Deck 8: Jovian Planet System

Question 1

How many more times is the atmospheric pressure in Jupiter's core greater than the atmospheric pressure at Earth's surface?

A)1 million
B)10 million
C)100 million
D)10 thousand
E)100 thousand

Answer 1

C

Question 2

If Jupiter were scaled to the size of a basketball, Earth would be the closest to the size of

A)a marble.
B)a baseball.
C)a basketball.
D)a pinhead.
E)a grapefruit.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What would be the approximate radius of a hydrogen/helium planet with a mass one- tenth that of Jupiter?

A)about 1 time the radius of Jupiter
B)about 0.7 times the radius of Jupiter
C)about 0.9 times the radius of Jupiter
D)about 0.5 times the radius of Jupiter

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is not a piece of evidence supporting the idea that Europa may have a subsurface ocean?

A)Europa has a magnetic field that appears to respond to Jupiter's magnetic field.
B)Astronomers have detected small lakes of liquid water on Europa's surface.
C)Europa's surface shows very few impact craters.
D)Photos of Europa's surface show regions that appear to consist of jumbled icebergs frozen in place.

Question 5

What is the Cassini division of Saturn's rings?

A)the most opaque ring of Saturn, made of highly reflective ice particles
B)the imaginary circle marking the halfway point of Saturn's rings
C)a dark ring, visible from Earth, composed of dark, dusty particles
D)the widest ring of Saturn, located between two large ring gaps
E)a large gap, visible from Earth, produced by an orbital resonance with the moon Mimas

Question 6

Which statement about Saturn's rings is not true?

A)Some features of the rings are shaped by small moons that actually orbit within the ring system.
B)The large gap known as the Cassini Division is shaped by an orbital resonance with the moon Mimas, which orbits well outside the rings.
C)The rings must look much the same today as they did shortly after Saturn formed.
D)The rings are so thin that they essentially disappear from view when seen edge- on.

Question 7

What is the most abundant gas in Titan's atmosphere?

A)argon
B)nitrogen
C)hydrogen compounds
D)oxygen
E)methane

Question 8

Why do astronomers believe that Triton is a captured moon?

A)Triton is very small and potato- shaped, which is common of captured moons.
B)Triton is too large to have been formed in the "miniature solar nebula" thought to have surrounded Neptune in its very early history.
C)Triton appears to be made mostly of ice.
D)Triton orbits Neptune in a direction opposite that of Neptune's rotation.

Question 9

Where is Jupiter's strong magnetic field generated?

A)gaseous hydrogen layer
B)metallic hydrogen layer
C)liquid hydrogen layer
D)rocky core
E)cloud tops

Question 10

Which of the following statements comparing the jovian interiors is not thought to be true?

A)They all have cores that contain at least some rock and metal.
B)They all have the same exact set of internal layers, though these layers differ in size.
C)They all have cores of roughly the same mass.
D)Deep inside them, they all have pressures far higher than that found on the bottom of the ocean on Earth.

Question 11

Why does Jupiter have three distinct layers of clouds?

A)Jupiter has three different types of wind, each of which makes a different type of cloud.
B)The three layers reflect regions of Jupiter's atmosphere with different overall chemical compositions.
C)Clouds form randomly, so on average there are always three layers.
D)The three layers represent clouds made of gases that condense at different temperatures.

Question 12

If a planet is found with a radius 5% greater than Jupiter, which is the best first estimate of that planet's mass?

A)about 1 times Jupiter's mass
B)about 10 times Jupiter's mass
C)about 3 times Jupiter's mass
D)about 0.3 times Jupiter's mass

Question 13

Which of the following is most unlikely to be found on Titan?

A)volcanic outgassing of methane and other gases
B)rain or snow consisting of methane or ethane droplets or ice crystals
C)lakes of liquid methane ethane
D)lakes of liquid water in the warmer equatorial regions

Question 14

What is the most important reason why an icy moon is more likely to be geologically active than a rocky moon of the same size?

A)Ice contains more radioactive elements than rock.
B)Ice is affected by tidal forces to a greater extent than rock.
C)Ice is less dense than rock.
D)Ice has a lower melting point than rock.
E)Ice is less rigid than rock.

Question 15

Which of the following statements about Titan is not true?

A)It is the coldest moon in the solar system.
B)Its atmosphere is mostly nitrogen.
C)Its surface is hidden from view by its thick atmosphere.
D)It may have an ocean of liquid ethane.
E)Its temperature is too cold for liquid water to exist.

Question 16

What would happen to Jupiter if we could somehow double its mass?

A)Its density would decrease, and its diameter would double.
B)Its density would stay about the same, and its volume would double.
C)It would become a star, with nuclear fusion in its core.
D)Its density would increase, but its diameter would barely change.

Question 17

Which jovian planet should have the most extreme seasonal changes?

A)Neptune
B)Uranus
C)Jupiter
D)Saturn

Question 18

What mechanism is most responsible for generating the internal heat of Io that drives its volcanic activity?

A)accretion
B)tidal heating
C)differentiation
D)radioactive decay
E)bombardment

Question 19

Planetary rings are

A)composed of a large number of individual particles that orbit their planet in accord with Kepler's third law.
B)known to exist for all of the jovian planets.
C)orbiting in the equatorial plane of their planet.
D)all of the above

Question 20

Why is the radiation so intense in the region that traces Io's orbit around Jupiter (the Io torus)?

A)Io's gravity allows this region to capture huge numbers of charged particles from the solar wind.
B)The region is full of gases that become ionized after they are released from volcanoes on Io.
C)Jupiter's strong magnetic field makes the radiation intense everywhere, and the region around Io is no different than any other region.
D)An orbital resonance between Io, Europa, and Ganymede makes the radiation intense.

Question 21

Which statement about Io is true?

A)It is the most volcanically active body in our solar system.
B)It is the largest moon in the solar system.
C)It is thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water.
D)It is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere.

Question 22

Which of the following is not due to tidal forces?

A)the retrograde orbit of Triton (a moon of Neptune)
B)the synchronous rotation of the Moon around Earth
C)the grooved terrain of Enceladus (a moon of Saturn)
D)the volcanos on Io (a moon of Jupiter)
E)the rings of Saturn

Question 23

How does the strength of Jupiter's magnetic field compare to that of Earth's magnetic field?

A)Jupiter's magnetic field is about twice as strong as Earth's.
B)Jupiter's magnetic field is much weaker than Earth's.
C)Jupiter's magnetic field is about 20,000 times as strong as Earth's.
D)Jupiter's magnetic field strength is about the same as Earth's.

Question 24

How do the jovian planet interiors differ?

A)All have about the same amount of hydrogen and helium but the proportion of rocks is greater in those planets closer to the Sun.
B)The composition changes from mostly hydrogen in Jupiter and Saturn to mostly helium in Uranus and Neptune.
C)All have cores of about the same mass, but differ in the amount of surrounding hydrogen and helium.
D)The composition changes from mostly ammonia in Jupiter and Saturn to mostly methane in Uranus and Neptune.
E)The core mass decreases with the mass of the planet.

Question 25

The Huygens probe took numerous pictures as it descended to Titan's surface in 2005. What did the pictures show?

A)primitive life forms
B)features of erosion, including what appeared to be dry river valleys and lakebeds
C)a densely cratered surface
D)lava flows of molten basalt

Question 26

Why do Uranus and Neptune appear blue?

A)Gas molecules in their atmosphere preferentially scatter blue light.
B)Methane snowflakes absorb all colors except blue, which they reflect.
C)Small dust grains preferentially scatter blue light.
D)Methane gas absorbs all colors except blue.

Question 27

According to current understanding, which of the following is required in order for a planet to have rings?

A)The planet must be at least as massive as Saturn.
B)The planet must once have had a large moon that came too close to it, shattering the moon and creating the ring particles.
C)The planet must orbit its star at a distance greater than Mars orbits the Sun.
D)The planet must have many small moons that orbit relatively close to the planet in its equatorial plane.

Question 28

What kind of observations can astronomers use to study Io's volcanoes?

A)visible- light images to study plumes using reflected sunlight
B)visible- light images to study the distribution of sulfur compounds on its surface
C)spectroscopy to determine the composition of the plumes
D)infrared images to study warm plumes on Io's night- side
E)all of the above

Question 29

Which of the following best describes the internal layering of Jupiter, from the center outward?

A)liquid core of hydrogen compounds; liquid hydrogen layer; metallic hydrogen layer; gaseous hydrogen layer; cloud layer
B)core of rock and metal; mantle of lower density rock; upper layer of gaseous hydrogen; cloud layer
C)core of rock, metal, and hydrogen compounds; thick layer of metallic hydrogen; layer of liquid hydrogen; layer of gaseous hydrogen; cloud layer
D)solid rock core; layer of solid metallic hydrogen; layer of pure liquid hydrogen; cloud layer

Question 30

What is the Great Red Spot?

A)a region on Jupiter where the temperature is so high that the gas glows with red visible light
B)a hurricane that comes and goes on Jupiter
C)a place where reddish particles from Io impact Jupiter's surface
D)a long- lived, high- pressure storm on Jupiter

Question 31

Which of the jovian planets has/have rings?

A)Neptune
B)Uranus
C)Jupiter
D)Saturn
E)all of the above

Question 32

How thick are Saturn's rings from top to bottom?

A)a few kilometers
B)a few tens of meters
C)a few hundred kilometers
D)a few tens of thousands of kilometers
E)a few million kilometers

Question 33

Which of the following best explains why many jovian moons have been more geologically active than the Moon or Mercury?

A)Jovian moons are made mostly of ice that can melt or deform at lower temperatures than can the rock and metal that make up the Moon and Mercury.
B)Because of their greater distances from the Sun, the jovian moons receive much less heat from the Sun.
C)The jovian moons are considerably larger than the Moon and Mercury and therefore have retained much more internal heat.
D)The jovian moons probably have far more internal heat generated by radioactive decay than do the Moon or Mercury.

Question 34

Which of the following gases is not a significant ingredient of the jovian planet atmospheres?

A)water
B)hydrogen
C)helium
D)carbon dioxide

Question 35

Why is Jupiter denser than Saturn?

A)Its core is much larger than Saturn's.
B)It is made of a different composition than Saturn, including a higher proportion of hydrogen compounds and rocks.
C)The extra mass of Jupiter compresses its interior to a greater extent than that of Saturn.
D)It has a greater proportion of helium to hydrogen compared to Saturn.
E)Scientists do not know why this is so.

Question 36

The Galileo spacecraft dropped a probe into Jupiter's atmosphere that survived 200 km, or 0.3% of Jupiter's radius. Which is the deepest layer that this probe was able to directly sample?

A)metallic hydrogen layer
B)gaseous hydrogen layer
C)liquid hydrogen layer
D)rocky core

Question 37

According to our theory of solar system formation, why did Uranus and Neptune end up to be much less massive than Jupiter and Saturn?

A)The colder gas in the outer regions of the solar nebula had less gravity and therefore could not gather up into such large balls as it could closer in.
B)Particles in the solar nebula were more spread out at greater distances, so that accretion took longer and there was less time to pull in gas before the solar wind cleared the nebula.
C)Ices were able to condense at the distance of Jupiter and Saturn, but only rock and metal could condense at the distances of Uranus and Neptune.
D)The size differences are thought to be a random coincidence.

Question 38

Which moon did the Huygens spacecraft land on?

A)Triton
B)Ganymede
C)Europa
D)Titan
E)Callisto

Question 39

How do astronomers think Jupiter generates its internal heat?

A)internal friction due to its high rotation rate
B)nuclear fusion in the core
C)chemical processes
D)by contracting, changing gravitational potential energy into thermal energy
E)radioactive decay

Question 40

Uranus and Neptune have methane clouds but Jupiter and Saturn do not. Which factor explains why?

A)Temperatures on Jupiter and Saturn are too high for methane to condense.
B)The stronger gravity on Jupiter and Saturn pulls methane downward so that it can't form clouds.
C)The rapid rotation of Jupiter and Saturn prevents methane clouds from forming.
D)Jupiter and Saturn do not contain any methane gas.

Question 41

What atmospheric constituent is responsible for the blue color of Uranus and Neptune?

A)methane
B)ammonia
C)hydrogen
D)water

Question 42

Which moon has a thick atmosphere made mostly of nitrogen?

A)Titan
B)Europa
C)Ganymede
D)Triton

Question 43

Which moon is considered likely to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water?

A)Io
B)Triton
C)Europa
D)Miranda

Question 44

What did the Huygens probe photograph as it landed on Titan?

A)hills, valleys and rivers
B)nothing; there was zero visibility due to the methane smog
C)a water world of frozen ice sheets
D)a pockmarked surface covered with volcanos
E)dry, featureless plains

Question 45

Which of the following is not a general characteristic of the four jovian planets in our solar system?

A)They lack solid surfaces.
B)They are much more massive than any of the terrestrial planets.
C)They are higher in average density than are the terrestrial planets.
D)They are composed mainly of hydrogen, helium, and hydrogen compounds.

Question 46

Why are Saturn's rings so thin?

A)Saturn's gravity prevents particles from migrating upwards out of the rings.
B)The current thinness is a short- lived phenomenon that is special to this time.
C)Any particle in the ring with an orbital tilt would collide with other ring particles, flattening its orbit.
D)Solar radiation pressure keeps particles pressed into the rings.
E)The "gap" moons shepherd the particles and maintain its thin profile.

Question 47

Overall, Jupiter's composition is most like that of .

A)an asteroid
B)Earth
C)the Sun
D)a comet

Question 48

Jupiter's colors come in part from its three layers of clouds. Which of the following is not the primary constituent of one of Jupiter's cloud layers?

A)clouds of ammonium hydrosulfide
B)clouds of sulfuric acid
C)clouds of ammonia
D)clouds of water

Question 49

Why does Jupiter have several distinct cloud layers?

A)Winds prevent clouds from forming at some altitudes, so we see clouds only at the other altitudes.
B)Different layers represent the various regions where the temperature is cool enough for liquid water to condense.
C)Different layers represent clouds made of gases that condense at different temperatures.
D)Clouds form randomly, so on average there are always several layers.
E)Different gases are present at different altitudes in Jupiter's atmosphere.

Question 50

Why is Saturn almost as big as Jupiter, despite its smaller mass?

A)Jupiter's greater mass compresses it more and increases its density.
B)Saturn's rings make the planet look bigger.
C)Saturn is further from the Sun, thus cooler, and therefore less compact.
D)Jupiter's strong magnetic field constrains its size.
E)Saturn has a larger proportion of hydrogen and helium than Jupiter, and is therefore less dense.

Question 51

Which of the following statements about the moons of the jovian planets is not true?

A)One of the moons has a thick atmosphere.
B)Many of the moons are made largely of ices.
C)Some of the moons are big enough that we'd call them planets (or dwarf planets)if they orbited the Sun.
D)Most of the moons are large enough to be spherical in shape, but a few have the more potato- like shapes of asteroids.

Question 52

Which large jovian moon is thought to have been captured into its present orbit?

A)Triton
B)Titan
C)Callisto
D)Io

Question 53

Suppose you could float in space just a few meters above Saturn's rings. What would you see as you looked down on the rings?

A)a solid, shiny surface, looking much like a piece of a DVD but a lot bigger
B)dozens of large "moonlets" made of metal and rock, each a few kilometers across
C)countless icy particles, ranging in size from dust grains to large boulders
D)Nothing- up close; the rings would be so completely invisible that you'd have no way to know they are there. They can be seen only from a distance.

Question 54

Why do the jovian planet interiors differ?

A)They differ due to giant impacts at the late stages of planet formation.
B)Accretion took longer further from the Sun, so the more distant planets formed their cores later and captured less gas from the solar nebula than the closer jovian planets.
C)The more distant planets had longer to form than the closer planets, since the solar nebula lasted longer at greater distances from the Sun.
D)The more distant planets formed in a cooler region of the solar nebula and therefore contain a greater proportion of ices than the closer jovian planets.

Question 55

The large Jovian satellites have sizes comparable to Mercury. Why do they have an icy composition compared to Mercury's rocky composition?

A)They formed from hydrogen compounds expelled by the Jovian planets.
B)They experienced many more cometary impacts during the Late Heavy Bombardment.
C)They formed beyond the frost line, where ices were three to four times more abundant than metals and rock.
D)They are captured comets.

Question 56

Jupiter and the other jovian planets are sometimes called "gas giants." In what sense is this term misleading?

A)The materials they are made of are not the kinds of thing we usually think of as gases.
B)They are not in any sense "giants."
C)Actually, it's a great description, because these worlds are big and gaseous throughout.
D)They actually contain relatively little material in a gaseous state.

Question 57

How do typical wind speeds in Jupiter's atmosphere compare to typical wind speeds on Earth?

A)They are about the same as average winds on Earth.
B)They are slightly slower than average winds on Earth.
C)They are much faster than hurricane winds on Earth.
D)They are slightly faster than average winds on Earth.

Question 58

Which of the following best explains why we see horizontal "stripes" in photographs of Jupiter and Saturn?

A)There are three different color stripes corresponding to the three different types of clouds found on these planets.
B)The dark and light stripes correspond to alternating bands of different chemical composition.
C)Dark stripes are those in which there is a stratosphere and light stripes are those with no stratosphere.
D)The light stripes are regions of high clouds, and the dark stripes are regions where we can see down to deeper, darker clouds.

Question 59

Why is Neptune denser than Saturn?

A)It has a different composition than Saturn, including a higher proportion of hydrogen compounds and rocks.
B)The extra mass of Neptune compresses its interior to a greater extent than that of Saturn.
C)It has a greater proportion of hydrogen than Saturn.
D)Its hydrogen is molecular, whereas Saturn's hydrogen is atomic.
E)It is not denser than Saturn.

Question 60

Which of the following best describes the composition of the particles forming Saturn's rings?

A)volcanic rock
B)hydrogen and helium
C)methane ice
D)metallic grains
E)water ice

Question 61

All the following statements are true. Which one is most important in explaining the tremendous tidal heating that occurs on Io?

A)Io exhibits synchronous rotation, meaning that its rotation period and orbital period are the same.
B)Io orbits Jupiter on an elliptical orbit, due to orbital resonances with other satellites.
C)Io orbits Jupiter in the Io torus, and therefore has a surface that is bombarded by many charged particles.
D)Io is the closest to Jupiter of Jupiter's large moons.

Question 62

Why is Triton such an unusual satellite?

Question 63

Use these choices for the following questions.
A. the most volcanically active body in the solar system
B. thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water
C. probably a captured Kuiper Belt object
D. the target of the Huygens probe, which landed on its surface.
E. the largest moon in the solar system
Which of the above applies to Io?

Question 64

Use these choices for the following questions.
A. the most volcanically active body in the solar system
B. thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water
C. probably a captured Kuiper Belt object
D. the target of the Huygens probe, which landed on its surface.
E. the largest moon in the solar system
Which of the above applies to Triton?

Question 65

Explain why Titan is of great interest to astronomers.

Question 66

Describe the possible origins of Jupiter's vibrant colors. Contrast these with the origins of the colors of the other jovian planets.

Question 67

What is "ice geology"? Give an example illustrating why it is important in the outer solar system.

Question 68

Explain how the resonance among Io, Europa, and Ganymede makes their orbits slightly elliptical.

Question 69

Contrast Jupiter's magnetosphere with that of Earth and of the other jovian planets.

Question 70

Use these choices for the following questions.
A. the most volcanically active body in the solar system
B. thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water
C. probably a captured Kuiper Belt object
D. the target of the Huygens probe, which landed on its surface.
E. the largest moon in the solar system
Which of the above applies to Titan?

Question 71

Describe some of the results from the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and its moons.

Question 72

The satellite Amalthea orbits Jupiter at just about the same distance in kilometers at which Mimas orbits Saturn. Yet Mimas takes almost twice as long to orbit. What can you deduce from this difference qualitatively? Since Jupiter and Saturn are not very different in radius, what else can you conclude?

Question 73

How do the size and mass of Jupiter's core compare to the size and mass of Earth?

A)It is about 10 times larger in size and the same mass.
B)It is the same size and mass.
C)It is about 10 times larger both in size and mass.
D)It is about the same size but is 10 times more massive.
E)Jupiter doesn't have a core-it is made entirely from hydrogen and helium.

Question 74

Why are there no impact craters on the surface of Io?

A)Jupiter's strong gravity attracted the planetesimals more strongly than Io, and thus none landed on its surface.
B)Any craters that existed have been eroded through the strong winds on Io's surface.
C)Io did have impact craters, but they have all been buried in lava flows.
D)Io's thick atmosphere obscures the view of the craters.
E)It is too small to have been bombarded by planetesimals in the early solar system.

Question 75

Suppose the jovian planet atmospheres were composed 100 percent of hydrogen and helium rather than 98 percent of hydrogen and helium. How would the atmospheres be different in terms of color and weather?

Question 76

Use these choices for the following questions.
A. the most volcanically active body in the solar system
B. thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water
C. probably a captured Kuiper Belt object
D. the target of the Huygens probe, which landed on its surface.
E. the largest moon in the solar system
How would Jupiter be different if it rotated slowly?

Question 77

Which statement about planetary rings is not true?

A)Saturn's rings formed along with its moons 4.6 billion years ago.
B)Individual ring particles orbit their planet in accord with Kepler's laws, so that particles closer in orbit faster than particles farther out.
C)All four jovian planets have rings.
D)Rings are always located closer to a planet's surface than any large moons.

Question 78

Describe two leading scenarios for the origin of the planetary rings. What makes us think that ring systems must be continually replenished?

Question 79

Use these choices for the following questions.
A. the most volcanically active body in the solar system
B. thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water
C. probably a captured Kuiper Belt object
D. the target of the Huygens probe, which landed on its surface.
E. the largest moon in the solar system
Which of the above applies to Ganymede?

Question 80

Use these choices for the following questions.
A. the most volcanically active body in the solar system
B. thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water
C. probably a captured Kuiper Belt object
D. the target of the Huygens probe, which landed on its surface.
E. the largest moon in the solar system
Which of the above applies to Europa?