ASTR Homework 8

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

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)

The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called:

the runaway greenhouse effect

The Van Allen belt is

a region of trapped charged particles in the Earth's magnetosphere

By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is:

Hydorgen

The image shown here depicts Jupiter with aurorae around its north pole. What is this evidence of?

Jupiter's intense magnetic field

The spacecraft that sent back the most detailed radar images of Venus and showed us features as small as a football field is:

Magellan

Suppose astronomers wanted to double-check their conclusions derived from the Moon about the bombardment history of the inner solar system.

Mercury

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 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

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

The Lessons of the Rainbow. When white light passes through a prism, the colors separate into a rainbow of light, through a process scientists call ______________. When a star's light is put through a spectroscope, we generally see the rainbow of colors, one blending into the next, known as the ______________ and some dark lines which is the _____________. When astronomers see a hot, not very dense gas glowing, a spectroscope generally shows the _______________. Each element leaves a unique "signature" in the spectrum, by having its own pattern of ___________. If the source of light we observe in a spectroscope is moving toward us or away from us, there is a change in the colors observed due to ____________.

Dispersion, Continuous spectrum, Absorption spectrum, Emission spectrum, Spectral lines, The Doppler Effect