Exoplanet and Astrobiology Unit Test

What has the Kepler telescope primarily discovered?

• Mostly gas giants like Jupiter

• Primarily planets between Earth sized and Neptune Sized

• Exclusively planets within our solar system

• Only exoplanets with long orbital periods

What do we see in dust disks around young stars that imply planetary formation?

• Gaps or rings caused by gravitational interactions between forming planets and dust particles.
• Spiral patterns caused by magnetic fields
• Uniform distribution of dust particles
• Dust particles moving away from the star

Why is the Kepler Mission data limited to planets closer to stars?

• The transit method used by the Kepler Mission is more effective for planets closer to their host stars.
• The Kepler Mission instruments cannot detect planets far from stars.
• The time it takes for a planet further away to orbit takes too long to get definitive data.

What is the common characteristic of the most frequently discovered exoplanets?

• They are similar in size to Jupiter

• They are predominantly Earth-size or smaller

• They are all located in the habitable zone

• They are mostly gaseous with no solid surface

Why can't the Kepler Mission find Mercury-sized planets?

• Kepler Mission is focused on larger planets only.
• Mercury-sized planets are too rare to be found.
• Mercury-sized planets are too close to the sun to detect.
• Transit method is not sensitive enough for Mercury-sized planets.

How do astronomers estimate the density of exoplanets?

• Through direct imaging techniques

• By measuring their orbital periods

• By combining transit and Doppler data

• Using theoretical models only

What is the Fermi Paradox?

• The Fermi Paradox is the apparent contradiction between the high probability of extraterrestrial civilizations existing and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations.
• The Fermi Paradox is a term used to describe the lack of evidence for the Big Bang theory.
• The Fermi Paradox is a theory about the existence of parallel universes.
• The Fermi Paradox is a concept related to the study of black holes.

What is the habitable zone?

• The habitable zone is the region around a star where only gas giants can exist
• The habitable zone is the area in space where aliens live
• The habitable zone is the zone where no life can exist due to extreme temperatures
• The habitable zone is the region around a star where conditions are just right for liquid water to exist on the surface of a planet, making it potentially habitable for life as we know it.

Lifeforms that can extract chemical energy from sunlight do so through a process called

• Chemosynthesis
• Photosynthesis
• Photolysis
• Hydrolysis

Tags

NGSS.HS-LS1-5

NGSS.HS-LS2-5

What is the estimated number of Earth-size planets in our Galaxy, according to recent studies?

• About 30 billion

• Less than 1 million

• About 500 million

• More than 100 billion