Spring 2013
Astronomy - Test 2
Test form A
Name ________________________
Do not forget to write your name and fill in the bubbles with your student number, and
fill in test form A on the answer sheet. Write your name above as well. You have 50
minutes. For each question, mark the best answer. There are no formulas for this test.
The final five questions are based on images projected at the front of the room.
1. Which of the following describes what we know about volcanoes on Mercury
A) As far as we can tell, Mercury never had volcanoes
B) Although there are no volcanoes now, we believe they were there in the past
C) We believe active volcanoes exist on Mercury, but we’ve never seen them erupt
D) Volcanoes have been seen erupting on Mercury
E) We have no data, since we’ve never sent a spacecraft near Mercury
2. Why is it believed that all the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction and approximately
in the same plane?
A) Early solar winds swept away everything except things that were in the plane
B) Pressure from other stars compressed the material in the solar system into this plane
C) The planets were formed from material ejected from the equator of the Sun
D) They formed from a rotating disk
E) The Sun’s rotation pushes them along on their orbits, which must be in a common plane
3. The moon with the most substantial atmosphere in the Solar System is
A) Iapetus
B) Io
C) Titan
D) Triton
E) Europa
4. Which of the following is true about the role of carbon dioxide in greenhouse warming of
Earth and Venus?
A) It has a huge effect on Earth and a smaller effect on Venus
B) It has a huge effect on Earth and virtually no effect on Venus
C) It has a huge effect on Venus and a smaller effect on Earth
D) It has a huge effect on Venus and virtually no effect on Earth
E) Carbon dioxide has no appreciable effect on Earth or Venus
5. If the Sun were a sphere 40 cm in diameter in the front of class, as I demonstrated in class,
where would Neptune be?
A) Near the front row of chairs
B) About the middle of the room
C) Near the back of the room
D) Roughly near Greene Hall
E) Beyond the edge of the Reynolds campus
6. The primary, or first atmosphere, of any planet that got an atmosphere was composed
primarily of
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Nitrogen
Carbon dioxide
Water vapor
Hydrogen and Helium
Oxygen
7. The largest moon in the solar system is
A) Ganymede B) Io
C) Europa
D) Titan
E) Triton
8. Which layer of the Earth is made primarily of metal (iron)?
A) The inner core (only)
B) The outer core (only)
C) The mantle (only)
D) The inner and outer core, but not the mantle
E) The inner and outer core and the mantle
9. It is believed that both Jupiter and Saturn have a layer of metallic hydrogen deep inside them.
But on Earth, hydrogen is not metallic. In what way does the interior of Jupiter and Saturn
differ from Earth allowing hydrogen to be metallic?
A) The temperature at which this occurs is too low to occur on Earth
B) The temperature at which this occurs is too high to occur on Earth
C) This only occurs with the inclusion of hydrogen compounds which do not occur on Earth
D) This only occurs under extreme pressure, more than can be found on Earth
E) This can only occur with rapid rotation, faster than the Earth turns
10. The total number of moons of Saturn is
A) One
B) Two
C) Three
D) Four
E) More than four
11. What is the fundamental reason that the Moon is geologically dead, while the Earth is
geologically active?
A) The Moon has very few radioactive materials to keep it hot
B) The Moon is smaller, so heat leaks out of it more quickly
C) The Giant Impact that created all the heat happened to the Earth, not the Moon
D) Without an atmosphere, the Moon has no greenhouse effect, unlike the Earth
E) The Moon is made of highly heat conductive materials, which let the heat leak out faster
12. I am standing in a spacesuit in the bottom of an immense valley, much larger than the Grand
Canyon. Where am I?
A) Moon
B) Mercury C) Jupiter
D) Io
E) Mars
13. Which of the planets is composed primarily of rock and metal?
A) Earth (only)
B) Earth, Mercury, and Mars (only)
C) Earth, Mercury, Mars, and Venus (only)
D) Earth, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Uranus, and Neptune, but not Saturn nor Jupiter
E) All eight planets are mostly rock and metal
14. If we find a meteorite that consists almost exclusively of metal, its most likely history is
A) It formed in the extreme inner solar system, where only metals could condense
B) It formed near Jupiter, where massive magnetic fields attract metal
C) It formed during the earliest part of the solar system, when there were more metals, and
has remained pristine ever since
D) It was ejected from the core of one of the current planets
E) It was once part of some object, like a protoplanet, so large that it differentiated, but then
got broken up by collisions
15. Why do the dark maria regions of the Moon have so few craters?
A) They are made of very hard materials, which cannot be impacted by meteorites
B) These regions were covered by volcanic flows that covered all the early craters
C) These regions were formed from materials that rained down on the Moon late in its
history, after the heavy bombardment period
D) These regions face the Earth, so any potential meteoroids are deflected by the Earth
E) These regions are subject to erosion, and all craters have been erased by erosion
16. The most important clues to what is happening deep in the interior of the Earth comes from
A) Earthquakes
B) Scientific drilling
C) Volcanoes
D) The gravity of the Earth
E) The documentary, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”
17. Saturn’s rings are composed primarily of
A) Dust
B) Rock
C) Metal
D) Methane
E) Water ice
18. Why is it that the inner large moons of Jupiter have so little ice, while the outer ones have
more?
A) Ice has low density compared to rock, so it gravitationally migrated to the more distant
moons
B) Early Jupiter was so hot that it evaporated most of the ice from the inner moons, while
leaving the outer moons intact
C) Collisions in the inner moons knocked most of the ice off, while the outer moons were
less affected
D) The gravity from Jupiter drew off most of the ice from the inner moons
E) The magnetic field from Jupiter drew in metals, leaving the ice at greater distances
19. On which planet can be found the largest storm in the Solar System?
A) Saturn
B) Jupiter
C) Neptune
D) Venus
E) Mars
20. Why are the bands on Jupiter easier to see than on Saturn, and harder to see on Neptune and
Uranus?
A) The light from the Sun is just so dim that it is difficult to see anything at the more distant
planets
B) Since bands are caused by gravity, the largest mass planets have the most prominent
bands
C) The clouds that make these bands form only at specific temperatures, so the closer,
warmer planets, have them closer to the top of their atmosphere, easier to see
D) Since the bands are made of hydrogen compounds, the planets with the most hydrogen
have the most visible bands
E) The bands are caused by rotation, so the faster rotating planets have more prominent
bands
21. Why do some planets have a lot water and other ices, while others have very little?
A) They formed farther from the Sun, where it was cold enough for ices to condense
B) They have high concentrations of salt, which naturally attracts ices
C) Water can only exist in an atmosphere, so only planets with thick atmospheres can have
water
D) They are closer to the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud, where the water comes from
E) The radioactivity of some planets makes it hot enough that the water all evaporates
22. Which planet has exactly two known moons?
A) Venus
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Mars
E) Neptune
23. Why do Uranus and Neptune have the lowest surface temperatures of any planet?
A) Because they are farthest from the Sun
B) Because they have lots of methane, which reflects light and cools them
C) Because they have a lot of ices, which keep them cold
D) Because they are near the Kuiper belt, which regularly adds more ice
E) Because they contain so little radioactive materials to keep them warm
24. Most of the heat in the interior of the Earth comes from
A) Pressure
B) Chemical reactions
C) Heat of formation
D) The Sun
E) Radioactivity
25. The moon Charon orbits
A) Neptune
B) Jupiter
C) Pluto
D) Eris
E) Uranus
26. Venus is covered with clouds; nonetheless, we have detailed maps of nearly all of Venus.
How is this possible?
A) Radar from the Magellan spacecraft was used to create a map of Venus
B) Radar was sent from on Earth to create a map of Venus
C) Detailed studies of the cloud pattern allow us to deduce the topography
D) Occasional breaks in the clouds allow us to map it piece by piece
E) Russian spacecraft explored below the clouds, mapping out the whole planet
27. The largest planet is _________ and the smallest is _________ .
A) Jupiter, Mars
B)
C)
D)
E)
Jupiter, Mercury
Saturn, Mars
Saturn, Mercur
None of the above
28. Our best guess about what killed the dinosaurs is
A) An asteroid that collided with Earth
B) Climate change from global warming
C) Massive volcanic activity that heated the planet
D) Massive volcanic activity that cooled the planet
E) Smoking
For each of the following, please look at the pictures on the screen to identify the
object.
29. What are these pictures of?
A) Venus
B) Mercury
C) Europa
D) Iapetus
E) Ganymede
30. What is this a picture of?
A) Earth
B) Miranda
C) Saturn
D) Venus
E) Uranus
31. What is this a picture of?
A) Mars
B) Earth
C) Titan
D) Triton
E) Io
32. What is this a picture of?
A) Jupiter
B) Venus
C) Miranda
D) Neptune
E) Europa
33. What is this a picture of?
A) Ganymede B) Europa
C) Io
D) Moon
E) Mars