Exam #2

Question 1

TERRESTRIAL planets in order of semi major axis from SMALLEST to LARGEST

Answer 1

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Question 2

TERRESTRIAL planets in order of PLANET SIZE from LARGEST to SMALLEST

Answer 2

Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury

Question 3

Which lists the JOVIAN planets in order of SEMI MAJOR AXIS from SMALLEST to LARGEST

Answer 3

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Question 4

JOVIAN planets in order of PLANET SIZE from LARGEST to SMALLEST

Answer 4

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Question 5

Which is the largest object with the most moons?

Answer 5

Jovian Planets

Question 6

Jovian planets are mostly made of

Answer 6

Hydrogen and helium like the sun

Question 7

How do astronomers know what a planets atmosphere is made of?

Answer 7

They looked at a spectrum and matched the unique color barcodes to lab results

Question 8

What trait of a planet determines its length of day

Answer 8

Rotation rate

Question 9

What trait of a planet determines its length of year

Answer 9

Orbit semi-major axis

Question 10

How does a terrestrial planet first get an atmosphere?

Answer 10

Active volcanoes release gas

Question 11

“The atmosphere is crushing me and I think my suit is being disolved by acid. It’s hot but really dark even though the sun is up. I got to walk up a volcanoes”

Answer 11

Venus

Question 12

“I thought this was earth but when I took my helmet off I couldn’t breathe. Anyway I’m in a dusty desert and I don’t think any rain has fallen in ages. Even though the sun is up it’s really cold.”

Answer 12

Mars

Question 13

“I’m floating near a yellowish planet. Take your time getting me, since the view is great because of the spectacular rings.”

Answer 13

Saturn

Question 14

“I’m floating near a huge striped planet with a large red storm. I think one of the moons near me just had a volcano go off.”

Answer 14

Jupiter

Question 15

What would have helped Venus avoid the runaway greenhouse effect”

Answer 15

Having plate tectonics

Question 16

Jupiters core is hotter and it has more liquid metallic hydrogen than Saturn because Jupiter

Answer 16

Has more mass than Saturn

Question 17

Why are Uranus and Neptune blue colored and Saturn and Jupiter are not

Answer 17

They have methane (an ice) in their atmosphere

Question 18

Jupiters moon Io is so incredibly volcanic because it

Answer 18

Is heated by tidal forces

Question 19

The Roche limit for a planet is the

Answer 19

Closest a moon can get before the planets tidal forces rip it apart

Question 20

Compared to Jupiter, Saturn is ___ so it’s clouds form __ in the atmosphere

Answer 20

Colder, deeper

Question 21

What would have helped mars stay Earth like for longer?

Answer 21

Being more massive “like a large turkey terrestrial”

Question 22

Venus’ surface is very hot because

Answer 22

It has a strong greenhouse effect

Question 23

A comet that has a semi major axis of 35 AU is located in the…

Answer 23

Kuiper belt

Question 24

Which region has objects with the largest orbital periods?

Answer 24

Oort cloud

Question 25

How would we get mercury to be reclassified as a dwarf planet?

Answer 25

Put in the asteroid belt

Question 26

Pluto is considered a dwarf planet because

Answer 26

It hasn't cleared out the other small bodies in the region of its orbit

Question 27

Comets only have tails when...

Answer 27

They're close to the sun

Question 28

True or false: an asteroid is just a comet nucleus without a tail

Answer 28

False

Question 29

Kuiper belt orbits are tilted by how many degrees

Answer 29

No more than 45 degrees

Question 30

Port cloud orbits are tilted by how many degrees

Answer 30

By any possible inclination

Question 31

We determine an objects mass by measuring

Answer 31

It's orbital period and orbit size and apply Kepler 3rd law

Question 32

What is the difference between an asteroid and a comet

Answer 32

An asteroid is made of rock and metal while a comet is made of ice and some rock

Question 33

Dwarf planets are made of

Answer 33

Rock and ice

Question 34

Which observation helps us learn the age of our solar system

Answer 34

Radioactive dating of asteroids and meteorites show they are 4.5 billion years old

Question 35

What observation suggests that the planets migrated?

Answer 35

Other stars are found to have Jovian planets orbiting very close to their star

Question 36

The gas cloud from which the sun formed was made mostly of

Answer 36

Hydrogen and helium

Question 37

In the disc that would become our solar system, Jovian planets formed ____ where there were a lot of solid particles

Answer 37

Outside the frost line

Question 38

In the disc that would become our solar system, Terrestrial planets formed ____ where there weren't as many solid particles

Answer 38

Between the scoot line and the frost line

Question 39

Stages in formation of solar system

Answer 39

``` 1- collapse 2- baking 3- accretion 4- fusion 5- migration ```