ASTRO 1040 Quiz 9 – Flashcards

Pluto's distance from the Sun

Pluto and Charon

The category "dwarf planet" pertains to objects that

Enceladus displays what?

What kind of material erupts from cryovolcanoes?

Io's volcanic activity is from

On Triton, a moon of Neptune,

Titan

What is the evidence for a subsurface ocean of water on Europa?

On Saturn's moon, Titan, radar images show

It is difficult to see the surface of Titan because

The Solar System's largest moon is

Ganymede is believed to have once been active geologically because

Asteroids are mostly

A meteor produces light by

S-type asteroids have evidence that

The large majority of meteorites are

How would we know if a meteorite came from Mars?

Dactyl is

A crack in the asteroid Ida would be evidence that it is

Asteroid Eros was carefully studied because

Most short period comets

The ion tail of a comet is produced by

Tails of comets point

Meteor showers result from

Which of the following is the BRIGHTEST part of a comet?

Remnants of volcanic activity on the asteroid Vesta indicate that members of the asteroid belt:

Comet nuclei, absent their tails, are very dark because:

Which of the following does NOT describe comets in the Oort Cloud?

When a comet comes close to the Sun, its volatile ice sublimates and transforms directly from the solid to __________ phase.

Suppose we discover a comet whose orbit was very highly eccentric, retrograde, had a very large tilt with respect to the ecliptic plane, and a period of 2,000 years. Where is the most likely place of origin for this comet?

Most comets originate:

A comet having an orbit of 50 years would likely have come from the:

The one orbital characteristic both short- and long-period comets share is:

Most asteroids are:

Cometary nuclei are most likely:

In 1994, dozens of fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with:

Antarctica is the best hunting ground for meteorites for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

What must an asteroid have in order for us to determine its mass?

The most common type of meteorites are:

Meteorites are more likely to come from asteroids than comets.

Meteorites contain clues to all of the following EXCEPT:

Io is by far the most geologically active moon in the Solar System.

Why does the dust tail separate from the ion tail?

The nucleus of the typical comet is approximately __________ in size.

Pluto is composed mostly of rock.

The mass of all the known asteroids combined would be as much as:

Pluto is the largest member of the Kuiper Belt.

The oceans under Europa's icy crust could be very deep and could contain more water than all the oceans on the Earth.

Which of the following moons is thought to have a vast ocean of water beneath its thin frozen surface?

Eris and Ceres are examples of:

What is the most common geologic feature seen on moons?

Which object has turned itself inside out numerous times, leading to lighter elements escaping, sulfur compounds composing the crust, and heavier elements making up the core?

How do particles from Enceladus wind up in Saturn's E ring?

Which property of a moon might lead you to believe it was a captured asteroid?

If a moon has a retrograde orbit then it:

Which of the following can be used as an indicator of the age of a moon's surface?

Most asteroids are closest in shape to:

Where does Titan's thick nitrogen-rich atmosphere come from?

Titan is a prime candidate for life outside Earth because it has:

Titan's thick atmosphere is believed to have been created when ultraviolet photons broke apart methane molecules, ultimately creating the observed smog-like conditions. This process, though, would likely remove all of the atmospheric methane in roughly 10 million years, yet we still see its presence today. How can this be?

The minimum size of a meteoroid that is capable of surviving its passage through Earth's atmosphere and hitting the ground is about as big as: