Name: Period: Date: Astronomy Ch. 14 Solar System Debris Study Guide MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question. 1) The orbits of most asteroids A) cross the orbit of Earth. B) cross the orbits of all four terrestrial planets. C) cross the orbit of Mars. D) lie beyond Neptune. E) lie entirely beyond the orbit of Mars. 1) 2) The NASA orbiter that ultimately landed on the surface of the asteroid Eros was A) Stardust. B) Giotto. C) Clementine. D) New Horizons. E) NEAR Shoemaker. 2) 3) About what percent of all asteroids are S-type asteroids? A) 15% B) 75% C) 10% D) 5% E) 50% 3) 4) About what percent of all asteroids are C-type asteroids? A) 75% B) 5% C) 10% D) 15% E) 50% 4) 5) What is the typical size of most known asteroids? A) larger than the Moon B) larger than the Earth C) a few meters D) a few hundred kilometers E) a few kilometers 5) 6) What are Dactyl, Gaspra, Mathilde, Eros, and Ida? A) the only four asteroids explored by spacecraft to date B) the first four bodies found in the Kuiper Belt after Pluto C) newly discovered small moons of Saturn D) the four largest main belt asteroids, and first to be discovered E) newly discovered retrograde moons of Jupiter 6) 1
7) What is the defining property of the Trojan asteroids? A) Like Pluto, they are in a 3:2 resonance with Neptune. B) Their orbital periods are exactly one year, like ours. C) They have orbits that cross the orbit of the Earth, but not that of Venus. D) They have orbits between Saturn and Uranus. E) They have orbits at the distance of Jupiter and 60 degrees ahead of or behind it. 7) 8) The orbital resonances with Jupiter are shown in the A) Kirkwood Gaps. B) Cassini division. C) ring arcs. D) orbits of the aten asteroids. E) Zone of Avoidance. 8) 9) The type of asteroid that would appear darkest and reflect the least light is type A) A. B) B. C) C. D) D. E) S. 9) 10) The type of asteroid that would be the densest would be type A) C. B) M. C) V. D) Z. E) S. 10) 11) The three largest asteroids are A) Pluto, Sedna, and Quaoar. B) Deimos, Phobos, and Athos. C) Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta. D) Halley, Hale-Bopp, and Hyakutake. E) Ida, Gaspra, and Mathilde. 11) 12) On its way to Jupiter, Galileo also gave us close-ups of A) Gaspra and Ida. B) Mercury and Venus. C) Ceres and Vesta. D) Mathilde and Eros. E) Mars and Venus. 12) 13) Before it arrived in orbit about Eros, the NEAR spacecraft also flew past A) Mars. B) Comet Halley. C) asteroid Mathilde. D) Comet Wild. E) Venus. 13) 14) The Trojan asteroids have orbits that A) stay out beyond Neptune. B) cross the orbit of Mars, but not Earth, at perihelion. C) are, on average, closer to the Sun than we are. D) stay sixty degrees ahead of or behind Jupiter. E) cross the orbit of Earth at perihelion. 14) 2
15) The Amor asteroids have orbits that A) cross the orbit of Earth at perihelion. B) stay sixty degrees ahead of or behind Jupiter. C) cross the orbit of Mars, but not Earth, at perihelion. D) stay closer to the Sun, on average, than we do. E) stay out beyond Neptune. 15) 16) Asteroid 2004 FH passed within a tenth of the Earth-Moon distance in March 2004. When its period was found to be about nine months, it was classified as a(n) A) aten asteroid. B) short period comet. C) Kuiper Belt Object. D) apollo asteroid. E) amor asteroid. 16) 17) Compared to Ida, Eros, and Gaspra, what was odd about Mathilde? A) It was much denser, probably made of iron and nickel, a class M asteroid. B) It had a small moon, so we could more accurately find its mass. C) It was less dense than water, indicating it was a comet nucleus, rather than an asteroid. D) It was less dense than rock, but more than ice, suggesting a porous structure. E) It was the same density as the Earth's moon, indicating it had been knocked off our moon. 17) 18) The Apollo and Aten asteroids have orbits that A) cross the orbit of Earth at perihelion. B) stay sixty degrees ahead of or behind Jupiter. C) remain between Mars and Jupiter, in the main belt. D) cross the orbit of Mars, but not the Earth, at perihelion. E) stay out beyond Neptune. 18) 19) Which of the following objects never collide with the Earth? A) long period comets B) Amor asteroids C) Aten asteroids D) Apollo asteroids E) short period comets 19) 20) The orbits of most comets A) are like the planets, fairly circular and in the ecliptic plane. B) lie almost entirely beyond the orbit of Neptune. C) go no farther out than Pluto, then return to the sun again. D) have perihelions within the orbits of Mercury. E) are shorter than the 76 year period for Comet Halley. 20) 21) What are comets made of? A) metallic dust particles B) silicates and rocky dust C) dark colored complex hydrocarbons D) methane, ammonia, and water ice E) all of the above 21) 3
22) The Oort Cloud is thought to be A) the spherical cloud of comets and some larger icy bodies surrounding the outer solar system. B) the material in the ecliptic plane that creates the zodiacal light. C) the cloud of gas and dust from which our solar system formed. D) a cloud of debris that occasionally encounters the Earth, causing a meteor shower. E) a cloud of asteroids moving between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. 22) 23) The nucleus, or main solid body, of a comet has a typical size of A) a few thousand kilometers. B) a few centimeters. C) a few hundred kilometers. D) a few meters. E) a few kilometers. 23) 24) Long period comets are thought to reside mainly in the A) Kirkwood gaps. B) Oort Cloud. C) Interstellar Medium. D) Kuiper Belt. E) asteroid belt. 24) 25) What part of a comet has only been seen by a space probe? A) meteoroid trail B) coma C) dust tail D) nucleus E) ion tail 25) 26) Halley's Comet last passed Earth in 1986. It will be due back in A) 2061. B) 2048. C) 2086. D) 2012. E) the twenty-third century. 26) 27) The Kuiper Belt objects have orbits that A) stay sixty degrees ahead of or behind Jupiter. B) carry them thousands of A.U. beyond the Sun. C) cross the orbit of Earth at perihelion. D) cross the orbit of Mars at perihelion. E) stay out just beyond Neptune and close to the ecliptic. 27) 28) From its orbit, we now recognize Pluto as the largest member of the A) moons of Neptune. B) Oort Cloud. C) Zodiacal Belt. D) asteroid belt. E) Kuiper Belt. 28) 4
29) Pluto's bulk density is: A) 1,200 kg/m 3, like Mimas, made of almost pure ice. B) 400 kg/m 3, like Comet Halley's nucleus, a ice ball with many gas pockets. C) 2,100 kg/m 3, similar to Callisto's mix of rock and ice. D) 3,400 kg/m 3, comparable to our Moon's. E) 700 kg/m 3, like Saturn a mix of hydrogen and helium slush. 30) The largest Kuiper Belt body is A) Charon. B) Chiron. C) Eris. D) Pluto. E) Sedna. 29) 30) 31) What is so unusual about Pluto's orbit? A) It has an unexpectedly short orbital period. B) It is more inclined to the ecliptic than any of the eight planets. C) It lies exactly on the ecliptic. D) It's orbital period is exactly twice that of Neptune's. E) It has the lowest eccentricity of any planet's orbit. 31) 32) Pluto is most similar to A) Triton. B) Miranda. C) Mercury. D) Europa. E) our Moon. 32) 33) The two names most associated with the discovery of Pluto are A) Herschel and Bode. B) Lowell and Tombaugh. C) Shoemaker and Levy. D) Adams and Leverrier. E) Kuiper and Whipple. 33) 34) Pluto was discovered in A) ancient times. B) 1789. C) 1859. D) 1930. E) 1992. 34) 35) Pluto's density is most similar to A) Mercury, but nor Venus, Earth, or Mars. B) moons of the jovian planets. C) the jovian planets. D) the terrestrial planets. E) Saturn, but not Jupiter, Uranus, or Neptune. 35) 5
36) Charon's orbit A) has not been determined yet. B) is retrograde. C) is perpendicular to Pluto's equator. D) lies exactly in Pluto's orbital plane. E) is highly inclined to Pluto's orbital plane. 36) 37) Which statement about Pluto's discovery is FALSE? A) It was the massive jovian Lowell described as "Planet X" in his calculations. B) Cold and dark, it was named for the god of the underworld. C) It was predicted by Percival Lowell, based on perturbation theory. D) It was found in 1930, the first planet found by an American. E) It was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh close to Lowell's predicted position. 37) 38) When it was determined that Sedna, the largest body in the Solar System to be discovered since Pluto, 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 A) Kuiper Belt. B) Trojan Asteroids. C) Kirkwood Gap. D) Oort Cloud. E) Rogue Comets. 38) 39) Which of the following gives direct information about the age of the solar system? A) the oldest lunar basalts B) meteorites from asteroidal debris C) martian meteorites D) the solar wind E) the oldest martian basalts 39) 40) The most famous asteroid impact scar on Earth is located in A) northern Canada. B) Florida. C) Antarctica. D) northern Yucatan. E) Arizona. 40) 41) Meteorites are valuable to astronomers because A) they may provide evidence about the process in which the solar system was born. B) they contain diamonds and gold. C) originated in other solar systems. D) they reveal the contents of interstellar space. E) they prove that life can only exist on the Earth. 41) 42) Large meteoroids are thought to collide with Earth A) about once a century. B) a few times in every million-year period. C) never; only comets are thought to collide with Earth. D) at least once a decade. E) once every billion years. 42) 6
43) Iron meteorites are believed to come from A) Mars, hence their reddish color. B) the core of a dense M-type asteroid, now broken up. C) the crust of a differentiated type C asteroid, now broken up. D) deep space, far beyond the solar system, hence their unique crystal patterns. E) a broken up cometary nucleus, hence their shiny appearance. 43) 44) Carbonaceous Chondrites are believed to come from A) the core of a differentiated type M asteroid, now broken up. B) the crust of a differentiated C type asteroid, now broken up. C) coal formed on Mars, then blown into space by asteroid impacts. D) a broken up cometary nucleus, dark like Comet Halley's nucleus. E) deep space, far beyond the solar system, hence their very low density. 44) 45) Meteor shower debris is believed to come from A) deep space, far beyond the solar system, deflected by the gravity of another star. B) the disintegration of a short period comet over many returns to the Sun. C) the core of a differentiated type M asteroid, now broken up. D) the asteroid belt when Mars deflects it toward us annually. E) the crust of a differentiated type C asteroid, now broken up. 45) 46) Which of the following objects would be found on the Moon's surface? A) meteors B) sedimentary rocks C) asteroids D) meteoroids E) meteorites 46) 47) The body which wiped out the dinosaurs was about A) a few hundred meters across. B) as big as our Moon. C) as big as an SUV. D) as big as one of Mars' moons. E) as big as a 747. 47) 48) The Perseid meteor shower gives us about a meteor every minute in mid A) October. B) August. C) January. D) November. E) May. 48) 49) The major impact in the Yucatan wiped out the dinosaurs about: A) 450 million years ago. B) 36 millions years ago. C) 200 million years ago. D) less than two million years ago. E) 65 million years ago. 49) 7
50) The first hint of the role of asteroids in extinction of the dinosaurs came from A) finding the huge crater in the Yucatan. B) finding that no volcanic eruptions were linked to their disappearance. C) finding dinosaur fossils with meteorites imbedded in them. D) finding a layer of worldwide iridium enriched dust. E) finding that dinosaurs were warm-blooded and smart. 50) 8
Answer Key Testname: UNTITLED1 1) E 2) E 3) A 4) C 5) E 6) A 7) E 8) A 9) C 10) B 11) C 12) A 13) C 14) D 15) C 16) A 17) D 18) A 19) B 20) B 21) E 22) A 23) E 24) B 25) D 26) A 27) E 28) E 29) C 30) C 31) B 32) A 33) B 34) D 35) B 36) E 37) A 38) D 39) B 40) E 41) A 42) B 43) B 44) B 45) B 46) E 47) D 48) B 49) E 9
Answer Key Testname: UNTITLED1 50) D 10