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Descriptive Astronomy > Quiz #3 Review > Flashcards

Quiz #3 Review Flashcards

1
Q

Which of the following properties of terrestrial
planets is unique to Earth?
A. Liquid water
B. A rocky mantle and iron core
C. History of volcanism
D. A large moon

A

D - a large moon

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2
Q

Which planets are the terrestrial planets?

A

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

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3
Q

Which planets are the gas giants?

A

Saturn and Jupiter

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4
Q

Which planets are the ice giants?

A

Uranus and Neptune

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5
Q

Which is NOT a common property of the gas and ice
giants?
A. Multiple icy moons
B. A history of volcanism
C. Thick gas envelopes
D. Rings

A

B - a history of volcanism

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6
Q

Which criterion for
being a “planet” does Pluto fail?
A. …is orbiting the sun
B. …is massive enough for its own gravity
to pull it into a spherical shape (without
igniting stellar fusion)
C. …has cleared smaller objects from the
neighborhood of its orbit

A

C - Pluto has not cleared smaller objects from the neighborhood of its orbit.

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7
Q

Where are Kuiper Belt objects located?
A. in orbit around Mars
B. in orbit just beyond the asteroid belt
C. beyond Neptune’s orbit
D. within a vast spherical region called the Oort Cloud

A

C - beyond Neptune’s orbit

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8
Q

Most asteroids are found
A. between the Sun and the orbit of Mars.
B. in the asteroid belt.
C. in the Kuiper Belt.
D. in the Oort Cloud

A

B - in the asteroid belt

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9
Q

Comets differ from asteroids in that…
A. They have significant amounts of ice
B. They have two tails
C. They have eccentric orbits
D. All of the above

A

D - All of the above!

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10
Q

Which bodies of the solar system contain the least ice and water?
A. Terrestrial planets
B. Galilean moons
C. Ice giants
D. Comets

A

A - Terrestrial planets contain the least ice and water.

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11
Q

How did humanity first measure the distance between
Earth and the sun?
A. By measuring the changing lengths of the shadows as
Earth orbits the sun
B. By measuring the parallax of the transit of Venus
C. By reflecting light off the moon
D. By sending a probe to the sun

A

B - By measuring the parallax of the transit of Venus.

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12
Q

Why do the planets line up along the ecliptic?
A. These photographs are pure coincidence
B. They are very far away from Earth and so appear to
be in a straight line
C. Their orbits trace the flat disk in which they formed

A

C - Planets line up along the ecliptic because their orbits trace the flat disk in which they are formed.

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13
Q

What is the core accretion model for planet-forming?

A
  • combination of elements
  • rocky core forms
  • gas accretes on the core
  • the gas giant is complete
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14
Q

What is the gas instability model for planet-forming?

A
  • gas revolves around a star
  • some gas collapses over time due to gravity
  • giant planet forms quickly before a core could form
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15
Q

Which type of evidence could distinguish the “core
accretion” model from the “gas instability” model of giant planet formation?
A. The existence of gas giant planets around other stars
B. The existence of a rocky core in Jupiter and Saturn
C. The existence of helium in the atmospheres of gas
giants

A

B - The existence of a rocky core in Jupiter and Saturn.

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16
Q

The gas instability model explains the structure of the
terrestrial planets.
A. True
B. False

A

B - False!

17
Q

According to the core accretion hypothesis, the asteroids in the asteroid belt are the remains of a planet that broke apart after it was fully formed.
A. true
B. false

A

B - False: Asteroids are actually the remains of a planet that NEVER FORMED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

18
Q

What role does Jupiter play in the formation of the solar system?
A. Affects the sizes of the terrestrial planets
B. Affects the orbits of water-bearing small solar system
bodies (comets and Kuiper Belt Objects)
C. Affects the orbits of the other giant planets
D. All of the above

A

D - All of the above!

19
Q

How did Earth get its water?
A. From comets (or
other small icy
bodies) steered by
Jupiter
B. Earth formed with
more water than the
other terrestrial
planets

A

We don’t necessarily know!!

20
Q

Why don’t astronomers know where all the Earth-
crossing asteroids are located?
A. Their orbits are highly elliptical.
B. They reflect too much sunlight.
C. Most of them are hidden between the rings of Jupiter and Saturn.
D. They are small, faint, and reflect only a small amount of sunlight.

A

D - The Earth-crossing asteroids are small, faint and don’t reflect a lot of sunlight.

21
Q

Based on the orbit of 2017/U1, astronomers concluded that it is a(n)
A. Comet
B. Near-Earth Asteroid
C. Object from outside the solar system
D. Alien spaceship

A

C - outside the solar system!

22
Q

Which fundamental law best explains why the star (in addition to the planet) orbits the center of mass?
A. Orbits sweep equal areas in equal times.
B. The orbital period squared is proportional to the semi-major axis cubed.
C. An object in motion stays in motion; an object at rest.
D. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

A

D - Newton’s third law

23
Q

The wavelength is related to which
property of the planet?
A. Its mass
B. Its size
C. Its orbital period
D. Its eccentricity

A

C - orbital period

24
Q

The amplitude is related to which
property of the planet?
A. Its mass
B. Its size
C. Its orbital period
D. Its eccentricity

A

A - the mass

25
Q

The change in brightness of the
star during a transit is
proportional to…
A. The planet diameter
B. The planet diameter squared
C. The planet diameter cubed
D. The planet orbital distance

A

B - the planet diameter squared

26
Q

The time between transits is equal to…
A. Half of an Earth-year
B. One rotation of the exoplanet on its axis (a “day”)
C. One month of the exoplanet
D. One orbital period of the exoplanet (a “year”)

A

D - a “year” for the exoplanet

27
Q

The transits of a planet look
better from space than from the
ground in part because there is no
atmospheric turbulence in space.
A. True
B. False

A

A - true

28
Q

Which transiting planets
are hardest to find?
A. Small planets close to their stars
B. Small planets far from their stars
C. Big planets close to their stars
D. Big planets far from their stars

A

B - small planets far from their stars

29
Q

What is one advantage of the microlensing technique for discovering
exoplanets?
A. It is very sensitive to Earth-like planets.
B. It is possible to re-observe the planets we discover to search for liquid
water.
C. It is very effective at discovering planets around the stars closest to the
sun.
D. The observations can be done quickly.

A

A - Microlensing is very sensitive to Earth-like planets.

30
Q

Which of the following statements best describes our understanding about how common Earth-like planets are?

A. Because most Earth-like planets do not transit their stars, we have no way of gathering statistical information about them.

B. Because Earth-like planets make a very shallow transit depth, we have no way of gathering statistical information about them.

C. Because we understand geometry and our detection capabilities, we can use statistics to infer the number of Earth-like planets in the galaxy.

D. Our best estimate of the number of Earth-like planets in the galaxy is the number of Earth-like planets we have detected.

A

C!

31
Q

Which of the following statements best describes our understanding about rocky exoplanets?
A. All exoplanets smaller than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth are rocky.
B. All exoplanets larger than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth have thick gas envelopes.
C. Rocky exoplanets are generally smaller than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth.
D. We have no way of predicting whether an exoplanet will be rocky from its size alone.

A

C - Exoplanets are generally smaller than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth.

32
Q

Exoplanets are fundamentally different from the solar system planets, so our theories of planet formation do not need to explain them.
A. True
B. False

A

B - False!

33
Q

Which of the following statements best describes our understanding of whether or not there are patterns in planetary systems?
A. The types of planets orbiting a star are random.
B. The types of planets orbiting a star originally had patterns, but the patterns got randomized.
C. The types of planets orbiting a star originally had patterns, and in many systems those patterns are still visible today.
D. We have not discovered enough exoplanets to determine whether their planetary systems have patterns or not.

A

C - The original systems had patterns, and we can still see some in place today.

Descriptive Astronomy (2 decks)

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