WorksheetsTest Review: Beyond the Solar System
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 10mins
The orbits of most asteroids:
lie beyond Neptune.
lie entirely beyond the orbit of Mars.
cross the orbit of Mars.
cross the orbit of Earth.
cross the orbits of all four terrestrial planets.
The orbits of most comets:
are like the planets, fairly circular and in the ecliptic plane.
lie almost entirely beyond the orbit of Neptune.
have perihelions within the orbits of Mercury.
go no farther out than Pluto, then return to the Sun again.
are shorter than the 76 year period for Comet Halley.
Long period (>200 years) comets are thought to reside mainly in the:
asteroid belt.
Kirkwood gaps.
Kuiper Belt.
Oort Cloud.
Interstellar Medium.
The tail of a comet always points:
toward the Sun and disappears at perihelion.
toward Earth and never varies.
away from the Sun and disappears at perihelion.
away from the Sun and becomes longest and brightest at perihelion.
in the direction of the comet's motion.
Halley's Comet last passed Earth in 1986. It will be due back in:
2012.
2048.
2061.
2086.
the 23rd century.
The Kuiper Belt objects have orbits that:
carry them thousands of A.U. beyond the Sun.
stay out just beyond Neptune and close to the ecliptic.
stay sixty degrees ahead of or behind Jupiter.
cross the orbit of Mars at perihelion.
cross the orbit of Earth at perihelion
From its orbit, we now recognize Pluto as one of the largest members of the:
moons of Neptune.
asteroid belt.
Kuiper Belt.
Oort Cloud.
Zodiacal Belt.
When it was determined that Sedna has a perihelion distance that is three times further out than Pluto and such an eccentric orbit that it has a period of thousands of years, it was placed in the:
Trojan Asteroids
Kuiper Belt.
Kirkwood Gap.
Oort Cloud.
Rogue Comets.
Which of the following gives direct information about the age of the solar system?
Martian meteorites
meteorites from asteroidal debris
the solar wind
the oldest Martian basalts
the oldest lunar basalts
One of the best known craters on Earth is the Barringer Crater in Arizona. It was formed by:
a large volcanic eruption.
the same impact thought to have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
the impact of an asteroid whose mass was around 200,000 tons.
testing of nuclear bombs during the Cold War.
the impact of a comet whose mass was around 25 tons.
When a formal definition of a planet in the solar system was adopted, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet. What characteristic of planets does NOT describe Pluto?
Planets orbit the Sun.
Planets are approximately spherical.
Planets have cleared the neighborhood around their orbit.
Planets orbit in ellipses with low eccentricity.
Planets orbit in or very near the ecliptic plane.
The major impact in the Yucatan wiped out the dinosaurs:
about 450 million years ago.
about 200 million years ago.
about 65 million years ago.
about 36 million years ago.
less than 2 million years ago.
The first hint of the role of asteroids in extinction of the dinosaurs came from:
finding the huge crater in the Yucatan.
finding dinosaur fossils with meteorites embedded in them.
finding a layer of worldwide iridium enriched dust.
finding that dinosaurs were warm-blooded and smart.
finding that no volcanic eruptions were linked to their disappearance.
The boundary found many AU away that separates fast moving particles emitted by the sun from slow moving particles is the-
Heliopause
Heliosphere
Heliosheath
Bow shock
Termination shock
Which element is rarely found on the earth’s crust but commonly found in asteroids?
hydrogen
plutonium
iridium
uranium
helium
The region in space after the Termination Shock is the-
Heliosheath
Bow Shock
Keiper Belt
Oort Cloud
Heliopause
Which space is mission was launched in 1977, still in contact and recently passed the Heliopause?
Pioneer 10
Pioneer 11
Voyager 1
Voyager 2
New Horizons
The Slingshot Effect (gravity assist)-
provides space probes with a pick up in speed
increases time for space probes to orbit their planet
moves a space probe between a planet and a moon
allows space probes to return to earth
temporarily stops space probes
The diagram above shows the outer solar system. The heliosphere has been labeled. Which number correctly depicts the Heliopause?
1
2
3
4
5
Which number correctly depicts the location of the Kuiper Belt?
1
2
3
4
5
