Exam 9: Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets: Their Nature, Orbits, and Impacts

Why is Pluto now considered to be a Kuiper- belt object?

What is the typical size of a comet's nucleus?

When you see the bright flash of a meteor, what are you actually seeing?

How would you search for Kuiper belt objects? What features would you include in a systematic search for Kuiper belt objects - where in the sky would you look, and in which wavelength regime? What features would you look for in images? What other types of objects might you accidentally find, as well?

The Oort Cloud: The objects in the Oort Cloud are frozen "snowballs," each a few kilometers across, seen at a distance of approximately 100,000 astronomical units. What do you think the potential is to directly observe (via some sort of telescope or directly visit (via a space mission)an object in the Oort cloud? Do you think that the existence of this component of the solar system is less well established than other components, such as the Kuiper Belt? What role does the solar nebular theory for the formation of the solar system play in supporting the existence of the Oort Cloud?

According to the nebular theory, how did the Oort cloud form?

Among discovered meteorites, we have found some with all the following origins except .

Pluto is most like a

What is the approximate diameter of the largest asteroid?

Why does the plasma tail of a comet always point away from the Sun?

According to current evidence, Pluto is best explained as .

Oort- cloud comets are so far from the Sun that the gravity of neighboring stars can alter their orbits.

Which of the following statements best describes the size of the largest asteroid, Ceres?

Suppose that large jovian planets had never formed in our solar system. Which of the following would most likely be true?

Viewed from Pluto, the Sun would appear more than a thousand times fainter than on Earth.

Refer to the following choices to answer the questions below. Choose the answer that best describes the chemical composition of the object. -Earth's atmosphere

Briefly describe how an impact could lead to a mass extinction.

What is Eris?

Describe at least three ways in which our solar system would be different if orbital resonances had never been important.

Refer to the following scenario for the questions below. Lost in the Solar System: You have been abducted by an alien being. After performing experiments on you, the alien gives you a "life- support belt", allowing you to survive in any environment, and dumps you somewhere in the solar system. Each question below gives a brief description of a place where you were left by the alien. Identify your location. Be as specific as possible. Include a brief explanation for your answer. -You've been dropped at the edge of a cliff, looking down for what seems to be miles! There's only one way to go from here: up! But it's going to be quite a climb, requiring all of your mountaineering skills. The atmosphere is very thin even at the mean surface level of this place. No matter, though, as you could not breathe this atmosphere anyway because it is mostly carbon dioxide and contains no oxygen. You climb and climb. This mountain must be three times the height of Mt. Everest and much broader at its base. There are clouds around you, and you can find water ice as well. When you try to melt some ice, however, it does not turn to liquid but sublimes to gas.