Exam 2

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

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 gravitational tug of other planets on Venus

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

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

A  Uranus

B  Jupiter

C  Neptune

D  Saturn

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  many Earth days

B  longer than an Earth day

C  less than an Earth day

D  less than an hour

A  all of these choices

B  planets with an oxygen atmosphere

C  planets that could have liquid water

D  none of these choices

E  planets with a rocky surface

F  planets 1 AU from their star

A  younger than

B  the same age as

C  older than

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

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

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

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

D  The giant planets consist mostly of hydrogen and helium,

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

A  now way to tell with available data

B  the same distance

C  farther

D  closer

A  Triton

B  Io

C  Uranus

D  Venus

A  Mercury

B  Venus

C  Mars

D  Earth

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

B  It fell into Neptune when their orbits crossed.

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

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

A  among comets in the Oort cloud, beyond Neptune.

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

C  randomly distributed throughout the solar system.

D  between the Sun and Mars.

A  the Doppler-wobble method

B  gravitational microlensing

C  astrometric measurements

D  direct imaging

E  the transit method

A  Europa

B  Callisto

C  Io

D  Titan

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

B  the Moon experiences frequent volcanic eruptions that cause craters.

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

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

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

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

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

C  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.”

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  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.

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A  a captured comet

B  a collision with a rogue planet

C  a chunk broke off of the Earth

D  early solar system gas & dust

E  Sun ejecta

A  Mercury

B  Jupiter

C  Mars

D  Venus

E  Uranus

A  methane

B  ammonia

C  hydrogen

D  nitrogen

E  helium

A  Phobos

B  Triton

C  Io

D  Luna

E  Ariel

A  TRUE

B  FALSE

A  Mars

B  Uranus

C  Venus

D  Earth

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

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

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

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

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

A  Any astronomical object.

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

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

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

A  lava erupts at random

B  continents shifting over a convecting mantle

C  Earth’s mantle consists of stacked rock plates

D  earthquake map

A  Lunar eclipses are predictable.

B  Total lunar eclipses last longer than total solar eclipses

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

D  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.

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

A  coma

B  dust tail

C  nucleus

D  ion tail

A  TRUE

B  FALSE

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

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

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

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

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

A  Venus

B  Triton

C  Uranus

D  Io

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

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

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

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

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

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

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

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

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

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

D  The rotation is counter-clockwise.

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

B  comets are not gravitationally bound to our Solar System

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

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

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

A  nucleus

B  dust tail

C  ion tail

D  coma

A  gravitational attraction to astronomical objects

B  ocean storms & weather

C  none of these

D  periodic sloshing of liquid water.

A  FALSE

B  TRUE

A  a tidal instability

B  an atmospheric disturbance where a comet landed years ago.

C  a hurricane

D  a volcanic eruption