final Flashcards

Question

Does Venus have a magnetic field?

Answer 1

No (100% liquid iron core?) Core has less mass than Earth’s (only 23% of total planet).Core with less iron & more light elements or just a smaller size ? Moment of inertia unknown.

Answer 2

737 K (464 C)

Answer 3

96.5% Carbon Dioxide (CO2), 3.5% Nitrogen (N2)

Answer 4

Atmosphere of Carbon Dioxide and small amount of nitrogen, clouds of sulfuric acid, negligible H2O, pressure ~90 atm, low velocity surface winds high altitude winds 360 mph, high surface temps from 'Greenhouse effect', slow surface erosion.

Answer 5

The planet's surface absorbs sunlight, then re-emits it as infrared radiation. However, the thick, carbon dioxide atmosphere absorbs this infrared radiation, preventing it from escaping into space. This trapped heat causes the surface temperature to rise, leading to more water vapor entering the atmosphere, which is also a greenhouse gas, further exacerbating the effect.

Answer 6

A) True The clouds of Venus are high at about 50 km with a clear CO2 atmosphere below. Venus has a much warmer atmosphere near the planet’s surface than the Earth’s, but it is actually colder at high altitudes.

Answer 7

B) Basaltic Venera/Vega geochemical analyses of the surface – basaltic. Mineralogy has not been determined. Radar backscatter and thermal emission are main sources of data on mineralogy – no ground truth calibration. Crater density and “pristine” appearance suggest young surface. No radiometric ages exist -- large uncertainty in Venusian geologic time scale – many untested assumptions in models of Venusian surface evolution.

Answer 8

D) 6 years

Answer 9

Aphrodite and Ishtar Aphrodite is an equatorial continent as big as Africa that stretches 1/3 of the way around the planet. Ishtar is smaller, about the size of Australia, and is located in the northern high latitudes. Ishtar resembles the Himalayan Plateau on Earth and includes the highest mountains on Venus, the Maxwell Mountains, which rise 11 kilometers high, roughly the height of Mt. Everest on Earth.

Answer 10

True. Notably Addams Impact crater.

Answer 11

Venus Sif Mons is 2 km high and 300 km in diameter. Large shield volcanoes on Venus have similar shapes to Hawaiian-type basaltic shield volcanoes.

Answer 12

Venusian lava channels, or "canali," are vast, sinuous features resembling terrestrial rivers, but far larger, and are likely carved by low-viscosity lava flows. (Komatite) NASA's Magellan spacecraft has mapped these channels, revealing some are hundreds to thousands of kilometers long, with one exceeding 6,800 kilometers, longer than the Nile River.

Answer 13

E) All of the above Tick- characterized by a caldera within a smooth depression surrounded by a raised rim with radial spurs Pancake- appear to have been formed by the extrusion of high viscosity lava, which accounts for their flattened tops and steep edges Shield Volcanos- Boann Corona, Venus. Large number of shield volcanoes within the flooded corona. Nova- a radial network of grabens, in Themis Regio, Venus.

Answer 14

D) Maxwell Montes The Maxwell Montes are the highest mountains on Venus, rising up to 11 km above the mean planetary surface. The 105 km diameter Cleopatra crater can be seen in the center of the image.

Answer 15

D) 236,000 on average. Closest distance (perigee) is about 220,000 miles, Greatest distance (apogee) is about 255,000 miles

Answer 16

C) 82x Diameter about 2160 miles, roughly 1/4 that of the earth Mass 1/81 that of earth. Surface gravity 1/6 that of earth Takes 29-1/2 days to circle earth.

Answer 17

A) ~6.68 The Earth's is ~24

Answer 18

Large enough to differentiate & produce a variety of rocks over time Small enough to have cooled and preserved this early history Early Earth (Venus, Mars?) history lost; Asteroids cooled early

Answer 19

Nature of early magma ocean and initial lunar differentiation. Evolution of internal reservoirs that produced highland and basaltic rocks (age and geochemistry). Nature (time & flux) of early bombardment and effects on rocks.

Answer 20

Fission: Moon derived from spinning Earth bulge. Co-accretion: Earth-Moon formed in place as mini-solar system. Capture: Passing Moon captured by Earth’s gravity. Giant Impact: Collision of proto-Earth with Mars-sized object

Answer 21

D) Giant Impact The giant-impact hypothesis, also known as the Theia Impact, proposes that the Moon formed from the debris of a giant collision between a young Earth and a Mars-sized protoplanet called Theia, approximately 4.5 billion years ago The moon has exactly the same oxygen isotope composition as the Earth, whereas Mars rocks and meteorites from other parts of the solar system have different oxygen isotope compositions. This shows that the moon formed form material formed in Earth's neighborhood.

Answer 22

As the LMO cooled, heavier minerals like olivine and pyroxene sank, forming the lunar mantle, while lighter minerals like plagioclase floated and formed the anorthositic crust.

Answer 23

C) Maria There are two primary types of terrain on the Moon: the heavily cratered and very old highlands and the relatively smooth and younger maria. The maria (which comprise about 17% of the Moon's surface) are huge impact craters that were later flooded by molten lava. Most of the surface is covered with regolith, a mixture of fine dust and rocky debris produced by meteor impacts. For some unknown reason, the maria are concentrated on the near side.

Answer 24

plagioclase feldspar, pyroxene, olivine, and ilmenite Most of the lunar crust, often called the highlands, consists of rocks that are rich in a particular variety of plagioclase feldspar known as anorthite. As a consequence, rocks of the lunar crust are said to be anorthositic because they are plagioclase-rich rock with names like anorthosite, noritic anorthosite, or anorthositic troctolite.

Answer 25

A) Breccias The crust of the Moon began to form about 4.5 billion years ago. While it was forming and for some time afterwards, it experienced intense bombardment from meteors, many of which were huge. The rocks of the crust have been repeatedly broken apart by some impacts and glued back together by others. As a consequence, most rocks from the lunar highlands are breccias, a word meaning a rock composed of fragments of older rocks.

Answer 26

D) 17% Mare basalts cover about 17% of the surface of the Moon, but it is estimated that they account for only about 1% of the volume of the crust.

Answer 27

C) Apollo 17 The Orange Soil sample discovered at Shorty Crater, Apollo 17 (74220) is not like other lunar soil samples. The orange and black glass samples were identified as a pyroclastic deposit

Answer 28

D) 382 kg 382 kg 2196 original samples Now subdivided into 86,000 samples Samples distributed to scientists and educators worldwide 80% by weight remains pristine

Answer 29

NASA JSC in Houston Positive pressure Stainless glovebox Nitrogen Chemically Clean

Answer 30

A) True 15% of Apollo Moon Rocks at White Sands Test Facility

Answer 31

C) Africa (67%) Western Sahara

Answer 32

asteroid - A big (>1 meter) rock or aggregation of rocks orbiting the sun meteoroid - A small (<1 meter) rock orbiting the sun meteor - The visible light that occurs when a meteoroid passes through the Earth's atmosphere meteorite - A rock found on Earth that was once a meteoroid.

Answer 33

B) False The Moon exhibits a striking asymmetry between its near and far sides, with the far side having a thicker crust, more craters, and different composition compared to the near side, which has more maria (volcanic plains).

Answer 34

he South Pole-Aitken basin (SPA) is the Moon’s largest impact feature, named because it spans the territory from the small Aitken crater to the Moon’s south pole, making it the largest impact crater that we know of in the solar system. It’s located on the far side of the Moon. Away from influence of areas of moon rich in U, Th, K, REE.

Answer 35

A) Mare Imbrium The Imbrium Basin is the largest basin on the nearside of the Moon, with a diameter of 1160 kilometers The Imbrium Basin is also the second oldest basin on the Moon. Based on samples returned by Apollo 15, it formed about 3.85 billion years ago.

Answer 36

B) Mare Nectaris The Nectaris Basin, in the southeastern quadrant of the lunar nearside, is about 860 kilometers across. It is more degraded than the other basins, indicating that it is older than Imbrium and Orientale. Samples returned by the Apollo 16 mission suggest an age of 3.92 billion years for this basin.

Answer 37

C) Mare Orientale The Orientale Basin occurs near the western limb of the lunar nearside and is only partially visible from telescopes on Earth. This classic multi-ring basin is 930 kilometers in diameter. Material from this basin was not sampled by the Apollo program, so the basin's precise age is not known. However, it is the freshest impact basin on the Moon and is believed to be slightly younger than the Imbrium Basin, which formed about 3.85 billion years ago.

Answer 38

Copernicus and Tycho The crater Copernicus, 93 kilometers in diameter, is one of the most prominent features on the Moon's nearside. It is a relatively fresh crater, believed to have formed less than 1 billion years ago. Its system of bright rays is quite prominent at full Moon. The crater Tycho, 85 kilometers in diameter, is the youngest large impact crater on the Moon's nearside. Ejecta from this crater was spread across much of the nearside of the Moon and is visible in the form of bright rays at full Moon. One such ray crosses the Apollo 17 landing site, 2000 kilometers from Tycho. Laboratory analysis of samples from this landslide suggest that Tycho's age is about 100 million years.

Answer 39

A) Southern hemisphere

Answer 40

Smaller. Mars is significantly smaller than Earth, with a diameter roughly half that of Earth's, and a mass and volume that are a fraction of Earth's. The land area of Earth is approximately equal to the total surface of Mars.

Answer 41

C) 867 days As Mars orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 24.6 hours, which is very similar to one day on Earth (23.9 hours). Martian days are called sols – short for "solar day." A year on Mars lasts 669.6 sols, which is the same as 687 Earth days.

Answer 42

B) Carbon Dioxide Carbon Dioxide: 95.3% Nitrogen: 2.7% Argon: 1.6% Oxygen: 0.13% Water: 0.03% Neon: 0.00025 % Average temperature -63° C (-81° F)

Answer 43

A) Christiaan Huygens In 1659, Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens made the first sketch of Mars, showing the distinct dark region known as Syrtis Major Planum, and estimated its rotation period to be approximately 24 hours, close to the actual 24 hours and 39.58 minutes. Huygens is the first to notice a white spot at the south pole

Answer 44

B) Sir William Herschel Sir William Herschel, a German-born British astronomer, made significant observations of Mars, including its polar caps and seasonal changes, and he also discovered Uranus and infrared radiation. Herschel correctly assumed that Mars had a tenuous atmosphere.

Answer 45

C) Giovanni Schiaparelli What emerged from Schiaparelli's long hours at the eyepiece in September 1877 was the most (optimistically) detailed map of Mars ever published. With the additional features he filled in over the next decade, it became a standard reference in planetary cartography. Schiaparelli maintained that Mars is a planet of seasonal change, with a temporary sea forming around the northern polar cap as it melted each spring

Answer 46

D) Percival Lowell The straight lines represent features that were first "seen" by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli in 1877. He called them canali, an Italian word meaning channels. The canali were also observed by Lowell who concluded they were canals built by intelligent beings.

Answer 47

Wernher von Braun, Das Marsprojekt, Collier’s Space Series (1952-1954)

Answer 48

Highest: Olympus Mons (24 km high) Lowest: Hellas impact basin difference: 31 KM (earth only 21 KM)

Answer 49

C)Tharsis a huge bulge on the Martian surface that is about 4000 km across and 10 km high.

Answer 50

D) Valles Marineris a system of canyons 4000 km long and from 2 to 7 km deep. Lowest canyon in the solar system. The floor of Valles Marineris may be lake beds sediments, retaining climatological and paleobiological records.

Answer 51

False. Much of the Martian surface is very old and cratered, but there are also much younger rift valleys, ridges, hills and plains. The geological history of Mars is divided into three main periods: Noachian, Hesperian, and Amazonian, each characterized by distinct geological processes and surface features.

Answer 52

C) Unknown If the Martian core is dense (composed of iron), then the minimum core radius would be about 1300 kilometers. If the core is made out of less-dense material such as a mixture of sulfur and iron, the maximum radius would probably be less than 2000 kilometers.

Answer 53

A) Carbon Phobos and Deimos may be composed of carbon-rich rock like C-type asteroids. But their densities are so low that they cannot be pure rock. They are more likely composed of a mixture of rock and ice. Phobos and Deimos are believed to be captured asteroids.

Answer 54

Phobos. Phobos is the larger and innermost of Mars' two moons. Phobos is closer to its primary than any other moon in the solar system, less than 6000 km above the surface of Mars. Orbit is below synchronous altitude

Answer 55

False. Mars' north polar cap is primarily composed of water ice with a thin, seasonal layer of frozen carbon dioxide, while the south polar cap has a permanent layer of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) and a smaller amount of water ice.

Answer 56

B) ALH84001 Organic molecules of Martian origin Mineral features characteristic of biological activity Possible microscopic fossils of primitive, bacteria-like organisms Led to Clinton's speech about Mars life search in 1996

Answer 57

D) Asteroids Rare meteorites include samples of the moon and mars. In mid-1980s discovery that some meteorites are samples of Mars Evidence from: Trapped atmospheric gases Radiometric Ages

Answer 58

D) 100 12 “original” 4 falls Rest new finds, mostly from hot deserts Many kilograms total There is a fall every ~50 years (Tsint in 2012)

Answer 59

Northwest Africa 7034 aka “Black Beauty”

Answer 60

C) Naochian Around 4 billion years ago. Note that no meteorites form the Hesperian period are known. We are currently in the Late Amazonian Epoch era -no water on surface. Early Noachian Epoch period may have looked like Earth does today.

Answer 61

Chondrites. Sedimentary rock born from solar nebula. relatively unaltered, formed as aggregates of primitive solar system material, unmelted asteroids, chondrules usually present, 86% of falls.

Answer 62

processed by melting, formed from magma, crust or mantle of asteroid, no chondrules, 8% of falls.

Answer 63

processed by melting, asteroidal core, 7% of falls.

Answer 64

processed by melting, core-mantle boundary of asteroid, 1% of falls.

Answer 65

A) Chondrites It is thought that small droplets of olivine and pyroxene condensed and crystallized from the hot primordial solar nebula in form of small spheres that we nowadays call chondrules. Chondrules accreted with other material that condensed from the solar nebula forming a matrix that constitutes chondrites and chondritic parent bodies (asteroids). In their chemical composition, chondrites resemble the Sun, depleted of the most volatile elements like hydrogen and helium. However, the distribution of elements has not been uniform in the original solar nebula - elemental composition varied as did the conditions under which the chondritic parent bodies formed.

Answer 66

B) Carbonaceous Chondrites Carbonaceous chondrites or C chondrites represent some of the most pristine matter known, and their chemical compositions match the chemistry of the Sun more closely than any other class of chondrites.

Answer 67

A) Ordinary Chondrites Chondrites of this clan are designated as "ordinary" just because they are the most common class of stony meteorites, representing more than 85% of all witnessed chondrite falls.

Answer 68

True Achondrites can be thought of as stony meteorites that have been melted. Achondrites are samples of differentiated planetary bodies, and therefore represent a very heterogeneous class of meteorites. Most of them are primitive; that is, nearly chondritic in composition with an age similar to the primordial chondrites.

Answer 69

The meteorites of the HED group are believed to be samples of 4 Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in our solar system.

Answer 70

Norton County Meteorite 1 ton (~908,000 grams) One of the largest stony meteorites

Answer 71

The rare meteorites of the LUN group are genuine pieces of our own Moon - a fact that has been proven by comparisons to samples of Moon rocks that were returned to Earth by the Apollo missions during the late 60's and early 70's. The equally rare achondrites of the SNC group are believed to have their origin on the planet Mars.

Answer 72

First Lunar Meteorite ALH 81005

Answer 73

Iron meteorites are characterized by the presence of two nickel-iron alloy metals: kamacite and taenite.

Answer 74

A) septaxites hexahedrites (4-6% Ni) octahedrites (6-12% Ni) ataxites (12+% Ni) Octahedrites, which are the most common type of iron meteorite, exhibit a unique structural feature called the Widmanstätten pattern when etched with a weak acid. This unique crystal pattern is the result of the combination of the two nickel-iron minerals kamacite and taenite being present in approximately equal amounts.

Answer 75

The Pallasite group is characterized by olivine crystals surrounded by a nickel-iron structure which forms a continuous enclosing network around the silicate portion. Glorieta is a pallasite Mesosiderites, on the other hand, consist mainly of plagioclase and pyroxene silicates in the form of heterogeneous aggregates intermixed with the metal alloy. No distinct separation between the metal and silicate phases is readily apparent as it is with the Pallasites.

Answer 76

Between Mars and Jupiter. The inner and outer planets.

Answer 77

True. Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are too small to be considered planets. They are known as minor planets.

Answer 78

Ceres. Asteroids range in size from Ceres, which has a diameter of about 1000 km, down to the size of pebbles. Sixteen asteroids have a diameter of 240 km or greater.

Answer 79

Most likely remnants of solar system formation. More likely, asteroids are material that never coalesced into a planet. In fact, if the estimated total mass of all asteroids was gathered into a single object, the object would be less than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) across -- less than half the diameter of our Moon.

Answer 80

C-type (and rarer B-, F-, and G-types) more than 75% of known asteroids extremely dark (albedo 0.03) similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites? S-type 15-20% of known asteroids relatively bright (albedo .10-.22) metallic nickel-iron mixed with iron- and magnesium-silicates similar to stony-iron meteorites and ordinary chondrites? M-type most of the rest bright (albedo .10-.18) nickel-iron similar to iron meteorites? D- and P-type Outer edge of main belt, Trojans, and Jupiter’s small moons Very dark Ultra-primitive organic compounds

Answer 81

Kirkwood gaps are regions within the main asteroid belt that have a lower than average density of asteroids. These gaps are caused by orbital resonances with Jupiter, where the gravitational influence of Jupiter disrupts the orbits of asteroids in specific locations.

Answer 82

Cratering collisions

Answer 83

Comets consist largely of compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, i.e. so-called “CHON” compounds. These compounds include ices of water, ammonia, methane, carbon monoxide, and smaller amounts of other, more complex compounds. Comets are also made of dust containing silicate minerals found in the crusts of the terrestrial planets, and a mix of silicate and “CHON” similar to that found in carbonaceous chondrites.

Answer 84

Short period. Short Period: (such as Halley's) with periods from years to decades, low orbital inclination and prograde motion. Long Period: centuries to thousands of years (Hyakutake: Period 18 400 a), any inclination and just as likely retrograde as prograde

Answer 85

False. Comet orbits are elliptical.

Answer 86

1. IO 2. Europa 3. Ganymede 4. Callisto

Answer 87

1. Ganymede 2. Callisto 3. IO 4. Europa

Answer 88

Titan. The atmospheric pressure near the surface is about 1.6 bars, 60 percent greater than Earth's. Titan's atmosphere is predominantly made up of nitrogen with other hydrocarbon elements which give Titan its orange hue. These hydrocarbon rich elements are the building blocks for amino acids necessary for the formation of life.

Answer 89

1. Ganymede 2. Titan 3. Callisto

Answer 90

Titan . These seas are most likely liquid methane and ethane.

Answer 91

486958 Arrokoth

final Flashcards

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