Midterm 2

Recent observations of Mars have revealed strong evidence that water once existed in substantial amounts of Mars. What are they?

- teardrop-shaped islands in smooth valleys - outcrops of sedimentary rocks - deep meandering gullies

The Cassini division is an apparent dark gap in Saturn's ring system

True

The Earth's magnetic polarity has flipped several times throughout Earth's history

True

The tidal forces from Jupiter causes flexing in the interior of Europa that generates enough heat to keep subsurface water from freezing

True

Water vapor is considered a greenhouse gas

True

Jupiter has lightning discharges in its atmosphere

Ture

Over 1000 Earths would fit inside Jupiter

True

With respect to the aurora, what does Earth's magnetic field do?

Accelerates charged particles towards magnetic poles Protects us from charged particle radiation

Humans are the most common form of life on Earth

False

X rays were used to map the surface of Venus

False

Who was the first person to report seeing the rings of Saturn although he did not realize that they were rings?

Galileo Galilei

Billions of years ago, Earth's atmosphere was composed primarily of carbon dioxide. What happened to much of this carbon dioxide?

It dissolved into Earth's oceans

Which of the following has placed Maritan rocks in the hands of scientists on Earth

Meteorites collected from Antarctica, the gases wishing them indicating that they were blasted from Mars by an impact

How would "Interplanetary Travel" advertise a holiday on Titan, one of the satellites of Saturn?

Methane rain

Which of these places would you visit to see an aurora?

Norway

The chemical constituent that aborsrbes UV radiation in the intermediate layers of Earth's atmosphere, thereby heating these layers to relatively high temperatures is

O3 (ozone)

What is the current status of our search for inhabitable, Earthlike planets cycling other stars

Planets have been detected orbiting other stars, but none appear to be suitable for life

How would "interplanetary Travel" advertise a holiday to Neptune's satellite Triton>

Skate on frozen nitrogen lakes all morning - bask beside nitrogen geysers in the afternoon

What is the name of the equation used to estimate the probability of finding other civilizations in out galaxy?

The Drake Equation

Imagine that an observation is being made of an expected occultation of a distant star by a planet. Before the time when the star is expected to be temporarily blocked by the planet, the star's light dims and then brightens again twice before disappearing behind the planet. After the star reappears on the other side of the planet, the same dimming and brightening occurs again. Why?

There are two rings around the planet.

Jupiter's moon, Io, may have as many as 300 active volcanoes on its surface

True

Several of the Jovian planets appear to be emitting more energy than they absorb from solar radiation. Why?

They are still cooling and contracting from their original formation.

The spacecraft that successfully photographed Neptune on a 1989 flyby mission was

Voyager 2

The Venusian atmospheric pressure is

about 90 times greater than that of EArth's atmospheric pressure

All organic molecules around in living organisms are composed of

backbones of carbon atoms

Earth's magnetic field is caused by

electric currents flowing in the liquid core

Terrestrial planets are thought to have dense iron cores because

in earlier molten states the heavy elements sank and lighter materials floated to the surface by chemical differentiation.

Where is ice believed to have been discovered on the Moon?

in the floors of creatures at the north and south poles, which are permanently shaded for the Sun

On which other world in the solar system do we find evidence of ice rafts similar in many respects to Arctic Ocean

in the icy surface of Jupiter's satellite Europa

Kepler, the orbiting telescope looks for

the temporary dimming of th light we see form a star as a plant transits it

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Earth's crust is a region where

two tectonic plates are slowly spreading apart

The polar caps on Mars are most likely made up of

water and CO2 ices.