Astronomy Chapter Nine
- 1.Which of the following statements about comets and asteroids is true?
- A.
Only asteroids collide with Earth.
- B.
Comets are balls of ice and dust.
- C.
Most of the trillions of comets in our solar system have tails.
- D.
All asteroids lie in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
- E.
There are about 1 million known asteroids in the solar system.
- 2.How do asteroids differ from comets?
- A.
Asteroids are made of rocky material. Comets are made of icy material.
- B.
Asteroids are made of icy material. Comets are made of rocky material.
- C.
Asteroids and comets are both made of rocky and icy material, but asteroids are larger in size than comets.
- D.
Asteroids and comets are both made of rocky and icy material, but asteroids are smaller in size than comets.
- 3.A rocky leftover planetesimal orbiting the Sun is
- A.
A comet.
- B.
A meteor.
- C.
An asteroid.
- D.
A meteorite.
- E.
Possibly any of the above
- 4.Why do asteroids and comets differ in composition?
- A.
Asteroids formed inside the frost line, while comets formed outside.
- B.
Asteroids and comets formed at different times.
- C.
Comets formed from the jovian nebula, while asteroids did not.
- D.
Comets are much larger than asteroids.
- E.
Asteroids are much larger than comets.
- 5.Which is closest to the average distance between asteroids in the asteroid belt?
- A.
1 hundred km
- B.
1 thousand km
- C.
10 thousand km
- D.
1 million km
- E.
10 million km
- 6.Why aren't small asteroids spherical in shape?
- A.
The strength of gravity on small asteroids is less than the strength of the rock.
- B.
Small asteroids have odd shapes because they were all chipped off larger objects.
- C.
Large asteroids were once molten and therefore became spherical, but small asteroids were never molten.
- D.
Large asteroids became spherical because many small collisions chipped off pieces until only a sphere was left; this did not occur with small asteroids.
- 7.What is a meteorite?
- A.
A streak of light caused by a star moving across the sky
- B.
A streak of light caused by a small particle from space burning up in Earth's atmosphere
- C.
A fragment of an asteroid from the solar system that has fallen to Earth's surface
- D.
A small moon that orbits one of the giant planets
- E.
A comet that burns up in Earth's atmosphere
- 8.Processed meteorites with high metal content probably are
- A.
Leftover chunks of rock from the earliest period in the formation of the solar system.
- B.
Pieces of comets rather than of asteroids.
- C.
Chunks of a larger asteroid that was shattered by a collision.
- D.
Chunks of rock chipped off the planet Mercury.
- E.
Chunks of rock chipped off the planet Mars.
- 9.Why does the plasma tail of a comet always point away from the Sun?
- A.
The solar wind blows the ions directly away from the Sun.
- B.
Radiation pressure from the Sun's light pushes the ions away.
- C.
The conservation of the angular momentum of the tail keeps it always pointing away from the Sun.
- D.
Gases from the comet, heated by the Sun, push the tail away from the Sun.
- E.
It is allergic to sunlight.
- 10.Comets with extremely elliptical orbits, like comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp,
- A.
Come from the asteroid belt.
- B.
Come from the Kuiper belt.
- C.
Come from the Oort cloud.
- D.
Are Trojan comets.
- E.
Are captured by Jupiter.
- 11.According to the nebular theory, how did the Kuiper belt form?
- A.
It is material left over from the interstellar cloud that never contracted with the rest of the gases to form the solar nebula.
- B.
It is made of planetesimals that formed beyond Neptune's orbit and never accreted to form a planet.
- C.
It consists of objects that fragmented from the protosun during a catastrophic collision early in the formation of the solar system.
- D.
It is made of planetesimals between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that never formed into a planet.
- E.
It is made of planetesimals formed in the outer solar system that were flung into distant orbits by encounters with the jovian planets.
- 12.According to the nebular theory, how did the Oort cloud form?
- A.
It is material left over from the interstellar cloud that never contracted with the rest of the gases to form the solar nebula.
- B.
It is made of planetesimals that formed beyond Neptune's orbit and never accreted to form a planet.
- C.
It consists of objects that fragmented from the protosun during a catastrophic collision early in the formation of the solar system.
- D.
It is made of planetesimals between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that never formed into a planet.
- E.
It is made of planetesimals formed in the outer solar system that were flung into distant orbits by encounters with the jovian planets.
- 13.When was Pluto discovered?
- A.
About 25 years ago
- B.
About 75 years ago
- C.
About 200 years ago
- D.
About 2000 years ago
- E.
In ancient history
- 14.Rather than being a planet, Pluto is really just a large member of
- A.
The asteroid belt.
- B.
The Kuiper belt.
- C.
The Oort cloud.
- D.
The moon system around Neptune.
- E.
An extrasolar planetary system.
- 15.Which of the following is furthest from the Sun?
- A.
Pluto
- B.
Neptune
- C.
An asteroid in the asteroid belt
- D.
A comet in the Kuiper belt
- E.
A comet in the Oort cloud
- 16.Why won't Pluto collide with Neptune?
- A.
Pluto's orbit is completely outside Neptune's orbit.
- B.
Pluto's orbit is completely inside Neptune's orbit.
- C.
Pluto's orbit never comes anywhere close to Neptune's orbit.
- D.
The two planets have an orbital resonance that prevents them from colliding.
- E.
It could!
- 17.What is Charon?
- A.
Pluto's largest moon
- B.
The largest known asteroid
- C.
The largest known comet
- D.
One of the Galilean moons of Jupiter
- E.
A moon of Neptune
- 18.What is the name of the largest known Kuiper Belt Object?
- A.
Pluto
- B.
Charon
- C.
Sedna
- D.
Quaoar
- E.
Xena
- 19.Why was the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact so important to astronomers?
- A.
It dredged up material that gave us our first direct look at Jupiter's interior composition.
- B.
It wiped out the dinosaurs.
- C.
It was the first direct proof that impacts really occur.
- D.
It confirmed our theory of solar system formation.
- E.
It was the first event in modern history that was brighter than the full moon in the sky.
- 20.On average, how often do impactors about 10 km in size, large enough to produce mass extinction, hit Earth?
- A.
Once every century
- B.
Once every thousand years
- C.
Once every million years
- D.
Once every hundred million years
- E.
Once in Earth's history
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