solar system.
One of the experiments carried out by the Viking Landers was to use a mass spectrometer to analyze the gas given off from a heated soil sample. The results of that experiment (as interpreted at the time) established that Martian soil contains
no carbon compounds at all.
The original source of energy for life forms that live near a black smoker is
often chemicals generated by the heat of the Earth's interior.
An RNA molecule consists of
one sugar phosphate chain with single nitrogenous bases attached to the side of it.
The layer of the atmosphere that absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation from the Sun is the
ozone layer.
The main reason to suspect that Europa has a subsurface ocean of water is
patterns of cracks in the ice on its surface.
The part of a protostar where the density first becomes low enough for light to escape is called the
photosphere.
The habitable zone of a planetary system is defined to be the region where
planetary surfaces permit the existence of liquid water.
On Earth, a stable long-term carbon cycle could not exist without
plate tectonics recycling the sea floor into the Earth' interior.
The thickness of the Earth's crust is about
10 miles.
Which of the following temperatures is closest to what you might expect on the planet Jupiter?
-250F
Which of the following temperatures is closest to what you might expect on the planet Neptune?
-350F
Which of the following temperatures is closest to what you might expect on the planet Uranus?
-350°F
In the Earth's atmosphere, the percentage that is Carbon Dioxide is roughly
0.04%.
Compared to the frequency of photons absorbed during a transition from a from a -6ev state to a -4ev state, transitions from the -6ev state to a -2ev state would correspond to absorbing photons whose frequency is
2 times as high.
The asteroid 2007 VK184 has one chance in 2940 of hitting the Earth between the years 2048 and 2057. The asteroid is 130 meters in diameter or about half the size of Apophis. Assuming that an impact could cause the death of 1,000,000 people the average death rate for this type of event is closest to
350 people per event.
The fact that the surface of Mars shows no tectonic activity means that one of the requirements for continuing life might be missing.
A carbon-return process.
Which of the following objects is a moon of Jupiter?
Callisto
In current Earth life, the self-copying molecule that contains the information needed to construct and operate a life-form is
DNA.
In the 1990s astronomical telescopes began to switch from recording images on film to recording them digitally using Charge Coupled Devices. This led to the discovery of new asteroids at a rapid rate because
Digital images could be processed by computers.
Which of the following substances is the largest fraction of our atmosphere?
Nitrogen
Which of these moons has geysers of water shooting out through cracks in the moon, indicating a subsurface ocean?
Enceladus.
The largest four moons of Jupiter are referred to as the
Galilean satellites.
The first spacecraft to go into orbit around Jupiter was
Galileo.
A type M star that is known to have three terrestrial-size planets near or in its habitable zone is
Gliese 581.
One requirement for a planet to support Earth-type life is that it be considerably larger than Mars. What is the reason for this requirement?
It is necessary for the planet to have active plate tectonics to close its carbon cycle.
It has been argued that hydrogen-powered automobiles can solve our energy problems because we can get all of the hydrogen that we need from sea water. Which of the following comments about the energy needed (Assume a perfectly efficient process.) to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water is correct?
It is the same as the energy released when the hydrogen is burned, so we get no net gain of energy.
Pioneer 10 was an early space probe sent to fly past
Jupiter
Which of the following statements best describes the presence of water on Mars?
Mars probably had liquid water flowing on its surface at some time in the past.
Which of the following objects has a magnetic field whose North and South poles are displaced from its rotation axis poles and also from the center of the planet?
Neptune
Which of the following planets does the moon Triton orbit?
Neptune
Which of the following planets or moons is blue in color because of the presence of methane in its atmosphere?
Neptune
Which of the following systems is closest to the plan of most current Earth life-forms?
One DNA molecule is used to make RNA molecules which, in turn make the proteins and enzymes that construct and operate a life-form.
Which of the following spacecraft was the first to fly past Saturn?
Pioneer 11
Which of the following planets has a hexagon-shaped pattern of clouds near its North Pole?
Saturn
Which of the following Trans Neptunian Objects is thought to be a visitor from the Inner Oort Cloud?
Sedna
Which of the following statements describes the relation between what we observe and the predictions of the nebular model of the formation of the Solar System?
The model predicts rocky planets nearest to the Sun and we observe rocky planets there.
Suppose that you observe a planet that reflects mostly green light and absorbs both red and infra-red light. Which of the following conclusions can you make?
The planet does not have Earth-type green plants on its surface.
Voyager 1 was the first space probe sent to fly past
Titan
Which of the following objects is the largest moon of Saturn?
Titan
The axial tilt of Pluto is most similar to that of
Uranus
Which of the following objects has a magnetic field whose North and South poles are displaced from its rotation axis poles and also from the center of the planet.?
Uranus
Which of the following objects has a magnetic field whose origin is not explained by any currently accepted model?
Uranus
Which of the following planets is about 4 times the size of the Earth?
Uranus
Which of these planets has a solar day that is about 17 hours long?
Uranus
An example of a planet with no liquid water at all and a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere is
Venus
Which of the following spacecraft is the only one to have flown past Neptune?
Voyager 2
Which of the following spacecraft is the only one to have flown past Uranus?
Voyager 2
Suppose that we find a few microbes living in the liquid water below the permafrost layer of Mars. Which of the following consequences of this discovery is most likely?
We conclude that the universe is probably filled with life.
The surface of Pluto is now thought to be
Young and in constant change.
The Earth's core consists of
a central core of solid iron and an outer core of liquid iron.
The Great Red Spot is
a hurricane on Jupiter.
When a hydrogen atom on one molecule is attracted to an oppositely charged part of another molecule, the result is
a hydrogen bond.
An encounter between Earth and an iron asteroid fifty meters in diameter would most likely cause
a large explosion on the ground.
A disadvantage of the gravitational tractor approach to deflecting an asteroid is that
a massive spacecraft is needed.
A rising convection current in the Earth's mantle is expected to cause
a mid-ocean ridge where tectonic plates are spreading apart.
Light that has been spread out to show the frequencies or colors that are present is called
a spectrum.
Saturn is
about 90% as large as Jupiter.
Saturn's magnetic North and South poles are
almost exactly aligned with its rotation axis.
The rotation axis of Uranus is
almost in the plane of its orbit so that its ring system can sometimes be seen as near-circles.
The Tunguska Event in 1908 is thought to have been caused by
an asteroid about 30 meters in diameter.
Titan has
an atmosphere whose temperature and pressure permit liquid methane.
Saturn has
an extensive ring system made of ice-covered rocks.
The number of near-Earth asteroids is large because they
are kicked out of the asteroid belt by Jupiter's gravity.
According to the current model of the early history of the Solar System, the rain of comets that supplied water to the Earth and other planets happened
at the same time as the formation of the Oort Cloud.
Here is the Drake Equation. In this equation, n_{e} stands for the
average number of habitable planets in a planetary system.
The Viking Landers carried out several experiments on Martian surface soil in order to detect the presence of life. Those same experiments were also carried out on a control sample of Martian surface soil that had been sterilized by heat. The purpose of doing experiments on the control sample was to
avoid getting a false positive result.
Icy objects condensed from the outskirts of the Solar Nebula to form
the Kuiper belt.
The key advantage of Carbon over Silicon as the basic element for life is that
carbon forms more stable compounds than silicon.
The hydrogen atoms in a water molecule
carry a positive electrical charge.
Stars usually come in clusters, all born at about the same time, because
collapsing interstellar clouds usually fragment.
Meteor showers are caused by
comet debris.
The currently accepted model of the formation of the Solar System says that the planets
condensed from a disk of matter formed from the rotating Solar Nebula.
The motion of tectonic plates is driven by
convection currents in the Earth's mantle.
According to our current (very tentative) estimates, a spaceship travelling from our Sun to one of the nearest stars such as Alpha Centauri A probably
could make the trip in many short hops between rogue planets along the way.
An advantage of carbon dioxide as the starting form of carbon for use by living things is that it
dissolves in liquid water.
The Outer Oort Cloud is
distributed in all directions.
Europe and North America are
each on a different plate and moving away from each other.
The atmosphere of Pluto is now known to
extend a thousand miles above its surface.
What we refer to as a `Saturn Ring-plane Crossing' corresponds to what season on Saturn?
fall or spring equinox.
The Oort Cloud is located
far beyond the orbit of Pluto.
According to our current (very tentative) estimates, a spaceship travelling from our Sun to one of the nearest stars such as Alpha Centauri A would probably be traveling through the Oort cloud of our Sun and that of Alpha Centauri A for a distance that is
half of the whole trip.
The moon Miranda is peculiar because it
has a surface feature that looks like a giant check mark.
If we detect that a star is sometimes moving toward us and sometimes moving away and also find that this pattern repeats at regular intervals, we know for sure that the star
has at least one object of unknown type orbiting around it.
The rotation rate of Saturn
has not been exactly determined because different methods give somewhat different results.
The second most common element in the universe is
helium.
The reason the temperature rises as you go higher in the thermosphere is that the Sun's
high energy particles heat the Ionosphere.
Ultraviolet light is sometimes described as either UV-A or UV-B. The UV-B variety is supposed to be more damaging to your skin. You can conclude that of the two types, the UV-B variety has the
higher frequency.
The oceans and atmosphere of Earth are thought to have originated, in part, when
icy objects were ejected inward from among the Jovian planets.
The early Earth probably had carbon
in the form of amino acids and other complex hydrocarbons.
The rotation axis of Neptune is
inclined at an angle to the perpendicular that is similar to Earth's rotation axis.
Protostars are very bright because of their large surface areas. Most of this energy comes out as
infra-red light with wavelengths too long to see with an ordinary telescope.
The dust tail of a comet
is curved and fuzzy-looking.
If the frequency of electromagnetic radiation goes from 6×10¹⁴Hz to 3×10¹⁴Hz, the energy of each individual photon in the radiation
is divided by 2.
The range of signal frequencies between absorption bands caused by hydrogen and hydroxyl molecules
is referred to as the "water hole" and is the frequency band that SETI programs usually choose.
Pluto
is sometimes closer to the Sun than Neptune and sometimes farther from the Sun.
The main reason to suspect that Titan has a subsurface ocean of water is
landmarks that are not rotating with the rest of the moon.
If we wish to find life with a carbon-return process similar to the one here on Earth, we should look for planets
larger than Mars.
When ice melts, the resulting liquid water occupies
less volume than the ice did.
Comparing asteroids hitting the Earth at the same speed, the energy released by an asteroid impact is proportional to (Be careful here!) the
mass of the asteroid.
When the fireball of its entry into the atmosphere was spotted from a KLM airliner, asteroid 2008 TC₃ had officially become a
meteor.
The blue color of the planet Uranus is caused by the presence in its atmosphere of
methane.
The most energy-efficient way to send signals across interstellar distances is thought to be
microwave radio.
The epicenters of earthquakes are located
mostly along the edges of moving plates.
It has been theorized that planets do not easily form in binary star systems. If they do form, there are three possible arrangements: (1) Planets with orbits similar in radius to the distance between the two stars. (2) Planets with orbits much smaller in radius than the distance between the two stars. (3) Planets with orbits much larger in radius than the distance between the two stars. Observations so far (2018) indicate that
possibilities (2) and (3) actually happen.
When a seismometer detects an earthquake, the first signal to arrive is usually the
pressure wave.
The difficult part of a SETI program is that you do not know what frequency band the extraterrestrials are using, so you need to listen to them all. The SERENDIP IV program, running on the Arecibo radio telescope, accomplishes this task by
sending a batch of signals to each of several million home computers for analysis.
The Kuiper Belt is the origin of
short period comets.
The magnetic field of Saturn is
similar in intensity to the Earth's magnetic field.
Planets that are in orbit around stars other than our own Sun are most often found by observing
small changes in starlight due to planetary transits.
The Kepler Spacecraft is designed to measure
small changes in starlight from nearby stars.
A large asteroid impact causes the extinction of whole species mainly by the effects of the
smoke and dust: It blocks the sunlight.
The chlorophyll in plants uses sunlight to
split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The layer of the atmosphere that tends to retain dust and smoke for long periods of time is the
stratosphere.
The microfossils that were found in the martian meteorite ALH84001 are
subject to continued argument because of doubts that they are of biological origin.
Because the radiant of the Lyrid meteor shower is in the constellation Lyra, you can conclude that
the Earth is moving toward Lyra when it passes through the remains of the comet.
The greenhouse effect is important because it suggests an effect on
the Earth's climate.
The molecules of both liquid water and ice are held together by
the attraction between the hydrogen atoms on one water molecule and the oppositely charged oxygen atom on another.
The Kuiper Belt was named after Gerard Kuiper, who said that
the belt formed early in the history of the solar system but should not still be there because Pluto would have cleared its neighborhood of smaller objects.
Mars retains a carbon dioxide atmosphere because
the pressure is very close to the triple point of water.
The main difficulty with multiple star systems such as Alpha Centauri as places to look for life is that
the shifting gravitational fields of the orbiting stars might mean that there are no stable orbits in their habitable zones.
You hear about an asteroid impact threat at level 10 on the Torino Scale. You should
think about ways to get off the planet.
The magnetic field of Jupiter is
tilted relative to the planet's rotation axis but not offset from its center.
You are standing at the edge of a great desert at noon time. In front of you is a sea of hot sand. Behind you is the coolness of a green and growing forest. Which way is the wind most likely blowing?
toward the desert.
The layer of the atmosphere where one would find hurricanes is the
troposphere.
Saturn is about
twice as far from the Sun as Jupiter
The Alpha Centauri star system consists of
two stars in close orbit around each other and a third star orbiting farther out.
The strongest evidence that Earth life is all descended from a single self-copying molecule is that all Earth life
uses the same 4 nitrogenous bases to code for the same 20 amino acids.
A world with both liquid water on its surface and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere is unstable because
water dissolves carbon dioxide and takes it out of the atmosphere.
In a region of the atmosphere in which the temperature rises with increasing altitude
you expect no changes.
