Download solar system tour extra credit

LAB - SOLAR SYSTEM TOUR
PSCI 131
NAME: __________________________________________________
Instructions
Visit each of the 11 solar system display boxes located around campus. Start at the Sun display (outside
the Planetarium, first floor of the Science Building), and fill in the information in the questions below.
General Questions
1. What is the scale of this model of the solar system? ______ m = ________________ km
2. Are the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) closer together or further apart than the
outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune)?
Sun (outside Planetarium, first floor of Science Building)
1. How many tons of hydrogen are converted to helium inside the Sun each second?
____________ tons
2. The temperature at the Sun’s core is about _________________ degrees C; the
temperature at the surface is ______________ degrees C.
Mercury(outside Planetarium, first floor of Science Building)
1. What is Mercury’s daytime temperature? ______ degrees C. Its night-time
temperature is _______ degrees C.
2. TRUE or FALSE: Mercury, being the planet closest to the Sun, has the hottest surface
temperature of any planet.
Venus(outside Planetarium, first floor of Science Building)
1. Venus’ cloud cover is composed mostly of what liquid? ____________________
2. Why is the surface of Venus so hot (460 deg. C, or 850 deg. F)?
Earth(outside Planetarium, first floor of Science Building)
1. On the scale of this model, how far away from Earth would the Moon be? _________
2. Approximately how many known species of organisms currently exist on Earth?
3. Earth is the only planet on which we are certain that liquid water exists. Any water that once
existed on Mercury and Venus has long since boiled off into space, and any water on planets
beyond Earth has only been found as solid ice (although the Mars rovers have found some
evidence that liquid water may exist under the Martian surface in some places). Why does Earth
have abundant liquid water, but not the other planets? (HINT: Think temperature…)
Mars(outside Planetarium, first floor of Science Building)
1. What causes Mars’ red color?
2. What is significant about the Martian volcano mentioned in the description in the display box?
Asteroid Belt (north foyer of Science building)
1. The largest “asteroid,” named Ceres, has been reclassified and is now a “dwarf planet” along with
Pluto and another recently discovered body, Eris. What is Ceres’ diameter?
____________ km
2. According to the description, what is likely the true nature of the asteroids?
a. Fragments of a collision between planets
b. Debris from the solar system’s formation that never combined to form a planet
c. None of the above
Jupiter (fence overlooking courtyard between Science and cafeteria)
1. What gas makes up most of Jupiter’s atmosphere? ________________
2. What is the “Great Red Spot”?
3. How many Earths could fit inside the Great Red Spot?
Saturn (in cafeteria)
1. In January 2006, the Huygens unmanned probe landed on _____________, the farthest from Earth
any space vehicle has ever landed.
2. How thick are Saturn’s rings? ____________
Uranus (outside west entrance to LRC building, across from college bookstore)
1. What is unique about the way Uranus rotates on its axis?
2. Traveling at 300,000 km/sec (the speed of light), how long did it take radio signals from the
Voyager 2 spacecraft to travel from Uranus back to Earth?
Neptune (Tech Building, northwest foyer)
1. Neptune is the “windiest” planet in the solar system; what is the velocity of some of the winds in
Neptune’s atmosphere? ____________ km/hr
2. Which of Neptune’s moons is volcanically active? ___________________
Pluto (south side of pond west of the Technology building)
1. When was the New Horizons probe launched? _________
2. When did this probe reach Pluto? Give month and year. _________
3. How many moons have been discovered so far around Pluto? _____
One More Question
1. The distance from our solar system to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about 270,000 times
the distance from Earth to the Sun. In the scale model of the solar system, the Earth-Sun distance
is 10.76 meters. At the scale of the model, approximately where would Proxima Centauri be
located?
a. Chicago, IL (450 km from Dearborn)
b. Kansas City, MO (1240 km)
c. Albuquerque, NM (2500 km)
d. Death Valley, CA (2900 km)