astronomy quiz 12
Which of the following statements about the geysers on the moon Triton is TRUE?
>they involve plums of icy materials on the sunlit side of Triton the geysers are sulfur volcanoes which stick out of Triton's crust the are caused by collisions with the rings of Neptune they are caused by the impact of small comets on Triton's fragile surface
Pluto's largest satellite is called
Charon
Pluto was discovered through the patient searching of
Clyde Tombaugh
The satellite whose surface is characterized by a smooth icy crust with a complex network of cracks is
Europa
The largest satellite (moon) in the solar system is
Ganymede
The Galileo spacecraft measured that the moon Ganymede has a magnetic field indicating that its interior was at least partly melted and warm. What do scientists think is the most likely reason for this?
Ganymede is heated by tidal forces from Jupiter
The moon Triton orbits which of the planets?
Neptune
Which of the following worlds does NOT have a ring?
Pluto
Which of the following statements about Saturn's rings is TRUE?
The structure of the rings is completely indepedent of the moons >The rings are made of billions and billions of individual moonlets There is really only one ring which looks unbroken from Earth The rings are made of particles no bigger than the particles that make up smoke
Which of the jovian planets does NOT have any satellites?
They all have satellites.
The satellite which has the thickest atmosphere is:
Titan
The rings that most resemble Saturn's narrow F ring in the solar system are
Uranus' rings
When two objects in orbit have periods of revolution that are simple ratios of each other (such as 1 to 2 or 1 to 3) we say that we have
a resonance
Triton's retrograde orbit is consistent with it having
been captured by Neptune's gravity
The rings of the outer planets consist of
billions of ice chunks that all orbit the equator of each planet
Saturn's icy moon Enceladus
has fountains of ice particles and water vapor spraying out from its surface
In addition to nitrogen, the other main components of Titan's atmosphere are
hydrocarbons like methane and ethane
What features are abundant on Callisto and Ganymede and almost absent on Europa and Io?
impact craters
Which of the following is NOT a way that the moon Titan probably resembles the Earth?
it has clouds in its atmosphere sunlight interacts with the chemicals on the moon to create a rich mix of organic molecules >at its surface the temperature and pressure are just right for water to exist the main consituent of its atmosphere is nitrogen it has a thick atmosphere
The world in the solar system that is most active volcanically is
lo
The mountains on Pluto are mode of frozen water which at Pluto temperatures is as hard as a rock. Pluto also has a smooth round basin which could be thought of as a frozen sea. What material is the basin likely to be made of?
nitrogen
What is believed to have been the main source of Titan's atmosphere?
outgassing from the interior
The majority of the moons orbiting the outer (jovian) planets are:
small moons orbiting in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction their planet turns and orbits)
What method was used to discover Pluto in 1929-1930?
take pairs of photographs several days apart and blink them
Our modern understanding of Pluto is that it is a member of
the Kuiper Belt (of trans-Neptunian objects)
How does Saturn's F ring stay so thin (narrow) when the other rings are so wide?
there are 2 shepherding satellites on either side of it
What do astronomers think is the origin of the many irregular moons around the outer planets?
these moons were likely formed elsewhere and captured by the giant planets.
Which of the following best describes the internal structure of Europa?
thin icy crust, thick rocky mantle, central iron core >thin icy crust, subsurface ocean of water, thick rocky mantle, central iron core thin icy crust, subsurface ocean of water, thick iron mantle, central rocky core surface ocean of water, thick rocky mantle, central iron core
Which of the following was NOT a method by which astronomers have learned about the surface of Titan?
using the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit to take a photo of Titan
What evidence can you give that shows the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa must be relatively young?
we see very few craters compared to the surfaces of Callisto and Ganymede
