Ch 12 Satellites and Ring particles

Which of the following is NOT one of largest moons in the Solar System?

Atlas (the shepherd moon near Saturn's A ring)

The largest and most massive of Saturn's rings is the

B ring

Pluto's big satellite is called

Charon

Pluto was discovered through the patient searching of

Clyde Tombaugh

The four large moons of Jupiter were first discovered by:

Galileo with his early telescope

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

Io

The same astronomer wrote extensively about canals on Mars and about the possibility of a ninth planet in our solar system. The observatory named after this astronomer is the:

Lowell Observatory

Two worlds in the outer solar system that seem remarkably similar to each other are:

Pluto and Triton

Which of the following statements about Saturn's rings is TRUE?

The rings are made of billions and billions of individual "moonlets" (small chunks)

What do astronomers think is the origin of the many irregular moons around the outer planets (irregular meaning they are orbiting backwards and/or have eccentric orbits)?

These moons were likely formed elsewhere and captured by the giant planets

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

Titan

The rings that most resemble Saturn's narrow F ring in the solar system are:

Uranus' rings

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

Which of the following is NOT a way that the moon Titan probably resembles the Earth?

at its surface the temperature and pressure are just right for water to exist in all three phases (gas, liquid, and ice)

The rings of the outer planets consist of

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

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

When astronomers says that Ganymede is differentiated body, they mean it:

has a heavier core, surrounded by a lighter, icy mantle and crust

What features are abundant on Callisto and Ganymede and almost absent on Europa and Io?

impact craters

Which of the following statements about Charon is FALSE?

it has a significant atmosphere

The lakes found in the north polar region of Titan are filled with liquid

methane

Which element plays the same role on Titan as water does on Earth (existing as gas, liquid, and solid)?

methane

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 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 (nicknamed Sputnik) likely to be made of?

nitrogen

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

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

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)

What method was used to discover Pluto in 1929-1930?

take pairs of photographs several days apart and "blink" them

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

the Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)

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 the rings of Neptune different from those of other planets we know?

they are clumpy (or bulging) in places

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

Which of the Jovian planet does NOT have any satellites?

you can't fool me, all the Jovian planets are accompanied by satellites

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

Europa

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 moon Triton orbits which of the planets?

Neptune

Which of the following worlds does NOT have a ring?

Pluto

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 the Io's inside

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

For a while, after the space age began, astronomers did not know what the surface of Titan looks like, but today they do. Which of the following was NOT a method by which astronomers have learned about the surface of Titan?

using the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit to take a photo of Titan

Saturn's ring particles are composed mainly of:

water ice

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