Astronomy Test #3 2
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- Venus and Mars are _______ planets.
- Terrestrial
- Venus is a bit ______ than Earth and has the same _____.
-
smaller
density - Venus' orbit radius is _____ AU, meaning it is _____ to the sun than the Earth.
-
0.75
closer - In 1962, Astronomers started using ____________ and ________ to start looking at the surface of Venus.
-
radio telescopes
radar wavelengths - Retrograde Rotation (Venus demonstrates this)
- planet is rotating backwards relative to other planets
- Venus rotates extremely ____
- slow
- Venus (does/does not) have a magnetic field.
- does not
- Atmosphere of Venus:
-
96% Carbon Dioxide
3.5% Nitrogren
Small amount of water, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and hydroflouric acid. - Why should Venus have been "wet"?
- As the sun aged, it got warmer and so did Venus - vaporizing the water.
- Why is Venus so hot?
- A "runaway" greenhouse effect took place, baking the carbon dioxide out of the crust and leaving the planets surface at about 900 degrees.
- Clouds of Venus are made from _____ and droplets of _______.
-
sulfur
sulfuric acid - The density of Venus' atmosphere is about _____ times that of Earth.
- 90
- Venus (has/does not have) plate tectonics.
- does not have
- Venus' surface (is/is not) very volcanic.
- is
- Shield Volcano
-
Volcanoes are like those in Hawaii "hot spot" volcanoes.
No steep slope, more liquid lava. - The surface of Venus is made from ______.
- basalt
- ______ craters on Venus' surface means that the age is very _____.
-
Few (under 1000)
Young (500 million years old) - Mars is relatively small; only ____ percent of Earth's volume.
- 15
- Expect Mars to have ____ it's internal heat.
- lost
- Distance from the sun is about ____ AU.
- 1.5
- The axis of Mars is tipped 24 degrees, leading to _____.
- seasons
- Mars (has/does not have) polar ice caps.
- has
- Best to view Mars at _______.
- opposition
- Mars (does/does not) currently have a magnetic field.
- does not
- The atmosphere of Mars is about ___ percent as dense as Earth's.
- 1
- Mars' atmosphere is made of:
-
95% Carbon Dioxide
A few percent of nitrogen and argon. - The atmospheric pressure of Mars is too low for _____ to exist.
- liquid water
- The oxygen in Mars' atmosphere has reacted with iron in the crust to produce ______.
- iron oxide (rust)
- Largest Volcano is on Mars. What is it's name and approximate size?
-
Olympus Mons
Size of Arizona - Tharsis Rise
- large "hot spot" volcanoes
- Valles Marineris
- Rift Valley that would stretch across the entire United States
- Ice caps on Mars' North and South poles change with the seasons and are made of:
- frozen carbon dioxide on top of water ice.
- Mars has two moons named:
- Phobos and Deimos
- Phobos and Deimos are ___ moons with ____ albedos.
-
small (probably captured asteroids)
low (less than 10%, very dark) - Phobos' revolves around Mars in ____ time than it takes Mars to rotate ____.
-
less
once - Phobos rises in the _____, and sets in the ______.
-
West
East - Since Phobos is slowly nearing Mars, it will eventually:
- crash into it.
- Jupiter and Saturn are ____ planets.
- Jovian
-
Jupiter is the ____ planet.
How many earth masses? -
largest
318
2.5 times mass of all planets combined. -
Saturn is the ______ planet.
How many earth masses? -
second largest
95 - Jupiter and Saturn (have/do not have) a surface.
- do not have
- Jupiter and Saturn rotate in about ____ hours.
-
ten
very fast - Cloud belts are ____.
-
dark
E to W wind flow - Cloud zones are _____.
-
light
E to W wind flow - Great Red Spot
- giant low pressure "storm" on Jupiter
- Jupiter and Saturn are not spherical, they are noticeably ______.
- oblate
- Oblate shape and rotation show that Jupiter and Saturn are made of _____.
- fluids
- Differential Rotation
-
equator moves faster than poles
(Jupiter and Saturn) - Jupiter and Saturn are made mostly of:
- hydrogen and helium
- Liquid metallic hydrogen creates Jupiter's:
- large magnetic field
- Clouds of Jupiter and Saturn are made of:
-
Methane
Ammonia
Water
Carbon Monoxide
Various hydrocarbons - Jupiter and Saturn give of ____ energy than they get from the sun.
- more
- Jupiter has the ________ planetary magnetic field.
- largest and strongest
- Jupiter's magnetic field is produced by:
- liquid metallic hydrogen
- Decimeter Radiation
- 0.10 m wavelength
- Decameter Radiation
- 10 m wavelength
- Jupiter and Saturn's magenetic fields produce _____.
- aurorae
- Big moons are broken up by ________.
- tidal forces
- Jupiter and Saturn (have/have no) rings.
- have
- Cannot see Jupiter's rings from Earth because they are _____ and made of _________.
-
tiny
micron-sized dust - Larger moons are found in the _______.
- Roche Limit
- Saturn's rings are _____ and _____ visible from Earth. They are made of _____.
-
large
easily
small water ice particles - Ringlets
- about 1000 make up larger rings
- F-Ring of Saturn
- Shepherd Moons hold it in place. Inside moon puts energy in, outside moon takes energy out.
- Jupiter's rings are _____ and _____ than Saturn's. Made of _____.
-
smaller
thinner
water ice - Saturn's rings are ____ in color than Jupiter's because they are made of _____.
-
darker
small bits of rock and dust - Saturn gets about _____ as much sunlight as Earth.
-
1/100
Ices are common. - Jupiter gets about ____ as much sunlight as Earth.
-
1/25
Ices are common. - Galilean Moons (names)
-
Io
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto - Rocky Galilean Moons
-
Io
Europa - Icy Galilean Moons
-
Ganymede
Callisto - Callisto
-
heavily cratered
old surface
surface is mostly water ice
surface is very dark (low albedo) - Ganymede
- largest moon in the solar system
- Europa
-
surface is bright white
new surface
very few craters
presumably the water ice is redone by liquid water - How is Europa's water ice redone?
- The water ice is redone by liquid water. Tidal forces due to resonance effect and friction produces heat.
- Io
-
No craters
Has many active volcanoes
Produce many compunds of sulfur
Color is yellow, red, and black
Most geologically active place in the solar system - Sulfur on Io does what?
- conducts current and makes decameter radiation
- Io is the most geologically active place in the solar system because of:
- heat produced by tidal effects
- Saturn's largest moon:
- Titan
- Titan
-
has substantial atmosphere
85% Nitrogen
Ammonnia
Organic "smog" covers it
Density is about 1.5 times Earth's atmosphere - Titan can retain an atmopshere because:
- the surface is cold
- Uranus and Neptune are _____ planets.
- Jovian
- Uranus and Neptune's solar winds are in _____ and _____.
-
belts
zones - Uranus is essentially tipped on it's _____, so seasons are _____.
-
side
extreme - Uranus and Neptune are blue colored due to:
- methane absorbing red light
- Neptune was the first _____ planet discovered.
- predicted
- Uranus' magnetic field is:
- shifted off to the side in the mantle
- The source of Uranus' magenetic field is:
- liquid water mantle with dissolved ammonia and methane
- Uranus' rings are:
- pieces of frozen methane
- Uranus has a ____ surface.
- dark
- Uranus' dark surface is from:
- carbon produced by UV light interacting with methane.
- Occultation
- planet and rings cover up stars
- Neptune's rings are ___ shaped.
-
arc
Don't go all the way around. - Moons of Neptune (names)
-
Triton
Nereid - Triton
-
Retrograde Rotation
Has a thin nitrogen atmosphere.
Is moving toward Neptune. - Triton is similar to _____.
- Pluto
- Nereid's orbit is:
- extremely elliptical.
- Pluto was discovered ______.
- accidentally in 1930.
- Pluto's moons:
-
Charon
+ two more tiny moons
Made of methane ice - Asteroid belt is found:
- between Mars and Jupiter
- Largest asteroid
- Ceres
- _______ gaps show effects of Jupiter through resonances.
- Kirkwood
- Asteroids are similar in composition to _______ planets.
- terrestrial
- Asteroids are ______ left over from the formation of the solar system.
- planetesimals
- Asteroids ______ frequently.
- collide
- Asteroid Classes
-
S-type
M-type
C-type - S-type Asteroids
- "stony"; made from silicate rocks
- M-type Asteroids
- "metal"; made from iron and nickel
- C-type Asteroids
- "carbon"; have a large concentration of carbon
- Leftovers from the outer solar system make up the _______ belt and ______ cloud.
-
Kuiper
Oort - Kuiper Belt is approximately in the plane of the Solar System in orbits just outside _______.
- Neptune
- Oort Cloud is a ________ distribution located thousands of AU from the sun.
- spherical
- Two types of comet tails
-
Ion Tail
Dust Tail - Comet tails always point _____ the sun.
- away from
- Comet dust tails are pushed back by ______.
- light pressure
- Comet ion tails are pushed back by _____.
- solar wind
- Body of comet is called ____.
- coma
- Dust particles from comets produce:
- meteor showers
- Meteoroid
- small body still in space that's approaching the Earth
- Meteor
- an object vaporizing in the Earth's atmosphere (dust from comets)
- Meteorite
- meteor that lands on earth (come from asteroids)
- Easiest to find meteorites in:
- Antarctica
- Meteorite "finds"
- didn't see it fall
- Meteorite "falls"
- did see it fall
- Iron Meteorites:
- cooled from a molten state very slowly, a few degrees every million years
- Most meteorite "finds" are:
- Iron meteorites
- Most meteorite "falls" are:
- Stony meteorites
- Two types of stony meteorites:
-
Chondrites
Achondrites - Carbonaceous Condrites
-
similar to carbon asteroids
have not been heated - come from a cold part of the solar system
still have volatile compounds - Achondrites
-
heated
lava - Widmanstatten Pattern
-
crosshatch pattern found in iron meteroites
due to slow cooling process