Astronomy 7.1

What is the most important reason that astronomers have learned more about our planetary system in the last 30-40 years than all of history before then?

• astronomers today are a lot smarter than astronomers were earlier

• the Hubble Space Telescope

• we have been able to send spacecraft to gather information about planets and moons up close

• radio telescope arrays allow astronomers to make out details on the planets that they have never been able to see before

• the planets (moving in their slow orbits around the Sun) happen to be closer to the Earth in the last 30 years than at any previous time in human history

The planet closest to the Sun in the solar system is:

• Mercury

• Pluto

• Venus

• Neptune

• none of the above

Which planet in the solar system has not been examined by spacecraft instruments that have either flown by or orbited them?

• Earth

• Neptune

• Venus

• Saturn

• spacecraft have visited all the planets in our solar system

In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?

• the Sun

• Jupiter

• the asteroid belt

• Comet Halley

• Neptune

All the planets (without exception)

• have solid surfaces

• have atmospheres much thicker than Earth’s

• have satellites orbiting around them

• revolve around the Sun in the same direction

• rotate on their axes in the same direction that they revolve around the Sun

The first trans-Neptunian object astronomers found (in 1930) is called

• Uranus

• Pluto

• Eris

• Ceres

• Bayonne

Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT CORRECT?

• jovians have more mass than the terrestrials

• jovians are further from the Sun than terrestrials

• jovians are made of lighter elements on average than terrestrials

• jovians have rings while terrestrials do not

• jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

Which of the following is NOT a terrestrial planet?

• Mars

• Earth

• Jupiter

• Venus

• Mercury

You are the captain of an interplanetary tour ship and a wealthy tourist from Texas asks you to take him to see only the "largest darn planets" in the solar system. Which of the following would you NOT include in your tour?

• Mercury

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Neptune

• Uranus

Which of the following characteristics do all four terrestrial planets have in common?

• the all have one or more moons

• all have liquid water on their surfaces

• they all rotate in 24 hours or less

• they all have thick atmospheres

• they all have solid surfaces with signs of geological activity on them