The Solar System Flashcards
(127 cards)
1
Q
What is the mass of the Sun compared to Earth?
A
x333,000
2 billion trillion trillion kg
2
Q
What is the diameter of the Sun?
A
1.4 million km
3
Q
What is the age of the Sun?
A
4.6 billion years
4
Q
What is the core temperature of the Sun?
A
15 million degrees centigrade
5
Q
What percentage of the mas of the Solar System does the Sun account for?
A
99.9%
6
Q
What is the closest thing to a perfect sphere observed in nature?
A
The Sun
7
Q
How far is 1 light year?
A
9.5 trillion km
8
Q
How many tonnes of hydrogen is converted into helium in the Sun’s core every second?
A
600 million tonnes
9
Q
How far is the Sun from the galactic centre?
A
27 thousand light years
10
Q
How long does it take the Sun to orbit the galactic centre?
A
225-250 million years
11
Q
What are solar winds?
A
Ejections of plasma (superheated electrically charged particles) that originate in the corona and can travel at over 1 million km / hour
12
Q
What is the mass of Earth?
A
5.9 trillion trillion kg
13
Q
What is the diameter of Earth?
A
12.7 thousand km
14
Q
What is the circumference of Earth?
A
40.1 thousand km
15
Q
What is the orbit distance of Earth?
A
150 million km
16
Q
What is the densist planet in the solar system?
A
Earth
17
Q
How high is Mount Everest?
A
8.8 km
18
Q
How high is Mauna Kea?
A
10 km
19
Q
How deep is the Mariana Trench?
A
10.9 km
20
Q
To what altitude does the Earth’s atmosphere extend?
A
100 km
21
Q
How long ago did cyanobacteria begin producing oxygen as a waste product?
A
Around 2.5 million years ago
22
Q
What is the mass of Mercury compared to Earth?
A
x0.055
330 billion trillion kg
23
Q
What is the diameter of Mercury?
A
4.9 thousand km
24
Q
What is the orbit distance of Mercury?
A
58 million km
0.4 AU
25
What is the orbit period of Mercury?
88 Earth days
26
What is the surface temperature of Mercury?
-180 to 430 degrees centigrade
27
Which planet has a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance?
Mercury
| meaning its solar days are twice as long as its years
28
Which two moons are larger than Mercury?
Ganymede and Titan
29
Which planet is believed to have previously been in orbit close to Mars due to the relatively high concentrations of volatile elements such as sulphur and potassium?
Mercury
30
Which is the innermost planet to have ice on its surface?
Mercury
| It has ice in polar craters
31
What is the name of the hypothetical planet theorised in the 19th century to explain the peculiarities of Mercury's orbit?
Vulcan
| the peculiarities have now been explain by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity
32
What is the mass of Venus compared to Earth?
x0. 82
| 4. 9 trillion trillion kg
33
What is the diameter of Venus?
12.1 thousand km
34
What is the orbit distance of Venus?
108 million km
| 0.7 AU
35
What is the orbit period of Venus?
225 Earth days
36
What is the surface temperature of Venus?
462 degrees centigrade
37
What makes up 96.5% of Venus' atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide
38
Which are the two planets with a retrograde (clockwise) rotation?
Venus and Uranus
39
Which is the only planet to have a sidereal day longer than one year?
Venus
40
What is the second brightest object in the night sky?
Venus
| due to the reflectivity of its opaque layer of clouds formed from sulphuric acid
41
What is the mass of Mars compared to Earth?
x0.11
| 640 billion trillion kg
42
What is the diameter of Mars?
6,800 km
43
What are the names of Mars' two moons?
Phobos & Deimos
44
What is the orbit distance of Mars?
228 million km
| 1.5 AU
45
What is the orbit period of Mars?
689 Earth days?
46
What is the surface temperature of Mars?
-87 to -5 degrees centigrade
47
Which planet has the most eccentric orbit?
Mars
48
Which is the highest volcano in the Solar System?
Oympus Mons, located in the Tharsis region on Mars
| 21 km
49
What is the largest canyon in the Solar System?
Valles Marineris, located in the Tharsis region on Mars
| 4,000 km long; 200 km wide; 7 km deep
50
What is the name of the thoerised ocean in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars?
Vastatis Borealis
51
The presence of which material on the Martian surface suggests that there must have been vast bodies of standing water?
Gypsum
52
What is the mass of the Moon compared to Earth?
x0.012
| 73 billion trillion kg
53
What is the diameter of the Moon?
3.4 thousand km
54
What is the orbit distance of the Moon?
384.4 thousand km
55
What is the surface temperature on the Moon?
-173 to 127 degrees centigrade
56
Why does the Moon always show the same face to us?
It is tidally locked to Earth
57
How many times is the Sun's diameter greater than that of the Moon's?
400
| and as the Sun is 400 times further away than the Moon, we get perfect solar eclipses
58
Why is the side of the Moon facing us darker?
Because of the maria, solidified remanants of anciant lunar seas of molten magma, which are more abundant on the near side
59
Why does the Moon have moonquakes?
Because of the Earth's gravitational pull
60
How much further away does the Moon move away from Earth each year?
4 cm
61
What is the only swarf planet in the asteroid belt?
Ceres
| it has a mass of 940 billion billion kg and makes up one third of the mass of the asteroid belt
62
What is the average distance between bodies in the asteroid belt?
1 million km
63
What cause the scattering of 99.9% of the mass of the asteroid belt?
The early migration of Jupiter
64
If all the material in the asteroid belt were to be combined, the resulting object's diameter would be about half of which body?
The Moon
65
What is the largest mountain in the Solar System?
Rheasilvia Mons on the asteroid Vesta
| 22 km
66
What is the mass of Jupiter compared to Earth?
x318
| 1.9 thousand trillion trillion kg
67
What is the diameter of Jupiter?
143,000 km
68
How many moons does Jupiter have?
79
69
What is the orbit distance of Jupiter?
778 million km
| 5.2 AU
70
What is the orbit period of Jupiter?
11.9 Earth years
71
What is the surface temperature of Jupiter?
-108 degrees centigrade
72
How many times the size of Earth is Jupiter?
1,300
73
Jupiter is how many times the mass of all other planets, moons and asteroids in the Solar System?
2.5
74
Which planet has the shortest day?
Jupiter
| 9 hours 55 minutes
75
How many times more massive would Jupiter have to be for nuclear fusion to occur?
80
76
Which is the most volcanic body in the Solar System?
Io
| geologically active due to tidal heating
77
Which body has the largest volcanic eruptions in the Solar System?
Io
| plumes extend up to 500 km above the surface
78
Why is Io yellow in colour?
It is covered in frozen sulphur
79
What is the orbit period of Io?
42 hours
80
What is the smoothest object in the Solar System?
Europa
81
Which body is thought to have twice as much as Earth?
Europa
| with a layer of salt water 100 km deep despite only being about the size of the Moon
82
Which body has the larrgest crater in the Solar System?
Castillo
| the Valhalla Crater is almost 4,000 km in diameter
83
What is the mass of Saturn compared to Earth?
x95
| 570 trillion trillion kg
84
What is the diameter of Saturn?
121,000 km
85
How many moons does Saturn have?
82
86
What is the orbit distance of Saturn?
1. 4 billion km
| 9. 5 AU
87
What is the orbit period of Saturn?
29 Earth years
88
What is the surface temperature of Saturn?
-139 degrees centigrade
89
How far do Saturn's rings stretch out from its surface?
12,700 km
90
What is the average thickness of Saturn's rings?
10 m
91
How old are Saturn's rings?
Between 10-100 million years
(likely caused by a moon finding itself within the Roche limit and being destroyed by Saturn's tidal gravitational forces)
92
Which planets give off more energy than they receive from the Sun?
Jupiter, Saturn & Neptune - though, curiously, not Uranus
(thought to be generated from gravitational compression within the planets combined with the friction from large amounts of helium within the atmosphere)
93
Which is the least dense planet?
Saturn
94
Why does Saturn appear yellow?
Ammonia crystals in the upper atmosphere
95
Which planet has the fastest winds in the Solar System?
Saturn
| 1,800 km / hour
96
Which moon has liquid methane lakes?
Titan
97
Which is the most reflective body in the Solar System?
Enceladus
98
What is the diameter of Enceladus?
400 km
99
Which moon has created Saturn's E ring by spraying out icy particles from its 'tiger stripes'?
Enceladus
100
Which moon is known as the 'Death Star Moon'?
Mimas
101
What is the mass of Uranus compared to Earth?
x15
| 86 trillion trillion kg
102
What is the diameter of Uranus?
51,000 km
103
How many moons does Uranus have?
27
104
What is the orbit distance of Uranus?
2.9 billion km (30.1 AU)
105
What is the orbit period of Uranus?
84 Earth years
106
What is the surface temperature of Uranus?
-224 degrees centigrade
107
When was Uranus discovered?
1781 by William Herschel
108
Due to Uranus' 98 degree axis, how many years of direct sunlight / darkness do its poles get?
42 years
109
What gives Uranus and Neptune their blue colour?
Methane gas in their atmosphere
110
Which is the coldest planet is the Solar System?
Uranus
| Possibly due to the collision that knocked it on its side causing it to lose some of its core heat
111
What are the moons of Uranus named after?
Characters that appear in, or are mentioned in, the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope
112
What is the mass of Neptune compared to Earth?
x17
| 100 trillion trillion kg
113
What is the diameter of Neptune?
50,000 km
114
How many moons does Neptune have?
14
115
What is the orbit distance of Neptune?
4. 5 billion km
| 30. 1 AU
116
What is the orbit period of Neptune?
164 Earth years
117
What is the surface temperature of Neptune?
-214 degrees centigrade
118
When was Neptune discovered?
1846
119
What caused the Late Heavy Bombardment?
Neptune being pushed into the Kuiper belt by the orbital resonance that existed between Jupiter and Saturn around 3.9 billion years ago
120
What brought water to Earth?
Collision with comets, particularly during the Late Heavily Bombardment
121
Which of Neptune's moons is believed to have been captured from the Kuiper belt due to its retrograde orbit and composition similar to that of Pluto?
Triton
| Saturn's moon Phoebe is also thought to have been captured from the Kuiper Belt
122
Which moons are known to be geologically active?
Io, Europa, Enceladus, Titon & Triton
123
What is the orbital distance of the Kuiper Belt?
30 to 50 AU
124
What are the 3 dwarf planets found in the Kuiper Belt?
Pluto, Haumea & Makemake
125
What is the orbital distance of the Ópik-Oort Cloud?
50,000 AU
| this is about a quarter of the way to Proxima Centauri
126
Where are short-period comets (with orbit paths of less than 200 years) are believed to originate from?
The Kuiper Belt
127
Where are long-period comets (with orbit paths of more than 200 years) are believed to originate from?
The Ópik-Oort Cloud
