Asteroids, ice moons, comets, and exoplanets Flashcards
What was the name of the first asteroid ever discovered?
Ceres
What are icy planetesimals that survive planetary accretion?
comets
Kepler-16b is the first circumbinary planet the Kepler discovered. “Circumbinary” means:
Its distance from its star computes to a number composed of 1s and 0s.
Most icy moons belong to which type of planet?
Giant planets
What differentiates a comet from an asteroid?
The presence of an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere surrounding their central nucleus.
The temperature of comets exceeds that of asteroids
The closest point in a comet’s orbit to the sun is called its:
Perihelion
The main asteroid belt lies between the orbits of
Mars and Jupiter
Meteor showers are caused by___
Comet trails
Icy planetesimals in the outer Solar System remain today as what?
Comet nuclei
What is a method that is used to identify extrasolar planets?
The Radial Velocity Method
The Transit Method
Gravitational Lensing
Astrometry
True or False: An exoplanet is a planet that is only a shell and is hollowed out in the middle.
False
Long-period comets have an orbit _______ and short-period comets have an orbit _________.
longer than 200 years; shorter than 200 years
What was the first periodic comet to be recorded?
Halley’s comet
Planetary researchers have constructed a shading device that will potentially be used to view exoplanets more clearly. This device is known as a ___________.
Star Shade
What is a low-temperature volcano that can be found on ice moons in which the magmas are composed of molten ices rather than rocky material?
cryovolcano
Active comets are:
those that are close enough to the Sun to show solar heating
_________ means taking a picture of the planet directly
direct imaging
What is the name given to the closest exoplanet that has already been discovered?
Proxima Centauri B
The term exoplanet describes which of the following?
a planet that orbits a star outside the solar system
How many exoplanets have been confirmed?
1,838
