The Solar System Quiz (Part 1)
Planets orbiting around other stars
"Extrasolar planets"
What physically separates the terrestrial planets and the Jovian planets?
Asteroid Belt
Mercury's Largest basin:
Caloris Basin
The Solar Nebula Hypothesis explains:
Common revolution - Inherited from the disk shape and rotation of the Solar Nebula Division of Terrestrial / Jovian Planets - Lighter elements pushed away to form gaseous planets
What two characteristics of our solar system does the solar nebula hypothesis explain?
Common revolution Inherited the disk from the disk shape and rotation of the solar Nebula Division of Terrestrial/ Jovian Planets - lighter elements pushed away to form the gaseous planets
What are asteroids made of
Made up of rocky and Metallic materials
What is the largest volcano in the Solar System? ___________________
Olympus Mons on Mars
What is meant by revolution?
The orbit a planet takes around the sun
what is meant by rotation?
The spinning of a planet
What two planets have something unusual about their rotation and what is it?
Uranus spins north to south Venus Spins Clockwise instead of Counter-Clockwise
From Earth, what is the brightest planet?
Venus
What is the planet with the slowest rotation?
Venus
The Kuiper belt is located
beyond Neptune
A _________________ is a spinning dust and gas cloud.
nebula
Rotation
on axis, counter-clockwise (with exception of Venus & Uranus) Venus - opposite direction Uranus - equator is sideways (runs North and South)
Revolution
orbits around Sun: counter-clockwise
In what decade were the first exoplanets discovered?
1990s
What is a comet
Icy nucleus, which evaporates and gets blown into space by solar wind pressure to form a tail
What is the difference between a meteor and an asteroid
Meteors unlike asteroids collide with Earth and they evaporate in the atmosphere
Where do comets come from
Mostly objects in highly elliptical orbits, coming close to the sun
What is the most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere?
Nitrogen
Surface of Venus
The Russian Venera spacecraft visited the surface of Venus - Venera 7 is first spacecraft to land on another planet (1970) Many Volcanic peaks are present in the highlands The surface of Venus seems to be relatively young - volcanic activity may resurface the planet rapidly
______What Earthlike feature was discovered on the surface of Venus? a Continents b. oceans c. rift valleys d. volcanoes
d
Jovian
(Jupiter-like) planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Much lower average density Mostly gas; no solid surface All have rings (not just Saturn!) Families of moons Craters on Planets' Surfaces Craters (like on our Moon's surface) are common throughout the Solar System. Not seen on Jovian planets because they don't have a solid surface
Terrestrial
(earth-like) planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars Four inner planets of the solar system Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars Relatively small in size and mass (Earth is the largest and most massive) Rocky surface Few Moons
Olympus Mons
- Largest volcano in the solar system Dust storms are common Mars Landers
First extrasolar planet First extrasolar planet orbiting a main sequence star
- confirmed in 1992 around a pulsar PSR B1257+12 - first "super-Earth" - 1995 51 Pegasi - First "Hot Jupiter"
Using the Solar nebular hypothesis and radioactive dating of rocks on Earth, on the Moon, and meteorites
- scientists say that the solar system is 4.6 billion years old
What is the exact amount of time it takes for Earth to make a revolution?
265.25
Based on dating of rocks, how old do scientists say the solar system is?
4.6 billion years old
What is an asteroid
A small body that orbits the sun
Earth has four main layers
A. Inner Core - solid B. Outer Core - Liquid - responsible for Earth's magnetic field C. Mantle - Drives plate tectonics D. Crust
Atmosphere - Mars
Air is 95% Carbon Dioxide w/ little traces of oxygen Atmosphere is very low density which means there is very little pressure This means that liquid water is not able to be present on Mars (would boil away) Liquids at lower pressures can boil at lower temperatures
The Orbits of all the planets
All planets are in almost circular (elliptical) orbits around the sun, in approx. the same plane (ecliptic)
Give a reason why Mars is a cold planet.
Because it has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth and Venus and it is far away from the sun
What is the name of the largest basin on Mercury?
Caloris Basin
Atmosphere
Composed of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, and 1% Other gases (Argon, Carbon dioxide)
Rank the terrestrial planets from largest to smallest:
Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury
Is the shape of the earth's orbit closer to an ellipse or a circle?
Ellipse
The extreme temperatures on Venus are most likely due to the ________________ effect.
Green House
Comets
Icy nucleus, which evaporates and gets blown into space by solar wind pressure - forms a tail Mostly objects in highly elliptical orbits, occasionally coming close to the sun
The red color on Mars is due to the abundant amount of _________________________.
Iron Oxide (rust)
Why doesn't Venus have a magnetic field?
It's rotation is too slow to make a magnetic field
Why doesn't Venus have seasons?
It's tilt on its axis is too small
Rank the gas planets from largest to smallest:
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Most have been detected by
Kepler Space Telescope (2009)
The Interior of Mercury
Large, metallic core Core is about 75% of the entire planet Mercury is almost as dense as the Earth Frozen water has been found at the poles of Mercur
Extrasolar planets usually can not be imaged directly.
Look for "wobbling" motion of the star - Due to gravity effects of large Jovian planets Transit - light dims as planet passes star
For each of the characteristics listed below, indicate if it describes the Jovian (J) or Terrestrial (T) planets
Made of denser material - __T_______ c. rocky planets - ___T______ b. gas planets - ___J______ d. Shorter revolutions - ___T______
Mars
Mars is about ½ the size of Earth Rotation = 24 hours and 40 minutes long Revolution = 687 Earth days Mars has a tilt of 25.2° which means that Mars has seasons. Mars has no magnetic field Polar caps - frozen Water on Mars is frozen CO2 Existence of "riverbeds" suggest that they may not have always been frozen Evidence that oceans may also have existed in the pass Red color is due to Iron Oxide (rust) Phobos Rises and Sets in 6 hours Large crater called Stickney Deimos Smaller than Phobos More fine dust and debris on its surface which makes it looks smoother
Why does Mars have seasons similar to the Earth?
Mars' rotational axis is tilted like the Earth's.
What is the planet with the fastest revolution
Mercury
Size of Mercury
Mercury has a diameter of 3,032 miles (4,879 km) making it a little more than _one third_the size of Earth. If Earth were the size of a baseball, Mercury would be about the size of a golf ball. The Surface of Mercury Very similar to Earth's moon: Heavily battered with _craters_, including some large basins Terrain on the opposite side jumbled by seismic waves from the impact
What is the difference between a meteoroid and a meteorite
Meteoroids - this is the object while in space and meteorites are when they hit earth and survive
Meteors
Meteors (Shooting Stars) are not stars at all, they are bits of rock and metal If they collide with Earth, they evaporate in the atmosphere. The dust from this accumulates and adds about 40,000 tons to the planet's mass per year. Meteor - the streak of visible light Meteoroids - this is the object while it is still in space Meteorites - if any part of the object survives impact with the atmosphere and lands on Earth
The first scientific explanation for the formation of the solar system was called the __________________ ____________ hypothesis.
Passing Star Hypothesis
The two moons of Mars are _____________________ and ______________________.
Phobos and Deimos
Two moons of Mars
Phobos and Deimos Both are thought to be captured asteroids from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter Both are heavily cratered Gravity is too weak (moons are too small) to pull themselves into spheres
Problems w/ The Solar Nebula Hypothesis explains:
Pressure may have been too much for gravity Sun should be spinning faster than it is - angular momentum (think of an ice skater spinning and pulling arms in) Jovian problem - disk does not last long so Jovian planets would have to form rapidly
Mercury Revolution and Rotation
Revolution: ≈ 88 days Rotation: ≈ 59 days Travels 31 miles/second - the fastest planet in the Solar System Extreme day-night temperature contrast: - 290 oF (-180 oC) to 800 oF (430 oC) Mercury's transit across the Sun - only visible from Earth 13 times per century Most transits are 7-8 hours long
Solar Nebula hypothesis
Slow process instead of a catastrophe Spinning dust and gas cloud (a nebula) forms a disk Gravity pulls material into the disk Planets form out of the rotating disk through accretion -
Mercury Very similar to Earth's moon in several ways:
Small; no atmosphere_ Lowlands flooded by ancient lava flows Heavily cratered surface Until very recently, most of our knowledge was based on measurements by Mariner 10 spacecraft (1974 - 1975). The MESSENGER_ revealed much more about Mercury 2011 - 2015
Kuiper Belt Objects
Smaller icy objects that are located beyond Neptune Pluto is thought to be one of these objects
The more current explanation of the formation of the solar system is called the _____________ __________________ hypothesis.
Solar Nebula Hypothesis
The passing star hypothesis stated that a ___________ collided with the Sun causing the formation of the solar system.
Sun or Comet
The Venusian Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Venus is 100 times thicker than Earth Surface pressure is 90x atmospheres! 96.5% carbon dioxide Thick clouds of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) Trace amounts of water vapor & N2 The planet has a yellowish sky. There are Massive lightning storms that never touch the ground Venus has enormous upside-down vortices spinning over both poles of the planet. Unlike Earth-based tornadoes and hurricanes, which suck upward, these vortices recycle the atmosphere downward. Furthermore, the north pole of Venus has not one but two of these vortices!
Earth
The largest terrestrial planet Earth is the only planet to have large amounts of liquid water (70%) Axis is tilted 23.4° - gives the Earth its seasons_ When it is summer in Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in Southern Hemisphere Rotation - 23.9 hrs. (Sidereal day vs. Solar Day) Revolution - 365.25 days (Leap year every 4 years keeps consistency)
VENUS
The second planet from the Sun Brightest of all the planets in the night sky from earth. Venus is often termed the "Morning Star" and the "Evening Star." Venus is only slightly smaller than the Earth (about 0.95%), but that is where the resemblance stops! Thick clouds completely obscure the surface The surface is tremendously hot! ~896º Fahrenheit (hotter than mercury) ~480º Celsius - Extreme temperatures most likely due to greenhouse effect Rotation and Revolution of Venus Of all the planets, Venus spins about its axis the slowest 243 Earth days to complete one rotation Slow rotation creates almost no magnetic field Venus has retrograde rotation Spins the opposite direction of all of the other planets It is possible a collision early in its history caused it to start spinning the wrong direction Venus Revolution is 224.70 days (225 days) MEANS: a year on Venus is shorter than a day on Venus
Why are the outer planets called gas giants?
There is no solid surface and they are mostly made of gas
What is a meteor made of
They are made of bits of rock and metals
Transit of Venus
Transit of 2012 - 6 hrs. 40 min. Next transit is Dec. 10, 2117! Tilt of only 3 degrees Since there is little tilt, Venus does not have seasons
What are three major differences between terrestrial and Jovian planets
Unlike Terrestrial planets Jovian planets have many moons, no rocky or solid surface and are much larger Further away from the sun
Exoplanets are usually detected when they cause their star to _______________ because of the gravity of the planet or ______________ when the planet passes in front of the star.
Wobble, Transit
Is it possible to have an asteroid over 50 miles across
Yes some reach over 60 miles
Where are most asteroids found
asteroid belt
__________ Mercury is less massive than Earth. Objects on Mercury would would weigh a. about the same as on Earth b. much more than on Earth c. much less than on Earth d. two-thirds of their weight on Earth
b
______How does the air pressure on Mars compare with that on Earth? a. The air pressure is about the same as on Earth. b. The air pressure is greater on Mars. c. The air pressure is lower on Mars. d. The air pressure is lower on Earth.
c
_______Where may some of the lost water on Mars be found? a. in underground rivers c. frozen beneath the Martian soil b. frozen in icecaps d. in underground oceans
c
_____. Which of the terrestrial planets has the densest atmosphere? a. Earth b. Mars c. Mercury d. Venus
d
What adds 40,000 tons of mass to the planet every year
dust from meteors going into the planet's atmosphere
Passing star hypothesis
early thoughts were that a star (or a comet) collided with the Sun and leftover matter formed solar system
Most are larger Jupiter-like planets bc
easier to detect
What are planets in other solar systems (orbiting other stars) called?
extrasolar planets/ Exoplanets
Asteroids
most are located between Mars and Jupiter Made up of rocky & metallic materials More than 280,000 asteroids have been charted Most are small, but some can reach up to 100 km (60 miles) in diameter
Problems Passing star hypothesis
only a tiny fraction of stars run into others, too hot to make planets, no stable orbits
What objects make up the Kuiper belt
smaller icy objects
There are clouds on Venus made out of _____________________ acid.
sulfuric acid
As of 11/5/2020,
there are 4,301 confirmed planets orbiting other stars
