Deck 9: Small Bodies of the Solar System

Question 1

Like meteoroids and asteroids,cometary nuclei in the Oort Cloud undergo frequent collisions that often send them into the inner Solar System.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Although asteroids are small individually,when combined they make up a significant fraction of the total mass of the planets.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The most common type of meteorites found are iron meteorites.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Pluto is composed mostly of rock.

Question 5

All meteorites are remnants of planetesimals that never coalesced to form a planet.

Question 6

The yellow colored patches of Io's surface are fields of sulfur dioxide snow.

Question 7

Io is by far the most geologically active moon in the Solar System.

Question 8

The oceans under Europa's icy crust could be very deep and could contain more water than all the oceans on the Earth.

Question 9

Meteorites are more likely to come from asteroids than comets.

Question 10

Lakes of methane,ethane,and other hydrocarbons can be found on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

Question 11

Most asteroids are found in orbit around the Sun between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn.

Question 12

Some asteroids have moons just as planets do.

Question 13

Which of following is FALSE?

A) Pluto has three moons.
B) Pluto has a mass that is 1/10 times the Earth's mass.
C) Pluto's orbit sometimes brings it closer to the Sun than Neptune.
D) Pluto has a rocky core surrounded by a water-ice mantle.

Question 14

Eruptions of water-powered geysers have been seen on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

Question 15

All short period comets have a period < 20 years.

Question 16

The surface of the dwarf planet Eris has very high albedo and is covered with:

A) methane ice
B) water ice
C) sulfur dioxide
D) frozen carbon dioxide

Question 17

Cometary nuclei provide evidence that the ingredients necessary for the creation of life were present in the early solar nebula.

Question 18

Eris and Ceres are examples of:

A) asteroids
B) dwarf planets
C) comets
D) meteor showers

Question 19

Pluto is the largest member of the Kuiper Belt.

Question 20

Eris is classified as an asteroid even though its mass is 28 percent larger than Pluto's mass.

Question 21

Most asteroids are:

A) very large
B) large
C) medium
D) small

Question 22

Which of the following can be used as an indicator of the age of a moon's surface?

A) Surface brightness
B) Crater density
C) Volcanic activity
D) all of the above

Question 23

Which of the following moons do scientists believe most closely represents the primordial Earth,although at a much lower temperature?

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

Question 24

The varied colors found on Io's surface are due to the presence of various molecules containing:

A) sulfur
B) silicon
C) mercury
D) magnesium

Question 25

How do particles from Enceladus wind up in Saturn's E ring?

A) Volcanoes erupt and expel silicates into space.
B) Water geysers erupt from the surface and expel them into space.
C) Cosmic rays bombard the surface rock on Enceladus and expel them into space.
D) A collision with a co-orbiting moon knocked rocky debris into orbit around Saturn.

Question 26

Most asteroids are closest in shape to:

A) a potato
B) an orange
C) a stick
D) a baseball

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT geologically active?

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

Question 28

If a moon has a retrograde orbit then it:

A) orbits in the opposite direction that the planet rotates
B) orbits in the opposite direction that the planet revolves around the Sun
C) orbits in a clockwise direction as viewed from the planet's north pole
D) all of the above

Question 29

Titan's thick atmosphere (see the image below)is believed to have been created when ultraviolet photons broke apart methane molecules,ultimately creating the observed smog-like conditions.This process,though,would likely remove all of the atmospheric methane in roughly 10 million years,yet we still see its presence today.How can this be?

A) Cometary impacts periodically bring new methane to Titan.
B) Ethane rains down out of the atmosphere,combines with surface rocks,and creates new methane.
C) Infrared photons give atmospheric molecules enough energy to recombine into methane.
D) Volcanoes on Titan periodically release new methane into the atmosphere.

Question 30

Which of the following does NOT describe comets in the Oort Cloud?

A) Long period
B) Pristine condition
C) Randomly directed orbits
D) Flattened distribution

Question 31

Where does Titan's thick,nitrogen-rich atmosphere (see the image below)come from?

A) Photodissociation of methane in its atmosphere
B) Frequent volcanic eruptions
C) It has been deposited by cometary impacts over the age of the Solar System
D) Photosynthesis of algae in oceans that lie beneath its icy surface

Question 32

Comet nuclei,absent their tails,are very dark because:

A) they are made of water ice
B) they have iron and nickel mixed with ice
C) they have organic molecules mixed with ice
D) they are covered in rock

Question 33

What must an asteroid have in order for us to determine its mass?

A) A rocky composition
B) A moon
C) An orbit that lies between the Earth and Mars
D) Carbonaceous chondrites

Question 34

Which of the following moons is thought to have a vast ocean of water beneath its thin frozen surface?

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

Question 35

Which object has turned itself inside out numerous times,leading to lighter elements escaping,sulfur compounds composing the crust,and heavier elements making up the core?

A) Mercury
B) Titan
C) Pluto
D) Io

Question 36

The mass of all the known asteroids combined would be as much as:

A) half the mass of Earth
B) three times the mass of Earth
C) the mass of Mars
D) one-third the mass of the Moon

Question 37

Which moon gives rise to the particles that make up Saturn's E ring?

A) Titan
B) Triton
C) Enceladus
D) Thethys

Question 38

What is the most common geologic feature seen on moons?

A) Craters
B) Volcanoes
C) Palimpsests
D) Geysers

Question 39

Which property of a moon might lead you to believe it was a captured asteroid?

A) It is tidally locked.
B) Its orbital axis is tilted by 10 degrees compared to the planet's rotational axis.
C) It rotates clockwise around the planet when viewed from the planet's north pole.
D) Its surface is very smooth and lacks craters.

Question 40

Examine the image below. Titan is a prime candidate for life outside Earth because it has:

A) liquid water
B) a dense atmosphere like Earth's
C) active volcanoes
D) organic material

Question 41

Remnants of volcanic activity on the asteroid Vesta indicate that members of the asteroid belt:

A) were once part of a single protoplanet that was shattered by collisions
B) have all undergone significant chemical evolution since formation
C) occasionally grow large enough to become differentiated and geologically active
D) were once a part of a young Mars

Question 42

Cometary nuclei are most likely:

A) solid ice
B) rocky
C) porous
D) uniform

Question 43

The one orbital characteristic both short- and long-period comets share is:

A) mostly prograde orbits
B) orbits with completely random tilts
C) orbital periods longer than any planet
D) highly eccentric orbits

Question 44

A comet having an orbit of 50 years would likely have come from the:

A) Trojan family
B) Oort Cloud
C) Zodiacal zone
D) Kuiper Belt

Question 45

When a comet comes close to the Sun,its volatile ice sublimates and transforms directly from the solid to __________ phase.

A) liquid
B) crystalline
C) gas
D) ionized

Question 46

Most comets originate:

A) near Earth and Venus in the early Solar System
B) far from the planets,many thousands of AU from the Sun
C) from the region between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune
D) between the Sun and Mercury

Question 47

The minimum size of a meteoroid that is capable of surviving its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and hitting the ground is about as big as:

A) a car
B) a house
C) a grain of sand
D) your fist

Question 48

What are the two basic materials of which the moons in the solar system are composed? For each type of material,name an example of a moon whose surface is composed primarily of that material.

Question 49

Meteorites contain clues to all of the following EXCEPT:

A) the age of the Solar System
B) the temperature in the early solar nebula
C) changes in the rate of cratering in the early Solar System
D) the composition of the primitive Solar System

Question 50

Why does the dust tail separate from the ion tail?

A) The dust is not ionized,so it is not affected by the solar wind.
B) Dust cannot sublimate as ice can,so it cannot form a tail as easily.
C) The dust tail forms on the leading side of the nucleus,whereas the gas tail forms on the opposite side.
D) Dust is more massive than ions,so it accelerates less.

Question 51

Which group of meteorites represents the conditions in the earliest stages of the formation of the Solar System?

A) Chondrites
B) Achondrites
C) Iron meteorites
D) Stony-iron meteorites

Question 52

In 1994,dozens of fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with:

A) Jupiter
B) the Earth
C) the Moon
D) Saturn

Question 53

Name three properties of the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris that are similar.

Question 54

The darkest asteroids are:

A) M-type
B) S-type
C) C-type
D) Q-type

Question 55

Suppose we discover a comet whose orbit was very highly eccentric,retrograde,had a very large tilt with respect to the ecliptic plane,and a period of 2,000 years.Where is the most likely place of origin for this comet?

A) The Kuiper Belt
B) The Oort Cloud
C) The Jovian family
D) Outside the Solar System

Question 56

Antarctica is the best hunting ground for meteorites for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

A) the ground is covered with ice in Antarctica
B) more meteorites fall there than on other locations on Earth
C) few native rocks are found on the glaciers
D) meteorites are protected from weathering and contamination there

Question 57

The nucleus of the typical comet is approximately __________ in size.

A) 10 km
B) 1,000 km
C) 10 m
D) 1 cm

Question 58

Which group of meteoroids is more likely to have compositions indicative of those in the early Solar System?

A) Asteroidal meteoroids
B) Cometary meteoroids
C) Both groups are equally likely
D) Neither group: All meteoroids have undergone significant chemical evolution

Question 59

Which of the following is the BRIGHTEST part of a comet?

A) Its nucleus
B) Its coma
C) Its ion tail
D) Its dust tail

Question 60

The most common type of meteorites are:

A) stony meteorites
B) iron meteorites
C) stony-iron meteorites
D) carbonaceous chondrite meteorites

Question 61

Phobos and Deimos,the two moons of Mars,are thought to have a unique origin.What is it?

Question 62

Examine the image below.Why does a comet usually have two tails,one which is straight and one that is curved? What materials compose each tail and why do they have different shapes?

Question 63

If ultraviolet photons destroy methane,why does Titan have so much of it in its atmosphere?

Question 64

Give the definitions of meteoroid,meteor,and meteorite,and clearly explain how they differ.

Question 65

In the figure below,label each portion of the comet.

Question 66

What material has been seen erupting from the surface (see the image below)of the icy moon Enceladus,and why?

Question 67

Why do long-period comets usually put on a much more visually spectacular display than short-period comets?

Question 68

Consider three comets that have orbital periods of 10,100,and 1,000 years.Where would each of these comets likely originate,in the Oort Cloud or the Kuiper Belt? If you wanted to study material that was the best example of pristine Solar System material,which would you study?

Question 69

Examine the figure below.How is it possible for the tail of a comet to actually move ahead of the comet itself?

Question 70

Why is Io,a moon that is smaller and farther from the Sun than our own Moon,still geologically active?

Question 71

Europa is a very interesting moon that NASA is considering visiting with a spacecraft in order to search for signs of life.What is it about this moon that makes it so interesting,and what surface features give us clues about its interior?

Question 72

What does the existence of M-type asteroids tell us about their origin?

Question 73

Describe two modern-day events when comets or asteroids collided with a planet.Cite the planet,give the approximate year when the collision occurred,and describe the major consequences of the collision.

Question 74

You find a blackened rock lying on top of the snow.You find that it is fairly dense and suspect it might be a meteorite.You take it to a lab,and they find that its age is 1.3 Gyr.Is this a meteorite? Why,or why not?

Question 75

Ganymede is one of the largest moons in the Solar System.It shows some terrain that is ancient and heavily cratered,younger terrain with less craters,but no terrain that is free of craters.Why would Ganymede's geologic activity stop?