Exam 2

A  Is caused by the “backward” rotation of Venus about its own axis

B  Was used by Galileo to explain the complete set of phases of Venus that he observed through his telescope

C  Is caused by the change in perspective as Venus catches up with, and passes, Earth while both planets orbit the Sun

D  Is caused by the gravitational tug of other planets on Venus

E  Is caused by the motion of Venus along an epicycle whose center orbits the Sun

A  Neptune

B  Jupiter

C  Uranus

D  Saturn

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  less than an Earth day

B  many Earth days

C  less than an hour

D  longer than an Earth day

A  planets with a rocky surface

B  none of these choices

C  planets that could have liquid water

D  planets with an oxygen atmosphere

E  all of these choices

F  planets 1 AU from their star

A  older than

B  younger than

C  the same age as

A  TRUE

B  FALSE

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  Saturn’s rings rotate as a solid body, like a bicycle wheel and its spokes; all particles have the same orbital period.

B  Jupiter’s volume is roughly 10 times Earth’s volume

C  The giant planets consist mostly of hydrogen and helium,

D  Of the four giant planets, only Saturn and Uranus have rings.

E  Neptune and Uranus appear greenish blue because they are covered by a liquid water ocean

A  closer

B  farther

C  now way to tell with available data

D  the same distance

A  Uranus

B  Triton

C  Venus

D  Io

A  Mars

B  Mercury

C  Earth

D  Venus

A  It’s orbit is not clear of other orbiting objects.

B  If it was a distant planet, it would be a gas giant planet.

C  It fell into Neptune when their orbits crossed.

D  It doesn’t revolve about the Sun like planets.

A  randomly distributed throughout the solar system.

B  between the Sun and Mars.

C  among comets in the Oort cloud, beyond Neptune.

D  tidally-disrupted icy rock debris between Mars and Jupiter.

A  astrometric measurements

B  the Doppler-wobble method

C  the transit method

D  gravitational microlensing

E  direct imaging

A  Europa

B  Titan

C  Io

D  Callisto

A  the Moon experiences frequent volcanic eruptions that cause craters.

B  the Moon is more distant than the Earth, causing incoming rocks to hit it first.

C  the Moon has been around longer than the Earth and has been exposed to more periods of meteor bombardment.

D  the Moon is much more deficient in iron relative to the Earth, causing craters to form more easily.

E  the Moon experiences almost no erosion compared to the Earth, causing craters to remain much longer.

A  At any given location on Earth, there are two high tides each day – one caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun, and the other by the gravitational pull of the Moon.

B  The orbital period of the Moon around the Earth and the rotation period of the Moon around its axis are equal.

C  By observing the Moon long enough from Earth, night after night, we are able to draw a map of its entire surface.

D  High tide occurs on the side of the Earth nearest to the Moon, while low tide occurs on the opposite side of the Earth.

E  The same half of the Moon’s surface is perpetually dark (craters on that side never see sunlight), leading us to call it the “dark side of the Moon.”

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  Formation of the Jovian Planets,Formation of the Terrestrial Planets,Formation of the protosun,Ignition of the Sun,Late Heavy Bombardment

B  Ignition of the Sun,Formation of the protosun,Formation of the Jovian Planets,Formation of the Terrestrial Planets,Late Heavy Bombardment

C  Formation of the protosun,Formation of the Jovian Planets,Formation of the Terrestrial Planets,Ignition of the Sun,Late Heavy Bombardment

D  Formation of the protosun,Ignition of the Sun,Formation of the Jovian Planets,Formation of the Terrestrial Planets,Late Heavy Bombardment

A  Mercury,Asteroid Belt,Venus,Earth,Mars,Kuiper Belt,Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus,Neptune,

B  Kuiper Belt,Mercury,Earth,MarsVenus,Jupiter,Uranus,Neptune,Saturn,Asteroid Belt

C  Mercury,Venus,Earth,Mars,Asteroid Belt,Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus,Neptune,Kuiper Belt

D  Neptune,Saturn,Mercury,Venus,Earth,Mars,Jupiter,Uranus,Kuiper Belt,Asteroid Belt

A  early solar system gas & dust

B  a chunk broke off of the Earth

C  a captured comet

D  Sun ejecta

E  a collision with a rogue planet

A  Mars

B  Uranus

C  Mercury

D  Jupiter

E  Venus

A  nitrogen

B  methane

C  hydrogen

D  ammonia

E  helium

A  Phobos

B  Luna

C  Io

D  Triton

E  Ariel

A  TRUE

B  FALSE

A  Mars

B  Earth

C  Venus

D  Uranus

A  They are the most massive of all the planets in the Solar System since they are mainly composed of heavy elements like iron.

B  They generally have the thickest atmospheres of all the planets in the Solar System

C  Despite their size, they rotate about their axis very rapidly, in fewer than 24 hours.

D  They are the largest of all planets in the Solar System, with diameters up to nearly 1/10 the diameter of the Sun.

E  They have many moons, probably due to their large gravitational fields.

A  Groupings of stars in the sky that are smaller than constellations.

B  Objects smaller than comets; most between Mars and Jupiter.

C  Any astronomical object.

D  Meteorites falling on a radiant from the Perseid star cluster.

A  earthquake map

B  Earth’s mantle consists of stacked rock plates

C  lava erupts at random

D  continents shifting over a convecting mantle

A  Lunar eclipses are predictable.

B  The Moon is still visible during a total lunar eclipse because of light going through the Earth’s atmosphere.

C  At a given time, a total lunar eclipse is visible only from a small part of the Earth’s surface.

D  Total lunar eclipses last longer than total solar eclipses

E  Lunar eclipses don’t occur monthly, because the inclination of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth relative to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

A  nucleus

B  coma

C  dust tail

D  ion tail

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  Jovian planets rotate very rapidly, and some material near the equator of these planets was flung outward, forming the rings

B  tidal forces prevent the material in rings from forming into moons

C  their thick gaseous atmospheres would disintegrate any small rock that enter them

D  tidal forces cause volcanic eruptions on some moons, and part of this material subsequently escaped the gravity of the moons, forming the rings.

E  there is too much material to have fit into the ball of each planet

A  Triton

B  Uranus

C  Venus

D  Io

A  TRUE

B  FALSE

A  TRUE

B  FALSE

A  If we dump much more carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, Earth will become hotter because of the greenhouse effect.

B  No greenhouse effect currently occurs on Earth, and this is a good thing for humans.

C  An extreme, possible runaway, greenhouse effect occurred on Venus, making its planetary surface the hottest in the Solar System.

D  Venus’s atmosphere is much thicker than that of Earth – but some of Earth’s gases are trapped in rocks and oceans.

E  The greenhouse effect occurs when an atmosphere is transparent to optical or visible light but translucent to infrared light, thus trapping the heat.

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  The planet rotates once every 2/3 revolution about the Sun.

B  The rotation axis is almost in line with the solar ecliptic

C  The planet rotates once every 243 days, but the atmosphere rotates faster.

D  The rotation is counter-clockwise.

A  comets burn quite rapidly, using up all their fuel within a few decades

B  orbits of comets are highly eccentric and their semimajor axes are large

C  most comets only pass close to the Sun 2 or 3 times, and then they disintegrate

D  comets are not gravitationally bound to our Solar System

E  it is impossible to tell when most comets will return close to the Sun

A  coma

B  ion tail

C  dust tail

D  nucleus

A  ocean storms & weather

B  periodic sloshing of liquid water.

C  gravitational attraction to astronomical objects

D  none of these

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  a hurricane

B  a tidal instability

C  a volcanic eruption

D  an atmospheric disturbance where a comet landed years ago.