HW Set 2 – Space – Flashcards
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T/F At greater distance from the sun, planetary surface temperature increases
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False
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T/F Impacts were extremely common in the young solar system but are less common today
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True
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What do we mean by accretion in the context of planet formation?
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The growth of planetesimals from smaller solid particles that collide and stuck together
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List the planets in our solar system in the correct order from closest to farthest from the sun?
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
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What percentage of the solar nebula's mass consisted of elements besides hydrogen and helium gases?
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2%
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Where are most of the known asteroids found?
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Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
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T/F We think Jupiter and the other gas giants formed close to the Sun and migrated outward
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False
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What is farthest from the Sun?
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A comet in the Oort Cloud
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What would not be true of a planet with a highly eccentric orbit?
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The period is longer than the year
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Identify one pattern in the data from table 6.1
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The farther the planet is from the Sun, then longer its orbital period
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Name one TNO in the Solar System
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Pluto
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How many planets in our Solar System do not have moons?
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2 (Mercury and Venus)
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What name do we give to an object orbiting a larger object that orbits the Sun?
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a moon
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T/F Within the frost line, planetesimals are composed entirely of rock, and outside the frost line, planetesimals were composed entirely of ice
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False
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T/F When viewed from the North Celestial Pole, all planets orbit the Sun in a counterclockwise direction
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True
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If a radioactive isotope that was injected into your bloodstream has a half-life of 5 hours, how many hours do you have to wait before the amount of this isotope in your body is 1/16 its original amount?
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20
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According to modern scientific dating techniques, approximately how old is our Solar System?
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4.5 billion years
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What is an example of an explanation?
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The orderly orbits of planets arose from their formations in a rotating cloud of gas
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Suppose you find a rock that contains some potassium-40 (half-life of 1.3 billion years). You measure the amount and determine that there are 5 grams of potassium-40 in the rock. By measuring the amount of its decay product (argon-40) present in the rock, you realize that there must have been 40 grams of potassium-40 when the rock solidified. How old is the rock?
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3.9 billion years
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List the jovian planets in our solar system
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Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
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T/F When compared to Mars, Venus has a short day
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False
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T/F Without the greenhouse effect, Earth's surface would be frozen
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True
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T/F Mars has a thinner atmosphere than Earth
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True
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T/F The smallest planet has the largest iron core
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True
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What is a magnetosphere?
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Protective bubble created by Earth's magnetic field
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From what does Earth's magnetic field protect us?
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Solar wind
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Venus is the 3rd brightest object in the sky? What are the 1st and 2nd brightest?
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The Sun and the Moon
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Which inner planet has the lowest density?
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Mars
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Which inner planet's atmosphere contains the most carbon dioxide?
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Venus
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Which inner planet is the coldest at nighttime?
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Mercury
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Suppose you discovered a meteorite that contains small amounts of potassium-40, which has a half-life of 1.3 billion years, and its decay product argon-40. You determine that 1/16 of the original potassium-40 remains; the other 15/16 has decayed into argon-40. How old is the meteorite?
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5.2 billion years
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How many moons do the four inner planets (combined) have?
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3 (Earth has 1 and Mars has 2)
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What is the main visual difference between the lunar maria and the rest of the lunar surface?
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Lunar maria are darker spots
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Name one thing (besides having life) that makes Earth unique among the terrestrial planets
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It has abundant surface water (3/4 is water)
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The concretion theory of the formation of Earth's Moon cannot explain the difference in what between the Earth and the Moon?
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Density
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What color is the red planet?
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Red
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What would be the consequence if Earth rotated much more slowly?
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Days would get hotter and nights would get longer
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What is the reason Venus has so little wind erosion?
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Its slow rotation
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What is the primary reason the surface of Venus today is some 450 degrees hotter than the surface of the Earth?
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Venus has a much stronger greenhouse gas effect than Earth
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Which planet has the most moons orbiting around it?
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Jupiter
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T/F The mass of Saturn can be determined by applying Kepler's 1st Law to the motion of a single ice particle in its rings
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False
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T/F Jupiter is the only Jovian planet with large storms
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False
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Suppose the jovian planet atmospheres were composed 100 percent of hydrogen and helium rather than 98 percent of hydrogen and helium. How would the atmospheres be different in terms of color and weather?
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It would not be as vibrant in color and there would be less storms
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How many more times is the atmospheric pressure in Jupiter's core greater than the atmospheric pressure at Earth's surface?
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100 million
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Which moon has a thick atmosphere made mostly of nitrogen?
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Titan
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Why do astronomers believe that Triton is a captured moon?
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Triton orbits Neptune in a direction opposite that of Neptune's rotation
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Suppose you could float in space just a few meters above Saturn's rings. What would you see as you looked down on the rings?
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Countless icy particles, ranging in size from dust grains to large boulders
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How does the strength of Jupiter's magnetic field compare to that of Earth's magnetic field?
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Jupiter's magnetic field is about 20,00x as strong as Earth's
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How many planets in the solar system have rings?
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4
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Ganymede is not classified as a planet even though it is larger than Mercury. Why?
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It does not orbit the Sun
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What molecule found on Uranus and Neptune makes them appear blue?
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Methane
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The two largest gas giants are made up mostly of what type of material?
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Liquid
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Which jovian planet should have the most extreme seasonal changes?
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Uranus
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What color is Jupiter's Great Red Spot?
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Red
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The most volcanically active body in the solar system
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Io
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Thought to have deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water
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Europa
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Probably a captured Kuiper Belt object
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Triton
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The target of the Huygens probe, which landed on its surface
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Titan
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The largest moon in the solar system
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Ganymede
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What is the name of the star around which 7 planets have recently been discovered?
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Trappist-1
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How many moon does Pluto have?
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5
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Name the 3 most commonly used methods of indirect planet detection
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Radial velocity, Astrometry, Transit
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Name one way the Pluto is different than the other 8 planets in our Solar System
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It has a more eccentric orbit (e=0.25)
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Why is it so difficult to make a direct image of a planet around another star?
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Because of the star's brightness
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What is the largest known Kuiper Belt Object?
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Eris
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How many exoplanets have been discovered according to PlanetQuest?
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Several thousand - and it changes frequently
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Why do asteroids and comets differ in composition?
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Asteroids formed inside the frost line, while comets formed outside the frost line
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T/F The discovery of Charon allowed astronomers to determine Pluto's mass
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True
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T/F No spacecraft has ever visited an steroid or comet
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False
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What is farthest from the Sun?
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A comet in the Oort Cloud
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What is so called "hot Jupiter?"
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A planet with a mass similar to Jupiter but very close to the central star and therefore hot
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If we could put all the asteroids together, what would their total mass be?
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Much less that the mass of any terrestrial planet
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Most of the planets using the Doppler technique are...
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More massive than Earth and orbit very close to the star
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T/F A spacecraft traveling through the asteroid belt has a high risk of being destroyed through a collision
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False
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T/F Astronomers have discovered more exoplanets around other stars than the number of planets in our Solar System
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True
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A rock flying through Earth's atmosphere
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A meteor
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Indirect detection of an extrasolar planet
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Observing the planet's effect on its host star
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T/F All comets orbit the Sun in the same direction as the planets
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False
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What would the the consequence(s) of more frequent collisions between planets and asteroids?
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Earth and other planet would have more larger craters and we would find more Martian meteorites on Earth
