Exam 11: Mercury, Venus, and Mars: Terrestrial, yet Unique

When Mercury is seen 18° from the Earth-Sun line, it will be visible a little less than 1 hour after sunset. What is the most important value in determining this time?

Each of the following is a stage in the runaway icehouse effect believed to have operated on Mars in the past EXCEPT one. Which is NOT?

In 2008 the Phoenix Mars Lander made a soft landing in which Martian region?

The northern Martian polar cap decreases in size during the northern Martian summer but does not completely disappear. What is the explanation for this?

Carbonate rocks might be expected to be found on:

Phobos, the inner satellite of Mars, has a diameter of about 28 km and circles about 6000 km above the Martian surface. Approximately what is the angular diameter of Phobos when viewed from Mars (in degrees)?

What effect causes the seasonal variation in color and shading of parts of the Martian surface?

Why can permanent liquid water not exist on Mars today?

One consequence of the combination of rapid orbital motion and synchronous rotation of Phobos as it orbits Mars is that:

Mercury's orbital period around the Sun is 88 days, and its synodic period (the time from one inferior conjunction to the next) is 116 days. How often do we observe a transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun?

On both Earth and Venus some sulfur dioxide is removed from the atmosphere to be locked up in various rocks and minerals. On Earth this SO₂ is recycled deep beneath the surface to be outgassed by volcanoes and again become part of the atmosphere. On Venus this SO₂ is not recycled. Why this difference?

The central core of Mercury is probably composed of:

The rotation rate of the planet Venus was first determined by measuring:

The magnetic field of Mars, compared to that of Earth, is:

What evidence exists of volcanic activity on Venus?

Mercury rotates once on its axis with respect to the distant stars in 58 2/3 days and has a sidereal period of 88 days. A star is overhead to an observer on Mercury at midnight. How many times will Mercury orbit the Sun before this star is again directly over the observer's head at midnight? (Draw a diagram to help with this exercise.)

Mercury's magnetic field, compared with that of Earth, is:

When Mercury is at greatest elongation it is sometimes at a more favorable position for viewing and sometimes at a less favorable position for viewing. What can change from one occurrence of greatest elongation to the next to cause this difference?

How was Mercury's unusual spin-orbit coupling discovered?

The dominant component of the regolith on Mars is probably: