ASTRO1010 MODULE 3

The boundary beyond which ice can form in a disk is called the A. Planet formation line B. Frost line C. Rock zone D. Habitable line

B

According to our theory of solar system formation, why do all the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction and in nearly the same plane? A. Luck explains it, as we would expect that most other solar systems would not have all their planets orbiting in such a pattern. B. The laws of conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum ensure that any rotating, collapsing cloud will end up as a spinning disk. C. Any planets that once orbited in the opposite direction or a different plane were ejected from the solar system. D. The original solar nebula happened to be disk-shaped by chance. E. The Sun formed first, and as it grew in size it spread into a disk, rather like the way a ball of dough can be flattened into a pizza by spinning it.

b

Fermi's paradox A. asks while the sun is spinning so slow if angular momentum is conserved. B. asks where all the aliens are if intelligent life in the universe is common. C. asks why the sky is blue if the sun is yellow. D. asks why the sky is dark at night if the universe is infinite.

b

If the age of the universe were scaled down to a single year, the Earth would have formed around Answers: A. the middle of summer. B. the first day of fall. C. Thanksgiving. D. St. Valentines Day.

b

The sky is blue because A. the Sun mainly emits blue light B. molecules scatter blue light more effectively than red light C. molecules scatter red light more effectively than blue light D. the atmosphere absorbs mostly blue light E. Sunlight is reflected from the water making the sky appear blue

b

Which of the following is not a necessity for life A nutrient source B. oxygen C. liquid water D. energy

b

Which of the following methods has led to the most discoveries of massive planets orbiting near their parent stars? Answers: A. detecting the starlight reflected off the planet B. detecting the gravitational effect of an orbiting planet by looking for the Doppler shifts in the star's spectrum C. detecting the shift of the star's position against the sky due to the planet's gravitational pull D. detecting the infrared light emitted by the planet E. detecting a planet ejected from a binary star system

b

Who first proposed the nebular theory of planet formation? Answers: A. Copernicus B. Immanuel Kant C. Albert Einstein D. Isaac Newton

b

Why do disks form around stars as they are born? A. The star spins so fast that it throws off material into a disk B. Conservation of angular momentum C. We do not know why disks form D. Gravity pulls down, but it doesn't pull in

b

Stellar jets carry angular momentum out of star disk system keeping the star from spinning too fast. True False

t

Terrestrial planets are rocky. True False

t

Terrestrial planets don't have rings. True False

t

Uranus is turned on its side. True False

t

planet more massive than the Earth orbits the Sun beyond the orbit of Pluto. True False

t

Order the following objects from nearest (1) to furtherest (10) from the Sun. Answers Selected Answer Correct1. Mercury Correct2. Venus Correct3. Earth Correct4. Mars Correct5. Asteroid Belt Correct6. Jupiter Correct7. Saturn Correct8. Uranus Correct9. Neptune Correct10. Kuiper Belt

SAME

How would the solar system be different if the solar nebula had cooled, with a temperature half its actual value. Answers: A. Jovian planets would have formed closer to the Sun. B. There would be no asteroids. C. There would be no comets. D. Terrestrial planets would be larger.

a

I am moving away from a source of light. Which of the following statements is true? A. The photons striking me will have a longer wavelength than if I were standing still. B. The photons striking me will have a higher frequency than if I were standing still. C. The photons striking me will seem to be moving faster than if I was standing still. D. The energy of the photons striking me is higher than if I was standing still.

a

Planets detected via the Doppler technique have been mostly A. Jupiter-mass, in very close orbits. B. Earth-mass, in Earth-like orbits. C. Jupiter-mass, in Jupiter-like orbits. D. a wide range of masses, in edge-on orbits.

a

The Kelper satellite has detected transiting planets around ~1% of the stars in its field of view. This tells that A. Virtually all stars have planets. B. It is impossible to say what fraction of stars have a planet. C. About 10% of stars have a planet. D. Only that about 1% of stars have planets.

a

The first planets around other Sun-like stars were discovered A. About 20 yrs ago B. by Huygens, following his realization that other stars are Suns. C. by Galileo following the invention of the telescope. D. about 100 years ago E. by ancient people looking at the sky

a

Which of the following is not a hallmark of science? A. Technical B. Natural C. Simple D. Testable

a

Which of the following shows that amino acids can be synthesized in space? A. The Murchinson meteorite B. Mars rocks C. The Allende meteorite D. The Miller-Urey experiment proved amino acids cannot be synthesized in space. E. Moon rocks

a

Which of these facts is not explained by the Nebular Theory? A. The number of planets of each type (four terrestrial and four jovian planets). B. Planets orbit in the same direction and plane. C. The existence of asteroids and comets. D. There are two main types of planets: terrestrial and jovian.

a

How does the Earth-Sun distance compare with the radius of the Sun? Answers: A. It is about a million times larger B. It's about 10 times larger C. It's about 200 times larger D. It is about 20,000 times larger

c

Life probably arose on earth about A. 500 million years ago B. 4.6 billion years ago C. 3.85 billion years ago D. 14 billion years ago

c

The best definition of a theory is A. scientist's best explanation for something scientists aren't very sure about B. a scientific guess bolstered by good reasons C. the conceptual framework scientists use to make sense of data, observed regularities, and new predictions. D. a wild guess

c

Which of the following has not been detected around other stars in the Galaxy? A. Terrestrial planets B. Jovian planets C. All of these have been observed D. A collapsing nebula of gas E. Flattened, spinning disks

c

Why are most of the planets discovered by the radial-velocity method of searching for planets larger than Jupiter and very close to their host star? A. Most planets are very big and close to their host star. B. Most planets haven't been detected close to their host star. C. The radial velocity method can only detect very large planets close to their host star. D. The disk is densest nearest the star, so most giant planets form close to their star.

c

Which of the following are not conditions likely to be important for life on Earth? A. Plate tectonics B. The presence of Jupiter C. The asteroid belt D. A magnetic field

c b is partial

The age of our solar system is approximately A. 14 billion years B. 0.46 million years C. 3.8 million years D. 4.6 billion years E. 4.6 million years

d

What process created the elements from which the terrestrial planets were made? Answers: A. Their origin is unknown B. The Big Bang C. chemical reactions in the interstellar medium D. Nuclear fusion in stars

d

Which of the following is not a reason that planet formation comes to an end? A. Gas accretes onto the star B. Gas evaporates from the disk C. Gas accretes onto planets D. Gas loses its angular momentum

d

Which of the following is not evidence for disks around young stars? A. Line profiles of cold gas emission B. Coronagraphic images of disks C. The infrared excess in the SED D. Eclipses of the star by disks

d

Which of the following statements is not an observed pattern of motion in our solar system? A. Most planetary orbits lie nearly in the same plane. B. Most planets rotate in the same direction in which they orbit. C. All planets orbit the Sun in the same direction. D. Most planets orbit at the same speed. E. Almost all moons orbit their planet in the same direction as the planet's rotation.

d

Why does the shamrock look green? A. It absorbs green light. B. It emits green light. C. It bleeds green. D. It transmits orange light. E. It reflects/scatters green light.

e

Binary stars do not have planets. True False

f

Moons are common around terrestrial planets. Answers: True False

f

Objects moving toward us are red shifted. True False

f

Planets have never been directly imaged outside of our solar system. Answers: True False

f

The Doppler technique for planet detection has found Earth-like planets around nearby Sun-like stars. Answers: True False

f

The detection of an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of another star would prove the existence of life on other planets. Answers: True False

f

The detection of hot Jupiters shows that the nebular theory was all wrong. Answers: True False

f

Suppose you found a star with the same mass as the Sun moving back and forth with a period of 16 months. What could you conclude? It has a planet orbiting at less than 1au. It has a planet orbiting at exactly 1au. It is not possible to tell where it is orbiting. It has a planet orbiting at greater than 1au.

greater than 1au

A forming planet has been detected in a disk. True False

t

Evidence for the earliest life comes from the carbon isotopes of ancient fossils. True False

t

On a cosmic calendar scale that compresses the age of the universe to one year, human civilization is only a few seconds old. True False

t

Which world is the hottest? Answers: Mars Venus Io Mercury

v