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The Earth, Our Solar System and Other Solar Systems
Astronomy 1
Mr. Kiledjian
1) The Earth:
a) What is the diameter of the earth? Mass of the earth? Average density and escape velocity?
b) What are the different layers of the earth, their size, their temperature and density?
c) What are the two kinds of earthquake waves? Which of them is longitudinal and which is transverse?
Which one can travel through both liquid and solid and which only through solid?
d) Why is the outer core of the earth liquid but the inner core solid?
e) What is the theory of Plate Tectonics and who came up with it? What do the words Pangaea, Laurasia,
and Gondwanaland stand for? Know some of the famous plates and which plate we are on.
f) Define the words Seafloor spreading, continental drift, oceanic rifts and rift valleys, subduction zones,
trenches, asthenosphere, lithosphere, Mid-Oceanic ridge, and convection currents.
g) Know the different layers of our atmosphere such as Troposphere, Stratosphere, etc. How does the
temperature of the atmosphere vary as a function of height? In which layer is the ozone located?
h) What is the origin of Earth’s magnetic field? Where are the south and north magnetic poles located?
What do the words Magnetosphere, Van Allen Belts, Shock waves, solar wind and Aurora mean?
i) Which asteroid is thought to have killed the dinosaurs and where is its crater and when was the crash?
2) The Moon:
a) What is the tilt of the moon with respect to its orbit? What is the mass of the moon, size of the moon,
its average density, escape velocity, and surface gravity?
b) What are the layers of the moon and their size and density? Are there any convection currents in
them? Does the moon produce any magnetic fields?
c) What do the terms Maria, Highlands, Rays, Rilles, and Impact Craters mean? What percent of the
moon’s surface is filled with maria, and what percentage are highlands? Which side of the moon has
more impact craters on it? Which side of the moon has a thicker crust?
d) What were the different Apollo missions to the moon? Where did they land and when? What were
some of the Luna missions?
e) When did the intense cratering of the moon and highlands begin? When and how were the Maria
formed? When did the cratering stop?
f) What are the different theories of the formation of the moon and which one is the one believed to
explain all the known data?
3) The Planets and their Moons
a) Which planet has a zero tilt? Almost a 90 degree tilt? Which planet is the densest and the least dense?
Which planet has the highest escape velocity and lease escape velocity? Which is the largest and
smallest planet? Which has the highest surface gravity and lowest surface gravity? Which planet is
the coldest and which the hottest on the average? Which planet is the closest in size to the Earth?
Which planet most resembles the Earth? Which planets rotate backwards? Which planet has the
strongest magnetic field? Which planets is the most oblate or oval? Which planet has the most
number of moons and which has no moons? When was each planet discovered and by whom?
b) Which moon is the smallest moon and which one is the largest? Which moon is the most volcanic?
Which moon is the largest in size relative to its planet? Which moon is the coldest on the average?
Which moon’s atmosphere most resembles the Earth’s? Which one is thought to contain water? What
are the names of the Galilean moons and their distinctive features? What is the largest moon of
Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus? What are the names of the moons of Mars and Pluto? Which moon has
volcanic eruptions of methane and which one has eruptions of sulfur?
c) Compare and contrast the 4 terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Why does Venus have
such a thick atmosphere but Mercury and Mars almost none? What is the term Runaway Greenhouse
Effect mean? What surface features are unique to Mercury? What surface features do Venus and
Mars have in common and what is their difference? What chemicals does the atmosphere of Venus
and Mars have? What is the evidence for water on the surface of Mars and Mercury? What is the
largest mountain, crater and valley on Mercury, Mars and Venus? What are the two continents of
Venus named? What is the different between the Sourthern and Northern hemispheres of Mars?
d) Compare and contrast the 4 Jovian planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus. What do the terms Belts
and Zones mean? How are Jupiter and Saturn similar and different? How do the pair of Jupiter and
Saturn differ from the pair of Uranus and Neptune? What are the Great Red Spot and Great Dark
Spot? Which of the planets looks very bluish and which chemical is responsible for that? Which
planet has the strongest storms and winds? How does the Temperature vary versus Altitude for all of
them? Whose magnetic field is at the greatest angle from its rotational axis? What are the A, B, and
C rings of Saturn and the Cassini and Encke division? What is the significance of the Roche limit?
How does Forward Scattering reveal that Saturn’s rings are composed of tiny ringlets? What is meant
by the term Shepherd Satellites? What are the major rings of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune?
e) What are the major missions to each planet? What is the mythological background of each planet
4) Asteroids, Comets, Meteors and Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud:
a) What are the different kinds of Asteroids like Carbonaceous, Stony and Metallic and where do they lie
in the Asteroid Belt? What is the name of the biggest asteroid and where is it located? Where is the
asteroid belt? The Trojan belt? What role did Jupiter have in the formation of the asteroid belt? What
are Kirkwood gaps and Lagrangian points? What are the Near Earth Asteroids, Amor and Apollo?
b) What is the difference between a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite? What are the different kinds of
metorites like iron, etc. What are the most common meteorites? What are the Widmanstatten patterns
and what are they used for? What is the difference between Differentiated and Undifferentiated
asteroids? What do we mean by Primitive asteroids? What are meteor showers and why do they
happen? Know some of the famous meteor showers?
c) Where do comets originate (know the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud)? What is the origin of the
Kuiper belt and Oort cloud? What are short-period comets and long-period comets? Which comets
have a highly elliptical path and orbits that are not flat with the ecliptical plane? What are the Nucleus,
Coma, Hydrogen envelope, and the two kinds of Tails of a comet? Which tail always points directly
away from the sun? Know some of the famous comets like Comet Shoemaker Levy, Hale Bopp, and
Halley, and what they are famous for?
d) Why do we suspect that Pluto is a Kuiper Belt object? What are the other famous KBO objects?
Where does the Kuiper Belt lie? Who discovered them (including Pluto) and when? Where does the
Oort cloud lie and what are the famous comets that originate from it?
5) Exoplanets:
a) What are the different techniques of discovering Extrasolar planets and how do they work?
What is the favorite method of exoplanet finders?
b) What is the 1st discovered exoplanet? Around what star does it rotate? How large is it and how far
from its host star is it? How far is the host star from us? When was it discovered?
c) What are some of the other famous exoplanets? How many exoplanets have been discovered so far?
What is the largest one and the smallest one, the heaviest one and the lightest one? What is the most
Earth-like exoplanet?
d) What is the 1st discovered multi-planet system? How many planets does it have and what are their
Characteristics? How many of these multi-planet systems have we found up to date? What is the
maximum number of planets that they have?