Astronomy: Module 10 Quiz
The largest planet in the solar system (by mass) is
Jupiter
Which of the jovian planets has the shortest period of rotation (the shortest day)?
Jupiter
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
The jovian planet that has the longest year (period of revolution) is:
Neptune
The first spacecraft to explore the environment of the planet Jupiter was called
Pioneer
Which of the following does the composition of a planet like Jupiter resemble:
Sun
The planet that orbits "on its side" (i.e. has its rotation axis perpendicular to the plane of its orbit) is:
Uranus
Much of what we have learned about the jovian planets and their satellites has come from the work of two spacecraft called:
Voyager
Astronomers believe that Jupiter's strong magnetic field is caused by
a huge layer of metallic hydrogen inside Jupiter
At their centers, all the Jovian planets have cores made of:
a solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure
The Red Spot of Jupiter is:
all of the above
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 primary clouds in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are composed of:
frozen ammonia crystals
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
By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets 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
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 circle of its orbit
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
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
