Foundations of Astronomy, Enhanced
13th Edition
ISBN: 9781305980686
Author: Michael A. Seeds; Dana Backman
Publisher: Cengage Learning US
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Chapter 21, Problem 3LTL
In the photo shown here, astronaut Alan Bean works at the Apollo 12 lander. Describe the horizon and the surface you see. What kind of terrain did they land on for this, the second human Moon landing, and why?
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Why Wait? To explore a planet, we often send first a flyby, then an orbiter, then a probe or a lander. There’s no doubt that probes and landers give the most close-up detail, so why don’t we send this type of mission first? For the planet of your choice, based just on the information in this chap- ter, give an example of why such a strategy might cause a mission to provide incomplete information about the planet or to fail outright.
Planetary scientists are hoping that the samples collected by the Perseverance Mars rover will eventually be collected by other robotic spacecraft and returned to Earth. Even if Perseverance could collect samples from all over Mars's surface, why wouldn't this tell us what the entire planet is made of?
Group of answer choices
The deep interior of Mars has had its composition altered (compared to the surface) by the impacts of asteroids that plunged almost all the way down to Mars's center.
Since Mars has a powerful magnetic field, it must have a liquid-iron portion of its core, and this material can't be collected by a rover on the surface.
Early in its history, Mars differentiated into layers of materials that had different densities, much like the Earth did.
Mars has such a low density that most of its interior must be made of liquid water and ice, so rocks from the surface simply won't be representative of the deep interior.
Which of the following planetary traits is well established?
choose one of the following:
a) Mercury has a similar compositon to that of our moon, in that they both have a substantial metal content.
b) Venus rotates more rapidly than Earth, but in the opposite direction.
c) Earth's atmosphere exhibits a slightly stronger greenhouse effect than that seen on Venus.
d)Astronomers have precisely calculated the mass of Mercury thanks to artificial satellites sent from Earth.
Chapter 21 Solutions
Foundations of Astronomy, Enhanced
Ch. 21 - How does the force of gravity cause tidal coupling...Ch. 21 - As viewed from Earth, how many times does the Moon...Ch. 21 - If the Moon is tidally coupled to Earth, is Earth...Ch. 21 - How can you determine the relative ages of the...Ch. 21 - From looking at images of the Moons near side, how...Ch. 21 - Why did the first Apollo missions land on the...Ch. 21 - Why do planetary scientists hypothesize that the...Ch. 21 - Prob. 8RQCh. 21 - Prob. 9RQCh. 21 - Prob. 10RQ
Ch. 21 - What is the most significant kind of erosion that...Ch. 21 - Provide evidence to support a hypothesis about...Ch. 21 - What evidence can you cite that the Moon had...Ch. 21 - What evidence would you expect to find on the Moon...Ch. 21 - How does the large-impact hypothesis explain the...Ch. 21 - Look at the Celestial Profiles for Earth, the...Ch. 21 - Look at the Celestial Profiles for the Moon and...Ch. 21 - Prob. 18RQCh. 21 - Look at the Celestial Profiles for Earth, the...Ch. 21 - Look at the Celestial Profiles for the Moon and...Ch. 21 - Why are features like the Moons maria not observed...Ch. 21 - What are the relative ages of the intercrater...Ch. 21 - What evidence can you give that Mercury has a...Ch. 21 - Why is it not surprising that there is no evidence...Ch. 21 - What evidence can you give that Mercury had...Ch. 21 - How are the histories of the Moon and Mercury...Ch. 21 - What property of the Moon and Mercury has resulted...Ch. 21 - Prob. 28RQCh. 21 - Prob. 1DQCh. 21 - Prob. 2DQCh. 21 - Prob. 3DQCh. 21 - Prob. 4DQCh. 21 - Look at the right top and bottom images in Figure...Ch. 21 - Calculate the escape velocity of the Moon from its...Ch. 21 - Prob. 3PCh. 21 - Why do small planets cool faster than large...Ch. 21 - The smallest detail visible through Earth-based...Ch. 21 - Prob. 6PCh. 21 - The trenches where Earths seafloor slips downward...Ch. 21 - An Apollo command module orbited the Moon about...Ch. 21 - Prob. 9PCh. 21 - What is the angular diameter of Mercury when it is...Ch. 21 - If you transmit radio signals to Mercury when...Ch. 21 - What is the wavelength of the most intense...Ch. 21 - Suppose you send a probe to land on Mercury, and...Ch. 21 - The smallest detail visible through Earth-based...Ch. 21 - Look at the image of the astronaut on the Moon at...Ch. 21 - Examine the shape of the horizon at the Apollo 17...Ch. 21 - In the photo shown here, astronaut Alan Bean works...
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