Units 1 & 2 Flashcards
What two properties of a planet affect the gravity we feel on its surface?
Mass and radius.
Two planets have the same radius. If Planet A is 5 times more massive than Planet B, how does the gravity differ on the surfaces of the two planets?
The gravity is 5 times stronger on Planet A.
Say there were a planet X in our Solar System with a mass 1/4 the mass of Earth and a radius 1/2 the radius of Earth. How will the gravity on its surface compare to the surface gravity of Earth?
The surface gravity on Planet X is the same as the surface gravity on Earth.
A planet in a nearly circular orbit with its rotation axis tilted by five degrees relative to its orbital plane around its star would…
have seasons that are not very different from each other as compared to Earth’s.
The rotation axis of the Earth is…
tilted at about 23 degrees.
When is the waning gibbous moon highest in the sky?
About 3:00am.
At what time will the Moon set on the day of a Solar eclipse?
Sunset.
Stars that are in the same constellation …
are likely to be at very different distances from us.
The “North Star” is a star in the constellation of Ursa Minor, which lies just above
the North pole of Earth. Which of the following is true?
Ursa Minor is not a Zodiac constellation.
A particular Zodiac constellation is high in the sky at midnight in April. Where will
it be in October?
near the Sun in the daytime sky
What do you expect the spectrum of an object that is 1,000,000 Kelvin to be like?
It should peak at X-ray wavelengths.
As compared to a cool star, a hotter star emits …
shorter wavelength, higher frequency, bluer color
Radio waves can travel large distances without interference because …
they have longer wavelengths than visible light
Compared to ultraviolet radiation, X-rays have a wavelength that is …
shorter
Star A is 4000 K, and Star B is 8000 K. Which of the following is true?
The color of Star A is redder than Star B.
A star is a hot, dense gas surrounded by a cooler, low density atmosphere.
What type of spectrum will a star create?
Absorption spectrum.
What makes a transition from a lower energy state to a higher energy state when a
photon is absorbed into an atom?
electron
An emission line is produced when:
an electron passes from a higher to a lower energy level.
Bright lines in an emission spectrum represent
particular energies of light that are emitted from a distant object
The faintness of an object that a telescope can observe is mostly determined by the …
diameter of the opening of the telescope
In what ways does a 5 meter telescope outperform a 1 meter telescope?
Its images are 25 times brighter than a 1 meter.
A mountain top is a good location for optical telescopes because the site …
is above much of the atmosphere
Which statement about the rotation of the Inner planets is true?
A: Venus rotates in the opposite direction from the three others.
B: All rotate in the same direction.
C: The rotation periods of all of them are the same — i.e., 1 Earth day.
D: All have rotation periods of 365 Earth days.
E: All have rotation periods about equal to their periods to orbit the Sun.
Venus rotates in the opposite direction from the three others.
Which of the following is TRUE?
A: The average surface temperature of Venus is about 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
B: Mercury has a very thick atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide.
C: The runaway greenhouse effect causes the present temperatures on Mars to
exceed those on Earth.
D: Mercury rotates exactly one and a half times for every one revolution around
the Sun.
E: Venus has no volcanoes on its surface.
D: Mercury rotates exactly one and a half times for every one revolution around
the Sun.
Why do the orbits of the planets all lie in nearly the same plane?
The early solar nebula flattened into a disk.
Of these choices, which planet has the most moons?
A: Earth
B: Mercury
C: Saturn
D: Mars
E: Venus
Saturn
Venus is visible to us …
only near sunrise or sunset.
A planet is in orbit around the Sun. The semimajor axis of the orbit is
5 Astronomical Units (AU).
Use P
2
= a
3 to calculate the period of the orbit, in years.
11.2 years
How do most craters on moons form?
Impact of asteroids
Which planet has a temperature of 800 degrees Fahrenheit on the side facing the
Sun and –290 degrees Fahrenheit on the side opposite the Sun?
Mercury
How many Earth years does it take Uranus to orbit the Sun?
84
Meteors are…
asteroids or comet debris that pass into Earth’s atmosphere and burn up
Which feature of Neptune is most responsible for its blue color?
Methane in its atmosphere
Which of the following is TRUE?
A: Neither Uranus or Neptune have ring systems.
B: The planet Saturn has more than 30 moons.
C: There is no evidence to suggest that either Jupiter or Saturn has a liquid
metallic or rocky core beneath its gas layers.
D: The Great Red Spot is a dust storm near the South polar cap of Mars.
E: Jupiter’s solid surface lies just below the cloud layers visible from Earth.
The planet Saturn has more than 30 moons.
The surface of Venus is hotter than the surface of Mercury because …
Venus is more massive and is able to retain a thick atmosphere.
Which of the following is moving fastest in the orbit?
A: Venus at its perihelion (closest point to Sun)
B: Venus at its aphelion (farthest point from Sun)
C: Mars at its perihelion (closest point to Sun)
D: Mars at its aphelion (farthest point from Sun)
E: Neptune at its aphelion (farthest point from Sun)
Venus at its perihelion (closest point to Sun)
Which of the following is FALSE?
A: Venus has a density of 5.2 grams per cubic centimeter
B: All Terrestrial planets have densities much higher than the density of water
C: Saturn has a density of 4.8 grams per cubic centimeter, similar to metals like
aluminum and iron
D: The density of Jupiter is 1.3 grams per cubic centimeter, similar to the
density of milk.
E: The density of Mercury is greater than the density of Uranus.
C: Saturn has a density of 4.8 grams per cubic centimeter, similar to metals like
aluminum and iron
Which of the following objects have a dark/black sky, even in the daytime?
A: both Venus and Mars
B: both Mercury and Mars
C: both the Moon and Earth
D: both the Moon and Mercury
E: both Earth and Titan
D: both the Moon and Mercury
Which of the following is the largest distance?
A: the distance from Jupiter to Saturn
B: the distance from the Sun to the Earth
C: the distance from the Earth to the Moon
D: the distance from Earth to Mars
E: the distance from Mercury to Venus
A: the distance from Jupiter to Saturn
“Tail always points away from the Sun”
Comets
Which of the following is NOT required in order to classify a Solar System object as
a planet (instead of a dwarf planet)?
A: It must not be a moon around another object.
B: It must be massive enough to be nearly round.
C: It must orbit the Sun.
D: It must clear the region around its orbit.
E: It must be larger than all of the moons in the Solar System
E: It must be larger than all of the moons in the Solar System
Which of the following planets looks the most like the Earth’s Moon?
A: Mercury
B: Venus
C: Neptune
D: Uranus
E: Mars
A: Mercury
Which is NOT a characteristic of a comet?
A: tails point away from the Sun
B: tails become more prominent when comet is close to the Sun
C: highly elliptical orbit
D: most orbit the Sun in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
E: they move slowly across the sky
D: most orbit the Sun in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
What is the cause of an aurora?
Solar wind particles that hit the atmosphere of a planet.
Which planets have temperatures lower than
–200 degrees Fahrenheit?
All the Jovian planets.
If the Earth rotated more slowly on its axis than it does now,
its days would be longer.
In the spectroscopy game, what did you do to produce a continuous spectrum with a bluer color?
Raised the temperature of the lamp.
What is the name of the path of the Sun through the sky relative to the distant stars, as viewed from Earth over the course of the year?
Ecliptic.
Approximately two weeks after a Solar Eclipse, what phase will the Moon be in?
Full
What happens when the electrons in atoms of a particular chemical element jump from higher to lower energy levels?
bright lines appear in the spectrum at particular energy levels
Lower-energy radiation has …
longer wavelengths
The surface gravity on Jupiter is about three times as much as the surface gravity
on Earth. This means …
You cannot jump as high on Jupiter as on Earth.
When are the days longest compared to the nights?
December 21 in the Southern hemisphere
A reflecting telescope collects light …
in proportion to the area of its mirror.
How more much more light does a 12-meter wide telescope collect than a 6-meter
telescope?
4 times as much.
Compare frequency of x-ray versus regular visible light.
The X-ray has a larger frequency than visible light.
How much time each year does the Sun spend in front of a constellation that is
NOT a Zodiac constellation?
none
Which would have the shortest day and the shortest year?
A: The length of the day and the year have nothing to do with the rotation
of the planet or its motion around the Sun.
B: a planet that rotated quickly on its axis and orbited the Sun rapidly
C: a planet that rotated slowly on its axis and orbited the Sun rapidly
D: a planet that rotated slowly on its axis and orbited the Sun slowly
E: a planet that rotated quickly on its axis and orbited the Sun slowly
B: a planet that rotated quickly on its axis and orbited the Sun rapidly
When does the New Moon set?
sunset
Compared to ultraviolet radiation, X-rays have a wavelength that is …
shorter
Constellations close to the North pole of Earth …
move in a circle around the North star, Polaris, over the course of a night
Compared to blue light, red light has …
longer wavelength, smaller frequency, smaller energy
In what ways does a 30-meter wide telescope outperform a 10-meter telescope?
Its images are 9 times brighter than a 10 meter.
In the figure above, what type of line will be produced in the spectrum and what
type of particle is moving along the white arrow from a lower to a higher energy level?
Absorption line, electron
The density of water is 1 gram per cubic cm.
What about the density of most gases?
much less than 1 gram per cubic cm
Which of the following planets rotates the slowest?
A: Jupiter
B: Uranus
C: Saturn
D: Neptune
E: Venus
E. Venus
There’s a Kuiper belt and an Oort cloud. Both have comets.
What is the difference?
Comets from the Oort cloud have longer periods.
What chemical compound that permeates the surface of Mars gives the Martian soil
its distinctive color?
Iron Oxide
The planets in our solar system are thought to have come from …
the same cloud of gas and dust in which the Sun formed
Which planet does NOT have a solid surface?
A: Jupiter
B: Mercury
C: Venus
D: Mars
E: Earth
A: Jupiter
Could there be a place where it would never be day on Mercury?
There could be a crater that is always in shadow since there is water ice that
survives.
Which objects orbit the Sun in highly elliptical orbits?
Comets
What is a dwarf planet?
A dwarf planet is any object orbiting the Sun that is large enough to be
round but not one of the 8 planets.
The densities of the four Terrestrial planets are similar to each other. This means …
they are made of similar substances
What is an Astronomical Unit (AU)?
the distance between the Earth and the Sun
“Always are within our Solar System”?
Asteroids/Meteors (NOT Comets)
Traveling at the same speed, which would take longer?
A: a trip from Earth to Mars
B: a trip from Mars to Jupiter
C: a trip from Uranus to Neptune
D: a trip from Venus to Earth
E: a trip from the Sun to Venus
C: a trip from Uranus to Neptune
What is the most distant planet from the Sun?
A: Mercury
B: Mars
C: Neptune
D: Saturn
E: Uranus
C: Neptune
Could astronauts survive on the surface of Titan without a space suit — maybe just
with an oxygen mask or something?
No, it is far too cold.
What is NOT true about Earth’s atmosphere?
A: It shields us from harmful ultra-violet radiation coming from the Sun.
B: It has more Carbon Dioxide than Venus, so is heated more than Venus
by the Greenhouse effect.
C: It is related to the reason the sky is blue.
D: It protects us from meteors (chunks of rock falling to Earth, known as
“shooting stars”) since they burn up in the atmosphere before reaching Earth.
E: It contains 78 % nitrogen
B: It has more Carbon Dioxide than Venus, so is heated more than Venus
by the Greenhouse effect.
