AST 180 Test 2

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 coasts of the continents

The ages of stony meteorites have been measured to be roughly equal to:

the oldest ages we have measured for any bodies in the solar system

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 of convection involves

the slow upward flow of warmer material and downward flow of cooler material

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

the solar nebula

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

Jupiter has enough mass to make 318 Earths. In contrast, Uranus and Neptune have only enough mass to make

15 Earths

Pluto was discovered through the patient searching of

Clyde Tombaugh

Which of the following Planets do not have rings?

All these planets have rings. Jupiter. Neptune. Uranus. Saturn

The name of the first asteroid to be discovered (which is also the largest one) is

Ceres

The Seasonal Martian Polar Caps are made of CO2. The Permanent Martian Polar Caps are made of

Both

Which planet has the least seasonal variation?

Jupiter

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

Of the following planets, which do NOT have satellites (moons)?

Venus

What planet can come closest to the Earth in its orbit and look brightest in our skies?

Venus

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 same gas makes up most of the atmosphere of Mars and Venus. This gas is:

carbon dioxide

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

Short-period comets like Comet Halley

come back again and again at predictable intervals

Chunks of solid material that survive passing through the Earth's atmosphere and are found on the Earth's surface are called

meteorites

Jupiter's magnetic field is ___ Earth's magnetic field.

much stronger than

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

According to the theory of plate tectonics,

slow motions within the mantle of the Earth move large sections of the crust around

Which type of meteorites are most common?

stony

The composition of a planet like Jupiter resembles what object in our Solar System?

sun

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

One reason that we have such a complex system of belts/zones/storms in Jupiter's atmosphere is that:

the planet rotates very rapidly

Asteroid 101955 Bennu is currently being studied by the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission. Bennu was discovered in 1999, and it was about the ___ asteroid discovered.

100,000th

How are exoplanets detected?

All of the above-Through the Doppler shifts of light emitted by the Star-Observing the decrease in light due to planetary transits-Direct observation

The largest continental (highland) area on Venus is called:

Aphrodite

Which one of the Jovian (Jupiter) Moons are thought to have never been geologically active?

Callisto

Most of the mapping of the surface of Venus has been done by landers.

False

The largest satellite (moon) in the solar system is:

Ganymede

Which planets have higher masses?

Giant

Which statement best describes the greenhouse effect?

Heat is trapped in the atmosphere by certain gases

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)

Haley's comet has a orbital period of ~75 years. Where did this comet likely originate?

Kuiper Belt

How many asteroids are in the asteroid belt?

More than a million

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

Neptune

Which planet was the Great Dark Spot discovered in 1989?

Neptune

Liquid water has been definitively discovered on which of the following objects?

None of the above (Mercury, Mars, Vanus no)

How have astronomers learned what different asteroids are made of?

They examine the spectrum of the sunlight that reflects from the asteroid

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

Titan

Titan's atmosphere is more dense thank Earth's atmosphere.

True

Approximately how many asteroids have been discovered?

a million

At their centers, all the jovian planets have cores made of:

a solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure

One way in which the ozone layer is useful for life forms on the Earth's surface is that it

absorbs ultraviolet light, preventing much of it from reaching the surface

The Red Spot of Jupiter is:

all of the above-variable in size-a high pressure storm system in the atmosphere-made of a reddish colored material (but we don't know what gives it the reddish color)-long-lived (observed since the 1600's)

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

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)

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's history, and geologic activity has erased all traces of this early period on the Earth's surface

Earth's crustal plates are moved by

convection

It is thought that the terrestrial planets were once liquid and during this time material separated due to the different densities. This separation is referred to as

differentiation

What percentage of the mass of the Solar System is due to the Sun?

greater than 99%

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

The type of rock we find predominant in the crust of the Earth's continents is called

granite

Which causes a molecular cloud to collapse?

gravity

During the process of differentiation,

heavier materials sink to the centers of molten planets

Any rock in the Earth's crust that has cooled from an originally molten state is called

igneous

Which piece of an active comet points directly away from the Sun?

ion tail

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)

Which of the following is a way that the planet Mercury is similar to the Moon?

its surface is heavily cratered

In a bad late-night science fiction film, a villain is using a large collection of rare radioactive atoms as energy for a weapon to threaten the good guys. The atoms have a half-life of 1 hour. The villain has 4 kilograms of the radioactive material now, and he needs a minimum of 1 kg. for his weapon to work. After how much time will the weapon no longer be a threat?

just a little after 2 hrs

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

lo

The large, roughly circular, dark, and somewhat younger regions on the Moon are called:

maria

More than 75% of the known asteroids can be found in a belt between _____ and _____.

mars, Jupiter

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

What is the most abundant gas in our atmosphere?

nitrogen

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:

radio waves (like radar)

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

In its overall composition, the Moon roughly resembles:

the Earth's crust and mantle

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

the Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)

Which of the following 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

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 200 km across) near Chicxulub, Mexico

Some years some meteor showers, such as the Leonids, feature many more meteors than at other times. What is the cause of these "meteor storms"?

the dust freed from some comets is clumpy and not evenly distributed along its orbit

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

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 atmospheric layer does all the weather occur?

troposphere

Saturn's ring particles are composed mainly of

water ice

The large circular coronae on Venus are:

large regions where hot magma rising from the interior of Venus puts pressure on the surface material

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

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

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)?

there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected