Question 1

What are "dwarf planets"?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are "dwarf planets"?...

Question 2

Suppose the planet Jupiter had never formed. How do you think the distribution of asteroids and comets in our solar system would be different? Explain.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Suppose the planet Jupiter had never formed....

Question 3

Which of the following statements best describes the size of the largest asteroid, Ceres?

Accepted Answer

Ceres has a diameter of about 590 miles, which is a little less than half the diameter of our Moon.

Question 4

Describe at least three ways in which our solar system would be different if orbital resonances had never been important.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe at least three ways in which...

Question 5

Which of the following statements about comets best describes the light we can observe?

Accepted Answer

Comets do not emit visible light; they reflect sunlight. However, they can emit infrared light due to the heat from the Sun causing the comet's materials to warm up.

Question 6

A typical shooting star in a meteor shower is caused by a entering Earth's atmosphere.

Accepted Answer

Shooting stars in a meteor shower are typically caused by pea-sized particles from a comet entering Earth's atmosphere. These particles burn up due to friction with the Earth's atmosphere, creating the streak of light in the sky known as a shooting star. Boulder-sized particles would be too large to burn up completely and would likely result in a meteorite impact if they reached the surface of the Earth. Microscopic particles would not create a visible shooting star. Asteroids are also a separate type of object from comets and do not typically produce meteor showers.

Question 7

Approximately how long ago was Pluto discovered?

Accepted Answer

Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930 by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh, making it approximately 75 years ago.

Question 8

Rather than being a planet, Pluto is really just a large member of

Accepted Answer

Pluto is part of the Kuiper belt, a region of the outer solar system beyond Neptune that contains many icy objects and dwarf planets.

Question 9

Which direction do a comet's dust and plasma tails point?

Accepted Answer

The dust and plasma tails of a comet generally point away from the Sun due to the solar wind pushing the coma (the gas surrounding the nucleus of the comet) and tail away from the Sun.

Question 10

If we could put all the asteroids together, their total mass would be .

Accepted Answer

The total mass of all the asteroids combined is much less than the mass of any terrestrial planet, including Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The asteroid belt's total mass is only a fraction of Earth's mass, making option C correct.

Question 11

Primitive meteorites can be distinguished from other meteorites and terrestrial rocks because they

Accepted Answer

Primitive meteorites, also known as chondrites, often contain small, pure metallic flakes, which distinguish them from other meteorites and terrestrial rocks.

Question 12

Refer to the following scenario for the questions below.
Lost in the Solar System: You have been abducted by an alien being. After performing experiments on you, the alien gives you a "life- support belt", allowing you to survive in any environment, and dumps you somewhere in the solar system. Each question below gives a brief description of a place where you were left by the alien. Identify your location. Be as specific as possible. Include a brief explanation for your answer.
-It is very cold, but otherwise comfortable. You breathe deeply. Although there is no oxygen, the air pressure is quite tolerable and seems almost Earth- like (because it is mostly nitrogen). Your vista includes the breathtaking sights of an ocean of liquid methane and methane- snow- capped mountains (although the atmosphere is very smoggy, and the visibility is limited). Your solar day is about 16 Earth days long. A large, ringed object seems to hang in your sky, never rising or setting; however, it does go through phases from new to full and back to new again with the same 16- day period as the rising and setting of the Sun.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Refer to the following scenario for the...

Question 13

Which of the following statements about comets and asteroids is true?

Accepted Answer

Comets are made up of ice and dust, while asteroids are made up of rock and metal.

Question 14

The impact of a 100 meter asteroid could kill many people if it struck a major city. Suppose the probability of such an impact in any single year is 1 in 1,000, and suppose we know (somehow)that it has been 1200 years since the last impact. What would that tell us?

Accepted Answer

The probability of a 100 meter asteroid impact in any single year is still 1 in 1000, regardless of how much time has elapsed since the last impact. The past does not affect the probability of future impact events.

Question 15

What is the approximate diameter of the largest asteroid?

Accepted Answer

The largest asteroid, Ceres, has a diameter of approximately 946 km, which is closest to the option E of 1,000 km.

Question 16

When we see a meteor shower, it means that .

Accepted Answer

Meteor showers occur when the Earth crosses the orbit of a comet, and debris left by the comet burns up upon entering the Earth's atmosphere, creating a streak of light in the sky.

Question 17

Which of the following are evidence for an asteroid impact being the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago (as well as 75% of all species alive at the time)?

Accepted Answer

All of these options are evidence for an asteroid impact being the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. The layer of iridium is consistent with an asteroid impact, the lack of dinosaur fossils in younger rocks suggests a sudden extinction event, and the buried crater in the Gulf of Mexico is the direct evidence of an impact.

Question 18

In science fiction movies, spaceships are often shown dodging through large numbers of closely spaced, boulder- size objects. Which of the following real things in our solar system would look most like such science fiction dangers?

Accepted Answer

The rings of Saturn are made up of countless small pieces of ice and rock that range in size from boulder-sized to microscopic. This closely spaced ring system could resemble the dangers often shown in sci-fi movies. The asteroid belt (A) is also made up of many objects, but they are more widely spaced out than those in the rings of Saturn. The Oort cloud (B) is a hypothetical cloud of comets far outside the solar system and not close together. The atmosphere of Jupiter (C) is a gas giant and does not have closely spaced objects like rocks or ice.

Question 19

Briefly describe the evidence suggesting that a 10- km asteroid or comet hit Earth at the time of the dinosaur extinction.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Briefly describe the evidence suggesting that a...

Question 20

Describe the Deep Impact and Stardust missions and what they were designed to achieve.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe the Deep Impact and Stardust missions...

Quiz 9: Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets: Their Nature, Orbits, and Impacts