ASTR Q8

If you weighed 200 lb on Earth where gravity is 9.8 m/s/s, how much would you weigh on Mars where the gravity is 3.72 m/s/s? Round answer to closest pound. 1) 76 lbs. 2) 15 lbs. 3) 53 lbs. 4) 20 lbs.

1) 76 lbs.

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the rotation of Venus? 1) Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth 2) Venus rotates in a retrograde way (east to west) 3) the two definitions of a day (how long it takes for a star to return to the same position in the sky and how long it takes the Sun to return to the same position) do not agree on Venus 4) the rotation rate of Venus had to be determined from radar measurements 5) Venus has the longest rotation period of any planet in the solar system

1) Venus rotates in roughly the same time period as Earth

Valles Marineris is a wide, deep network of chasms stretching for some 2500 miles on the surface of Mars. How do we believe such a big set of canyons formed originally? 1) it was caused by tectonic pressures from deep within the planet 2) it was produced suddenly by flooding water some four billion years ago 3) it was scoured out of the Martian sands by the action of the regular dust storms 4) it was made by hundreds of impacts from space billions of years ago 5) the canyons were places the Martians used for drag racing, but they moved away

1) it was caused by tectonic pressures from deep within the planet

A crucial difference that helps explain why Venus is so hot and the Earth isn't is that: 1) on Venus, there was eventually no ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere 2) on Venus, the rocks have enormous amounts of radioactivity, heating up the environment (and also making life impossible) 3) on Venus, the life forms give off more heat than they absorb 4) on Earth, there is additional argon, which exerts a tremendous cooling effect 5) there are no volcanoes on Venus, but many on Earth, producing extra heat

1) on Venus, there was eventually no ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

The total surface area of planet Mars is roughly equal to the 1) surface area of Earth's continents 2) surface area of Venus 3) surface area of the Moon 4) total surface area of the Earth 5) you can't fool me, Mars is bigger in surface area than any of the above

1) surface area of Earth's continents

The observation that began the 19th and early 20th century fascination with Mars as a place for life was: 1) the discovery of the Martian moons 2) Schiaparelli's observations of what seemed to him long straight features on the red planet 3) Percival Lowell's discovery of an entire network of artificial canals 4) the Viking spacecraft mission and its close-up images 5) the landing of Martian spacecraft in New Jersey in 1938

2) Schiaparelli's observations of what seemed to him long straight features on the red planet

One of the most impressive features of the geology of Mars is an uplifted area about the size of North America, which is called the 1) Olympus Mountains 2) Tharsis Bulge 3) Hellas Basin 4) Mariner Valley 5) Bayonne pimple

2) Tharsis Bulge

Astronomers estimate that the runoff channels seen on Mars must be at least 3.9 billion years old. How do they estimate ages like this? 1) by examining radioactive rocks from these channels returned to Earth by robot probes 2) by counting impact craters in the regions containing these channels 3) by looking for the erosion of these channels by the regular periods of rainfall that occur on Mars even today 4) by measuring the height of the region in which the channels occur; on Mars, older regions are always lower in elevation 5) guessing

2) by counting impact craters in the regions containing these channels

Mars appears to have long branching channels that have the appearance of being formed by a flowing liquid. Yet we know that liquids would not stay liquid in the very thin atmosphere we have on the Martian surface? So how can we explain the channels? 1) they were made by wind-blown dust during the great Martian dust storms 2) they are made by plate tectonics; by plates in the crust separating 3) Mars may have had a thicker atmosphere long ago when the channels formed 4) they were formed by volcanic lava from Olympus Mons 5) the channels are artificial, made by a race of Martians that died out

3) Mars may have had a thicker atmosphere long ago when the channels formed

The astronomer who really publicized the idea of canals on Mars and impressed it on the public mind was: 1) Orson Welles 2) Asaph Hall 3) Percival Lowell 4) H. G. Wells 5) Frank Drake

3) Percival Lowell

On some parts of Mars, it gets cold enough for a gas to freeze out of the atmosphere that does not freeze out by itself at the temperatures and pressures on Earth. This gas makes up some of the polar caps on Mars and is: 1) water 2) argon 3) carbon dioxide 4) methane 5) oxygen

3) carbon dioxide

Which of the following statements about the planet Venus is true? 1) its thick nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere acts like a greenhouse, keeping it hot 2) it rotates on its axis in the same direction as the Earth does 3) it has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets 4) the atmospheric pressure near the surface is about the same as Earth's 5) the "face of Miss Piggy" feature indicates that Venus is inhabited

3) it has a thick layer of clouds containing sulfuric acid droplets

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? 1) visible light 2) X-rays 3) radio waves 4) any of the above would work 5) none of the above would work

3) radio waves

The process by which Venus became so much hotter than the Earth is called: 1) radioactivity 2) ozone depletion 3) the runaway greenhouse effect 4) tectonic displacement 5) the twisted sister effect

3) the runaway greenhouse effect

Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons that so many spacecraft from Earth have visited Venus and Mars? 1) they are the two planets closest to the Earth 2) they resemble the Earth in a number of significant ways 3) their atmospheres are very similar to the Earth in terms of their chemical make-up 4) both have tantalized us when seen through a telescope--one because it is perpetually covered by clouds, the other because it shows seasonal changes 5) they each have a solid surface on which we can trace their geological history

3) their atmospheres are very similar to the Earth in terms of their chemical make-up

The spacecraft that sent back the most detailed radar images of Venus and showed us features as small as a football field is: 1) Viking 2) Pioneer 3) Venera 4) Magellan 5) Mariner

4) Magellan

The first spacecraft to orbit another planet circled Mars in 1971. It was: 1) Viking 1 2) Voyager 1 3) Apollo 1 4) Mariner 9 5) Venera 11

4) Mariner 9

The Viking spacecraft were designed--in part--to search for life on Mars. Which of the following statements about the results of these experiments is true? 1) Viking discovered a form of life on Mars that does not require water to thrive 2) Viking did not discover larger life forms on Mars, but did find some Mars bacteria 3) Viking did not discover life on Mars today, but did find a lot of fossils indicating Mars had life in the past 4) Viking found that the surface of Mars in the two places it searched did not have any life or even life's building blocks 5) Viking did find a whole Martian civilization, but they are hiding it from the news media

4) Viking found that the surface of Mars in the two places it searched did not have any life or even life's building blocks

Which of the following statements about the atmosphere of Mars today is FALSE? 1) it is made mostly of carbon dioxide 2) it is roughly as thin as the Earth's air would be about 30 km up 3) it has a haze made of carbon dioxide crystals 4) droplets of liquid water irrigate the surface of Mars regularly 5) there are occasionally great windstorms in the lower atmosphere

4) droplets of liquid water irrigate the surface of Mars regularly

Which of the following statements about Valles Marineris, the great "grand canyon system" on Mars is true? 1) it is much shorter than the Grand Canyon in Arizona, but much much wider 2) it was discovered by Giovanni Schiaparelli in the 19th century 3) it was hard to photograph because it is always covered by wind-blown dust 4) landslides have helped broaden the canyons since they were first formed 5) although the canyons are long and wide, they are very shallow, only a few feet deep

4) landslides have helped broaden the canyons since they were first formed

The troposphere (the lowest layer in the atmosphere) of Venus 1) is quite cold and thin 2) is a layer with quite a bit of water vapor, held down by the pressure of the layers above 3) has roughly the same air pressure as the troposphere of the Earth 4) resembles being about a kilometer or so under the Earth's ocean--a huge mass of air keeps temperatures pretty much the same all over the planet 5) resembles the ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere in many ways

4) resembles being about a kilometer or so under the Earth's ocean--a huge mass of air keeps temperatures pretty much the same all over the planet

Which of the following is not a way that Venus resembles the Earth? 1) its size (diameter) 2) its overall density 3) its surface gravity (how much we would weigh there) 4) the thickness and pressure of its atmosphere 5) you can't fool me; Venus resembles the earth in all of the above ways.

4) the thickness and pressure of its atmosphere

The largest continental (highland) area on Venus is called: 1) Stein 2) Sapas Mons 3) Venera 4) Danu 5) Aphrodite

5) Aphrodite

Which of the following is evidence for volcanic activity on Venus? 1) the fact that the lava plains are only 500 million or so years old 2) the existence of large volcanic mountains such as Sif Mons 3) the discovery of thousands of small volcanic cones of the surface of Venus 4) the pancake domes of Venus 5) all of the above

5) all of the above

Astronomers estimate that the plains of Venus are only about 500 to 600 million years old. How do they estimate dates like this? 1) by looking for little brass plates that give the founding date and the name of the governor at the time 2) by looking at the radioactive samples that have been returned to Earth from Venus 3) by noting that all the plains on all the terrestrial planets have the same age 4) by seeing how much the continental plates on which the Venus plains are floating have spread apart 5) by counting large craters on the surface and comparing crater counts to other worlds

5) by counting large craters on the surface and comparing crater counts to other worlds