Chapter 11

In the far future, a daring interplanetary tourist wants to go "hang-gliding" on the jovian planet with the highest equatorial wind speeds. Which planet would have the fastest wind at its equator?

Neptune

The jovian planet that has the longest year (period of revolution) is:

Neptune

The first spacecraft to explore Jupiter was called:

Pioneer

The planet that orbits "on its side" (i.e. has its rotation axis perpendicular to the plane of its orbit) is:

Uranus

The element that can act like a metal when it is under tremendous pressure and is probably responsible for Jupiter and Saturn's magnetism is:

hydrogen

The dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in 1930. Since that time, which jovian planet has completed a full revolution around the Sun?

more than one of the above

Much of what we have learned about the jovian planets and their satellites has come from the work of two spacecraft called: a. Viking b. Magellan c. Voyager d. Mariner e. Enterprise

voyager

What are the advantages of a robotic craft over a manned mission? A robotic spacecraft can reach the planets faster. A robotic spacecraft does not have to be returned to Earth. Robotic systems can take more photos and of higher quality than a manned mission could. Computers are better able than humans to make decisions in space about observations and measurements.

A robotic spacecraft does not have to be returned to Earth.

. Which of the following spacecraft is NOT leaving the solar system? a. Pioneer 10 b. Pioneer 11 c. Galileo d. Voyager 1 e. Voyager 2

Galileo

The first spacecraft which did not merely fly by a jovian (or giant) planet, but actually went into orbit around it for an extended period of time was a. Galileo b. Einstein c. Voyager d. the Hubble Space Telescope e. Cassini

Galileo

Jupiter has enough mass to make 318 Earths. In contrast, Uranus and Neptune have only enough mass to make

15 earths

The planet that has an axis that points straight us and this has no seasons

Jupiter

Which of the jovian planets has the shortest period of rotation (shortest day)?

Jupiter

Which of the following statements about the seasons on Jupiter is correct? a. Jupiter has seasons pretty much like the Earth; its axis has the same tilt, and each season is about the same length b. Jupiter has the same axis tilt as the Earth, but each season on Jupiter is much longer c. Jupiter's axis is tilted much more than the Earth's so its seasons are much more intense d. Jupiter's axis is hardly tilted so it has no real seasonal variations e. Jupiter's orbit brings it much closer to the Sun in summer and much farther from the Sun in winter

Jupiter's axis is hardly tilted so it has no real seasonal variations

Astronomers believe that Jupiter's strong magnetic field is caused by

a huge layer of metallic hydrogen inside Jupiter

At their centers, all the jovian planets have cores made of:

a solid mixture of rocky and icy materials under great pressure

The Red Spot of Jupiter is: a. variable in size b. a high pressure storm system in the atmosphere c. made of a reddish colored material (but we don't know what gives it the reddish color) d. long-lived (observed since the 1600's) e. all of the above

all of the above

Which of the following is NOT a correct statement about the ways the jovian planets differ from the terrestrial planets? a. the jovians are larger b. all the jovians have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do c. the jovians are made mostly of liquid and gas d. the jovians are typically colder and further from the Sun e. the jovians have rings while the terrestrials do not

all the jovians have satellites around them and none of the terrestrials do

What do the magnetic fields of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune in common?

all three have their magnetic axes offset from the center of the planet

By far the most abundant element in the giant (jovian) planets is: a. helium b. hydrogen c. oxygen d. nitrogen e. silicon

hydrogen

The clouds of Jupiter are primarily composed of :

frozen ammonia crystals

The synchrotron radiation (radio waves) that astronomers first observed from Jupiter comes from:

high speed electrons spiraling around the planets strong magnetic field

Which of the following statements about Jupiter's magnetosphere is TRUE? a. its source is a zone directly above the planet's cloudtops b. the magnetic field is 20 to 30 times weaker than the Earth's c. it is tilted so that it is almost perpendicular (at 90 degrees) to the equator of Jupiter d. it completely covers the inner satellites of Jupiter and is one of the largest structures in the solar system e. it is easily visible to the human eye with a small telescope

it completely covers the inner satellites of Jupiter and is one of the largest structures in the solar system

Which of the following statements about the Galileo probe that dropped into Jupiter is FALSE? a. it was the first spacecraft to enter the atmosphere of a jovian planet b. it sent back information for a little less than an hour c. it was slowed by atmospheric friction and a parachute d. it detected a lot of water and water vapor clouds on its way down e. it found that the temperature and pressure increased as it got further down

it dected a lot of water and water vapor clouds on its way down

Which of the following characteristics distinguishes Uranus from every other planet in our solar system? a. it has more than one moon b. its atmosphere is made of gases c. it rotates on an axis tilted almost 90 degrees to the circle of its orbit d. its orbit is significantly tilted relative to the orbits of the other planets e. its magnetic axis does not lie in the same direction as its rotation axis

it rotates on an axis tilted almost 90 degrees to the circle of its orbit

The big problem with the Galileo spacecraft is that a. its rockets misfired, putting the orbiter section into the wrong orbit b. its camera has an arm that will not move, preventing us from pointing it correctly c. its main antenna is stuck in the closed position d. its computer has stopped working e. it was manufactured in Bayonne, New Jersey, and didn't work

its main antenna is stuck in the closed position

Which of the following is NOT a way that Jupiter differs from terrestrial planets? a. its average density is lower b. it is farther away from the Sun c. it includes much more gas and liquid d. it is larger in diameter e. its surface has many more craters from early collisions

its surface has many more craters from early collisions

Largest planet by mass

jupiter

One way to measure how long Jupiter takes to rotate is to watch the giant storms in its atmosphere go around. A more fundamental way to measure the rotation is to:

measure the changes in the planet's radio waves, which are controlled by its magnetic field

The bluish color that makes the atmosphere of Neptune so beautiful to the human eye is caused by the interaction of sunlight with what gas?

methane

The upper clouds in the atmosphere of Neptune are composed of:

methane

To obtain the wonderful images of the jovian planets in our textbook (out where the sunlight is a lot fainter) what did the Voyager spacecraft cameras have to do as they flew by each world? a. use faster (more light sensitive) film b. slow down the spacecraft using retro-rockets to get long exposures c. swivel the cameras backwards to keep pointing in the same direction as the craft flew by d. use more than one camera and combine the light that fell into each one e. simply make do with pictures that got worse and worse as we went outward from the Sun; by the time we got to Neptune, the images were quite blurry

swivel the cameras backwards to keep pointing same directon

Which of the following does the composition of a planet like Jupiter resemble: a. the Sun b. the Moon c. the Earth d. Mars e. the asteroids

the sun

What allowed the Voyager 2 spacecraft to make a "tour" of all four of the jovian planets in the late 1970's and the 1980's? a. NASA had developed a completely new kind of rocket that could send the craft from planet to planet b. the four planets were approximately aligned on one side of the Sun and we used the gravity of each planet to speed up the spacecraft to get to the next one in its path c. the spacecraft stopped off to collect fuel on the satellites of each planet before proceeding to the next one d. we used laser beams to propel the spacecraft into the outer solar system, where sunlight is dim e. you can't fool me, no spacecraft has ever explored four different planets

the four planets were approximately aligned on one side of the Sun and we used the gravity of each planet to speed up the spacecraft to get to the next one in its path

What was a surprise to astronomers when they carefully examined Neptune with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994?

the great dark spot had disappeared

One reason that we have such a complex system of belts/zones/storms in Jupiter's atmosphere is that:

the planet rotates very rapidly

The same process that explains why astronomers see less helium in the upper atmosphere of Saturn when they take spectra also explains

the reason Saturn is warmer than we expect

At the moment when the Voyager spacecraft got closest to Uranus, the Sun was shining directly on the planet's south pole. Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate once on its axis. If Voyager took a photo of the south pole 8.5 hours later, what would it observe? a. the south pole was in darkness b. the south pole was brightly lit, with the Sun shining down on it c. the south pole was in twilight d. the south pole was facing directly away from the Sun e. more than one of the above

the south pole was brightly lit, with the sun shining down on it