Chapter 7-14 Quiz
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
The seasons are caused primarily by:
The tilt in the earth's axis
Why the ancient peoples unable to observe stellar parallaxI?
They did not have the ability to measure small angles
At their centers, all the jovian planets have cores made of:
a solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure
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)
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
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
Why do we see the same face of the moon at all times?
because the moon's rotation period and orbital period are equal
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
How have we been able to construct detailed maps of surface features on Venus?
by using radar from spacecraft that were sent to orbit Venus
All the planets (without exception)
Revolve around the Sun in the same direction
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
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
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
What drives the motion of the continental plates on Earth?
convection cells in the mantle
The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called:
the runaway greenhouse effect
What is one important way in which both the Moon and Mercury are different from Earth?
they do not have an atmosphere
Which of the jovian planets does NOT have any satellites?
you can't fool me, all the jovian planets are accompanied by satellites
Which of the following is a way that the planet Mercury is similar to the Moon?
its surface is heavily cratered
Which of the following is a way that the planet mercury is similar to the moon?
its surface is heavily cratered
Chunks of solid material that survive passing through the Earth's atmosphere and are found on the Earth's surface are called
meteorites
The canals that late 19th and early 20th observers thought they saw on Mars turned out to be:
optical illusions
According to the theory of plate tectonics:
slow motions within the mantle of the Earth move large sections of the crust around
The world in the solar system that is most active volcanically is:
Io
Why is Mars red?
Its surface rocks were rusted by oxygen
A planet in our solar system whose composition resembles that of our Sun is:
Jupiter
Which of the following is NOT a terrestrial planet?
Jupiter
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 hrs
The largest volcano on Mars is called:
Olympus Mons (Mt. Olympus)
Suppose you are standing on the earth's equator. Which way is Polaris, the North Star?
On the Northern Horizon
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
What drive the motion of the continental plates on Earth?
Convention cells in the mantle
The rings consist entirely of material left over unchanged from the time planets formed: (T/F)
False
The further away a star, the larger the parallax angle: (T/F)
False; the closer the target, the bigger the angle
If there is going to be a total lunar eclipse tonight, then you know that the moon's phase is:
Full
In which of the following list are the major steps of solar system formation in the correct order?
Gravitational collapse of the solar nebula, condensation, accretion
What does an astronomical object cross when it rises or sets?
Horizon
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
For the most part, what is the composition of Jupiter?
Hydrogen and Helium
The Red Spot of Jupiter is:
Made of reddish colored material, a high pressure storm system in the atmosphere, long-lived (observed since the 1600's), and variable in size
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
Which of the following statements about our solar system is FALSE?
Most large moons orbit their planet in the same direction as the planet's rotation
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
A ring around a dwarf planet was discovered by an observation an occultation (T/F)
True
Erosion can only occur on world's with atmospheres? (T/F)
True
Kepler only gave up the assumption of the circular planetary orbits when he found that circular orbits would not fit Tycho's observational data: (T/F)
True
The Galilean moons are tidally locked to Jupiter: (T/F)
True
The Kuiper Belt is just beyond the orbit of Neptune (T/F)
True
The Oort Cloud is a reservoir of comets in the outer solar system (T/F)
True
The asteroid belt lies b/w Mars and Jupiter (T/F)
True
The inner Galilean moons have higher densities than the outer moons: (T/F)
True
The largest volcano on Mars is much larger than any mountain on the Earth (T/F)
True
The largest volcano on Mars is much larger than any mountain on the Earth: (T/F)
True
The sun can reach the zenith only for latitudes within the tropics: (T/F)
True
There may be a ninth planet in the solar system (T/F)
True
True or False: The Kuiper belt is just beyond the orbit of Neptune
True
True or False: The Oort Cloud if a reservoir of comets in the outer solar system
True
True or False: a ring around a dwarf planet was discovered by an observation and occultation
True
True or False: there may be a ninth planet in the solar system
True
The angular size of Venus looks smallest to us when its phase is full: (T/F)
True; because it is closer to the sun
How have we been able to construct detailed maps of Venusian surface features?
Using radar from spacecraft that were to orbit Venus
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
According to Newtons Theory of Gravitation, if you triple the distance between two objects, then the gravitational force between them will:
Weaken by a factor of 9
Which of the eight planets has a smaller mass than Mercury?
You can't fool me, Mercury has the smallest mass of the eight planets
Which of the following is evidence for volcanic activity on Venus?
all of these
Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the ways the jovian planets differ from the terrestrial planets? the jovians have rings while the terrestrials do not the jovians are typically colder and further from the Sun the jovians are larger all the jovians have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do the jovians are made mostly of liquid and gas
all the jovians have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do
Which of the following statements about our solar system is FALSE? a) All the planets orbit the sun in the same direction b) Most of the planetary orbits lie nearly in the same place c) Most of the planets rotate in the same direction d) Most of the planets orbit the sun at the same speed e) Most large moons orbit their planet in the same direction
d
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
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)
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)
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
Earthquake producing faults are much more likely to be found
on the boundaries of continental plates, where they meet other plates
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 will I see Jupiter?
overhead, where it was before
In its overall composition, the Moon roughly resembles:
the Earth's crust and mantle
Our modern understanding of Pluto is that it is a member of
the Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)
Which of the following does the composition of a planet like Jupiter resemble:
the Sun
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 must have been so hot it was like a liquid and heavier things sank to the middle
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)
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
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 the Earth in terms of their chemical make-up
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
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)
Why do we see the same face of the moon at all times?
tidal locking; because the Moon's rotational period and orbital period are equal
True or False: erosion can only occur on worlds with atmospheres
true
True or False: life may be common in the universe if planets with similar size and orbit to Earth are common around other stars
true
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