The Sky Quiz #8

What is a comet?

frozen sphere of ice, dust, and rock

Why do comets have “tails”?

melting from the Sun’s heat

When was Halley’s comet first observed?

1456

In what publication and when was the Halley Comet first hypothesized?

Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets in 1705

What is Halley’s approximate orbital period?

76 years

When was Halley’s hypothesis confirmed?

1758

What is significant about Halley’s orbit?

clockwise

When was Halley’s Comet last seen?

1986

When is Halley’s Comet predicted to return?

2061

Who launched the Hayabusa2?

JAXA, Japanese space agency

What body was Hayabusa2 sent to explore? (type name)

asteroid Ryugu

Why did scientists choose Ryugu for the Hayabusa2 mission?

near Earth

When was Hayabusa launched?

2014

When did we receive Hayabusa2’s samples?

2020

Relative to the formation of the solar system, when did Ryugu form?

2 million years later

What was significant about the state of the samples collected from Ryugu?

preserved from the heat from entering the Earth’s atmosphere

What did Hayabusa2 find?

thousands of carbon-based molecules

What does carbon in the Rygugu samples indicate?

formed in the presence of water

When was the Psyche Mission launched?

2023

When is Psyche supposed to arrive at the Asteroid Psyche? (month year)

August 2029

What is significant about the composition of Asteroid Psyche 16?

metal rich core, similar to Earth

How far away from Earth is the Asteroid Psyche?

3.3 AU

What two metals are thought to make up the Asteroid Psyche’s core?

iron and nickel

What kind of energy does the Psyche spacecraft mainly rely on?

solar electricity

How is the Deep Space Optical Communications system different from previous spacecraft communications?

infrared-photon laser tech is faster due to shorter wavelengths

What will the multispectral imager be used for on the Psyche spacecraft?

high resolution images and navigation

What will the magnetometer be used for on the Psyche spacecraft?

measuring the remnant magnetic field

What will the gamma-ray spectrometer be used for on the Psyche spacecraft?

measuring and mapping Psyche’s composition

Where is the Asteroid Psyche 16 in the solar system?

Asteroid Belt

What conditions is the Asteroid Psyche thought to have formed in?

dry

What causes accreted objects to form a spherical shape?

hydrostatic equilibrium