Astronomy Test 2

Which of the following is not a terrestrial planet? Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter

Jupiter

Which planet in our solar system is the largest and is similar to the sun?

Jupiter

What are the Jovian planets?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

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

Shoemaker-Levy 9

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

Voyager

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 is a meteorite?

a fragment of an asteroid from the solar system that has fallen to Earth's surface

According to the formula E=mc2

a little bit of mass can be converted into a substantial amount of energy

Planetesimal

a small body from which a planet originated in the early stages of development of the solar system

The asteroid that is being visited by the OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Mission is called:

Bennu

Where are most of the asteroids found in the Solar System?

Between mars and jupiter

The four large moons of Jupiter were first discovered by:

Galileo and his early telescope

Why are the inner planets made of denser materials than the outer planets?

It is so hot where the inner planets formed that lighter materials evaporated

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

Why does the sun shine?

fusion, heat, energy

The granulation pattern that astronomers have observed on the surface of the Sun tells us that

hot material must be rising from the Sun's hotter interior

When an astronomer talks about the luminosity of the star she is studying, she is referring to

how much energy the star gives off every second

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

ice

What causes the red color of mars?

iron oxide

Why is Pluto not a planet?

strange orbit; doesn't fit with the gas giants; too small; larger bodies have been found near it; most like a part of Kuiper belt

Which of these is not a result of Global Warming?

the Ozone Hole

Fusion

the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity.

habitable zone

the region around a star in which planets could potentially have surface temperatures at which liquid water could exist

Astronomers call the vast, rotating cloud of vapor and dust from which the solar system formed:

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:

the solar nebula

Luminosity

the true brightness of an object

What is an asteroid?

A rock orbiting the Sun that was left over when the planets formed.

What are the Galilean moons?

Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto

Which planets have rings?

All Jovian planets

What atmospheric gas can be found on both Mars and Jupiter?

Carbon Dioxide

Pluto's big satellite is called

Charon

Which of the following is a way we believe that the early atmosphere of the Earth differed from the atmosphere we have today? a. there was probably more carbon dioxide early on than there is today b. there was little if any free oxygen early on c. all of these answers d.there was no ozone layer early on

Early on, there was more carbon dioxide, little if any free oxygen, and no Ozone layer

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

Europa

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

what is the most common element of the 4 giant planets in our solar system

Hydrogen

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

Io

What planet comes closest to the Earth and looks brightest in our skies?

Mars

What are the terrestrial planets?

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

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

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

Neptune

The moon Triton orbits which of the planets?

Neptune

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

Planetesimals

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

The Kuiper belt

As you go upward from the Sun's photosphere

The density decreases

which of the following is not a method for detecting extrasolar planets?

The jovian method

Fission

The splitting of an atomic nucleus to release energy.

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

There is space between them

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

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

Titan

The planet that orbits "on its side" is

Uranus

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

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:

about the mass of the earth

What is a comet?

an object made of gas, ice, and dust that orbits around the sun

Solar wind particles can be captured by the Earth's magnetosphere. When these particles spiral down along the magnetic field into the atmosphere, they are responsible for

aurorea (northern and southern lights)

The rings of the outer planets consist of

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

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

The spectroscopic radial velocity method preferentially detects

large planets close to the central star.

When a star or galaxy is moving away from us, we observe the Doppler effect by seeing the lines in its spectrum

red-shifted (shifted toward the red end of the light spectrum)

What is the Kuiper Belt? Where is it located?

region beyond Neptune which contains small bodies made of ice

All the planets (without exception)

revolve around the Sun in the same direction

Since angular momentum is conserved, an ice-skater who throws her arms out will:

rotate more slowly

The environment depends on a delicate balance between ____________ light coming in from the Sun and ____________ light escaping back into space.

visible ; infrared