Download Solar System Exam: Name:

Solar System Exam:
Name:______________________
1. Counting on that Pluto is officially demoted as a planet as of September 2006, how many “official” planets are
there now?
___2. Pluto's demotion is due in large part to.....?
A. its spherical shape
C. its irregular rocky ice shape.
B. its gravitational field is weak
D. its lack of ability to “clear the neighborhood”
of other object near its orbit.
____3. Mercury terrain is known for its large amount of ____________________.
____4. Which planet has the four “Galilean” moons?_____________________. Be able to name and ID them.
How/Why can you tell the difference between them?
Io_____________________________
Europa________________________________
Ganymede:_______________________
e.g.,
____ The ice ocean moon of Jupiter:
A. Io
Callistro:_______________________________
B. Callisto
____ The sulfur-sulfuric acid volcanic moon of Jupiter:
A. Io
B. Triton
C. Europa
C. Ganymede
D. Titan
D. Charon
____ The moon commonly called “space pizza” because of the allotrope colorations of sulfur:
A. Miranda
B. Phobos
C. the Moon D. Io
____5. The asteroid belt is found between the planets of ______________________________________________
True or False: Can a spaceship fly through the asteroid belt without making any tricky maneuvars?
____6. The only planet with active plate tectonics is...?
A. Venus
B. Earth
C. Mars
D. Io
____7. The red planet, named so for its high content of Iron III Oxide (Fe2O3 (rust color):____________________
____8. The Cassini-Huygen mission iwas centered mostly on which planet?
A. Phobos
B. Mercury
C. Uranus
D. Saturn
____9. Blue colored planets which absorb red light wavelengths because of an ammonia-methane atmosphere are....?
A. Mercury and Earth
B. Earth only
C. Uranus and Neptune
D. Neptune only
____10. The two planets with a Carbon Dioxide (CO2) atmosphere, one thicker and the other thinner
respectively:
A. Venus and Earth
B. Venus and Mars
C. Mars and Jupiter
D. Jupiter and Saturn
____11. “Spirit” and “Opportunity” are two ......?
A. scientific robots on Mars
C. of the largest planetoids in the asteroid belt.
B. moons of Io
D. 60° lagrange lightning bolts of Io to Jupiter.
____12. The planet with a sideways tilt and horizontal rotation:________________________________
____13. The atmospheric smoggy moon of Saturn:
A. Miranda
B. Titan
C. Triton
D. Io
____14. A Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) means......?
A. asteroidal, planetoidal, or dwarf planet beyond Neptune.
B. all the unexpected irregularly shaped moons recently discovered orbiting Neptune.
C. all planetoidal objects gravitationally competed for between Uranus and Neptune.
D. all planetoidal objects dispersed throughout the solar system.
____15. Which of the following has an incredibly high level of “greenhouse effect?”
A. Mercury
B. Venus
C. Earth
D. Jupiter
____16. Potato-shaped moon thought to be on a “death spiral” into Mars:
A. Ceres
B. Miranda
C. Mimas
D. Phobos
____17. Which planet has a shorter year than its day length (1 rotation lasts longer than 1revolution)?
A. Mercury
B. Pluto
C. Venus
D. Saturn
____18. Which planet could float in water if there was an ocean large enough to hold it?
A. Jupiter
B. Saturn
C. Uranus
D. Neptune
____19. What is meant by the “morning star” or the “evening star?”
A. planet is in opposition to earth.
C. planet is in conjunction to earth.
B. planet's elongation angle is small.
D. planet is in superior conjunction to the earth.
Which planets are these? _____________________________________________
____20. Which planets have ring formations?
A. terrestrial planets
B. jovian (gaseous) planets
C. classical planets
____21. Saturn's ring system is about .....?
A. 1000 AU's thick
B. 1.5 light years wide C. ~1000 m thick
D. inner planets
D. 1.0 m thin
____22. The main composition of Saturn's ring particulates is ...?
A. gas
B. rock
C. ammonia
D. ice
____23. The dark band near the middle of the ring system, between the A Ring and the B Ring is labeled:
A. the Herschel construct
B. the Saturn slough
C. the Cassini division
D. the Dark matter
____24. The cantaloupe moon with its retrograde orbit (opposite of its parent planet's spin and with an inward spiral
trend) is...?
A. Triton
B. Ganymede
C. Titan
D. Callisto
____25. Olympus Mons is....?
A. largest rift zone canyon in the solar system. C. largest crater in the solar system.
B. largest chevron fault-block in the solar system. D. largest volcano in the solar system.
____26. Billions of comets come orbit from all sorts of directions through the solar system. They are thought to
originate in ....?
A. the asteroid belt
B. geosynchronous trojans
C. the kuiper belt
D. the oort cloud
____27. The solar system is in __?__ spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy.
A. galactic center
B. Sagittarius
C. Orion
D. our Sun's
____28. The traditional (conventional) model depicting the formation of the solar system:
A. Nebular (Condensation) model
C. Supernova enrichment model
B. Star birthing model
D. Pea instanton theory
____29. A solar system comprises of ....?
A. Interstellar (star) wind
B. the Milky Way galaxy
C. orbiting objects around a star (sun)
D. two stars revolving around each other
____30. Which planet is the most dense (it has the highest density= g/mL)?
A. Mercury
B. Earth
C. Saturn
D. Pluto
____31. A couple features in the solar system are named “The Great Red Spot” or “The Dark Spot?”
A. These are large, long-lived “hurricane” storm systems.
B. These are anomalies in the belts and zones of the planet.
C. These are methane and ammonia gas eruption zones from a hotspot region.
D. These are auroras.
____32. A smaller planet with the most similar axis of rotation as the earth is _________________________
____33. Orbital paths of planets are __________________________________________________
____34. Which divides the Inner planets from the Outer planets?
A. Earth
B. Mars
C. Asteroid belt
D. Jupiter
____35. When is the best time to view and/or study motions of the Superior planets?
A. along the horizon in the early morning.
C. when the planet is in inferior conjunction.
B. when the planet is in superior (full) conjunction.
D. when the planet is in opposition.
____36. The average distance from earth to the sun is 93 million miles (150 million km). This is also the
measurement of....?
A. the semi-major axis
B. the semi-minor axis C. 1.0 Astronomical Unit
D. 1.0 parsec
____37. Pluto is ~40 AU away from the sun. How far is Uranas from the sun?
A. ~5 AU
B. ~20 AU
C. ~35 AU
D. ~100 AU
____38. Probably one of the most unique moons of the solar system, a “weird,” chunked-up hemisphere
of patchwork terrain orbiting Uranus:
A. Triton
B. Mimas
C. Stickney Crater
D. Miranda
____39. Which planets are known to have “Belts” and “Zones,” depicting their atmospheric pressure
conditions as well as their rate of rotation?
A. Venus, Mars, & Pluto
C. Mercury, Venus, Earth
B. Gaseous planets and terrestrial Earth. D. Kuiper Belt collective
____40. Which planet undergoes the most extreme differences in temperature throughout its revolution and/or
rotation? _________________________________________________
____41. Earth's “sister planet” is ________________________________________
____42. Cassini-Huygens has discovered.....
A. lightning storms on Saturn
B. Titan soil
C. ripples of wave motion in the rings.
D. all answers are correct.
____43. What energy source is thought to influence and “power” the moon Io?
A. gravitational influence of Jupiter
C. gravitational influence of Saturn.
B. lightning bolts and auroras between Io and Jupiter.
D. plate tectonic movement.
____45. The earth is thought to have been in existence now......?
A. 20,000 years B. 65 million years
C. 225 million years
D. 4.6 billion years.
____46. Shepherding satellites, such as those around Saturn and Uranus.....?
A. are a certain class of asteroids.
C. are moons in orbit on the edge of a ring structure.
B. are scientific, robotic space probes.
D. are lagrange 4 & 5 trojan asteroids.
____51. Which planet has the most number of natural satellites?
A. Jupiter
B. Saturn
C. Uranus
D. Neptune
____53. An aurora over Jupiter is formed when solar wind particles interact with its.....?
A. Red Spot
B. White Ovals C. moon Io
D. large magnetosphere
____54. Trying to figure out the interior structure of planets comes largely from our “indirect evidence” study ability
of Earth Science. What key indirect method allows us to get a picture of what is inside the Earth?
A. oil drilling core sampling
C. gravitational influence of the Moon.
B. microscopic slice analysis of meteorites.
D. earthquake seismic wave energy data
____57. Potential planet X's, recently, have been icy-rocky dwarf planets such as Sedna, Quaoar, and Xena,
classified by modern astronomy as....?
A. Trans-Neptunian Objects
B. Kuiper Belt originates C. Oort Cloud originates D. both B & C.
____58. The largest object within the asteroid belt:
A. Phobos
B. Mimas
C. Ceres
D. Xena (2003 UB 313)
____59. Planets with retrograde rotations:
A. Mercury & Earth
B. Venus, Uranus, & Pluto
C. Mars & Ganymede D. Venus only
List three characteristics of our solar system that must be resolved in order for any successful theory to
explain its development or formation. (4pts)
Give two explanations that define the difference between a planet and a star. (4 pts)
Planet
1
2
Star