UMaine AST 109 Prelim 2 Batuski

Moon Vital Statistics- Distance to Earth

380,000km

Other Moon Vital Statistics

-3500km diameter = 0.27+

-m+/81 kg

-3.3g/cm^3

-Albedo (reflectance): 0.07 (dark)

Eccentricity of orbit=

.055

Apparent Magnitude is

-12.7 at full moon

Ejecta Blankets

rays of color that remain after an impact, can tell how old a crater is

Moon Rare valleys

likely caused by meteor graze

Very smooth lowlands, very few craters

Moon Maria

Much younger than the highlands

Maria

Explanation of maria

moon interior was reheated after cooling due to radioactivity and caused craters that were originally there to level out

Maria consists of

Basalts

Maria; Lava flowed...

3-4 bya

Moon Rilles

-Channels that look like rivers.

-100s of km long.

-Are collapsed lava tubes.

Terminator

the edge between the dark and bright side of the moon

First far side photo of moon:

1959

First human mission on the moon

1968

First manned landing on the mood

1969

Was supposed to be 7 manned landings on the moon, but...

Apollo 13 had to orbit and come back.

Last exploration of the moon

1972

Moonquakes a mere 1-2 on Richter scale, by...

meteor impacts, found that moon is dead internally

Moon Laser ranging:

corner reflectors placed on moon measure distance from earth, found that moon is moving away ~3cm every year

Anorthosites come from

highlands

The planet with the greatest range of temperatures is

Mercury

The color changes in Mars' atmosphere are primarily due to changes in

atmospheric dust

Cassini's division is best described as

A large gap in the rings of Saturn

Features on the surface of Venus are almost all named after

Famous women

The time scale on Mars that is most similar the same period on Earth is

The length of its day

Which of the following planets is most massive?

Saturn

Venus is as bright as it is primarily because,

it is covered with clouds

The component of the polar ice caps of Mars that changes with the seasons is primarily

Carbon dioxide

The rings of Saturn are most likely

Debris that could not form into a moon because of Saturn's tidal force.

Saturn has density...

somewhat less than water

Venus is similar to the Earth in that it has

about the same mass and radius

What color is the sky on mars?

Often pink, like no other place in the solar system

What planet was the first one to be discovered 'by pencil' (a calculated prediction of where it would be)

Neptune

The rotation rate of mercury was only recently correctly measured because of

All of the above

The 'belts' and 'zones' on Jupiter are

All of the above

Which moon has a surface that looks like a cantaloupe's skin?

Triton

Jupiter is primarily composed of:

Hydrogen (and helium)

Why is Jupiter's albedo so high (50%)?

It has very thick, light colored clouds

Which statement about craters on our moon is correct?

Craters occur primarily on the highlands

Which of the following planets puts out much more energy than they receive from the sun

All of the above

Which moon has a thick water ocean beneath a layer of ice?

Europa

In what way is the far side of the Moon most different from the side we see?

It is less heavily cratered

Galilean moons of Jupiter are

Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto

Some parts of Pluto have an albedo of 0.98! What do we think could cause such a thing?

There has been recent snowfall

Albedo is

how much light is reflected back from a body

The planet that occurs to be a twin to Neptune

Uranus

Interiorly, Jupiter is mostly

liquid

What happens to ejecta blankets with age?

They darken

Other than Earth, mars is the planet with the highest chance of survival. Why is that?

The Viking missions found life which would be a source of food.

What is the second major cause of tides on the Earth?

The sun

All the medium-sized moons of Saturn have densities that are only slightly more than 1 gram per cubic centimeter. This means that probably these moons are all mostly

ice

Why does mars have relatively few craters?

Wind erosion wore down most of the craters.

Uranus appears blue because its clouds contain

methane

The largest moon of Uranus

Titania

Interiorly, Venus is mostly

Rock and iron

The only moon that rises in the west and sets in the east in its planet's sky is

Phobos

The chemical composition of the atmosphere most similar to Earth's is

Titan

Full moon (what tide?)

Spring tide

We think that Jupiter has a very strong magnetic field because deep within the planet there is

liquid metallic hydrogen carrying electrical currents

Triton is the only major moon in the solar system that has

a retrograde orbit

Which moon of Jupiter has the lowest density?

Callisto

We can tell that some craters on the moon are quite young because they have

ejecta blankets

What color best describes the surface of Pluto?

Red

The magnetic field of mercury compared to Earth's magnetic field is

much weaker

Why does Io have a much warmer interior than the other moons of Jupiter

It experiences tidal flexing

What part of Mercury is most similar to the same part of the Earth?

The core

Why is Saturn most oblate of the planets?

It is low density, and fast spinning can push equator region outward more

The real 'canals' seen on Mars were probably formed by which of the following mechanisms?

Water flow

Some of the rings of Saturn are known to be kept in place by

The shepherd moons.

The clouds on Venus are

only at high altitudes (30-70 kilometers). Below that it is all clear to the surface

Callisto has a...

'bullseye" of frozen water ripples

Uranus's interior is mostly

liquids

The surface pressure of Venus is about ____ times that of Earth

100

Of the following processes, which is most important now in shaping the martian surface?

Wind erosion

Which of these planets has an axis tilt that is most similar to Earth's?

Saturn

Of the lunar samples brought back from the apollo flights, the maria basalts are both dark and fine-grained. These characteristics imply that

these rocks cooled quickly from magna

Rilles are best described as

collapsed lava tubes

Venus is similar to the Earth in that it has

about the same mass and radius

Mercury has a low

albedo

Mercury is always closest to

the sun

a piece of space debris falling through our atmosphere is most correctly called a

meteor

what direction does the gas tail of a comet always point?

Away from the sun

Where are most comets believed to be orbiting

Outside the orbit of Neptune

meteor showers occur when

the Earth passes a comet's path

the largest asteroids are most similar in size to

pluto

the largest asteroids are most similar in shape to

spheres

Why are there so few meteor craters on Earth?

Erosion removes them rather quickly

The solid part of a comet is called its

Nucleus

After space debris has hit the Earth's surface, what is it called?

Meteorite.