3
Jupiter has enough mass to make 318 Earths. In contrast, Uranus and Neptune have only enough mass to make
15 Earths
Jupiter has enough mass to make 318 Earths. In contrast, Uranus and Neptune have only enough mass to make
15 earths
What year was Pluto discovered
1930
In which year did the first spacecraft successfully reach the surface of Venus?
1966
In which year was Uranus first visited?
1986
The rotation period ("day") of the Moon is
27.3 Earth days
How long does the Moon take to complete one orbit around the Earth with respect to the stars?
27.3 days
Venus synodic orbital period is:
583 days
What rise in local mean sea level at New York City is projected for the year 2100 by the RCP2.6 scenario?
62cm
At what time did the ice coverage in the northern hemisphere begin to stabilize?
7,000 years ago
Astronomers believe that Jupiter's strong magnetic field is caused by
A huge layer of metallic hydrogen inside Jupiter
The largest continental (highland) area on Venus is called:
Aphrodite
Which of the following spacecraft is NOT leaving the solar system?
Galileo
The largest satellite (moon) in the solar system is:
Ganymede
The type of rock we find predominant in the crust of the Earth's continents is called:
Granite
In radioactive dating, the measure scientists use to note how long (on average) a particular radioactive nucleus will take to decay is called its
Half-life
Why is it so much easier to determine the length of day on Mars than on Venus?
Mars' atmosphere is generally pretty clear (so that the surface is visible) while Venus is always cloudy
Which element plays the same role on Titan as water does on Earth (existing as gas, liquid, and solid)?
Methane
Two small moons in the solar system, known since the 19th century, turn out to be captured asteroids. These two moons are....
Phobos and Deimos around Mars
Which is not a feature on the surface of Uranus?
Plate tectonics
Which planet has the biggest moon relative to its own size? Not the biggest moon in term of kilometers, but the biggest as a percentage of the size of the planet it orbits?
Pluto
The comet that broke into more than 20 pieces and then collided with Jupiter in 1994 was
Shoemaker-Levy 9
What was a surprise to astronomers when they carefully examined Neptune with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994?
The Great Dark Spot had disappeared
When it comes to our place in the Solar System, which model is accepted by Astronomers?
The Heliocentric Model
Which of the following statements about the force of gravity is false?
its strength is inversely proportional to the mass: the more mass, the less gravity
The smaller objects in the solar system made of rock and metal are called: Question 9 options: silicates satellites comets asteroids
asteroids
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
When a periodic comet leaves its dusty debris behind in its orbit, the Earth can intercept this debris and
have a meteor shower as the dust burns up
Which of the following is NOT a way we have studied the planet Mars so far?
sending spacecraft to Mars which have brought samples of the planet back to Earth
One reason we know more about the surface composition of the asteroid Vesta than about most other members of the asteroid belt is that
the anartic
Which of the following is a way we believe that the early atmosphere of the Earth differed from the atmosphere we have today?
All of the above
Which of the following is evidence for volcanic activity on Venus?
All of the above
What appears above the dot?
An ordered pair, a set of coordinates, appears above the blue dot
The Earth is closest to the Sun in what mont of the year?
January
The spacecraft that really gave scientists their first good close-up look of the planet Mercury was:
Mariner 10
Which probe was the first mission to explore Mercury?
Mariner 10
One way in which Mars closely resembles the Earth is:
The length of its day (period of rotation)
The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and composition is
Venus
Which of the following planets do not have satellites (moons)
Venus
Do you consider the RCP2.6 scenario to be a realistic scenario for the future? Explain (a bit of research into issues like population projections might assist you here).
RCP 2.6 is not considered to be a plausible climate change scenario because it requires carbon dioxide emissions to remain at today's level
Today, scientists believe that the main reason the Earth has had periodic ice ages is:
Slow changes in the tilt of our planet's axis of rotation
Why is Pluto a TNO?
Where it orbits
Pluto's big satellite is called....
Charon
What is one way that astronomers have actually gotten an idea of the age of the surfaces of terrestrial planets other than the Earth?
Counting craters
The spacecraft Galileo visited two asteroids, __________ and ____________, the later of which was found to have a moon that we call Dactyl.
Gaspra, Ida
What theory of Mercury's origin can best explain the fact that its core is made of such dense materials?
Giant impacts in its early history may have torn away much of its original crust and mantle
Sediment can be transported to the oceans by:
Gravity, rivers and ice
The "prime meridian" (where longitude equals zero) passes through...
Greenwich, England
The synchrotron radiation (radio waves) that astronomers first observed from Jupiter in the 1950's comes from:
High speed electrons spiraling around the planet's strong magnetic field
Describe the change in carbon dioxide emissions predicted by the RCP2.6 scenario.
Historical data is marked in black up till 2005. The projection from the RCP2.6 scenario then follows and is marked in blue. Carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase in the RCP2.6 scenario until roughly the middle of the 21st century. Emissions after that date flatten out into a plateau and appear to remain constant.
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
According to our textbook, what is the best way to defend ourselves against an asteroid which is on course to collide with the Earth in 7 years?
If we do it early enough, we could explode something on or near the asteroid to deflect it slightly, so that years later it would then miss the Earth
hydrogen
If you were to take a large sample of the four giant planets, the most common element you would find in them is:
The Magellan spacecraft revealed a wide variety of volcanic features on Venus, including some that looked like ticks and spiders. What instrument aboard the Magellan was used for these investigations?
Imaging radar
The inner planets are made of mostly rock and metal because......
It was so hot where the inter planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated
What other factor can have a significant influence on a planet's surface temperature?
Its atmosphere
The big problem with the Galileo spacecraft is that
Its main antenna is stuck in the closed position
Why doesn't Venus have seasons like Mars and Earth do? It does not have an ozone layer. all of the above. It is too close to the Sun. Its rotation axis is not tilted. It does not rotate fast enough.
Its rotation axis is not tilted.
Which of the following is a way that the planet Mercury is similar to the Moon?
Its surface is heavily cratered
The largest planet in the solar system (by mass) is
Jupiter
The largest planet in the solar system (by mass) is...
Jupiter
The planet that has an axis that points roughly straight up, and thus has no seasons to speak of, is:
Jupiter
There are no planets in the asteroid belt, because the giant planet _____________, located just outside the belt, prevented a planet to form in that region, rather the asteroids just keep colliding and breaking apart.
Jupiter
Which of the Jovian planets has the shortest period of rotation (shortest day)?
Jupiter
Which of the following places is most likely NOT to be differentiated?
Jupiter
In the far future, and entrepreneur with a large fleet of space ships decides to capture and bring to Earth some valuable asteroids. If at that time, there is a shortage of usable metals on Earth, what type of asteroids should his employees search for?
M-type asteroids
The spacecraft that sent back the most detailed radar images of Venus and showed us features as small as a football field is:
Magellan
The largest part of the Earth is its
Mantle
The large, roughly circular, dark, and somewhat younger regions of the Moon are called....
Maria
The large, roughly circular, dark, and somewhat younger regions on the Moon are called:
Maria
The largest volcanoes in the Solar System are found on: Venus Earth Mars Mercury the Moon
Mars
Which of the following show evidence of ancient river beds? Venus Mercury Mars all of the above the Moon
Mars
The largest volcano on Mars is called:
Olympus Mons (Mt. Olympus)
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
What is the projected change in global surface temperature in the year 2050 for RCP8.5?
The projected change in global surface temperature in the year 2050 for RCP 8.5 is 1.78 degrees C
The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called:
The runway greenhouse effect
The period of the Moon's rotation on its axis is...
The same as its revolution around Earth
Compared to today's reference sea level (i.e. 0 m), what was the sea level 20,000 years ago?
The sea level 20,000 years ago was 129 m below today's current level
The process of convection involves
The slow upward flow of warmer material and downward flow of cooler material
comets
The smaller objects in the solar system composed mainly of ices (frozen gases) that usually orbit far from the Sun are called:
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
Mercury is a small planet and therefore has trouble holding on to an atmosphere. How then do scientist account for the extremely thin atmosphere that was found around the planet in 1985?
The sun's wind of particles is chipping atoms off the surface of mercury
Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles the Earth?
The thickness and pressure of the atmosphere
What would have to change about the Earth to stop our planet from having significantly different seasons?
The tilt of its axis
In which region of the Earth's atmosphere have you spent most of your life?
The troposphere
Compare the shapes of the two graphs.
The two graphs are very similar; they are almost the mirror opposites of each other
What quantities are being mapped by your new data point?
The x coordinate is mapping the year while the y coordinate is mapping the change in global surface temperature for RCP 8.5.
What quantities do you think are being measured by these coordinates?
The x coordinate is measuring the year, and the y coordinate is measuring the amount of carbon dioxide emissions.
How does the change in the factory graphic reflect the change in carbon dioxide emissions predicted by the RCP2.6 scenario?
There are now two smokestacks
What do the four terrestrial planets have in common?
They all revolve about the Sun in the same direction.
Which of these did the June 1908 impact event in Siberia and the 2013 event in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk have in common?
They both exploded high in the atmosphere and produced a shock wave that reached the ground
What is one important way in which both the Moon and Mercury are different from Earth?
They do not have an atmosphere
How have astronomers learned what different asteroids are made of?
They examine the spectrum of the sunlight that reflects from the asteroid
Mars rovers (such as Opportunity and Curiosity) have identified evidence that their landing sites were once under water. Which of the following is among the kinds of evidence they have identified?
They found rock formations that show the area that was under water and also minerals that only form in water
Which of the following is not a characteristic of the outer planets? Question 13 options: They all have rings. They are primarily made of hydrogen and helium. They have very few satellites. They are all large balls of gas.
They have very few satellites.
Why do satellites launched into low-Earth orbits remain there indefinitely?
They lose speed due to friction with the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere
The satellite which has the thickest atmosphere (so thick that its quite a surprise for a satellite) is.....
Titan
Which of Saturn's moons is most prominent in pop culture?
Titan
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
From a city in the U.S., where in the sky would you look to see a star that is not turning with the motion of the sky in the course of a night?
To the North Celestial Pole
The 17th Century astronomer who kept a roughly 20 year continuous record of the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets was...
Tycho Brahe
The planet that orbits "on its side" (i.e. has its rotation axis perpendicular to the plane of its orbit) is....
Uranus
What planet can come closest to the Earth in its orbit and look brightest in our skies?
Venus
Which planet can come closest to the Earth in its orbit and look brightest in our skies?
Venus
Which planet in the solar system rotates the most slowly (has the longest "day")?
Venus
_____________ is the planet with the slowest rotation period.
Venus
Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the rotation of Venus? Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth. Venus has the longest rotation period of any planet in the solar system. Venus rotates in a retrograde way (east to west). the rotation rate of Venus had to be determined from radar measurements.
Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth.
We have not yet found meteoroids and meteorites derived from
Venus.
The spacecraft called Dawn visited two asteroids first _____________ then Ceres.
Vesta
Who discovered the planet Neptune?
Veyer
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
Venus has a high albedo because its surface is covered by dust storms light-colored rocks snow volcanic ash clouds
clouds
Compare the shape of the Natural Gas graph with the Liquid Fuels graph.
co2 emissions from natural gas gradually increase at a fairly steady rate in a manner similar to the liquid fuels graph
Describe the historical change in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from liquid fuels between 1990 and 2010.
co2 emissions have gradually increased at fairly steady rate between 1990 and 2010
Describe the projected change in carbon dioxide emissions from liquid fuels between 2010 and 2040.
co2 emissions will continue to increase at a steady rate right up until 2040
The fact that some asteroids cluster in what are called asteroid families is probably the result of:
collisions which broke up larger bodies into a number of smaller ones
Short-period comets like Comet Halley
come back again and again at predictable intervals
Short-period comets like Comet Halley...
come back again and again at predictable intervals
The smaller objects in the solar system composed mainly of ices that usually orbit far from the Sun are called: Question 12 options: comets asteroids satellites snowroids
comets
Different asteroids reflect different percentages of light falling on them. This is because that have different.....
compositions
Which of the following statements about the tails of comets is FALSE? a. the tail always points away from the Sun b. some comets have both a gas tail and a dust tail c. the tail of a comet can sometimes be ahead of the comet in its orbit d. a comet always has a nice long tail, even when it is far from the Sun e. the Earth can pass through the tail of a comet without suffering any harm
d. a comet always has a nice long tail, even when it is far from the Sun
The mountains on the Moon a. have been formed in the same way as the mountains on the Earth b. were formed through the eruption of volcanoes early in the Moon's history c. were formed by the collision of continental plates early in the Moon's history d. are the result of giant impacts during the Moon's long history of being hit e. are a complete mystery, which astronomers have not been able to explain
d. are the result of giant impacts during the Moon's long history of being hit
In radioactive dating, the measure scientists use to not how long (on average) a particular radioactive nucleus will take to decay is called its.....
half-life
When astronomers say that Ganymede is a "differentiated body", they mean that it.....
has a heavier core, surrounded by a lighter, icy mantle and crust
When astronomers say that Ganymede is a differentiated body, they mean that it:
has a heavier core, surrounded by a lighter, icy mantle and crust
When astronomers says that Ganymede is differentiated body, they mean it:
has a heavier core, surrounded by a lighter, icy mantle and crust
During the process of differentiation,
heavier materials sink to the centers of molten planets
Despite its heavenly name, Venus turns out to be an incarnation of _______________.
hell
The synchrotron radiation (radio waves) that astronomers first observed from Jupiter in the 1950's comes from:
high speed electrons spiraling around the planet's strong magnetic field
Which of the following statements about the planet Venus is true?
it has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets
Which of the following statements about the unusual object Chiron is FALSE?
it is one of the largest asteroids, just a little smaller than Vesta
Which of the following characteristics distinguishes Uranus from every other planet in our solar system?
it rotates on an axis that is roughly parallel to the circle of its orbit
Why is Pluto considered a dwarf planet?
it's large enough to be round
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)
One way to measure how long Jupiter takes to rotate is to watch the giant storms in its atmosphere go around. A more fundamental way to measure the rotation is to:
measure the changes in the planet's radio waves, which are controlled by its magnetic field
The spacecraft that visited Pluto and send back our first images: is returning to Earth in the 22nd century was called New Horizons used plutonium to keep it warm got a gravity boost from Jupiter to get it to Pluto faster more than one of these
more than one of these
The first trans-Neptunian object astronomers found (in 1930) is called Question 19 options: Eris Pluto Ceres Uranus
pluto
Which planet has the biggest moon relative to its own size? Not the biggest moon in terms of kilometers, but the biggest as a percentage of the size of the planet it orbits
pluto
Which planet or dwarf planet in our solar system has the biggest moon relative to its own size? Not the biggest moon in terms of miles, but biggest compared to the size of the planet it orbits.
pluto
Despite its thick cloud cover, astronomers can observe the surface of Venus with _____________.
radar
The surface of Venus can be observed with
radar observations from Arecibo
What wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum should I use to examine the surface of a planet which is completely covered by a thick layer of clouds all the time? x-rays visible light radio waves any of the above would work
radio waves
If I stood on the surface of Pluto, observing its big moon, I would see that moon:
remain in the same place in the sky
Our modern understanding of Pluto is that it is a member of
the Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)
One way in which Mars closely resembles the Earth is the make-up and thickness of its atmosphere the length of its day its mass the length of its year
the length of its day
A future interplanetary tourist whose parents kept him too warm as a baby asks for your help to find a "really cold place" in the solar system. Which of the following would be the coldest place to take him?
the moons of Neptune
Which part of a comet is the DENSEST?
the nucleus
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
The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called the runaway greenhouse effect radioactivity tectonic displacement ozone depletion
the runaway greenhouse effect
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
Venus can reach a maximum magnitude of:
-4.7
How many times have we visited Pluto?
1
What rise in global mean sea level is projected for the year 2100 by the two scenarios, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5?
55cm, 74cm
What do you see in the graph window? (liquid fuels)
A black liquid droplet
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 do you see in the graph window?
A factory with one smokestack.
What rise in global mean sea level is projected for the year 2100?
A global mean sea level rise of 44 cm is projected for the year 2100.
Where has frozen water been discovered on the Moon?
Deep inside craters in the regions near the moon's poles.
Where has frozen water has been discovered on the Moon?
Deep inside craters in the regions near the moons poles
Foliated metamorphic rocks are created by
Directed pressure
What do all of the RCP scenarios predict is going to happen to global mean sea levels in the future?
Global mean sea levels will increase in the future
The Magellan spacecraft revealed a wide variety of volcanic features on Venus, including some that looked like ticks and spiders. What instrument aboard Magellan was used for these investigations?
Imaging radar
What features are abundant on Callisto and Ganymede and almost absent on Europa and Io?
Impact craters
Which of the following is the most recent mission to an asteroid?
Osiris Rex
The first spacecraft to explore the environment of the planet Jupiter was called
Pioneer
In what year should the temperature change begin to level off according to the RCP2.6 scenario?
The RCP2.6 scenario predicts that the mean global temperature change should begin to level off sometime around 2050
Which of the following is Earth located in?
The Solar System, Milky Way galaxy, the Virgo Supercluster, local group of galaxies
In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks us to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?
The Sun
A lightyear is....
The distance that light travels in one year
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
planetesimals
The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call:
In 2012, NASA's Spaceguard Survey concluded that astronomers had now identified 90% of the asteroids with diameters greater than 1 km. How could astronomers know that they had reached this goal?
The people doing the survey began to find the same objects over again, indicating they were reaching the limits of their survey
The Celestial Sphere turns once around each day because..
The planet on which we live on is rotating
One reason that we have such a complex system of belts/zones/storms in Jupiter's atmosphere is that:
The planet rotates very rapidly
Which of the following statements about Saturn's rings is TRUE?
The rings are made of billions and billions of individual "moonlets" (small chunks)
Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles Earth?
The thickness and pressure of its atmosphere
What quantities do you think are being measured by these coordinates?
The x coordinate is measuring time and y is measuring the surface area
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
What do the four terrestrial planets and the four gas giant planets have in common?
They all revolve about the Sun in the same direction.
Much of what we have learned about the jovian planets and their satellites has come from the work of two spacecraft called:
Voyager
Regions where the continents or the sea floor are pulling apart are called
rift zones
Which of these worlds is the most active geologically?
venus
Which Jovian planet does NOT have any satellites?
you can't fool me, all of the Jovian planets are accompanied by satellites
Which of the Jovian planet does NOT have any satellites?
you can't fool me, all the Jovian planets are accompanied by satellites
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 planets does NOT have an atmosphere?
you can't fool me: all of these have an atmosphere
On which of the planets (other than Earth) could a human being step out of a spacecraft and survive without any protective gear?
you can't fool me; there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected.
What amount of CO2 emissions from liquid fuels are projected for 2025?
13.2 billion metric tons
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 ago
Which of the following is NOT one of largest moons in the Solar System? the earth's moon Ganymede(around Jupiter) Atlas (the shepherd moon near Saturn's A ring) Titan (around Saturn) Triton (around Neptune)
Atlas (the shepherd moon near Saturn's A ring)
Compare the graph projections for the two scenarios, RCP2.6 and RCP4.5.
Both scenarios are relatively similar until the year 2020. After that they start to diverge with RCP 4.5 showing a much greater increase in mean global surface temperature
What is the dominant gas in Venus's atmosphere?
CO2.
Which of these missions was the first to orbit Saturn?
Cassini-Huygens
Pluto's big satellite is called
Charon
Where does magma originate?
Deep in the earth's crust
Who was the second person to recognize a periodic comet?
Edmond Halley
The Satellite whose surface is characterized by a smooth icy crust with a complex network of cracks is....
Europa
If we move and place the Earth on Venus orbit, the Earth would still be habitable
False
Venus is geologically dead since it does not have an atmosphere to protect it
False
Water exists on the surface of Mars since it is protected by the Martian atmosphere
False
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
By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is....
Hydrogen
By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is:
Hydrogen
its atmosphere (whether it has one and how thick it is)
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?
The idea that objects (in the absence of an outside force) tend to continue doing what they are already doing is called the law of...
Inertia
Mercury's average density is about 50% greater than the Moon's, even though the two bodies have similar radii. This suggests that Mercury('s):
Interior is much richer in iron than the Moon's.
Which of these movies involved Saturn?
Interstellar, Wall-E, Beetlejuice
Non-foliated metamorphic rocks are usually found near:
Intrusive igneous rocks
The world in the solar system that is most active volcanically is....
Io
The world in the solar system that is most active volcanically is:
Io
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 planet Venus is true?
It has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets
Which of the following characterizes a shield volcano?
It sits above a hot spot in the planet's mantle.
Valles Marineris is a wide, deep network of chasms stretching for some 2500 miles on the surface of Mars. How do we believe such a big set of canyons formed originally?
It was caused by tectonic pressures from deep within the planet
Which of the following is a way that the planet Mercury is similar to the Moon?
It's surface is heavily cratered
What percentage of the surface of Venus could be characterized as continental-sized highlands?
Less than 10%
If metamorphic rocks are melted they turn into:
Magma
The first human being to step out onto the surface of another world was:
Neil Armstrong
The largest volcano on Mars is called the Red Spot Hellas Olympus Mons Mariner Valley
Olympus Mons
when a comet like Hale-Bopp comes closest to the sun in its orbit, we say that it is at..
Perihelion
What was the first spacecraft to explore Jupiter?
Pioneer 10
Rocks that have not been chemically modified by being significantly heated are called
Primitive
What is Pluto named after?
Roman God of the underworld
What are the clouds of Venus mainly composed of?
Sulfuric acid droplets.
A type of planet that our surveys of exoplanets are revealing around other stars, but we don't have any examples of around the Sun are:
Super-Earth's
Which of the following would NOT be one of the problems faced by an unprotected Earthling stranded on Mars? (Unprotected meaning no space suit.)
The extreme high heat at most latitudes
How has the factory graphic changed?
The factory has two smokestacks now
What allowed the Voyager 2 spacecraft to make a "tour" of all four of the jovian planets in the late 1970's and the 1980's?
The four planets were approximately aligned on one side of the sun and we used the gravity of each planet to speed up the spacecraft to get to the next one in its path
What formations are evidence that the planet Mercury may have shrunk (gotten a bit smaller) as it cooled?
The long scarps or cliffs
Carbon cycle is one of the reasons that Earth is not as hot as Venus
True
Some asteroids are called near-Earth asteroids because they orbit around the Sun near the orbit of Earth.
True
The planet that orbits "on its side" (i.e. has its rotation axis perpendicular to the plane of its orbit) is:
Uranus
The rings that most resemble Saturn's narrow F ring in the solar system are
Uranus' rings
The Red Spot on Jupiter is...
Variable in size, made of reddish colored material, a high pressure storm system in the atmosphere, long-lived (observed since the 1600's)
The spacecraft that soft-landed successfully on the surface of Venus (and briefly sent back pictures while sitting in that destructive environment) was called
Venera
The spacecraft that soft-landed successfully on the surface of Venus (and briefly sent back pictures while sitting in that destructive environment) were called
Venera
Of the following planets, which do NOT have moons?
Venus
One of the best ways to learn more about a world is to have samples from its surface to analyze in our laboratories. From which of the following worlds do we NOT yet have a sample to analyze here on Earth?
Venus
The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and internal composition is
Venus
The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and internal composition is Mars Mercury Venus the Moon
Venus
Which body has the densest atmosphere?
Venus
Which of these gets so bright as to be seen in daylight at times?
Venus
The large, roughly circular, dark, and somewhat younger regions on the Moon are called: a. highlands b. maria c. rilles d. tectonic blobs e. anti-cyclones
b. maria
More than 75% of the known asteroids:
can be found in a belt between Mars and Jupiter
Which of the following is NOT something that was accomplished by the Apollo missions to the Moon?
discovering that the moon has a great deal of water under its surface
By the term "universe" astronomers mean...
everything that we can observe
Mars is about ------ size of Earth
half
By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is:
hydrogen
In addition to hundreds of smaller objects they have been discovering in the Kuiper Belt recently, astronomers were surprised to find
larger bodies, with sizes as big as Pluto (now called dwarf planets)
About 75% of the surface of Venus consists of
lowland lava plains
About 75% of the surface of Venus consists of high volcanic plateaus many of which are currently erupting lava lowland lava plains vast criss-crossing chanels carrying liquid lava wall-to-wall impact craters
lowland lava plains
The largest part of the Earth is its
mantle
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
The planet Neptune was discovered by means of....
mathematical calculations of how it was perturbing the motion of a neighbor planet
The most metal-rich planet is Question 8 options: Mars Venus Earth Mercury
mercury
The bluish color that makes the atmosphere of Neptune so beautiful to the human eye is cause by the interaction of sunlight with what gas?
methane
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
Which element plays the same role on Titan as water does on Earth (existing as gas, liquid, and solid)?
methane
In terms of numbers, the most common life-forms on Earth are
microscopic creatures
Three kinds of worlds are round in our solar system. Which of the following is NOT a type of world that is typically round?
minor planet (asteroid)
About how many asteroids have been discovered so far?
more than 100,000
Which planet was discovered using mathematics before it was seen in a telescope? Question 18 options: Neptune Uranus Jupiter Saturn
neptune
The most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere is
nitrogen
A crucial difference that helps explain why Venus is so hot and the Earth isn't is that:
on Venus, there was eventually no rain to get the carbon dioxide from the surface back to the atmosphere
Which of the following was not done by Galileo Galilei?
resolving the Milky Way into many, many stars
According to the theory of plate tectonics....
slow motions waiting the mantle of the Earth move large sections of the crust around
Our most detailed maps of Venus come from
the Magellan space probe.
Which part of the Earth has the greatest density?
the core
Which of the following statements about temperature changes on Mercury is correct?
the difference in temperature between Mercury's daylight side and its night side is the greatest difference of any planet in the solar system
Which theory of the Moon's origin do astronomers (and the evidence) favor:
the giant impact theory
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 warmed than we expect
All molecules (like molecules of water or carbon dioxide) are made up of....
two or more atoms
A student in your class whom you kind-of like asks you come to watch a meteor shower. What exactly are you being invited to?
watching the left-over dirt from a comet burn up by friction as the pieces hit the Earth's atmosphere
There is only one dwarf planet in the asteroid belt and it is called _____________.
ceres
When the Dawn spacecraft explored the largest asteroid Ceres, it discovered white spots that appear to be salt and volcanic mountains made of water ice. This led astronomers to which of the following ideas.....
Ceres may have (or may have had) a liquid ocean under its crust
When the Dawn spacecraft explored the largest asteroid Ceres, it discovered white spots that appear to be salt and volcanic mountains made of water ice. This led astronomers to which of the following ideas:
Ceres may have (or may have had) a liquid ocean under its crust
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
Use the now completed fuels table above to rank the three fuels based on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions; rank the fuels from the greatest to the least.
Coal, liquid fuels, natural gas
The 88 sectors into which astronomers today divide the celestial sphere (the whole sky) are called..
Constellations
the Renaissance Astronomer who wrote the pioneering book that suggested that Earth probably orbits the Sun (instead of the other way around) was...
Copernicus
Which part of the Earth has the greatest density?
Core
What makes astronomers believe that Mars once had rivers and running water?
Images from orbiting spacecraft reveal ancient channels that look like dried up river beds on earth (and our rovers show geological formations made by running water)
What makes astronomers believe that Mars once had rivers and running water?
Images from orbiting spacecraft reveal ancient channels that look like dried-up river beds on Earth (and our rovers show geological formations made by running water)
Why are there no smaller craters on the surface of Venus, only bigger ones?
In Venus' thick atmosphere all smaller chunks of material burn up before they can reach the surface
You are on a camping trip, far away from city lights. You look up into the dark night sky, and see lots of stars, some stars are dimmer. All the stars you see with your unaided eye are....
In the Milky Way galaxy
A very rich and eccentric tourist in the future hires you to fly him to a region of Venus' atmosphere where the temperatures and pressures are the most Earth-like. Where would you take him?
In the cloud layers about 50km above the surface
In what way is the Moon similar to the Earth? a. roughly the same size b. similar atmosphere c. same gravity on the surface d. takes the same time to rotate on its axis e. none of the above
e. none of the above
The phases of Mercury can be seen best when Mercury is at its maximum __________.
elongation
Of the people who landed on the Moon, how many were trained scientists?
exactly one
When a chunk of cosmic material the size of a golf ball or a baseball hits the Earth's atmosphere it makes a
fireball
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)
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
An important way that scientists have been able to study the interior of the Earth is by....
measuring how seismic waves are transmitted through Earth
An important way that scientists have been able to study the interior of the Earth is by:
measuring how seismic waves are transmitted through the earth
Which planet is closest to the Sun? Question 25 options: Venus Mars Earth Mercury
mercury
The canals that late 19th and early 20th century observers thought they saw on Mars turned out to be optical illusions very narrow oceans of water enormous cracks caused by extensive plate tectonics on Mars huge chains of thousands of large volcanoes
optical illusions
The mountains on Pluto are made of frozen water, which at Pluto temperatures, is as hard as rock. Pluto also has a smooth, round basin which could be thought of as a frozen sea. What material is in the basin (named Sputnik) likely to be made of?
nitrogen
On which world besides the Earth could a human being step out of his spacecraft without a space suit and air tanks and be confident of surviving?
none of these
In what way is the moon similar to Earth?
none of these (these questions are taken directly from the quiz)
The main reason for the runaway greenhouse effect on Venus is because Venus does not have
oceans
Which of the following statements about our moon is FALSE?
on Earth, we can see all its sides in the course of a month as it goes around us
A crucial difference that helps explain why Venus is so hot and the Earth isn't is that on Earth there is additional argon which exerts a tremendous cooling effect. on Venus nearly all CO2 exist in the atmosphere causing a strong Greenhouse effect on Venus the rocks have enormous amounts of radioactivity heating up the environment. there are no volcanoes on Venus but many on Earth to produce the extra heat. on Venus the life forms give off more heat than they absorb.
on Venus nearly all CO2 exist in the atmosphere causing a strong Greenhouse effect
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:
on the order of the mass of all the planets put together
The rate at which a collection of the same radioactive atoms will decay depends on:
only on internal processes within the atoms; nothing external matters
The Murchison meteorite that was found in Australia in 1969 is important to scientists because it contained
organic materials, such as amino acids
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 I see Jupiter?
overhead, where it was before
When the Dawn spacecraft visited Ceres starting in 2015, it observed ________________, inside one of the craters.
patches of ice
One reason we know more about the surface composition of the asteroid Vesta than about most other members of the asteroid belt is that
pieces of Vesta have landed on Earth as meteorites
The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call:
planetesimals
When the solar system was forming, the building blocks from which the protoplanets gathered together were the:
planetesimals (a few km to tens of km wide)
How do astronomers know that the age of the solar system is about 4.5 billion years old?
radioactive dating of the primitive meteorites indicates they have that age (since they are left-over building blocks of the solar system)
The troposphere (the lowest layer in the atmosphere) of Venus...
resembles being about a kilometer or so under the Earth's ocean -- a huge mass of air keeps temperatures pretty much the same all over the planet
When a planet temporarily moves westward in the sky over the course of several weeks or months (instead of eastward as it typically does) we call it...
retrograde motion
All of the major planets (without exception)....
revolve around the Sun in the same direction
All the planets (without exception)
revolve around the Sun in the same direction
If you want to locate someone precisely on the surface of the Earth, you specify his/her exact latitude and longitude. If you want to locate a star precisely in the sky, you need to specify its exact...
right ascension and declination
The lunar highlands are made mostly of rocks that
rose to the top as the moon cooled from a molten state early in its history
A key difference between the protoplanets that formed in the outer solar system and those that formed in the inner solar system was that
those in the outer solar system were in a place where ice, not just rock, condensed and thus could grow larger
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 does the global sea level not go through 0 for the year 2010?
It does not go through 0 because the global sea level in the year in 2010 was already above the reference level set in the time period 1985-2005 (which is the zero level)
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 colder)
Which statement is true of Venus' surface?
It has remained unchanged for billions of years.
Mercury's Caloris basin is aptly named, since:
It is the hottest region, turning to face the Sun when Mercury is at perihelion.
What is interesting about the status of Ceres in the Solar System?
It is the only dwarf planet in the main asteroid belt.
What is the source of the fine, powdery dust found on the Moon's surface?
It is the result of many impacts breaking surface rocks apart over billions of years
Which of the following is not a terrestrial planet?
Jupiter
Which of the jovian planets has the shortest period of rotation (the shortest day)?
Jupiter
The number of degrees of arc that your location is north or south of the Earth's equator is called your....
Latitude
Sometimes, when the moon is a thin crescent, you can still make out the full disk of our satellite. What is the reason for this?
Light reflecting from the Earth to the Moon
Sometimes, when the Moon is a thin crescent, you can still dimly make out the full disk of our satellite. What is the reason for this?
Light reflecting from the earth onto the moon
In the far future, an entrepreneur with a large fleet of space ships decides to capture and bring to Earth some valuable asteroids. If at that time, there is a shortage of usable metals on Earth, what type of asteroids should his employees search for?
M-type
The first spacecraft to orbit another planet circled Mars in 1971. It was:
Mariner 9
Which planet other than the Earth has visible water ice on it? Mercury the Moon Mars Venus
Mars
Why is it so much easier to determine the length of the day on Mars than on Venus?
Mars atmosphere is generally pretty clear (so the surface is visible) while Venus is always cloudy
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
the largest volcano on Mars is called...
Olympus Mons
the moon
On Earth, we can get the age of various parts of our planet by finding rocks that contain radioactive atoms. Which other world do have a good number of rocks from to do this kind of age analysis?
A crucial difference that helps explain why Venus is so hot and the Earth isn't is that:
On Venus, there was eventually no ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
Which of the following statements about our Moon is FALSE?
On earth we can see all sides in the course of a month as it goes around us
What is the surface of Mercury like?
Rocky, with craters and scarps.
When rocks are subjected to weathering and erosion, they change into which of the following?
Sediment
Which of the following is NOT a way we have studied the planet Mars so far?
Sending spacecraft to Mars which have brought samples of the planet back to earth
According to the theory of plate tectonics,
Slow motions within the mantle of the earth move large sections of the crust around
When the Sun and the Moon are lined up and pull together, the tides they raise are called...
Spring tides
The total surface area of planet Mars is roughly equal to the
Surface area of the earths continents
Is Neptune really the last planet in the solar system?
Technically
One of the most impressive features of geology of Mars is an uplifted area about the size of North America, with volcanoes on it, which is called the.....
Tharsis Bulge
One of the most impressive features of the geology of Mars is an uplifted area about the size of North America, with volcanoes on it, which is called the
Tharsis Bulge
What is the name of the book that brings the fear of meteors/asteroids/comets into pop culture?
The Day of the Triffids
The main reason that the Earth does not turn to be as Venus is because
The Earth has a carbon cycle
In its overall composition, the Moon roughly resembles...
The Earth's crust and mantle
Why do astronauts (and cans of soft drink) float around in the International Space Station (ISS) instead of falling?
The ISS is falling around the Earth (and everything is in free fall)
Our modern understanding of Pluto is that it is a member of.....
The Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)
Newton's reformulation of Kepler's third law allows us to measure the masses of bodies in orbit around each other, if we can measure
The distances and periods of rotation
What is one important way in which both the Moon and Mercury are different from Earth?
The do not have an atmosphere
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 much have been so hot it was like a liquid and heavier things sank to the middle/
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 earth must have been so hot it was like a liquid and heavier things sank to the middle
In its overall composition, the Moon roughly resembles:
The earth's crust and mantle
What do you think that the graphic is illustrating?
The extent of ice coverage in the northern hemisphere at a time of 20,000 years ago
Describe the shape of the graph showing how the surface area of ice sheets in the northern hemisphere has changed over the last 20,000 years.
The first part of the graph shows the surface of ice coverage in the northern hemisphere to be decreasing at a fairly regular rate. This rate then increases in the central area of the graph. The last third of the graph on the right is a horizontal line showing the area of ice coverage in the Northern hemisphere is relatively stable in this time period.
Describe how the mean global surface temperature has changed during the 20th century.
The mean global surface temperature has generally been steadily increasing during the course of the 20th century
An increase in the Earth's temperature by several degrees Celsius would result in:
The melting of many glaciers, a rise in sea levels, and more flooding of towns near the coast of the continents
Mercury is named after what Roman God?
The messenger
What is false about Galileo (1995-2003)?
The mission collected more data than anticipated
On Earth, we can get the age of various parts of our planet by finding rocks that contain radioactive atoms. Which other world do have a good number of rocks from to do this kind of age analysis?
The moon
Which of the following statements about the rocks brought back from the Earth's Moon by astronauts is true?
The moon rocks were puzzling because they resemble rocks from he Earth's crust in many ways, but also have subtle differences
Which of the following statements about the rocks brought back from the Earth's Moon by the astronauts is TRUE?
The moon rocks were puzzling, because they resemble rocks from the earth's crust in many ways, but also have subtle differences
A future interplanetary tourist whose parents kept him too warm as a baby asks for your help to find a "really cold place" in the solar system. Which of the following would be the coldest place to take him?
The moons of Neptune
Different asteroids reflect different percentages of the light falling on them. This is due to the fact that they have different:
compositions
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)?
The moons were likely formed elsewhere and captured by the giant planets
In Ptolemy's system the planets orbit Earth and not the Sun...How does the system explain retrograde motion of planets like Jupiter?
The planets moved on a small circle whose center, in turn, circled a point near the Earth
For scientists, one bar is
The pressure in which 1 square centimeter of the Earth's atmosphere presses down at the surface
In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area):
The rate at which a collection of the same radioactive atoms will decay depends on:
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 warming than we expect
We always see the same side of the Moon from the Earth because:
The rotation period of the Moon is the same as its period of revolution around the Earth
Which of the following does the composition of a planet like Jupiter resemble:
The sun
The voyager was the only craft to travel to Uranus
True
In the future, a pair of astronauts are sent on a mission to the planet Mercury. They watch the Sun set one mercurian evening and decide they will go exploring in opposite directions and meet again the NEXT time the Sun is setting in the spot where they started. How long will they have to wait for the next sunset at that spot?
Two-mercury years, 176 Earth Days
Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the rotation of Venus?
Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth
There was a pair of spacecraft whose components both orbited the planet Mars and landed on its surface in 1976. These spacecraft were called:
Viking
The Viking spacecraft were designed -- in part -- to search for life on Mars. Which of the following statements about the results of these experiments is true?
Viking found that the surface of mars in the two places it searched did not have any life or even life's building blocks
A spot where magma rises to the surface can be seen as a
Volcano
Today, a significant amount of new gas is joining the atmosphere of the Earth from what source:
Volcanoes release gas that was trapped within the earth
Mountains on Earth often have sharp peaks and edges to them, while mountains on the Moon look smooth and kind of dull in comparison. What gives the Earth's mountains their dramatically sharp shapes?
Water and ice flow over the earth's mountains and erode them
What is one way that we humans are currently making the atmosphere of the Earth more like that of Venus?
We are adding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere which is leading to global warming
Lets say we find a star that is located on the points or circle in the sky. Then, on the same night, we move to a location on Earth that is some significant distance from out first location. There will now be a different star at or on our:
Zenith
What relatively recent event shows that impacts continue to happen in our solar system even today?
a comet (which broke into more than 20 pieces) hit the planet Jupiter in 1994
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
Newton showed that to change the direction in which an object is moving, one needs to apply...
a force
When a projectile (a rock from space, say) hits the surface of the Moon, which of the following do we NOT get?
a gushing out of lots of water that had been frozen inside on the ground in the cold moon, but it is briefly heated by impact
[An alternate phrasing of question 15]: These days the theory of the Earth's Moon's origin that best fits with the facts we have about the Moon is:
a large object hit the earth and the collision produced a filament of material that condensed to make the moon
When two objects in orbit have periods of revolution that are simple ratios of each other (such as 1 to 2 or 1 to 3) we say that we have:
a resonance
When two objects in the orbit have periods of revolution that are simple ratios of each other (such as 1 to 2 or 1 to 3) we say that we have:
a resonance
The typical meteor is
a small solid particle, no bigger than a pea
At their centers, all the jovian planets have cores made of:
a solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure
A large body in space that consistently makes its own light (instead of merely reflecting another bodies light) is called...
a star
A baseball pitcher wants to impress his girl-friend with how strong his throwing arm is. On which of the following bodies would the pitcher be MOST likely to be able to throw a baseball (a fast ball) so fast it would actually go into orbit? a. Earth b. Mars c. Ganymede d. Titan e. Asteroid Ida
a. Earth
What planet can come closest to the Earth in its orbit and look brightest in our skies? a. Venus b. Mars c. Mercury d. Jupiter e. none of the above
a. Venus
Of the people who landed on the Moon, how many were trained scientists? a. exactly one b. about half of the astronauts were trained scientists c. all except one (the first one) d. all the astronauts were trained scientists e. none
a. exactly one
Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles the Earth? a. its size (diameter) b. its overall density c. the surface gravity (which tells us how much we would weigh there) d. the thickness and pressure of its atmosphere e. you can't fool me; Venus resembles Earth in all of the above ways
a. its size (diameter)
I want to examine the surface of a planet which is completely covered by a thick layer of clouds all the time. What wavelength of electromagnetic radiation would I be smartest to use: a. visible light b. x-rays c. radio waves (like radar) d. any of the above would work e. none would work
a. visible light
According to the fossil record, how old is the oldest evidence of life forms on the surface of Earth?
about 3.5 billion years old
Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?
about 4.5 billion years
One way in which the ozone layer is useful for life forms on the Earth's surface is that it.....
absorbs ultra-violet light, preventing much of it from reaching the surface
The presence of volcano, lack of erosion, apparent young age of Venus indicate that Venus is geologically
active
Which of the following is a group of asteroids orbiting in the same orbit as Jupiter?
all of the other answers are correcct
The Red Spot of Jupiter is:
all of these
Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the ways the jovian and terrestrial planets differ?
all the jovians have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do
Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the ways the jovian planets differ from the terrestrial planets?
all the jovians have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do
What do the magnetic fields of Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune have in common?
all three have their magnetic axes offset from the center of the planet
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)
Within a constellation, a smaller, recognizable pattern of stars is often called...
an asterism
We now know the orbit of a stable planet around a star like the Sun is always in the shape of....
an ellipse
We believe that the Maria on Earth's Moon are...
ancient impact craters in which Lava beds welled up from inside the moon
We believe the maria on the Earth's Moon are:
ancient impact craters in which lava beds welled up from inside the moon
The __________ brightness of Venus varies, due to changes in phase and distance from Earth.
apparent
When chemists say that a planet's outer regions are reduced, they mean that these regions
are dominated by the element hydrogen and its compounds
When chemists say that a planet's upper regions are reduced, they mean that these regions
are dominated by the element hydrogen and its compounds
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
Like Olympus Mons, volcanoes on Venus
are shield volcanoes.
The mountains on the Moon
are the result of giant impacts during the moons long history of being hit
An odd phenomenon of Venus is the ______________, an apparent brightening of the night side of the crescent Venus when seen against a dark sky
ashen light
A baseball pitcher wants to impress his girl-friend with how strong his throwing arm is. On which of the following bodies would the pitcher be MOST likely to be able to throw a baseball (a fast ball) so fast it would actually go into orbit?
asteroid Ida
According to Kepler's 3rd law, there is a relationship between the time a planet takes to revolve around the Sun and its....
average distance from the sun
Why are almost all the craters we see on the Moon circular?
because the rocks and icebergs that hit the moon are moving so fast, they explode on impact, making a circular hole
The rings of the outer planets consist of
billions of chunks (of various sizes) that all orbit the equator of each planet
The rings of the outer planets consist of
billions of chunks (of various sizes) that all the equator of each planet
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
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 by looking at the radioactive rock samples that have been returned to Earth from Venus by noting that all the plains on all the terrestrial planets have the same age by looking for little brass plates that give the founding date
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 the surface features on Venus? by studying Venus with powerful optical telescopes on spacecraft that were sent to orbit Venus by studying Venus from Earth with powerful telescopes by using radar from spacecraft that were sent to orbit Venus by making computer models of geological processes on Venus by landing spacecraft on the surface for close-up study
by using radar from spacecraft that were sent to orbit Venus
How were the rings of Uranus discovered?
by using the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (the telescope aboard an airplane) to observe Uranus moving in front of a distant star
The spacecraft that sent back the most detailed radar images of Venus and showed us features as small as a football field is: a. Viking b. Pioneer c. Venera d. Magellan e. Mariner
d. Magellan
The first human being to step out onto the surface of another world was: a. Luke Skywalker b. Jack Schmitt c. James Van Allen d. Neil Armstrong e. Yuri Gagarin
d. Neil Armstrong
On some parts of Mars, it gets cold enough for a gas to freeze out of the atmosphere that does not freeze out by itself at the temperatures and pressures on Earth. This gas makes up some of the polar caps on Mars and is:
carbon dioxide
The main source of the greenhouse effect on Venus due to the presence of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere
carbon dioxide
The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus is nitrogen ozone carbon dioxide water vapor
carbon dioxide
The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. This gas is:
carbon dioxide
What is the main constituent of the atmosphere of Venus?
carbon dioxide
Even with the best and largest telescopes, we can't see all the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, even though these show us other galaxies. Why is that?
dust in the space between stars builds up over large distances and blocks the light of stars behind the dusty Milky Way
The first asteroid confirmed to have a satellite (moon) was a. Vesta b. Eros c. Toutatis d. Chiron e. Ida
e. Ida
The comet that broke into more than 20 pieces and then collided with Jupiter in 1994 was a. Giacobini-Zinner b. Kohoutek c. Halley's Comet d. Eros e. Shoemaker-Levy 9
e. Shoemaker-Levy 9
The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. This gas is: a. water vapor b. nitrogen c. ozone d. ammonia gas e. carbon dioxide
e. carbon dioxide
What graphic is now visible?
A lump of coal
The Van Allen belt is
A region of trapped charged particles in the Earths magnetosphere
Which of the following is most likely NOT to be differentiated?
A small asteroid
Which of the following places is most likely NOT to be differentiated?
A small asteroid
In what way is the Moon similar to the Earth?
None of the above
The time it takes for the Sun to return to the same place in our sky after the Earth has rotated once is called....
A solar day
At their centers, all the jovian planets have cores made of:
A solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure
From a particular location on Earth, why can we see many more total eclipses of the Moon than total eclipses of the Sun?
A total Lunar Eclipse is visible of a much larger part of the Earth's surface than a total solar eclipse
Earth-crossers are?
Asteroids that actually cross earth's orbital path
How might Mars's weakened magnetic field have allowed for major changes in its climate? The heat combined with the magnetic field and disappeared with it. They are completely unrelated. Atmospheric gases were left vulnerable to being stripped into space by solar wind particles. Mars has actually heated up since the magnetic field weakened since the solar rays no longer have such a dense layer to go through.
Atmospheric gases were left vulnerable to being stripped into space by solar wind particles.
The largest impact basin on Mercury (located on that part of the planet which is closest to the Sun at noon) is called.....
Caloris
The largest impact basin on Mercury (located on that part of the planet which is closest to the Sun at noon) is called:
Caloris
The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. this gas is....
Carbon Dioxide
On some parts of Mars, it gets cold enough for a gas to freeze out of the atmosphere that does not freeze out by itself at the temperatures and pressures on Earth. This gas makes up some of the polar caps on Mars and is:
Carbon dioxide
The same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. This gas is:
Carbon dioxide
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
Why is Venus's surface hotter than Mercury's?
Carbon dioxide in Venus's atmosphere traps heat radiating from its surface, thereby making it warmer.
The first asteroid to be discovered (which is also the largest one) is called.....
Ceres
The first, and largest, asteroid was discovered in 1801 and is called ______________.
Ceres
Greenhouse effect is always bad
False
The first asteroid confirmed to have a satellite (moon) was
Ida
Any rock in the Earth's crust that has cooled from an originally molten state is called
Igneous
Metamorphic rocks are formed from pre-existing rocks. These are:
Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic
If you were to take a sample from 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
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
A main difference between asteroids and comets is that asteroids are mostly made of rock and comets are mostly made of
ice
A main difference between asteroids and comets is that asteroids are mostly made of rock and comets are mostly made of......
ice
the planet closest to the Sun in the solar system is...
Mercury
Comets are made of _________ and rock, while asteroids tend to be mostly just ___________.
ice, rock
In Australia (in the Southern Hemisphere), when are the days the shortest and the nights the longest?
in Late June
Where is most of the water on Mars? frozen on the peaks of its tall volcanoes in its polar caps and subsurface ground ice in deep underground deposits in its clouds
in its polar caps and subsurface ground ice
Venus' rotation on its axis
is clockwise, unlike most other solar system objects.
The atmospheric pressure on Venus
is much higher than on Earth.
In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area).....
is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining
In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area):
is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining
In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area): Question 16 options: is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining follows no discernible rules or relationships at all is greater as you get closer to the Sun is about the same on every world
is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining
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 into Jupiter is FALSE?
it detected a lot of water and water vapor clouds on its way down
Astronomers believe that Mars formed with a much thicker atmosphere than it has today. Where did it go? it escaped into space (and some later froze out as Mars got cold it was drawn into the crust and mantle of Mars through the enormous cracks of the Mariner Valley canyon system it is trapped in bubbles inside the rocks on the martian surface it was absorbed by the rocks on Mars which are much more absorbent than on Earth
it escaped into space (and some later froze out as Mars got cold
Which of the following statements about Mercury's orbit is TRUE?
Mercury has the highest speed in its orbit of any planet
Which of the eight planets has a smaller mass than Mercury?
Mercury has the smallest mass
The four inner planets of the solar system in order of distance from the Sun are:
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
During what time period was there the greatest amount of change in the world's sea levels?
11,000 years ago and ending at about 7,000 years ago
The Moon takes 27.3 days to complete one orbit around the Earth. How many degrees of arc does the Moon move across Earth's sky every day? [HINT: One orbit is 360 degrees.]
13.2 degrees
What year is showing in the year slider in the bottom left of the page?
20 thousand years ago
After what year does data stop appearing?
2005
In which year did the most recent exploration of Venus end?
2014
A star is 230 light years away. the light we see tonight from that star left it....
230 years ago
How many types of rocks are present on Earth?
3
What is the approximate distance in au between the Sun and the farthest gas giant planet? Use the Angular Separation Tool to measure the appropriate distance.
30 AU
How much surface area did ice sheets in the northern hemisphere lose in the last 20,000 years?
31,540,000 km^2
The location of the Milky Way Galaxy is....
A little less than 30,000 LY from the center
Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?
4.5 billion years
How many missions have been to mars?
49
When did the changes in sea level begin to stabilize and taper off?
7,000 years ago
What rise in local mean sea level at New York City is projected for the year 2100 by the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios?
75cm, 96cm
In 2013, a small stony asteroid collided with the Earth above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. What was the result?
A fireball briefly brighter than the Sun could be seen in the sky
What graphic is now visible?
A flame representing natural gas
What rise in global mean sea level is projected for the year 2100 by the RCP4.5 scenario?
A global mean sea level rise of 53cm is projected for the year 2100.
Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?
About 4.5 billion years
One way in which the ozone layer is useful for life forms on the Earth's surface is that it
Absorbs ultra-violet light, preventing much of it from reaching the surface
The person who came up with the continental drift theory that led to our modern understanding of plate tectonics was
Alfred Wegner
What do all if the RCP scenarios predict is going to happen to mean global surface temperature in the future?
All of the RCP scenarios, even the unrealistic RCP 2.6, predict that the mean global surface temperature will increase in the future
Compare the graph projections for the two scenarios, RCP2.6 and RCP4.5.
All of the above
Describe what is happening in the graph window.
All of the above
How does projected sea level rise in New York City compare with global mean sea level rise predictions?
All of the above
The Red Spot of Jupiter is:
All of the above
What do you think accounts for the increased amount of CO2 emissions from coal in the 21st century?
All of the above
What do you think accounts for the projected steady rise in CO2 emissions from liquid fuels right up to 2040?
All of the above
Where do you think all of this glacial meltwater eventually ended up?
All of the above
Why might the local sea level projection be different from the global sea level projection?
All of the above
Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the ways the jovian planets differ from the terrestrial planets?
All the jovian's have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do
What do the magnetic fields of Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune have in common?
All three have their magnetic axes offset from the center of the planet
the largest continental (highland) are on Venus is called.....
Aphrodite
The largest continental area of all Venus is _______________, the size of south America, & is cut by a system of rift valleys that extends for thousands of kilometres.
Aphrodite Terra
What mean global temperature change is predicted in 2100 by the RCP4.5 model?
Approx 1.8 degrees C
Which Ancient Greek thinker suggested (long before Copernicus) that the Earth is moving around the Sun?
Aristarchus
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 astronomers today think that we have and asteroid belt and not a planet between Mars and Jupiter?
Because Jupiter's gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together
If everything in the solar system is moving around, why do the Perseid meteors repeat regularly around August 11th or so?
Because the Earth in its orbit intersects the same swarm of meteor particles at the same time each year
Why is there a 4-minute difference between the solar day and the sidereal day?
Because the Earth is going around the Sun in the course of a year
Why are the largest craters we find on the Moon and Mercury so much larger than the largest craters we find on the Earth?
Because the largest craters were made early in each world'd history, and geologic activity has erased all traces of this early period on the earth's surface
Why are the largest craters we find on the Moon and Mercury so much larger than the largest craters we find on the Earth?
Because the largest craters were made early in each worlds history, and geologic activity has erased all traces of this early period on the Earth's surface
How does the stabilization in sea level compare with the stabilization of ice coverage in the northern hemisphere (i.e. question 5)?
Both the sea level and the ice coverage began to stabilize at about the same time, 7,000 years ago
Astronomers estimate that the runoff channels seen on Mars must be at least 3.9 billion years old. How do they estimate ages like this?
By counting impact craters in the regions containing these channels
The way scientists know that a hypothesis is a reasonable description of nature is to...
Do experiments and observations about predictions of the hypothesis
Which of the following statements about the atmosphere of Mars today is FALSE?
Droplets of liquid water rain irrigate the surface of mars regularly
Venus resembles a young __________ (1 billion years)—no asthenosphere, & thin crust.
Earth
Which terrestrial planets have some type of active tectonic activity at the moment? Earth and Mars Earth and Venus Mars and Venus Mercury and Venus
Earth and Venus
The satellite whose surface is characterized by a smooth icy crust with a complex network of cracks is:
Europa
The satellite whose surface is characterized by a smooth icy crust with a complex network of the cracks is:
Europa
Rocks that cool as lava flows are called:
Extrusive igneous
The four large moons of Jupiter were first discovered by...
Galileo with his early telescope
The four large moons of Jupiter were first discovered by:
Galileo with his early telescope
The largest satellite (moon) in the solar system is.....
Ganymede
The Galileo spacecraft measured that the moon Ganymede had a magnetic field, indicating that its interior was at least partly melted and warm. What do scientists think is the most likely reason for this?
Ganymede is heated by tidal forces from Jupiter
The spacecraft that got the closest to the nucleus of Halley's Comet and sent back dramatic photographs of what the nucleus looked like was:
Giotto
Who was the first asteroid discovered by?
Giuseppe Piazzi
Valles Marineris is a deep wide network of chasms stretching for 2500 miles on the surface of Mars. How do we believe such a big set of canyons formed originally? It was made by hundreds of impacts from space billions of years ago. It was produced suddenly by flooding water some four billion years ago. It was scoured out of the Martian sands by the action of the regular dust storms. It was caused by tectonic pressures from deep within the planet.
It was caused by tectonic pressures from deep within the planet.
Which of the following statements about the Earth's magnetosphere is FALSE?
Its shape and size are the same on the sides facing toward and away from the sun
Which of the following is NOT a way that Jupiter differs from terrestrial planets?
Its surface has many more craters from early collisions
The scientist who formulated the three laws of planetary motion by analyzing the data on the precise location of planets in the sky was..
Johannes Kepler
Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets in NOT CORRECT?
Jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials
Which of the following statements about the seasons of Jupiter is correct?
Jupiter's axis is hardly tilted so it has no real seasonal variations
Which of the following statements about the seasons on Jupiter is correct?
Jupiter's axis is hardly tilted so it has no real seasonal variations
Which of the following statements about the seasons on Jupiter is correct?
Jupiter's axis is hardly tilted, so it has no real seasonal variations
Why do astronomers today think that we have an asteroid belt and not a planet between Mars and Jupiter?
Jupiter's gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together
The four outer planets of the solar system in order of distance from the Sun are:
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
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 hours
The telescope in space that allowed astronomers to find thousands of exoplanets and exoplanet candidates by making very careful measurements during a planet transit was called:
Kepler
When NASA and a group of astronomers sent up a spacecraft designed to find planets orbiting other stars, they named it after Kepler. Why was this an appropriate name?
Kepler figured out the rules of planetary motion, which planets in our solar system and planets everywhere must obey
Between 1992 and today, astronomers using large telescopes have discovered many icy pieces that orbit in the same region as the orbit of Pluto. These are believed to be members of the
Kuiper belt
Which of the following statements about Valles Marineris, the great "grand canyon system" on Mars is true?
Landslides have helped broaden the canyons since they were first formed
Why is it so much easier to determine the length of the day on Mars than on Venus? Mars is always much closer to the Earth than Venus. Mars' atmosphere is generally pretty clear (so the surface is visible) while Venus is always cloudy. Mars rotates really slowly so it's easy to follow while Venus rotates very fast. Mars is much larger in diameter than Venus is so it's easier to see.
Mars' atmosphere is generally pretty clear (so the surface is visible) while Venus is always cloudy.
The asteroid belt is located between the orbits of ___________ and ____________.
Mars, Jupiter
The Shoemaker-NEAR spacecraft explored two asteroids, Mathilde and Eros. A big difference between them is that:
Mathilde appears to be pile of "rubble" (a collection of separate rocks) while Eros is solid
The highest mountain on Venus is also the only feature to be named after a man; its namesake is the Scottish scientist who laid the foundations for our understanding of electro-magnetic waves. This is Mount....
Maxwell
The highest mountain on Venus is also the only feature to be named after a man; its namesake is the Scottish scientist who laid the foundations for our understanding of electro-magnetic waves. This is Mount:
Maxwell
The planet in our solar system with the shortest period of revolution is.....
Mercury
Which of the following is made of the densest material?
Mercury
Which of these terrestrial planets is considered geologically dead? Venus Mercury Earth Mars
Mercury
The most likely models of the planet Mercury indicate that more than half the planet may be composed of:
Metals
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 upper clouds in the atmosphere of Neptune are composed of:
Methane
Sediments are solidified by:
Minerals deposited in pore spaces
The natural object (not built by humans) that is closest to Earth is the....
Moon
What does Mercury most resemble in size and appearance?
Moon
According to the geocentric view, everything in the heavens had to go around Earth, which was the center of the universe. What objects did Galileo discover with his telescope that clearly didn't go around Earth?
Moons around the planet Jupiter
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
Astronomers estimate that there may be a trillion (a thousand billion) comet nuclei orbiting beyond Pluto. Why then do we not see more comets in our skies?
Most comets remain in stable orbits beyond Pluto, only a few have their orbits disturbed and come into the inner solar system
Does Mercury have an atmosphere? Why or why not?
No. It has only traces of gases temporarily captured from space. Mercury's gravitational force is too weak to retain an atmosphere in its hot environment.
Which of the following statements about NEO's (Near Earth Objects) is TRUE?
NEO's can include both asteroids and comets that cross the Earth's orbit
Which cities will experience sea level rise above the global average?
NYC, Halifax, Key West, San Francisco
Rank the five cities in order from greatest sea level rise to least sea level rise.
NYC, Halifax, Key West, San Fransisco and Vancouver
In the far future, a daring interplanetary tourist wants to go "hang-gliding" on the Jovian planet with the highest equatorial wind speeds. which planet would have the fastest wind at its equator?
Neptune
In the far future, a daring interplanetary tourist wants to go "hang-gliding" on the jovian planet with the highest equatorial wind speeds. Which planet would have the fastest wind at its equator?
Neptune
The Jovian planet that has the longest year (period of rotation) is....
Neptune
The jovian planet that has the longest year (period of revolution) is:
Neptune
The moon Triton orbits which of the planets?
Neptune
What's different about the discovery of Neptune compared to other planets?
Neptune is impossible to see
hich city will experience greater sea level rise, New York City or San Francisco?
New York City
What phase of the Moon must it be to have a Solar Eclipse?
New moon
The most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere is...
Nitrogen
Earthquake producing faults are much more likely to be found
On the boundaries of continental plates, where they meet other plates
The canals that late 19th and early 20th observers thought they saw on Mars turned out to be:
Optical illusions
The person who really publicized the idea of canals on Mars and impressed it on the public mind was Asaph Hall Orson Welles Frank Drake Percival Lowell
Percival Lowell
The person who really publicized the idea of canals on Mars and impressed it on the public mind was:
Percival Lowell
What's the name of the most recent exploration to mars?
Perseverance
Two small moons in the solar system, known since the 19th century, turn out to be captured asteroids. These two moons are:
Phobos and Deimos around Mars
The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call....
Planetesimals
The first trans-Neptunian object astronomers found (in 1930) is called
Pluto
Which of the following worlds does NOT have a ring?
Pluto
Which world has the biggest moon relative to its own size? Not the biggest moon in terms of kilometers, but the biggest as a percentage of the size of the world it orbits.
Pluto
The three dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt are:
Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
The slow tipping of the Earth's axis in a circle with a period of about 26,000 years is called...
Precession
Right now the world community is trying to reach a consensus on restricting global temperature change to under 2°C (3.6°F). Which RCP scenario would achieve this?
RCP 4.5
Is there much difference between the projections for RCP4.5 and RCP6.0?
RCP 4.5 and RCP 6.0 have a sea level rise projections that are very similar. There is very little difference between the two projections.
I want to examine the surface of a planet which is completely covered by a thick layer of clouds all the time. What wavelength of electromagnetic radiation would I be smartest to use:
Radar waves (like radar)
The troposphere (the lowest layer in the atmosphere) of Venus
Resembles being about a kilometer or so under the earth's ocean--a huge mass of air keeps temperatures pretty much the same all over the planet
Scientists have been concerned about a set of industrial chemicals called CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) because they:
Rise into the atmosphere and destroy ozone
The Moon appears to grow successively larger and smaller during the libration cycle. Which statement correctly explains this phenomenon?
The Moon's orbit is elliptical and the Earth-Moon distance varies thereby producing changes in the Moon's apparent size as seen from Earth.
What part of a comet is the most dense?
The Nucleus
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
The Star that provides energy for the Earth is.....
The Sun
which of the following does the composition of Jupiter resemble?
The Sun
Which of the following is not an argument for showing that the Earth must be round?
The Sun is seen blocking different constellations in the course of a year
the moon is heavily cratered, but the Earth which "lives right next door" is not. Why?
The active geology and weather on Earth destroy traces of impacts over millions of years
The Moon is heavily cratered, but the Earth which "lives next door" is NOT. Why?
The active geology and weather on earth destroy traces of impacts over millions of years
Why does the Moon show phases in the course of a month?
The angle the Moon makes with the Sun changes and we see differing amounts of reflected sunlight
Calculate the average rate of sea level change (i.e. the slope) during this time period.
The average change in sea level was 0.026
The Astronomical Unit (AU) as defined by astronomers is...
The average distance between Earth and the Sun
Which of the following is NOT evidence that objects from space collide with the Earth?
The crater at the top of the Mount St. Helens volcano
in 1980, scientists suggested that the great mass extinction of 65 million years ago (which ended the reign of the dinosaurs) may have been caused by a large impact from space. What discovery gives a big boost to this idea?
The discovery of a buried crater (about 200 km across) near Chicxulub, Mexico
In 1980, scientists suggested that the great mass extinction of 65 million years ago (which ended the reign of dinosaurs) may have been caused by a large impact from space. What discovery gives a big boost to this idea?
The discovery of a buried crater (about 200km across) near Chicxulub Mexico
What was the global mean sea level in the year 2010?
The global mean sea level in the year 2010 was 4cm
What could account for this drastic change in area covered by ice sheets in the northern hemisphere?
The global surface temperature must have gradually increased. This resulted in much of the ice finally beginning to melt
Describe the sea level graph that the RCP2.6 carbon emissions scenario projects.
The graph is linear and rises at a quite steady rate right to the year 2100.
Describe the shape of the graph up to this point.
The graph is slowly aging upwards. The increase is more pronounced in the later half of the 20th century
During the process of differentiation,
The heavier materials sink to centers of molten planets
One way in which Mars closely resembles the Earth is...
The length of its day (period of rotation)
What formation or formations are evidence that the planet Mercury may have shrunk (gotten a bit smaller) as it cooled?
The long scarps or cliffs
The region around the Earth where charged particles are trapped and spiral around is called:
The magnetosphere
Why does Mars have an overall reddish color when we see its surface from afar? The giant volcanoes on Mars are constantly spewing out reddish lava. This is an optical illusion caused by the Earth's atmosphere scattering the colors of light differently. The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish. Mars is completely cloudy and its clouds are make of red materials.
The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish.
Why does Mars have an overall reddish color when we see its surface from afar?
The material of mars surface contains lots of iron oxide, the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish
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
What mean global temperature change is predicted in 2100 by the RCP2.6 model?
This model predicts a mean global surface temperature change of approximately 1.0 degrees C by 2100.
The satellite which has the thickest atmosphere (so thick that it's quite a surprise for a satellite) is:
Titan
In 2013, a small stony asteroid collided with the Earth above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. What was the result? a. A large earthquake was felt all over Europe and Asia b. A fireball briefly brighter than the Sun could be seen in the sky c. It broke apart and large pieces of rock fell from the sky, killing thousands of innocent people d. The Earth's orbit around the Sun changed in a measurable way e. It burned up so high in the atmosphere, absolutely nothing could be felt or seen on the ground
b. A fireball briefly brighter than the Sun could be seen in the sky
The scientist who first proposed that comet nuclei were "dirty snowballs" was: a. Edmond Halley b. Fred Whipple c. Eugene Shoemaker d. Isaac Newton e. Jan Oort
b. Fred Whipple
The planet that most resembles the Earth in size and internal composition is a. Mars b. Venus c. Mercury d. Jupiter e. the Moon
b. Venus
We believe the maria on the Earth's Moon are: a. giant volcanoes produced when the Moon tried to get plate tectonics going b. ancient impact craters in which lava beds welled up from inside the Moon c. large rifts filled with colder material made when the Moon's surface was cooling d. large, flat, ancient plateaus on the Moon's highland areas e. advertisements for the musical "West Side Story"
b. ancient impact craters in which lava beds welled up from inside the Moon
Short-period comets like Comet Halley a. return to the Oort Cloud during each of their orbits b. come back again and again at predictable intervals c. have a long tail visible during their entire orbit around the Sun d. can never be observed without a telescope e. you can't fool me, the only short-period comet we know is Halley
b. come back again and again at predictable intervals
Different asteroids reflect different percentages of the light falling on them. This is due to the fact that they have different: a. temperatures b. compositions c. eccentricities d. rotation rates e. size of the moons orbiting them
b. compositions
In addition to hundreds of smaller objects they have been discovering in the Kuiper Belt recently, astronomers were surprised to find a. clear evidence of the building blocks of life in their atmospheres and tails b. larger bodies, with sizes as big as Pluto (now called dwarf planets) c. objects whose orbits bring them as close to the Sun as Mars d. objects whose composition indicates that they are made mostly of stone and metal, not ice e. souvenirs from Earth's tourist attractions, such as Bayonne, New Jersey
b. larger bodies, with sizes as big as Pluto (now called dwarf planets)
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: a. the Lowell reservoir b. the Oort Cloud c. the Kohoutek Cloud d. the Alvarez belt e. Bayonne, New Jersey
b. the Oort Cloud
Halley's Comet was given that name because Edmond Halley was a. the first person to ever see that comet b. the scientist who pointed out that the orbit of the comet was such that it should return every 76 years or so c. the chief scientist who designed the probe that flew by the comet d. the first person to be hurt by pieces falling off the comet e. prime minister of England at the time the comet was discovered
b. the scientist who pointed out that the orbit of the comet was such that it should return every 76 years or so
Today, scientists believe the main reason the Earth has had periodic ice ages is...
because of slow changes in the tilt of our planets axis of rotation
When the Dawn spacecraft explored the largest asteroid Ceres, it discovered white spots that appear to be salt and volcanic mountains made of water ice. This led astronomers to which of the following ideas: a. all asteroids are made of frozen water b. Ceres is really one of the terrestrial planets that got kicked out of its former orbit c. Ceres may have (or may have had) a liquid ocean under its crust d. Ceres formed from the breakup of a much larger body, a solid planet bigger than Jupiter e. The next thing to search for on Ceres are spots made of pepper
c. Ceres may have (or may have had) a liquid ocean under its crust
Why do astronomers today think that we have an asteroid belt and not a planet between Mars and Jupiter? a. a planet exploded and broke apart b. Io's volcanoes produced asteroids c. Jupiter's gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together d. the Sun's wind stops "blowing" there the solar system needed fashion accessories
c. Jupiter's gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together
Why does Mars have an overall reddish color when we see its surface from afar? a. This is an optical illusion caused by the Earth's atmosphere scattering the colors of light differently b. Mars is completely cloudy, and its clouds are made of red materials c. The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide, the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish d. the giant volcanoes on Mars are constantly spewing out reddish lava e. The martians are constantly at war, and spilling a lot of red blood
c. The material of Mars' surface contains a lot of iron oxide, the same chemistry that makes rusting metals look reddish
If there are at least a million asteroids, how did spacecraft like Galileo survive their trip through the asteroid belt? a. NASA sends its spacecraft above and below the orbits of the asteroids in the belt to avoid collisions b. spacecraft use a magnetic repulsion tool to make sure asteroids do not come too close c. although there are many asteroids, they are widely spaced (there is lots of space between them) d. the known asteroids are typically less than a centimeter across, so they do not represent a danger to spacecraft e. you can't fool me, NASA has lost over a dozen spacecraft to collisions with asteroids
c. although there are many asteroids, they are widely spaced (there is lots of space between them)
Astronomers have realized that the surface of Ida is older than the surface of Gaspra. How do they measure this? a. we have radioactive rock samples from each asteroid to analyze b. the surface composition (elements and compounds) can easily tell us the ages c. from counting craters on each asteroid's surface d. from the magnetic field of each body, which weakens with age e. it's purely a guess; astronomers have no way of really measuring the ages of these asteroids
c. from counting craters on each asteroid's surface
A main difference between asteroids and comets is that asteroids are mostly made of rock and comets are mostly made of a. metals b. carbon compounds c. ice d. vapor (gas) e. you can't fool me, astronomers don't really know what comets are made of
c. ice
What is the source of the fine, powdery dust found on the Moon's surface? a. it is sand, produced in exactly the same way sand is produced on the Earth's beaches b. it is the result of volcanic activity on the Moon over billions of years c. it is the result of many impacts, breaking surface rocks apart over billions of years d. it is the result of gas bubbling up from inside the Moon, which chemically changes the surface soil e. even though the astronauts brought home lots of samples of Moon dust, we have no idea why there is such a layer on the Moon's surface
c. it is the result of many impacts, breaking surface rocks apart over billions of years
Which of the following statements about our Moon is FALSE? a. its average density is less than that of the Earth (it seems to have fewer heavy materials) b. most of what we know about its geology is the result of the Apollo landings c. on Earth, we can see all its sides in the course of a month as it goes around us d. its mass is less than that of the Earth e. it has no real atmosphere to speak of
c. on Earth, we can see all its sides in the course of a month as it goes around us
One reason we know more about the surface composition of the asteroid Vesta than about most other members of the asteroid belt is that a. Vesta's volcanoes still spew out a lot of material that goes into orbit around Vesta b. Vesta's surface is made of water ice and is extremely reflective c. pieces of Vesta have landed on Earth as meteorites d. Vesta's orbit crosses the Earth's orbit roughly once a century e. Vesta's surface markings happen to resemble a human face and thus have intrigued astronomers ever since this large asteroid was discovered
c. pieces of Vesta have landed on Earth as meteorites
The lunar highlands are made mostly of rocks that a. fell on to the Moon from space b. were recently expelled by volcanoes from the deep interior of the Moon c. rose to the top as the Moon cooled from a molten state early in its history d. that were pushed upwards due to active plate tectonics on the Moon e. don't have a good scientific explanation yet
c. rose to the top as the Moon cooled from a molten state early in its history
According to astronomical tradition, who gets to suggest the name for a newly discovered asteroid? a. the president of the country of the discoverer b. a special committee of the U.N. set up for this purpose c. the discoverer of the asteroid d. a special committee in Italy, where the first asteroid was discovered e. authors of astronomy textbooks
c. the discoverer of the asteroid
Which of the following is NOT one of the key reasons that so many spacecraft from Earth have visited Venus and Mars? a. they are the two planets closest to the Earth b. they resemble the Earth in a number of significant ways c. their atmospheres are very similar to the Earth in terms of their chemical make-up d. both have tantalized us when seen through a telescope -- one because it is perpetually covered by clouds, the other because it shows seasonal changes e. they each have a solid surface on which we can trace their geological history
c. their atmospheres are very similar to the Earth in terms of their chemical make-up
What is one important way in which both the Moon and Mercury are different from Earth? a. they are made mostly of frozen gases, not rock b. they are both much further from the Sun's heat than Earth is c. they do not have an atmosphere d. they are both significantly larger than the Earth e. they both turn on their axes much faster than the Earth
c. they do not have an atmosphere
More than 75% of known asteroids.....
can be found in a belt between mars and Jupiter
Which of the following statements about the atmosphere of Mars today is FALSE?
droplets of liquid water rain irrigate the surface of Mars regularly
Two small moons in the solar system, known since the 19th century, turn out to be captured asteroids. These two moons are: a. Io and Europa around Jupiter b. Dione and Titan around Saturn c. the Earth's moon and antimoon d. Phobos and Deimos around Mars e. none of the above
d. Phobos and Deimos around Mars
In 2012, NASA's Spaceguard Survey concluded that astronomers had now identified 90% of the asteroids with diameters greater than 1 km. How could astronomers know that they had reached this goal? a. Asteroids larger than 1 km are so rare and so big, they have always been easy to keep track of b. NASA is now able to keep track of everything in the solar system out to Pluto with great precision; nothing remains to be discovered in that region c. Most of the near-Earth objects that big are comets, and they all have big tails which are easy to see d. The people doing the survey began to find the same objects over again, indicating they were reaching the limits of their survey e. This was fake news; in fact, we can't ever know if we have found 90% of the larger near-Earth objects
d. The people doing the survey began to find the same objects over again, indicating they were reaching the limits of their survey
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: a. about the mass of Ceres, the largest asteroid b. about the mass of the Earth c. about the mass of the Moon d. on the order of the mass of all the planets put together e. since comets are mostly vapor, their total mass is less than that of the moons of Mars
d. on the order of the mass of all the planets put together
Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the rotation of Venus? a. Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth. b. Venus rotates in a retrograde way (east to west) c. the two definitions of a day (how long it takes for a star to return to the same position in the sky and how long it takes the Sun to return to the same position) do not agree on Venus d. the rotation rate of Venus had to be determined from radar measurements e. Venus has the longest rotation period of any planet in the solar system
d. the rotation rate of Venus had to be determined from radar measurements
One of the best proofs that our theory of how the solar system formed is correct is that astronomers now observe
disks around other stars which show evidence of gaps where planets may be forming
Astronomers have realized that the surface of Ida is older than the surface of Gaspra. How do they measure this?
from counting craters on each asteroid's surface
The primary clouds in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are composed of:
frozen ammonia crystals
the primary clouds in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are composed of....
frozen ammonia crystals
Which one of the following features/phenomena is not seen on Mars? frozen lake dust devil sand dune yardang
frozen lake
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
typically, astronomers express the right ascension of a star in the sky in what units?
hours, minutes, and seconds
Which of the following statements about the planet Venus is true? it rotates on its axis in the same direction as the Earth does the atmospheric pressure near the surface is about the same as Earth's it has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets its thick nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere acts like a greenhouse to keep the planet hot
it has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets
Which of the following characteristics distinguishes Uranus from every other planet in our solar system?
it rotates on an axis tilted almost 90 degrees to the plane of its orbit
The inner planets are made mostly of rock and metal because:
it was so hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated
Which of the following points about our planet's atmosphere is FALSE?
its mass is a substantial part of the mass of the earth
Astronomers in Hawaii discovered the asteroid now named Oumuamua. What distinguished this asteroid from all the others that had been found up to that time?
its orbit indicated it came from outside the solar system
Which of the following is NOT a way that Jupiter differs from terrestrial planets?
its surface has many more craters from early collisions
The large circular coronae on Venus are:
large regions where hot magma rising from the interior of Venus puts pressure on the surface material
Comets get significantly brighter in our skies as they approach the Sun because
more than one of the above
Comets appear significantly brighter in our skies as they approach the Sun because
more than one of these
The spacecraft that visited Pluto and send back our first images:
more than one of these
Astronomers estimate that there may be a trillion (a thousand billion) comet nuclei orbiting beyond Pluto. Why then do we not see more comets in our skies?
most comets remain in stable orbits beyond Pluto, only a few have their orbits disturbed and come into the inner solar system
The polar caps on Mars are composed of mostly water ice and some solid carbon dioxide pure solid carbon dioxide mostly solid carbon dioxide and some water ice pure water ice
mostly solid carbon dioxide and some water ice
When a planet, in its orbit, is closer to the Sun, it...
moves faster than average
Which of the following is NOT a way we have studied the planet Mars so far? sending a spacecraft into orbit around it landing a spacecraft on the surface and examining the soil in an automated laboratory studying samples of Mars that were blasted off the surface by impacts long ago and later found on Earth sending spacecraft to Mars which have brought samples of the planet back to Earth observing it through telescopes from Earth
sending spacecraft to Mars which have brought samples of the planet back to Earth
The majority of the moons orbiting the outer (Jovian) planets are:
small moons orbiting in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction their planet turns and orbits)
The majority of the moons orbiting the outer (jovian) planets are:
small moons orbiting in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction their planet turns and orbits)
To obtain the wonderful images of the jovian planets in our textbook (out where the sunlight is a lot fainter) what did 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 method was used to discover Pluto in 1929-1930?
take pairs of photographs several days apart and "blink" them
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic that worlds in our solar system have in common:
that all the planets have solid surfaces on which we can see impact craters
In the 4 terrestrial planets, the densest, heaviest materials are at the center and not evenly distributed throughout the planet. Scientist interpret this observation to mean that....
the 4 terrestrial planets must once have been hot enough to be molten (like a liquid)
One region on Earth that has become a rich source of new meteorites in recent decades (including the meteorite from Mars that got famous because some scientists claimed they had found evidence for the building blocks of life on Mars) is:
the Antarctic
The reason that worlds like the Earth are differentiated is that
the continuing impacts on a growing protoplanet eventually melted the entire body
Which of the following statements about temperature changes on Mercury is correct?
the difference in temperature between mercurys daylight side and its night side is the greatest difference of any planets in the solar system
According to astronomical tradition, who gets to suggest the name for a newly discovered asteroid?
the discoverer of the asteroid
Some years some meteor showers, such as the Leonids, feature many more meteors than in other years. What is the cause of these "meteor storms"?
the dust freed from some comets is clumpy and not evenly distributed along its orbit
How have astronomers learned what different asteroids are made of?
the examine the spectrum of the sunlight that reflects from the asteroid.
Which of the following would NOT be one of the problems faced by an unprotected Earthling stranded on Mars? (Unprotected meaning no space suit.) the lack of any ozone layer shielding the lack of liquid water today on the surface the low atmospheric pressure the composition of the atmosphere the extreme (high) heat at most latitudes
the extreme (high) heat at most latitudes
In the for terrestrial planets, the densest, heaviest materials are at the center and not evenly distributed throughout the planet. Scientists interpret this observation to mean what?
the for four terrestrial planets must once have been hot enough to be molten (like a liquid)
What allowed the Voyager 2 spacecraft to make a "tour" of all four of the jovian planets in the late 1970's and the 1980's?
the four planets were approximately aligned on one side of the Sun and we used the gravity of each planet to speed up the spacecraft to get to the next one in its path
What is the cause of its many volcanic/geyser-like eruptions on the moon Io?
the gravitational stress of being so close to Jupiter and its other large moons heats Io's inside
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
According to the giant impact hypothesis about the formation of the Moon, why did the Earth not break apart into many pieces when the giant impact happened?
the impactor was about the same size as mars or smaller, so it ejected material from the earth but did not break it
One way in which Mars closely resembles the Earth is:
the length of its day (period of rotation)
An increase in the Earth's temperature by several degrees Celsius wold result in...
the melting of many glaciers, a rise in sea levels, and more flooding of towns near the coasts of the continents
Which of the following pieces of observational evidence does our modern "solar nebula" theory of the formation of the solar system NOT explain directly?
the plane of the orbit of Pluto
The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called:
the runaway greenhouse effect
Halley's Comet was given that name because Edmond Halley was
the scientist who pointed out that the orbit of the comet was such that it should return every 76 years or so
The process of convection involves....
the slow upward flow of warmer material and downward flow of cooler material.
At the moment when the Voyager spacecraft got closest to Uranus, the Sun was shining directly on the planet's south pole. Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate once on its axis. 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
In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?
the sun
Which of the following is NOT a way that Venus resembles the Earth?
the thickness and pressure of its atmosphere
In which region of the EArth's atmosphere have you spent most of your life?
the troposphere
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 Earth in terms of their chemical make-up
How does Saturn's F ring stay so thin (narrow), when the other rings are so wide?
there are 2 shepherding satellites on either side of it
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
What makes the rings of Neptune different from those of other planets we know?
they are clumpy (or bulging) in places
When larger fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter in 1994,
they exploded in Jupiter's atmosphere, releasing energy equal to millions of megatons of TNT
Which of the following statements about the geysers on the moon Triton is True?
they involve plumes of nitrogen on the sunlight side of Triton
Saturn's ring particles are composed mainly of....
water ice
Saturn's ring particles are composed mainly of:
water ice
What is one way that we humans are currently making the atmosphere of the Earth more like that of Venus?
we are adding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, which is leading to global warming
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
The smaller objects in the solar system made of rock and metal (most of which orbit between Jupiter and Mars) are called:
Asteroids
How do asteroids differ from comets? Question 23 options: Asteroids are rocky bodies and are less dense than the comets which are made of icy material. Asteroids are rocky bodies and are denser than the comets which are made of icy material. Asteroids are made of icy material and are less dense than comets which are rockier. Asteroids are made of icy material and are denser than comets which are rockier.
Asteroids are rocky bodies and are denser than the comets which are made of icy material.
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
Venus
Of the following planets, which do NOT have satellites (moons)?
Venus
On which planet (besides the Earth) do we still see a high level of geological activity on the surface today?
finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars
One piece of evidence that can help astronomers sort out how the planets in our solar system formed is
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:
Today, the chemistry of the terrestrial planets does not include a lot of free hydrogen. Chemists call the chemistry in places like the Earth:
Oxidized
The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call:
Planetesimals
On Earth, we can get the age of various parts of our planet by finding rocks that contain radioactive atoms. Which other world do have a good number of rocks from to do this kind of age analysis?
The Moon
What is the primary reason why a Pluto flyby mission would be cheaper than a Pluto orbiter? Question 21 options: The fuel needed for an orbiter to slow down when it reaches Pluto adds a lot of weight to the spacecraft. The fuel needed for an orbiter to slow down when it reaches Pluto is very expensive in and of itself. The flyby can use less expensive cameras than the orbiter. The flyby is easier to design than the orbiter.
The fuel needed for an orbiter to slow down when it reaches Pluto adds a lot of weight to the spacecraft.
it was so hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated
The inner planets are made mostly of rock and metal because:
asteroids
The smaller objects in the solar system made of rock and metal (most of which orbit between Jupiter and Mars) are called:
Which of the following observations indicates that conditions on Mars may have been suitable for life in the past? Question 4 options: There is liquid water as well as a significant number of dried-up riverbeds on Mars. There is a very deep and long canyon that extends across Mars. There are very large extinct volcanoes on Mars. Mars has polar caps made of dry ice.
There is liquid water as well as a significant number of dried-up riverbeds on Mars.
Which of these would be considered the coldest location? Question 7 options: the moons of Neptune Halley's comet when it is closest to the Earth in its orbit the deep atmosphere of Jupiter Earth's polar regions
moons of neptune
Which of the following statements is not an observed pattern of motion in our solar system? Question 22 options: Most planets rotate in the same direction in which they orbit. All planets orbit the Sun in the same direction. Most planets orbit at the same speed. Most planetary orbits lie nearly in the same plane.
most planets orbit at same speed
Which planet in the solar system has not been examined by spacecraft instruments that have either flown by or orbited them? Question 33 options: Saturn Venus Planet X Earth
planet x
All the planets (without exception) Question 34 options: have satellites orbiting around them have atmospheres much thicker than Earth's rotate on their axes in the same direction that they revolve around the Sun revolve around the Sun in the same direction have solid surfaces
revolve around the sun in same direction
On which of the planets (other than Earth) could a human being step out of a spacecraft and survive without any protective gear (special suit, oxygen tanks, etc)?
you can't fool me; there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected
heavier (denser) materials sink to the centers of molten planets
During the process of differentiation,
revolve around the Sun in the same direction
All the planets (without exception)
The smaller objects in the solar system composed mainly of ices (frozen gases) that usually orbit far from the Sun are called:
Comets
If you were to take a large sample of the four giant planets, the most common element you would find in them is:
Hydrogen
just a little after 2 hrs
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?
is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining
In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area):
the Sun
In the far future, visiting tourists from another planetary system ask to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take them?
The planet closest to the Sun in the solar system is:
Mercury
You are the captain of an interplanetary tour ship and a wealthy tourist from Texas asks you to take him to see only the "largest darn planets" in the solar system. Which of the following would you NOT include in your tour?
Mercury
about 4.5 billion years
Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?
Of the following planets, which do NOT have satellites (moons)?
Venus
On which planet (besides the Earth) do we still see a high level of geological activity on the surface today?
Venus
they all have solid surfaces with signs of geological activity on them
Which of the following characteristics do all four terrestrial planets have in common?
jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials
Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT CORRECT?
you can't fool me, spacecraft have visited all the planets in our solar system
Which planet in the solar system has not been examined by spacecraft instruments that have either flown by or orbited them?
Which of the following is farthest from the Sun? Question 15 options: an asteroid in the asteroid belt Neptune a comet in the Kuiper belt Pluto
a comet in the kuiper belt
Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old? Question 6 options: about 6 about 2 million years about 100 million years about 4.5 billion years
about 4.5 billion years
Besides the Earth which of these planets was known to ancient people? Question 11 options: Mercury all of the above none of the above Jupiter Mars Venus
all of the above
Which of these objects have we sent a probe to land on the surface of? Question 17 options: Venus all of the above the Moon none of the above Mars
all of the above
What is one way that astronomers have actually gotten an idea of the age of the surfaces of terrestrial planets other than the Earth?
counting craters
Which of these is a way to date a planetary surface? Question 32 options: measuring the height of the tallest mountain measuring the thickness of the atmosphere measuring the amount of ices counting the craters
counting the craters
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
One piece of evidence that can help astronomers sort out how the planets in our solar system formed is Question 29 options: discovering other galaxies of stars beyond the Milky Way finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars counting the number of moons around each planet in our solar system counting the craters on the surface of Jupiter and Saturn
finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars
Generally, planets and moons in our solar system are named after
gods and goddesses from mythology
In radioactive dating, the measure scientists use to note how long (on average) a particular radioactive nucleus will take to decay is called its Question 24 options: radioactive ratio geological activity parent-daughter criterion half-life
half-life
During the process of differentiation,
heavier materials sink
If you were to look at the four giant planets the most common element you would find would be: Question 10 options: iron hydrogen silicon oxygen
hydrogen
The inner planets are made mostly of rock and metal because it was hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated the Sun is made mostly of rock and metal and the inner planets are closest to the Sun Jupiter's gravity is so large it immediately attracted all the lighter materials lighter materials cannot orbit the Sun; they would fall in
it was hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated
Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT CORRECT?
jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials
Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT correct?
jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials
Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT corret? Question 3 options: jovians are made of lighter elements on average that terrestrials jovians have rings while terrestrials do not jovians rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials jovians have more mass than the terrestrials jovians are further from the Sun than terrestrials
jovians rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials
A planet in our solar system whose composition resembles that of our Sun is: Question 27 options: Earth Mercury Pluto Jupiter
jupiter
Besides the Sun where is most of the mass of the solar system? Question 20 options: Earth the Asteroid belt Saturn the Kuiper belt Jupiter
jupiter
Which of the following is NOT a terrestrial planet? Question 14 options: Mars Venus Earth Jupiter
jupiter
Which of these is not part of our solar system? Question 5 options: the planets the Milky Way the Sun the asteroids
the Milky Way
In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?
the Sun
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)
Astronomers have decided that rather than being a planet Pluto is really just a large member of Question 26 options: the Kuiper belt. an extrasolar planetary system. the moon system around Neptune. the asteroid belt. the Oort cloud.
the kuiper belt
Which of the following is not an exception to the general patterns in the solar system? Question 28 options: the rings of Saturn the large size of Earth's Moon the extreme axis tilt of Uranus the counterclockwise rotation of Venus
the rings of saturn
Which planet in the solar system has not been examined by spacecraft instruments that have either flown by or orbited them?
you can't fool me, spacecraft have visited all the planets in our solar system
Our best evidence and theoretical calculations indicate that the solar system began with a giant spinning system of gas and dust that scientists call: Question 30 options: a planetesimal the beltway the solar nebula the asteroid belt
the solar nebula
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
Of the following which do NOT have satellites? Question 31 options: Earth Jupiter Mars Venus
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
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
