Solar System, Seasons

Which of the following is not classified as a terrestrial planet?

• Mars

• Venus

• Mercury

• Jupiter

Temperatures vary widely on Mercury because it has:

• almost no atmosphere.

• water on the surface.

• rapid rotation.

• a thin crust.

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the outer planets?

• multiple moons.

• planetary rings.

• solid surfaces.

• extreme weather patterns.

Besides Earth, which planet in the solar system has been observed to have thunderstorms?

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Uranus

• Neptune

An asteroid lacks all of the following except:

• a spherical shape.

• an atmosphere.

• internal heat.

• gravity.

Possible origins of meteoroids include

• asteroids.

• comet tails.

• the planet Mars.

• all of the above.

Why does the tail of a comet always point away from the sun?

• The tail is pulled by planetary gravity.

• The tail is pushed by solar wind and radiation.

• The tail has a hooked shape because of the comet’s spin.

• none of the above

Comets with periods of thousands or millions of years originate in a region of the solar system called the:

• asteroid belt.

• Kuiper belt.

• Oort cloud.

• outer belt.

Which of the following statements describes a planet but not a dwarf planet?

• It has enough mass to form a spherical shape.

• It has cleared its orbit of smaller objects.

• It is not a moon of a larger planet.

• It orbits around a star.

What a meteor is called after it lands on Earth:

• Meteoroid

• Asteroid

• Meteorite

• Comets