Planetary Science & Geology Lecture 25

Flashcards about Planetary Science and Geology, covering topics from the solar system to comets.

Give two examples of renewable energy.

Solar, Wind, Hydroelectric, Tidal

What isotope is used in the production of nuclear energy?

Uranium-235

How is oil formed and trapped?

Sea critters die and are buried, turning into kerogen then oil, this can be trapped by a seal or cap layer and extracted

What is the first mineral resource produced in NV?

Gold

Which would be a better state for geothermal energy production: Wyoming or Alabama?

Wyoming

When was the Sputnik One satellite launched into orbit?

October 4, 1957

Who was the first human in space?

Yuri Gagarine

How long was Yuri Gagarin in space?

1 hour and 48 minutes

Who was the first woman in space?

Valentina Tereshkova on June 16, 1963

Who was the first American in space?

Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961

What bachelor's degree is needed to become a NASA astronaut?

Engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics.

What is the currently accepted argument about how a solar system can form?

Nebular Hypothesis

What happens after sufficient mass and density was achieved in the Sun?

H atom + H atom = He atom + energy

What is the diameter of our Sun?

About 1,392,000 km (862,000 mi), which is about 109 times that of Earth

What is the composition of the Sun?

About 75% hydrogen, rest is mostly helium.

What does the magnetic field of the Sun cause?

Strong heating in the corona, forming active regions that are the source of intense solar flares and coronal mass ejections

Why are sunspots darker than their surroundings?

Lower temperatures

What could form solid grains in the inner solar system?

Metals and silicate minerals

The elements that condensed at high temperatures, refractory elements, formed which terrestrial planets?

Mercury, Venus, Earth (+Moon), and Mars

What could exist in the outer solar system because the temperatures in the solar nebula were low?

Gases and ices

The elements that condensed at low temperatures, volatile elements, formed which four Gas Giant planets?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

How far is Mercury from the Sun?

57.9 million km (37 million mi)

What is the diameter of Mercury?

4,878 km or 3,015 mi

Physically, what is Mercury's appearance similar to?

Heavily cratered

Does Mercury have any moons or atmosphere?

No moons and no atmosphere

How often does Mercury orbit the Sun?

88 days

How often does Mercury rotate?

59 days

How long does a full day-night-cycle take on Mercury?

176 Earth days

What is the surface temperature on Mercury at 'high noon'?

430oC (800oF)

What were the MESSENGER mission goals?

Chemical composition of the surface, geologic history, magnetosphere, determine size of the core, polar volatile inventory

What is the diameter of Venus?

12,104 km (7,521 mi)

What is the atmosphere of Venus made of?

Mostly CO2 and a THICK layer of clouds

What are the hot surface temperatures of Venus?

464oC, 867oF

What did the U.S. Magellan spacecraft use to map over 98% of the surface of Venus from orbit?

Imaging radar

How many volcanoes have been cataloged on Venus?

80,000

What is the atmosphere of Venus composed of?

96.5% carbon dioxide (CO2) with clouds of sulfuric acid

Where is the Asteroid Belt located?

Mars and Jupiter

What are asteroids composed of?

Silicate rock and some metals, like Fe and Ni

What are the two largest objects in the Asteroid Belt?

Vesta (asteroid) and Ceres (dwarf planet)

When was the Dawn Mission launched?

September 27, 2007

What did the Dawn Mission visit?

Vesta and Ceres

What is the diameter of the Earth's moon?

3,474km

What is the diameter of Ceres?

939km

What is the diameter of Vesta?

525km

What do we call meteorites from Vesta and Vestoids in our collection?

Howardites, Eucrites, and Diogenites

Why is Ceres classified as a dwarf planet?

Since Ceres is roughly spherical it is now classified as a dwarf planet.

What are features of the Dawn Mission: Ceres?

Highly reflective material (ice or salt), also has geysers and volcanoes, 4-mile-high mountain

What are Near-Earth Objects (NEOs)?

Asteroids whose orbits bring them close to Earth's orbit and may pose a collision danger

As of May 2025, how many NEOs have been discovered?

38,473

What are about 1000 of the known NEOs classified as?

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

When was the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) held?

September 2022

Which space exploration agency sent the Hayabusa spacecraft?

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Besides the Moon, what other objects have samples been returned to Earth from?

Itokawa, Ryugu, Bennu

What are meteorites?

Solid pieces of debris from space that has survived atmospheric passage and landed on a planetary surface

What is the difference between a meteoroid and meteorites?

Meteoroids and asteroids are still in orbit around the Sun

Why are chondrites named that?

Named for the presence of spherical droplets of minerals called chondrules

What do chondrites contain?

Contain the first solid particles to condense in the Solar System

What is the main difference between Chondrites and Achondrites?

Achondrites no longer contain chondrules

What is the diameter of Jupiter?

143,884 km (88,700 mi)

How long does a day on Jupiter take?

9 hours and 50 minutes

What is Jupiter's atmosphere composed of?

Hydrogen and helium with lesser amounts of methane, ammonia, and water

What does this looping animation show?

The movement of Jupiter's counter-rotating cloud bands

What causes differential heating in Jupiter's atmosphere?

Heat escaping from Jupiter’s interior causes differential heating in the atmosphere

What is the Great Red Spot?

A giant anticyclonic storm that is raging in Jupiter’s atmosphere

What are the four "Galilean" moons of Jupiter?

Europa, Io, Callisto, Ganymede

What is Io subjected to?

Constantly changing gravitational pull from Jupiter and the three other Galilean moons, which causes a tidal action where Io expands and contacts in response to the gravitational attractions

What is the diameter of Io?

2,262 mi

What does the tidal action between Jupiter and its moons heat up Io's interior to cause?

Volcanism

What is the surface of Europa like?

Exposed surface ice on Europa is extremely smooth and there are very few craters = young surface

When was the Europa Clipper NASA mission launched?

October 2024

How many moons does Saturn have (as of May 2025)?

274

What are Saturn’s rings made of?

Saturn has thousands of rings made of up billions of particles of ice and rock, ranging in size from a grain of sugar to the size of a house

What is special about Enceladus, one of Saturn's many moons?

Enceladus has cryovolcanic eruptions = plumes of water vapor and ice particles ejected into space like a geyser

What is the diameter of Uranus?

51,118 km (29,000 mi)

How often does Uranus revolve around the Sun?

84 years

What are the moons of Uranus named after?

Shakespeare and Alexander Pope works

What is the diameter of Neptune?

50,530 km (28,900 mi)

How long does it take Neptune to orbit the Sun?

165 years

Where does Neptune's blue color come from?

Methane in the atmosphere

Which spacecraft is the only one to have visited Neptune?

Voyager 2

Why is Neptune special?

The planet's existence was predicted with math before it was observed in 1846

What Belt is Pluto in?

The Kuiper Belt

Describe the orbit of Pluto.

Pluto's orbit is tilted and significantly elliptical

When was the New Horizons spacecraft launched?

January 19, 2006

Which spacecraft refined our view of Pluto in 2015?

New Horizons

Where is the Kuiper Belt located?

30-50 AU

Who is the Kuiper Belt named after?

Gerard Kuiper

What are comets composed of?

Ices (water, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide) that hold together pieces of silicate rock and dust

Where do comets likely originate from?

Kuiper belt or the Oort Cloud

What pushes away gases and dust from a comet?

Solar wind pushes the ionized gases away from the comet and radiation pressure pushes the dust

Which of the following planets is MOST similar to Earth? (a) Jupiter (b) Uranus (c) Venus (d) Neptune

Venus

Which planet has colored zones representing warmer gases ascending and cooling and colder gases descending, as well as a giant storm? (a) Jupiter (b) Io (c) Saturn (d) Europa

Jupiter

Which statement about comets is true? (a) Comets are composed of ices (b) Comets can have a coma of ionized gases around them due to solar energy (c) Comets originate outside the solar system (d) All of the above

All of the above

The only planetary body we have returned samples from is the Moon. (a) True (b) False

False

Most asteroids inhabit the “asteroid belt” between the planets __. (a) Mars and Jupiter (b) Earth and Mars (c) Jupiter and Saturn (d) Neptune and Pluto

Mars and Jupiter

Uranus axis of ortation?

98 degrees

How many rings does urans have?

28 moon rings

What is the last planet

Neptune

Which planet has the highest wind speeds in the solar system

Neptune, with winds exceeding 1,200 miles per hour.

Which of the following is not a normal function of a Central Bank?

Group of answer choices

Lender of Last Resort

Insuror of deposits

Banker's bank

Regulator of banks

Insuror of deposits