astronomy exam 2

uranus is so far away that it is _____

invisible to the naked eye

what are the rings of jupiter made of?

pieces of debris ranging in size from gravel to small boulders, inner ring has dust size particles

the galilean moons, along with the smaller moons closer to jupiter and six of the outer moons, orbit the same direction that jupiter rotates. this is called

prograde orbits

where does jupiters extra energy come from?

radioactive elements in its core and contraction from heat

Neptune has belts and zones due to its

rapid rotation

uranus is one of two planets with _____ motion

retrograde -because its north pole points below the plane of its orbit around the sun

jupiter is the first of four planets to have ____

rings

Around which object does Titan orbit? Saturn Pluto Jupiter Neptune

saturn

saturn's extra energy is believed to be generated by helium rain. helium rain is

saturn's atmosphere is cool enough for the helium in it to condense into liquid droplets... this helps heat the planet and helps radiate energy

Jupiter's moon Io

the closest; mostly coppery-yellow with black dots, which are active volcanic sites; overall very volcanically active, due to "tidal heating" from Jupiter; low crater density; yellow color from sulfur

why does the magnetosphere of uranus wobbles considerably as the planet rotates because of:

the large angle between the magnetic field of uranus and its rotation

the particles that form saturn's rings must be highly reflective because

the rings are very bright

differential rotation on jupiter

the rotation of a star or planet at different speeds at its equator and poles -cassini noticed

The major planet whose spin axis lies almost in its orbital plane is: Neptune. Uranus. Mars. Mercury.

uranus

what are brown oval storms

warmer, lower clouds, seen through holes in the normal cloud layer

Jupiter's moon Europa

water-ice surface; no craters — ice movement wiped them out; liquid water ocean below icy crust

what type of storms does Jupiter have?

white and brown ovals

every 30 years or so, Saturn experiences a powerful ____

white storm

Neptune's clouds

whitish, cirruslike, consists of methane ice crystals, the methane absorbs red light so it looks blue

Titan moon (of saturn)

-half rock/ half ice (very cold), atmosphere is 90% nitrogen, has the thickest atmosphere of all saturn's moons -clouds of methane form and dissipate seasonally near both of titan's poles -20% of its surface has sand dunes -surface has lakes, canyons, and mountains, dunes

Saturn's atmosphere

-hydrogen and helium -hazy above the clouds -strong magnetic field

Enceladus (moon of Saturn)

-icy, wrinkled surface -icy thin atmosphere, magnetic field -has erosion -southern hemisphere is free of craters, instead there are ice blocks the size of large houses (due to tectonic plate motion) -tiger stripes: heated from below, cracks through water wells up from inside, freezing into smooth dark surface -liquid water inside

uranus' interior 3 layers

-outer 30% of the planet is liquid hydrogen and helium -the next 40% inward is highly compressed liquid water -inner 30% is a rocky core

Rhea moon (of saturn)

-second largest moon of saturn -synchronous rotation -density consistent with a composition of mostly water ice mixed with rocky debris -atmosphere: 70% oxygen, 30% carbon dioxide

Jupiter's moon Callisto

-the farthest out of the four large Galilean moons; -very heavily cratered — many young craters; does not get heated much, and has not changed much since its formation; about the size of the planet Mercury -the absence of grooved terrain suggests that tectonic activity never began there

what are the cloud layers of jupiter

-uppermost jovian layer: crystals of frozen ammonia -middle cloud layer- ammonium hydrosulfide -bottom layer- water vapor

how big is the great red spot

1.3 times the size of Earth 16,000 km

how many earths can fit inside jupiter

1300

how many known rings does uranus have

15

when was the great red spot first observed

1656 by robert hooke or giovanni cassini

how many moons do the outer 4 worlds have collectively?

170

how many cloud layers does jupiter have

3

uranus has orbited the sun ____ times

3

how much bigger is jupiter compared to earth

318 times more massive

jupiter hosts at least ___ moons, but has _____ large ones

67, 4

how many, out of all of saturn's moons, are spherical?

7/62

overall, what percent of atoms on jupiter are helium and hydrogen

71% hydrogen, 24% helium, 5% other heavy elements

% of jupiter's ATMOSPHERE

75% hydrogen, 24% helium, 1% other substances

what temperature do the rings of saturn range from

93K-73K

saturn's atmosphere is ____% hydrogen

96.3

Miranda moon

Heavily-cratered, with weird valleys and cliffs -unusual wrinkled and banded features -core: originally rock, mix of rock and ice after collision

What are Saturn's rings composed of?

Ice, dust and rock

Amalthea is a small, irregularly-shaped object that orbits Jupiter. What would we classify it as?

inner moon

zonal flow

a pattern which exhibits a more "flattened" air flow with a primarily E-W orientation

An occultation occurs when

a planet passes between Earth and a star.

encke division

a thin gap in saturn's a ring, possibly first seen by j.f. encke in 1838

saturn's rings get struck with debris that range in size from a _____ to ____

centimeter to several meters across

what are white oval storms

cool clouds higher than the average clouds

Uranus sports a ___ atmosphere and clouds

hazy

jupiters zones

high, cool, light-colored clouds that rise

the light colored zones on jupiter are ____ while the dark belts are regions of ________

hotter rising gas; cooler descending gas

like jupiter, saturn has a thick, active atmosphere composed predominantly of

hydrogen

uranus and neptune are so rich in water, they are called

ice giants

why do the moons in the vicinity of the rings are changing orbits due to their:

mutual gravitational influences and the gravitational tugs of the rings

Uranus atmosphere

- made of gas - mostly hydrogen and helium - some methane gives blue color

Uranus magnetic field

-75% as strong as Earth -Magnetic field is tipped 60 degrees from rotational axis (in comparison Earth's is tipped 12 degrees) -Certain work suggests it perhaps isn't bipole, but that there are many poles to the magnetic field

Jupiter's moon Ganymede

-An odd marbled look, alternating dark and light areas, and some bright white spots highlighting recent cratering events. -largest moon in solar system -permanent magnetic field 2x as strong as mercury's -iron rich core, rocky mantle, underground liquid deposited

Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism

An astronomical process that occurs when the surface of a star or a planet cools. The cooling causes the pressure to drop, and the star or planet shrinks as a result. This compression, in turn, heats the core of the star/planet.

who was the first person to discover jupiter's moons

Galileo

what are the four moons of jupiter

Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto

what are saturn's largest moons

Rhea, Titan, Iapetus

which of saturn's moon is known to have a dense atmosphere

Titan

The Great Dark Spot on Neptune: a. disappeared sometime between the Voyager flyby in 1989 and when the Hubble Space Telescope photographed Neptune in 1994. b. came into existence sometime between the Voyager fly-by in 1989 and when the Hubble Space Telescope photographed Neptune in 1994. c. was the short-lived result of a comet crash in 1995. d. has been visible through telescopes since at least as far back as 1665.

a. disappeared sometime between the Voyager flyby in 1989 and when the Hubble Space Telescope photographed Neptune in 1994.

In what form is the hydrogen in Jupiter's interior? a. liquid metallic hydrogen, electrically conducting b. gaseous molecular hydrogen (H2) electrically conducting c. solid hydrogen, compressed to this state by the very high pressures d. gaseous hydrogen because the pressures are never sufficient to condense it into liquid

a. liquid metallic hydrogen, electrically conducting

Jupiter has a magnetic field that is: a. much more powerful than that of Earth. b. about the same strength and extent as that of Earth. c. weak and variable, sometimes existing only above the Great Red Spot. d. very weak, almost nonexistent.

a. much more powerful than that of Earth.

What is the basic structure of the planet Jupiter? a. rocky core, liquid hydrogen mantle, gaseous atmosphere b. rocky core, liquid methane and water mantle, gaseous atmosphere c. entirely liquid hydrogen, except for a thin gaseous atmosphere d. rocky core, frozen water mantle, thin methane atmosphere

a. rocky core, liquid hydrogen mantle, gaseous atmosphere

Which planets rotate about their axes in a retrograde direction? a. Venus and Uranus b. Uranus and Neptune c. Mercury and Uranus d. Venus and Neptune

a. venus and uranus

The discoverer of the planet Uranus was: a. William Herschel. b. Galileo Galilei. c. Clyde Tombaugh. d. Edmund Halley.

a. william herschel

saturn's layer of liquid metallic hydrogen produces a planetwide magnetic field that :

affects its rings

Haumea is NOT a(n): trans-Neptunian object. dwarf planet. Kuiper belt object. asteroid.

asteroid

How many moons of Jupiter were seen by Galileo? a. none because he had no telescope and was unable to see them with the unaided eye b. 4 with his new telescope c. 28 d. only 1

b. 4 with his new telescope

Uranus is one of the few major objects in our Solar System that has a tilt of more than: A. 5 degrees B. 90 degrees C. 23 degrees D. 180 degrees

b. 90 degrees

In which way is there a similarity between Jupiter and Earth? a. Jupiter and Earth display the same colors when viewed from space. b. Auroras are produced by magnetospheres on both Jupiter and Earth. c. The atmospheres of Jupiter and Earth contains the same constituency of gases. d. Jupiter and Earth have similar average densities.

b. Auroras are produced by magnetospheres on both Jupiter and Earth.

What is the mechanism that generates the variable component of Ganymede's magnetic field? a. variable electric currents in the conducting upper atmosphere of this moon b. electric currents induced in the conducting ocean by Ganymede's motion through Jupiter's powerful magnetic field c. spinning of the moon whose surface is electrically charged, which is equivalent to an electric current d. spinning and permanently magnetized iron core within the liquid ocean

b. electric currents induced in the conducting ocean by Ganymede's motion through Jupiter's powerful magnetic field

why are moons needed for saturn?

because the rings are unstable and the moons help stabilize the rings and replace lost debris

The dark, reddish bands on Jupiter are called: streams. zones. voids. belts.

belts

uranus is a system of

belts and zones

What is the Cassini division? a. the boundary between the bright B ring and the faint C ring in Saturn's rings b. a layer of relatively clear air separating Saturn's upper cloud deck from the middle cloud deck c. a wide, dark gap in Saturn's rings d. the division between the two dark equatorial belts of Jupiter

c. a wide, dark gap in Saturn's rings

The material that composes the rings of Jupiter: a. consists mostly of boulder-size rocks. b. remains constant over time. c. is continually being ejected from the rings and being replenished from material from the Jovian moons. d. is a very thin solid sheet that orbits the planet as a single object.

c. is continually being ejected from the rings and being replenished from material from the Jovian moons.

The tail of a comet: a. is longest when the comet is closest to Jupiter; the tail is pulled out by Jupiter's gravity. b. remains constant in length throughout its complete orbital path. c. is longest when the comet is closest to the Sun. d. is longest when the comet is farthest from the Sun because it is then unaffected by sunlight.

c. is longest when the comet is closest to the sun

What are the physical characteristics of the "other" (non-Galilean) moons of Jupiter? a. only 10 to 20 km in diameter and spherical in shape b. 500 to 1000 km in diameter and irregular in shape c. less than 300 km in diameter and irregular in shape d. all sizes up to 1500 km in diameter, the smaller ones irregular and the larger ones spherical

c. less than 300 km in diameter and irregular in shape

What causes Io to be so active geologically? a. Its mantle has an unusually high density of long-term radioactive elements. b. It is still contracting gravitationally and gives out energy via the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism. c. It is in a highly eccentric orbit and thus is subjected to tidal flexing from Jupiter. d. It is in a very circular orbit, but it is subjected to tidal flexing from Jupiter because of orbital perturbations from the other Galilean satellites.

d. It is in a very circular orbit, but it is subjected to tidal flexing from Jupiter because of orbital perturbations from the other Galilean satellites.

What is the Great Red Spot? a dark, polar hood in the clouds of a. Titan, a satellite of Saturn a large, anticyclonic storm on b. Neptune discovered by the Voyager spacecraft c. a lava lake on Io, a satellite of Jupiter d. a large and long-lived, possibly permanent storm on Jupiter

d. a large and long-lived, possibly permanent storm on Jupiter

Callisto, the outer Galilean moon of Jupiter, has a surface consisting of: a. an icy crust showing two interlocking types of terrain, one ancient and heavily cratered, the other younger with systems of parallel grooves. b. rock, heavily cratered like the highlands of Earth's Moon. c. a relatively young, icy crust covered with a network of streaks and cracks and only a few impact craters. d. a very dark and ancient icy crust covered with numerous craters, with no surface cracks or groove belts that would indicate internal activity.

d. a very dark and ancient icy crust covered with numerous craters, with no surface cracks or groove belts that would indicate internal activity.

Which characteristic has NOT been observed on Juipter? a. lightning b. auroras c. particle-trapping regions in the magnetic fields like Earth's Van Allen belts d. currents in the atmosphere (like Earth's jet stream) that can stretch from the pole to the equator

d. currents in the atmosphere (like Earth's jet stream) that can stretch from the pole to the equator

What features dominate the surface of Callisto, one of Jupiter's satellites? a. volcanoes, lava lakes, and sulfur dioxide frost b. old, dark, highly cratered polygons separated by younger, lighter, grooved terrain c. many cracks and streaks and very few craters in an otherwise smooth, icy surface d. large craters, densely spread over the entire surface

d. large craters, densely spread over the entire surface

What future awaits Triton, the largest satellite of Neptune? a. probable destruction from impact by Pluto b. gravitational capture by Pluto c. escape from Neptune after billions of years, as Triton gradually spirals outward d. tidal breakup as it spirals closer to Neptune

d. tidal breakup as it spirals closer to Neptune

What size are the particles making up Saturn's rings? a. a few micrometers in diameter (dust grains) b. up to about 1 mm in diameter ("snowflakes") c. up to about 10 cm in diameter d. up to about 10 m in diameter

d. up to about 10 m in diameter

Jupiter's belts and zones provide a framework for swirling cloud patterns, such as rotating storms similar to

earth's hurricanes, cyclones, or typhoons

On which one of Jupiter's Galilean moons is there evidence of present tectonic activity? Io Europa Ganymede Callisto

europa

Uranus was the ______ planetary system discovered by a telescopic search of the heavens

first

what are other names for jupiter's moons?

galilean moons or galilean satellites

jupiter and saturn are called

gas giants

the great red spot

giant, high-pressure storm in Jupiter's atmosphere

Which planet in our solar system has the FASTEST rotation? Mercury Uranus Jupiter Earth

jupiter

what is jupiter primarily made of?

lightweight elements hydrogen and helium surrounding a relatively small central volume thousands of kilometers below its cloud tops containing water, metal and rock

jupiter's mantle is entirely

liquid

Saturn, like Jupiter, is composed primarily of

liquids

what are the remaining atoms jupiter is made of

methane, ammonia, water vapor