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Astronomy
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Dec 6, 2023
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Chapter 4
What is a planetary nebula?
C)the result of a relatively gentle stellar outburst in which matter is ejected into space
2. The MOST abundant material in the universe is:
D)hydrogen.
3. Where in the universe are heavy elements with masses greater than that of helium being produced at
this time?
A)in the central cores of stars
4. In the Nice model of solar system formation:
B)Jupiter and Saturn formed first, followed by Uranus and Neptune.
5. The MOST likely mechanism for the solar system is that the:
A) The sun and planets slowly condensed to their present form from a gas and dust cloud.
6. What name is given to the concentration of mass that formed at the center of the solar nebula and
eventually became the Sun?
D)the protosun
7. What process heated the early solar nebula as it slowly condensed toward a central protosun?
D)the release of heat by collisions of particles as they gained kinetic energy in falling toward the center of
the nebula
8. A gas and dust cloud will not necessarily collapse because it normally experiences a balance between
its internal gas pressure and:
C)gravity.
9. What are the three “common” substances that are believed to be important in planet formation?
B)rock, ices, and gas
10. The reason for the vast amount of hydrogen in the interior of Jupiter is probably that:
D)the mass of the initial condensation of rocks at Jupiter's orbit was sufficient to attract vast amounts of
gas to it.
11. The ice giants are:
B)Neptune and Uranus.
12. Which planet in our solar system has the LARGEST mass?
D)Jupiter
13. The LARGEST of the terrestrial planets is:
B)Earth.
14. The MOST probable process for the formation or acquisition of the planets of the Sun is the:
B)relatively slow growth of smaller objects by collisions and mutual gravitational attraction.
15. One particularly important collision in the early inner solar system about 100 million years after
Earth's formation resulted in the:
D)formation of our Moon.
16. What is the Kuiper belt?
C)the relatively flat distribution of objects in the plane of the ecliptic, extending from around the orbit of
Pluto out to about 50 AU from the Sun
17. The large gravitational influences of Jupiter and Saturn forced some planetesimals in their
neighborhood to move outward away from the Sun. A consequence of these gravitational forces was:
D)the creation, or at least enlargement, of the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud.
18. Pluto is in a 2:3 resonance orbit with Neptune. What does this mean?
A)During the time that Neptune orbits the Sun three times, Pluto orbits it twice.
19. The asteroid belt exists between the orbits of which planets?
C)Mars and Jupiter
20. The composition of a typical asteroid is:
A)rock and metal.
21. What process had the greatest influence on the features of the Moon during the first billion years of its
existence?
C)impacts from space
22. One consequence of the period of Late Heavy Bombardment is believed to be this: The mantle of a
planet was almost obliterated by collisions, leaving it with an unusually large iron core. This planet is:
A)Mercury.
23. An object in the solar system orbits the Sun and has enough mass that its gravity has pulled it into a
spherical shape, but it does not have enough gravity to clear its neighborhood of orbiting debris. This
object is classified as a(n):
D)dwarf planet.
24. Each of the following characteristics is included in the formal definition of a planet EXCEPT ONE.
Which is the exception?
C)spins fast enough to produce its own magnetic field
25. Pluto was originally classified as a planet, but new criteria for the definition of a planet were adopted,
and Pluto failed to meet one of them. Which one?
D)Pluto does not have enough gravity to clear its orbit.
26. Comets are typically:
D)chunks of ice that begin to vaporize if they pass close to the Sun.
27. Viewed from a position above the north pole of the Sun, the direction of the motion of the planets in
their orbits is:
B)counterclockwise.
28. The correct sequence of planets in our solar system from the Sun outward is:
B)Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
29. What are the main characteristics of our solar system?
A)four small planets close to the Sun and four large planets far from the Sun
30. The overall shape of the orbits of MOST of the planets in the solar system is:
C)slightly elliptical, but nearly circular.
31. Most of the planets orbit the Sun on or close to the:
B)ecliptic plane.
32. At what point in time do we say that the protosun became the Sun?
A)when thermonuclear fusion reactions began at its center
Chapter 5
1. In studying newly forming star regions such as the Great Nebula of Orion, which portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum is MOST valuable?
A)infrared
2. Disks of gas and dust have been found around:
D)stars of various ages.
3. What was the FIRST direct evidence that some other solar-type stars might have planets?
D)warped disks of dust and gas around some young stars
4. In the search for planets around other stars, which possible line of evidence has NOT yet been seen?
C)faint pinpoints of light slowly circling a star
5. In searches for planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, what is the astrometric method?
C)searching for tiny wobbles in the position of a star, due to the gravitational pull of a planet orbiting
around it
6. What is the microlensing technique?
B)A planet that passes between Earth and some distant star focuses the starlight and causes an increase in
its apparent brightness.
7. Extrasolar planets have NOT been found:
B)around stars in the disks of other galaxies.
8. MOST extrasolar planets have been found:
A)around stars in the disk of our Galaxy.
9. How do we measure the mass of an extrasolar planet?
A)We use Newton's law of gravity, using the measured distance of the planet from its star and the planet's
gravitational pull on the star.
10. The exoplanet HAT P-32b, discovered in 2011 in the constellation Andromeda, has been measured to
have a mass about the same as Jupiter's but a radius about twice that of Jupiter. How does its density
compare with Jupiter's density?
A)It is smaller than Jupiter's density.
11. The atmosphere of the gas-giant planet HD 209458b is believed to contain hydrogen, sodium, oxygen,
carbon, and carbon monoxide. Where does this information come from?
B)Light shines through the planet's atmosphere when it passes in front of its star, so a spectrum can be
taken.
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12. Many of the exoplanets discovered thus far are in orbits near their stars. This means they are probably:
D)in synchronous orbits.
13. In what way are many of the extrasolar planetary systems that have been discovered so far
fundamentally different from our own solar system?
B)The terrestrial-mass planets are significantly outnumbered by the Jovian-mass planets.
14. What is surprising about the extrasolar planets that have so far been discovered?
C)Many of the extrasolar planets are giant planets like Jupiter, orbiting at distances characteristic of
terrestrial planets like Earth, where giant planets cannot form.
15. We have discovered planets in each of the following situations EXCEPT ONE. Which is the
exception?
C)orbiting black holes
16. We have begun to observe exoplanets not orbiting stars. How do we think they were formed?
D)They formed normally in solar systems but then were forced out by the gravitational influences of other
masses.
17. Approximately how many planets are believed to exist in our Galaxy?
D)at least 100 billion
18. In order for an exoplanet to be capable of sustaining life, all of the following situations would have to
be true EXCEPT ONE. Which is the exception?
D)The planet would have to be in a solar system containing a giant planet in a highly eccentric orbit.
19. The habitable zone in our own solar system encompasses:
D)Earth only.
20. Which characteristic in extrasolar planets is one for which we look as a likely characteristic of a
life-bearing planet?
B)an oxygen-rich atmosphere
21. All of the following characteristics are usually taken to be sufficient to rule out the existence of life on
an extrasolar planet EXCEPT ONE. Which is the exception?
D)The star around which the planet orbits is older than the Sun.
22. What is the status of our search for life elsewhere in the universe?
C)Earthlike planets, with an abundance of liquid water, have been discovered around other stars, but signs
of life have not yet been found on them.
Chapter 6
1. Viewed from a position above the north pole of the Sun, the direction of the motion of the planets in
their orbits is:
B)counterclockwise.
2. A theory of the origin of the solar system must take into account all important general properties of the
planets, which include three of the four properties listed. Which one is NOT an important general
property of the planets?
B)The magnetic fields of the planets are produced by a variety of mechanisms.
3. Which is the MOST abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere?
B)nitrogen
4. The major constituents of Earth's atmosphere are:
D)77% nitrogen and 21% oxygen.
5. How was the Mid-Atlantic Ridge formed?
C)Molten rock pushed up from Earth's interior and forced two crustal plates apart.
6. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Earth's crust is a region where:
B)two tectonic plates are slowly spreading apart.
7. The motions of large portions of Earth's surface, the plates, are caused by:
D)convective flow of material in Earth's interior.
8. Continental drift on Earth is a result of:
C)large-scale circulation of partly molten or plastic rock in Earth's interior.
9. The magnetic field of Earth:
A)is related to its rotation around its axis.
10. The Earth's magnetic field protects Earth and its inhabitants from:
D)the solar wind, which would otherwise irradiate and damage life forms if not deflected.
11. The maria on the Moon appears to be:
C)craters filled with basalt from within the Moon.
12. Which process has played the greatest role in shaping the surface of the Moon?
A)impacts of interplanetary bodies of all sizes
13. What is the lunar regolith?
D)the layer of fine powder covering the lunar surface
14. The surface of the Moon may be described as:
D)regolith (pulverized rock).
15. Which theory about the origin of the Moon is now believed to be CORRECT?
D)An object about the size of Mars crashed into Earth, and debris from the collision formed the Moon.
16. Which statement is believed to be the CORRECT explanation for the origin of the Moon?
D)Earth was struck by a large planetesimal that caused material to be ejected. This material coalesced to
form the Moon.
17. How many times does the Moon rotate on its axis each time it orbits around Earth?
B)exactly once
18. Which statement is a CORRECT description of the Moon's orbit?
A)The Moon is gradually spiraling away from Earth.
19. The Moon, because of the tides in Earth's oceans, is:
A)spiraling outward, away from Earth.
20. Why is Mercury difficult to observe from Earth?
A)Mercury remains close to the Sun in its orbit and is seen in a dark sky only at sunrise or sunset, close to
the horizon.
21. Why is it relatively difficult to observe details on the surface of Mercury from Earth?
C)Mercury is a small object that always appears close to the Sun in the sky.
22. Mercury often appears as a bright object in the sky because:
C)of its nearness to the Sun.
23. Compared with that of Earth, Mercury's magnetic field is:
A)weak but clearly present.
24. Mercury is unique among the inner planets in having:
D)an iron core that occupies almost half its volume.
25. What is the relationship between Mercury's rotation about its axis (measured relative to the distant
stars) and its revolution around the Sun? (See Figures 6-34 and Figure. 6-44, Comins,
Discovering the Essential Universe, 6th ed.)
D)Mercury rotates 3 times for every 2 revolutions around the Sun.
26. Why has Mercury become locked into a 3-to-2 spin-orbit coupling instead of a 1-to-1 coupling like
the Moon around Earth?
B)Mercury's orbit is very eccentric, so its orbital speed varies while its rotation rate remains constant,
preventing a 1-to-1 lock.
27. Temperatures on the surface of Mercury are seen to fluctuate between very cold 100 K (–173°C) and
extremely hot 700 K (427°C). What does this measurement indicate about conditions on Mercury?
C)The planet is close to the Sun, has no atmosphere to maintain heat from the Sun, and is rotating.
28. On the basis of its appearance and general properties, which planetary body could be described as
Earth's twin?
D)Venus—about the same mass and diameter, dense atmosphere, and cloud-shrouded
29. Venus appears to be very bright in our skies at certain times because:
C)it is covered by very reflective clouds.
30. Tomorrow's weather report for Venus would be:
A)overcast and very hot.
31. The main reason for the very high temperature (750 K) on the surface of the planet Venus is thought to
be:
D)absorption of visible radiation by the Venusian surface and the subsequent trapping of infrared
radiation emitted by the surface by the atmosphere and clouds.
32. Why did the Soviet spacecraft survive for only a few minutes on the Venusian surface?
D)The conditions of extreme pressure, corrosive atmosphere, and high temperatures severely damaged it.
33. The MOST common surface features on Venus are:
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D)volcanoes and lava flows.
34. Why do we believe Mars is so small?
B)The material out of which a larger planet might have formed was scattered by the migration of the
Jovian planets.
35. Where are MOST of the extinct volcanoes located on Mars?
B)in the northern hemisphere
36. What is the “face” on Mars?
A)a natural rock formation that looks like a face in the right light
37. We have many reasons to believe the northern hemisphere of Mars has experienced more geologic
activity than the southern hemisphere. Which is NOT one of those reasons?
C)The Martian magnetic field is oriented north to south, opposite Earth's magnetic field.
38. What is the Valles Marineris?
A)a large rift valley system associated with the great volcanoes on Mars
39. Mars' atmosphere contains no water vapor. Why is this?
A)Mars' gravity is too weak to retain water vapor on the planet.
40. On which planetary body can distinct evidence be seen for the flow of water at an earlier time?
A)Mars
41. What significant evidence is there for the idea that large quantities of water once flowed on the planet
Mars?
D)deep, winding canyons and flood plains
42. We know that water exists on Mars, but where and in what state does it NOT exist on this planet?
A)flowing in river valleys
43. The reddish color of Mars is probably due to:
B)iron oxides such as rust.
44. The moons of Mars are:
D)irregularly shaped, cratered, and grooved.
45. A global magnetic field generated from inside the planet is found around which terrestrial planet or
planets?
B)Mercury and Earth
Chapter 7
Which is the BIGGEST planet in the solar system?
C)Jupiter
2. What characteristic features are seen on the visible surface of Jupiter?
A)light and dark bands parallel to the equator
3. Evidence of lava flow, either recent or ancient, is NOT found on:
A)Jupiter.
4. What is the basic structure of the planet Jupiter?
A)rocky core overlaid by a thick mantle of liquid hydrogen, relatively thin gaseous atmosphere
5. What material serves as the main electrical conductor in Jupiter's interior?
C)liquid metallic hydrogen
6. In what form is the hydrogen in Jupiter's interior?
A)liquid metallic hydrogen, electrically conducting
7. Where in the solar system would you look for liquid hydrogen?
D)in the deep interiors of Jupiter and Saturn
8. Which process does NOT contribute in a significant way to the energy radiated outward by Jupiter?
C)magnetic energy released by Jupiter's enormous magnetic field
9. How did Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 achieve lasting fame?
B)The comet crashed into Jupiter.
10. What causes Io to be so active geologically?
D)It is in a very circular orbit, but it is subjected to tidal flexing from Jupiter because of orbital
perturbations from the other Galilean satellites.
11. Io is believed to be mostly rock and iron, much like Earth. How does its density compare with Earth's
density?
D)Earth's density is larger because it experiences more gravitational compression, and the same materials
at Earth's core have greater density than they would at Io's core.
12. What appears to be the relationship between the surface of Europa and its interior?
C)A solid surface of ice overlays a layer of liquid water or slush.
13. What is the MOST probable physical mechanism to have caused the very long cracks and streaks that
crisscross the surface of Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter?
D)Tidal flexing by Jupiter cracked the icy surface, allowing subsurface fluids to gush out and freeze in
place.
14. Which is the LARGEST planetary satellite in the solar system?
C)Jupiter's satellite Ganymede
15. Which motion is seen to be characteristic of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter?
B)Each of the four Galilean moons keeps the same face toward the planet at all times.
16. The outer three Galilean moons of Jupiter differ from Io, the innermost Galilean moon, by surfaces of:
D)water ice.
17. The material that composes the rings of Jupiter:
C)is continually being ejected from the rings and being replenished from material from the Jovian moons.
18. Rings of dust and icy particles are found around which planets?
C)all four of the Jovian planets
19. The atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are alike in many ways. In which way do they DIFFER?
C)helium rain
20. The major constituent in the interior of Saturn is:
B)hydrogen.
21. Which planet has wide, bright rings that are easily visible from Earth?
D)Saturn
22. What observation technique was being used when Saturn's rings were originally discovered?
D)visual observations through a telescope
23. Saturn's moon Titan is different from all other moons of the planets because:
D)it possesses a thick atmosphere.
24. Which satellite of a planet in our solar system has a significant and dense atmosphere?
C)Titan, a moon of Saturn
25. Rhea is locked into a synchronous orbit by the strong gravitational pull of Saturn. This suggests that
its orbital eccentricity (e) is close to:
A)0.
26. Tidal flexing from Saturn appears to be responsible for the interior heating of Enceladus. Which is
NOT a consequence of this internal heating?
D)the absence of seasons on Enceladus
27. What is the visual appearance of Uranus from space?
C)blue-green and featureless
28. What scientific method was first used to discover the rings around Uranus?
D)occultation of a star as the planet and rings moved in front of it
29. Which planet was discovered by applying Newton's laws to the motion of another planet?
A)Neptune
30. Neptune's predominantly blue appearance is caused by:
D) the absorption of the red end of the spectrum of reflected sunlight by the methane in its atmosphere.
31. Triton, the giant moon of Neptune, differs from all other major moons of the planets because:
C)it orbits in a retrograde direction, opposite to the planet's rotation.
32. The effect of tidal forces caused by Triton on Neptune as it moves in its retrograde orbit will lead to
Triton:
B)spiraling in toward Neptune to eventual destruction by differential tidal forces on the moon.
Chapter 8
1. Which object was farthest from the Sun in 1990?
A)Pluto
2. Which object in the solar system has the greatest orbital inclination (orbit at the greatest angle to that of
Earth)?
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D)Pluto
3. Which object in the solar system has the greatest orbital eccentricity and therefore the MOST elliptical
orbit?
D)Pluto
4. If you were standing on Pluto, how often would you see the satellite Charon rise above the horizon
each day?
D)never because Charon is a synchronous satellite with an orbital period exactly equal to Pluto's rotation
period
5. A few of the largest asteroids appear to be spherical. How do you think they got this way?
D)Self-gravity was sufficient to pull the largest asteroids into a spherical shape during their early history.
6. Unlike the other dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, Makemake has no moons. Is this significant?
D)Yes. It means that it is harder to determine the mass of Makemake.
7. An asteroid is:
B)a planetesimal moving in an orbit around the Sun.
8. The asteroid belt exists between the orbits of the planets:
D)Mars and Jupiter.
9. Most of the asteroids of the solar system move around the Sun between the orbits of which planets?
D)Mars and Jupiter
10. What effect does Jupiter have on asteroids in the asteroid belt?
B)Jupiter perturbs only the orbits of asteroids whose orbital periods are a simple fraction (e.g., 1/2, 1/3,
2/3, 2/7) of its orbital period.
11. How are space probes to the outer planets such as Jupiter protected from being obliterated by
collisions with asteroids in the asteroid belt?
D)They aren't. Asteroids are so far apart that the spacecraft just sail through.
12. In the orbits of which of the planets do Lagrange points occur?
A)all the planets
13. Asteroids that orbit the Sun in the stable Lagrange points in Jupiter's orbit are known as:
C)Trojans.
14. The two Lagrange points in the Jupiter-Sun planetary system are:
A)positions in space at Jupiter's orbital distance from the Sun where the combined gravitational forces
from the Sun and Jupiter produce an equilibrium point at which asteroids can become trapped.
15. The major difference between the orbital paths of comets that we see in the inner solar system and
those of the asteroids in the asteroid belt is that:
D)cometary orbits are highly elliptical and at random inclinations to the ecliptic plane compared with the
circular orbits of asteroids in the ecliptic plane.
16. The MOST likely origin of the “dirty snowballs” that become comets when they are deflected into
orbits that bring them closer to the Sun is the:
D)Kuiper belt and Oort cloud surrounding the solar system.
17. The Kuiper belt is:
B)a flat or donut-shaped distribution of distant comets around the Sun, extending out about 500 AU.
18. MOST comet nuclei are believed to be:
B)pieces of dusty ice left over from the formation of the solar system.
19. Comet tails are the result of:
A)melting and evaporation of ices from the comet core.
20. Comet tails always point away from the Sun. This observation led Ludwig Biermann to predict the:
B)solar wind.
21. How does the dust tail of a comet compare with its gas tail?
C)Dust tails are more massive than gas tails.
22. The Deep Impact mission sent an impactor crashing into Comet Tempel 1. What happened?
D)The collision caused a huge cloud of debris, but 90% of it was pulled back to the surface by the
nucleus' gravity.
23. The number of times a typical comet can pass close to the Sun (i.e., the number of orbits the comet
can complete) before it is completely vaporized or destroyed is about:
D)100.
24. A shooting star is a:
D)small particle of interplanetary dust burning up and glowing as it enters Earth's atmosphere.
25. A chunk of rock and metal 10 km in diameter orbiting the Sun would be called a(n):
A)asteroid.
26. The cause of the “meteor showers” seen at regular times each year on Earth is MOST probably:
C)Earth moving through the remnant dust and rock fragments of an old comet that are orbiting the Sun in
the comet's old orbit.
27. From which planet is the meteoritic material found recently in Antarctica believed to have come?
B)Mars
28. Interplanetary material:
A)falls on Earth at the rate of several hundred tons per day, mostly as micrometeoroids.
29. Stony meteorites:
A)are very much like ordinary silicate rocks.
30. A meteorite that recently fell to Earth was found to contain evidence of the existence earlier in its
history of a short-lived radioactive isotope of aluminum, 21 Al, which can be produced only under
extremely energetic conditions and in nuclear reactions. What conclusion can be drawn from this
observation?
A)An energetic nuclear event, a supernova, occurred near the Sun, and it produced the 26 Al at about the
time the meteorite was formed.
31. The astronomical event that is now thought to have occurred some 65 million years ago, resulting in
the death of a large fraction of all living species and leaving a layer of clay containing an enhanced
concentration of a rare metal, iridium, in the geological record in rocks throughout Earth was a(n):
D)asteroid impact on Earth.
32. What is the likely connection between the metal iridium and the demise of Earth's dinosaur
population?
C)Iridium is found in meteorites but is rare on Earth. The existence of a worldwide layer of it suggests a
large meteor impact during the dinosaur age. The impact probably raised enough dust to block out
sunlight and kill the dinosaurs.
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