Astronomy Exam 2

Which planet currently supports liquid water on its surface?

• Earth

• Mercury

• Venus

• Mars

Where is a terrestrial planet hottest?

• in the core

• in the mantle

• in the atmosphere

• in the crust

According to Kepler’s Third Law, the difference in revolution period between Jupiter and Neptune must be ____________ as/than the difference in revolution period between Mercury and Venus.

• very much greater

• very much less

• about the same

• You cannot compare the two because different planets rotate in different directions

When a ray neither penetrates a surface nor is absorbed by it, that surface is

• transparent

• reflective

• defective

• opaque

Which major planet is smallest, but has the biggest (compared to its size) core?

• Mars

• Mercury

• the Moon

• Ceres

Where might the martian water have gone?

• underground as ice or water-friendly molecules

• into the atmosphere (and stayed there)

• It fills the Valles Marineris

• Deimos

Where are the Van Allen Radiation Belts?

• in space, encircling the Earth

• at the Earths North and South Poles

• in the Earth’s lower atmosphere

• The Earth does not have radiation belts

Terrestrial planets

• have high densities compared to other planets.

• can be found in the inner Solar System

• are small compared to other planets

• all of the above

A major asteroid collision has occurred on the Earth within the last

• three years

• Asteroids do not strike the Earth

• 50 years

• 100,000,000 years

Phobos probably originated

• from a collision with the Earth

• in orbit around Jupiter

• in orbit around Mars

• in the Asteroid Belt