Chapter 25: Our Solar System Flashcards
Older than rocks on the Earth
Lunar rocks
A rock found mainly on the moon’s planes
Basalt
What moon rock is composed mostly of the mineral feldspar?
Anorthosite
Abundant on the moon, rare on the Earth
Natural glass
Pyroxferroite, armalcolite, tranquillityite
3 new discovered moon minerals not found on Earth
Mineral which makes up the highlands of the Moon
Anorthosite
Means starlike
Asteroids
First asteroid discovered (1 Jan 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi)
Ceres
Small, irregular shaped body composed of water, ice, rock, and frozen gases
Comet
Refers to the space within galaxies
Intragalactic space
Unstable stars; their action makes them appear to be winking
Nova
Exploding star
Supernova
Flashes electromagnetic emissions
Pulsar
The ultimate star, which cannot radiate anything
Black hole
Clouds of matter not yet stars
Nebulae
A spiral-shaped galaxy of which the Earth is a part
The Milky Way
How many days does it take the moon to orbit the earth?
2.27
Since the Moon is less massive than the earth, its gravitational pull is
only one-sixth that of earth’s.
Day and night on the moon can have a difference of __°F
520
From the earth we always see ________ of the moon.
The same side
Long, irregular depressions on the moon
Rilles
The Martian day is _____ to a day on earth
Similar
The reddish areas on Mars were thought to be
Deserts
Mariner 4 took the first ________ of another planet
Photos
Saturn’s rings contain mostly
Rock and ice
The exact number of Saturn’s moons is
Experts are still unsure
The orbits of most comets are
a. Eccentric
b. Circular
c. Consistent
d. None of these
a. Eccentric
Comets have been observed
a. Since 1910
b. Only recently
c. Since ancient times
d. In the last 200 years
c. Since ancient times
The comet’s tail forms as it nears
a. The sun
b. The moon
c. The earth
d. Uranus
a. The sun
Vikings 1 and 2 consisted of orbiters and landers.
TRUE
The existence of water was found in liquid form on Mars
FALSE
The highest content of surface material on Mars is silicon and iron
TRUE
Iron provides the red color of the Martian landscape
TRUE - book says false, though
“This color is due to the rock and dust covering the surface of Mars. It has been analyzed and found to have a high iron content, so it has a rusty look.”
(Iron oxide in regolith)
By virtue of its size, Jupiter makes up ___ times the mass of all the other planets put together.
3 x
Due to its size, Jupiter rotates very slowly.
FALSE
(Very quickly, about every 10 hours)
Of all the planets, Jupiter has the most intense radiation belts.
TRUE
How many rings encircle Uranus?
11 known rings
Neptune and Uranus are very similar
TRUE
In 2004, two rovers landed on Mars; their names are Spirit and Opportunity
TRUE
(formerly MER-A & MER-B)
Some scientists have reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet
TRUE
The Kuiper Belt is a ring of celestial bodies that extends billions of miles beyond the orbit of Neptune.
TRUE
