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Space Exploration > Exam 3 > Flashcards

Exam 3 Flashcards

1
Q

What is a meteor?

A

Bright trail of light created when a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere

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2
Q

What is a meteorite?

A

solid remains of a meteor that falls to Earth

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3
Q

What is a meteoroid?

A

Small solid body moving within the solar system. Less than a yard in size

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4
Q

How big are the meteoroids that we see as meteors?

A

the size of a raisin or smaller

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5
Q

In which layer of Earth’s atmosphere do meteors burn up?

A

Mesosphere

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6
Q

How much meteoric material falls to Earth each day?

A

50 tons

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7
Q

What causes a meteor shower?

A

Earth passes through the trail of a comet or passes through a dense clump of material

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8
Q

What time of night is best for spotting meteors?

A

Early morning. Few meteoroids catch up with Earth at night

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9
Q

How can you tell how big an asteroid is?

A

Measure emitted infrared radiation

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10
Q

What is the total mass of the asteroids?

A

Less than the mass of the Moon or 1,100 tons

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11
Q

Where is the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft today?

A

On the surface of Eros

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12
Q

Which spacecraft visited Vesta and Ceres?

A

Dawn

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13
Q

Which spacecraft returned a sample from the asteroid Itokawa?

A

Hayabusa

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14
Q

Which spacecraft brought a 121.6 gram sample of asteroid material back?

A

OSIRIS-Rex

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15
Q

What is unique about the asteroid the Psyche mission that launched in October 2023 is headed for?

A

It might have an iron core and believed to be primarily composed of metal

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16
Q

How big was the crater found in the Tunguska event?

A

No impact crater leveled a lot of trees

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17
Q

What did the DART mission do?

A

dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact

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18
Q

What is the name of the crater believed to be the site of the impact that ended the rein of the dinosaurs?

A

Chicxulub

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19
Q

Why is Jupiter rightly called the king of the planets?

A

It’s mass and volume is greater than all the other planets combined

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20
Q

How does Jupiter’s diameter and mass compare to the Earth’s?

A

11 x Earth’s diameter and 300 x Earth’s mass

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21
Q

How long does it take Jupiter to orbit the Sun?

A

12 years

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22
Q

How many flybys, orbiters and probes have visited Jupiter?

A

7 flybys
2 orbiters
1 probe

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23
Q

What are the 7 flybys of Jupiter?

A
  1. Pioneer 10
  2. Pioneer 11
  3. Voyager 1
  4. Voyager 2
  5. Ulysses
  6. Cassini
  7. New horizons
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24
Q

What are the 2 orbiters of Jupiter?

A

Galileo and Juno

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25
Q

What was the probe sent to Jupiter?

A

Galileo Jupiter Atmospheric Probe

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26
Q

How did the five space crafts currently leaving the Solar System achieve escape velocity? Name them

A

By utilizing gravity assist
1. Pioneer 10
2. Pioneer 11
3. Voyager 1
4. Voyager 2
5. New horizons

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27
Q

What spacecraft was enroute to Jupiter when comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 struck Jupiter?

A

Galileo Orbiter

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28
Q

What has Juno told us about the interior of Jupiter?

A

Jupiter has a dilute core

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29
Q

Which spacecraft launched during this semester and is expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2030?

A

NASA’s Europa Clipper

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30
Q

Jupiter’s atmospheric winds are deflected into bands by the Coriolis effect. What causes this Coriolis effect?

A

Its large size and rapid rotation

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31
Q

What kind of winds cause Jupiter’s atmospheric vortices to form?

A

Sheer Winds

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32
Q

When was Jupiter’s Great Red Spot discovered?

A

1600s

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33
Q

How is Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field generated?

A

Convection with metallic hydrogen, rapid rotation

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34
Q

What are Jupiter’s rings made of?

A

Rock dust, radiation from the sun

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35
Q

How does Saturn’s diameter and mass compare to the Earth’s?

A

The diameter is 9.6 x Earth’s
The mass is 95 x Earth’s

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36
Q

How does Saturn’s density compare to the density of the other planets?

A

Its the least dense

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37
Q

How long does it take for Saturn to orbit the Sun?

A

29.4 Earth years

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38
Q

How many flybys, orbiters and probes have visited Saturn? Name them

A

3 flybys
Pioneer 11 and Voyager 1 & 2

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39
Q

Why doesn’t Saturn have cloud bands like Jupiter?

A

Cloaked by clouds formed from frozen ammonia gas. Smog or haze that cannot be seen through

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40
Q

What is the overall diameter of Saturn’s rings?

A

240,000 km

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41
Q

How does the diameter of Saturn’s rings compare to the distance between the Earth and the Moon?

A

Saturn and it’s rings would just in the distance between Earth and the Moon

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42
Q

How thick are Saturn’s rings?

A

Less than a 1/4 of a mile

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43
Q

In what year will Saturn’s rings next appear edge on and be difficult to see as viewed from Earth?

A

2025

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44
Q

What causes the gaps in Saturn’s rings?

A

Resonance with moons (Enceladus 1-3, Mimas 1-2) Shepherding moons (moonlets)

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45
Q

What happens to an object that is held together by gravity if it crosses a planet’s Roche limit

A

If something gets that close the tidal forces will tear it apart if its held together by gravity

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46
Q

How does Uranus’ diameter and mass compare to the Earth’s?

A

Diameter: 4 x earth’s
Mass: 15 x earth’s mass

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47
Q

How long does it take Uranus to orbit the Sun?

A

84 Earth years

48
Q

Why are seasons extreme on Uranus?

A

The equator is nearly at a right angle to its orbit with a tilt of 97.77 degrees

49
Q

How many mission have visited Uranus?

A

Just Voyager 2

50
Q

What gives Uranus its blue-green color?

A

Light from the sun, the red light is absorbed by methane and the blue light is scattered and reflected

51
Q

Which astronomer first observed Neptune?

A

Johann Gottfried Galle

52
Q

How does Neptune’s diameter and mass compare to the Earth’s?

A

Diameter: 3.9 x Earth’s
Mass: 17 x Earth’s

53
Q

How long does it take Neptune to orbit the Sun?

A

165 Earth years

54
Q

How many mission have visited Neptune?

A

Just Voyager 2

55
Q

Is the Great Dark Spot a permanent feature on Neptune like the Great Red Spot on Jupiter?

A

Not a permanent feature, may come back, may not

56
Q

What did the Hubble Space Telescope see when it looked for the Great Dark Spot in 1994?

A

That the southern dark spot had disappeared

57
Q

What gas giant planets and ice giant planets in our Solar System have rings?

A

Jupiter & Saturn (gas), Uranus & Neptune (ice)

58
Q

Which spacecraft is currently the farthest from Earth?

59
Q

How long would it take Pioneer 10 to reach Alpha Centauri (the closest star system to the Earth) if it were headed that way?

A

40,000 years

60
Q

Who was the US president when the two Voyager mission launched in August and September of 1977?

A

Jimmy Carter

61
Q

Who was the president when on of the Voyager mission flew by Uranus in January of 1986?

A

Ronald Reagan

62
Q

Who was the president when Neptune was reached by one of the Voyager missions in August of 1989?

A

George H. W. Bush

63
Q

Who discovered the first moons in the Solar System other than our Moon?

A

Galileo Galilei

64
Q

How many large moons are there?

65
Q

How many medium moons are there?

66
Q

How many moon have been discovered around Jupiter?

67
Q

How many moon have been discovered around Saturn?

68
Q

How many moon have been discovered around Uranus?

69
Q

How many moon have been discovered around Neptune?

70
Q

How can you tell if a moon is a captured asteroid or a comet?

A

If its non-spherical or looks like a potato

71
Q

Is synchronous rotation common for regular moons?

A

All the solar system’s large moon are tidally locked with their planets

72
Q

Which moon is the most volcanically active world in the Solar System?

A

Jupiter’s moon Io

73
Q

Which 3 things cause Io to be so hot?

A
  1. Tidal heating
  2. Radiogenic Heating
  3. Lack of atmosphere
74
Q

Which moon is the smoothest known object in the Solar System?

75
Q

What evidence indicates that Europa has a subsurface ocean?

A

Few impact craters, surface features, induced magnetic field, tidal heating and radioactive decay

76
Q

Which moon is the largest in the Solar System?

77
Q

Which is the only moon that currently generates its own magnetic field?

78
Q

Which moon has a substantial atmosphere?

79
Q

Which mission carried a probe to explore Titan?

A

Cassini-Huygens

80
Q

What liquids are found on Titan?

A

liquid ethane & methane

81
Q

What are the tumbled rocks imaged by the Huygens probe made of?

A

water ice frozen?

82
Q

Which moon is the only large irregular moon?

83
Q

Which is the only moon in the Solar System to have a ring?

84
Q

Which two-faced moon is much darker on its leading hemisphere than on its trailing hemisphere?

85
Q

Which moon as smaller moon in both its L4 and L5 Lagrange points?

A

Telesto and Calypso

86
Q

Which moon is the smallest known geologically active moon in the Solar System?

87
Q

Which relatively small moon is a prime candidate for life?

88
Q

Which moon has the greatest variation in topography anywhere in the Solar System?

89
Q

Which moon is called the Death Star moon?

90
Q

Which moon’s temperature map gave it the nickname Pac Man Moon?

91
Q

Which small moon is the reddest Solar System object

92
Q

Which two co-orbital moons trade orbital location every four years?

A

Janus and Epimetheus

93
Q

Which moon is the only regular moon that is not tidally locked to its planet?

94
Q

Which moon gave a passing spacecraft a 200 V shock?

A

Hyperion shocked Cassini

95
Q

What are the three ravioli moons?

A

Pan, Atlas and Daphnis

96
Q

What gives Ravioli Moons their shape?

A

Ring material accumulates along their equators

97
Q

What planet does Ariel orbit?

98
Q

What planet does Callisto orbit?

99
Q

What planet does Dione orbit?

100
Q

What planet does Enceladus robit?

101
Q

What planet does Europa orbit?

102
Q

What planet does Ganymede orbit?

103
Q

What planet does Io orbit?

104
Q

What planet does Oberon orbit?

105
Q

What planet does Proteus orbit?

106
Q

What planet does Titan orbit?

107
Q

What planet does triton orbit?

108
Q

What planet does Umbriel orbit?

109
Q

What large moons orbit Jupiter?

A

Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto

110
Q

What large moons orbit Saturn?

111
Q

What large moon orbit Neptune?

112
Q

What medium moons orbit Saturn?

A

Rhea, Iapetus, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas

113
Q

What medium moons orbit Uranus?

A

Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda

114
Q

What medium moons orbit Neptune?

115
Q

What planet does Amalthea orbit?

116
Q

What small moon discussed in class orbit Saturn?

A

Telesto, Calypso, Janus, Epimetheus, Hyperion, Pan, Atlas and Daphnia

117
Q

What small moons discussed in class orbit Neptune?

A

Naiad and Thalassa

Space Exploration (6 decks)

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