Astr test 2 2

Which statement about the rotation of the Inner planets is true?

Venus rotates in the opposite direction from the three others.

Which of the following is TRUE?

Mercury rotates exactly one and a half times for every one revolution around the Sun.

Why do the orbits of the planets all lie in nearly the same plane?

The early solar nebula flattened into a disk.

Of these choices, which planet has the most moons?

Saturn

Venus is visible to us:

only near sunrise or sunset.

A planet is in orbit around the Sun. The semimajor axis of the orbit is

5 Astronomical Units (AU).

Use P 2 = a 3 to calculate the period of the orbit in years.

11.2 years

How do most craters on moons form?

impact of asteroids

Which is largest?

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede

Which planet has a temperature of 800 degrees Fahrenheit on the side facing the

Sun and -290 degrees Fahrenheit on the side opposite the Sun?

Mercury

How many Earth years does it take Uranus to orbit the Sun?

84

Meteors are

asteroids or comet debris that passes into Earth’s atmosphere and burns up

Which feature of Neptune is most responsible for its blue color?

methane in its atmosphere

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

The planet Uranus is blue-green and virtually featureless.

The surface of Venus is hotter than the surface of Mercury because

Venus is more massive and is able to retain a thick atmosphere.

Which of the following is moving fastest in the orbit?

Venus at its perihelion (closest point to Sun)

Which of the following is FALSE?

Saturn has a density of 4.8 grams per cubic centimeter, similar to metals like aluminum and iron

Which of the following is the cause of aurora?

Solar wind particles that hit the atmosphere of a planet

Which of the following objects have a dark/black sky even in the daytime?

both the Moon and Mercury

Which of the following is the largest distance?

the distance from Jupiter to Saturn

Which of the following statement is TRUE?

Io, Earth, and Triton have active volcanoes.

Which of the following is NOT required in order to classify a Solar System object as a planet (instead of a dwarf planet)?

it must be larger than all of the moons in the Solar System

Which of the following planets rotates the slowest?

Venus

Which planet looks the most like the Moon?

Mercury

If you know the orbital period and the semimajor axis of the orbit of one of Saturn’s moons, what could you determine?

Saturn’s mass

Which is NOT a characteristic of a comet?

most orbit the Sun in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter

What planet is this in the picture below?

Venus

Which among the following scenarios will be true for someone looking watching the sky from Venus' surface?

The Sun would rise in the west and set in the east.

Which moon of Jupiter is believed to have a liquid ocean beneath a layer of ice?

Europa

Of the following objects, which is the largest?

Uranus

Which planet has a temperature of 800 ˚ Fahrenheit on the side facing the Sun, and –290 ˚F on the side opposite the Sun?

Mercury

The density of water is 1 gram per cubic cm. What about the density of most gases?

much less than 1 gram per cubic cm

A meteor shower can occur when ...

Earth's orbit crosses a trail of debris left behind from a comet.

A planet in orbit around the Sun has an orbital period of 6 years. What is the semi-major axis of its orbit? Use P 2 = a 3

3.3 AU

Which of the following planets rotates the slowest?

Venus

There's a Kuiper belt and an Oort cloud. Both have comets. What is the difference?

Comets from the Oort cloud have longer periods.

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

The planet Uranus is blue-green and virtually featureless.

What object is this?

Uranus

A planet is in orbit around the Sun; the semimajor axis of the orbit is

5 Astronomical Units (AU). Use P 2 = a 3 to calculate the period of the orbit in years.

11.2 years

What chemical compound that permeates the surface of Mars gives the Martian soil its distinctive color?

Iron Oxide.

Which planet is very hot because of an extreme greenhouse effect?

Venus

Which Terrestrial planet has the lowest-density atmosphere (i.e., almost none) ?

Mercury

Which of the following is FALSE?

Saturn has a density of 4.8 grams per cubic centimeter, similar to metals like aluminum and iron

The planets in our solar system are thought to have come from ...

the same cloud of gas and dust in which the Sun formed

Which planet does NOT have a solid surface?

Jupiter

How do most craters on moons form?

impact of asteroids

A comet's nucleus is composed of ...

dust, dry ice, and water ice.

What are the light areas on the Moon called?

highlands

Which of the following is TRUE?

Compared to the distance from Earth to Mars, the distance from Earth to the Moon is very small.

What caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?

the dust and smoke thrown up from an asteroid impact

Which of the following is FALSE?

Uranus does not have rings.

Could there be a place where it would never be day on Mercury?

There could be a crater that is always in shadow since there is water ice that survives.

Jupiter has about the overall density of:

Milk

Why do the orbits of the planets all lie in nearly the same plane?

The early solar nebula flattened into a disk.

Among the following planets, which rotates most slowly?

Earth

Which of the following is TRUE?

Pluto is in the Kuiper belt.

Why is Uranus blue?

it has methane in its atmosphere, which absorbs red light and makes the planet appear blue-green.

How does Jupiter's radius compare to that of Earth?

Jupiter's radius is 11 times that of Earth

What is NOT true about Earth's atmosphere?

It has more Carbon Dioxide than Venus, so is heated more than Venus by the Greenhouse effect.

What object is shown in this image?

Ganymede

A planet is in orbit around the Sun with a semi major axis of 4 AU.

What is its orbital period? Use P 2 = a 3.

8 years

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of jovian planets?

They have a higher density than terrestrial planets.

Which objects orbit the Sun in highly elliptical orbits?

comets

What was Kepler's First Law?

Planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits with Sun at one focus of the ellipse.

What is a dwarf planet?

A dwarf planet is any object orbiting the Sun that is large enough to be round but not one of the 8 planets.

Which of the following does Kepler's Second Law support?

When a planet is closer to the Sun, its speed is greater than when it is farther away.

How long is a day on Mercury?

176 times as long as a day on Earth

What object is shown in this image?

Mercury

What would happen if the ozone layer were completely destroyed?

Ultraviolet radiation from the Sun would get through the atmosphere and cause damage to life.

The densities of the four Terrestrial planets are similar to each other. This means ...

they are made of similar substances

What are the rings of Saturn made of?

The rings are made of billions of icy particles that range in size from tiny grains to mountains.

Where in the Solar System might be the best for extreme ice sports?

moons of Uranus and Neptune

What is an Astronomical Unit ("AU")?

the distance between the Earth and the Sun

Of these choices, which planet has the most moons?

Saturn

Traveling at the same speed, which would take longer?

a trip from Uranus to Neptune

What is the most distant planet from the Sun?

Neptune

Could astronauts survive on the surface of Titan without a space suit — maybe just

with an oxygen mask or something?

No, it is far too cold.