AST 109 Test 2 info
How many stars in our Solar System?
1
How many planets in the Solar System?
8
Retrograde motion is
A planet appearing to move east-to-west among the stars, from night to night
Leftover planetesimals are which objects?
Asteroids
What color best describes the surface (cloud layer) of Uranus?
Blue
The changing component of the polar ice caps of Mars is primarily
Carbon Dioxide
Mars rotates on its axis every 24 hours 37 minutes. This rotation accounts primarily for which of the following on Mars?
Day and night
____________ is when a planet is spinning on its axis, with each latitude of its apparent surface going around at a slightly different speed.
Differential Rotation
A light-year is a measure of
Distance
With respect to the horizon, on any one night, Mars appears to move
East to West always
An ocean of water (under the ice) is believed to exist on which one of the moons of Jupiter?
Europa
In general, our universe is
Expanding in size
What is the force that holds a galaxy together?
Gravity
Meteoroid Meteor Meteorite
In orbit/space Has entered the atmosphere Has hit the ground
Where could I find Mercury at sunset?
In the West
Why does Jupiter lack seasons?
It has no axis tilt
Active volcanoes are observed on which (one) of the following moons of Jupiter?
Lo
Which planet is presently closest to the sun?
Mercury
What distinguishes very new craters on the Moon?
New craters have ejecta blankets
During which phase of the Moon are the daily tidal changes on Earth largest?
New moon
What color is the sky on Mars?
Pink, like no other place in the solar system
How many galaxies in the universe?
Roughly 10^11 (100 billion)
How many moons in the Solar System?
Roughly 160
How many asteroids larger than 1 km diameter are there?
Roughly 50,000
Of those listed below, the planet with the most moons (discovered so far) is
Saturn
The time it takes a star to go from one place in our sky to exactly the same place again is most accurately called a(n):
Sidereal Day
The fact that the same face of the Moon always faces the Earth is due to the Moon's
Synchronous rotation
Why is there a "far side of the Moon", that is, why is there a side that we cannot see from Earth?
The Moon rotates once a month
What caused the gas tail of Comet Hale-Bopp to point so directly away from the Sun?
The Solar Wind
An 'Astronomical Unit' (AU) is what?
The distance between the Sun and the Earth
The F-ring of Saturn is held in place by
The shepherd moons
Which statement about the highlands on our Moon is correct?
They have far higher density of craters than the lowlands
The planet Neptune shares what feature with Earth?
They have roughly the same axis tilt
The surface pressure of the atmosphere of which of the following is most similar to that of the Earth?
Titan
Jupiter radiates approximately how much more energy than it receives from the Sun?
Twice as much
Of the following 5 lists, which list is just of Jovian planets?
Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune
The planet with the length of solar day most different from Earth's is
Venus
Which of the following is never true?
Venus is on the opposite side of the sky from the sun at full moon
During 'retrograde motion' planets move in which direction from night to night?
West
The geometric figure (triangle, square, etc.) which describes the shape of most craters is a/an:
circle
