Question 1

What's the most likely way a dwarf planet such as Pluto was able to acquire four moons comparable in size to itself?

Accepted Answer

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Question 2

How do Uranus's rings differ from the ring systems of the other giant planets?

Accepted Answer

Uranus's rings are narrow and widely spaced, unlike the more prominent and closely packed rings of Saturn.

Question 3

What is the most likely reason that a planet's rings would reflect more than 50 percent of the sunlight they receive?

Accepted Answer

Ice is highly reflective, which means it can reflect a significant amount of sunlight, often more than 50 percent. This is why rings made of ice would reflect a lot of sunlight.

Question 4

What are three characteristics of the orbits of irregular moons, and how do planets gain irregular moons?

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Question 5

Rings that look like they are intertwined (but are not) are caused by

Accepted Answer

The gravitational influence of small moons, also known as "shepherd moons," can create gaps and distortions in the rings, making them appear intertwined.

Question 6

Rings of giant planets are very thin compared to their diameters mainly because

Accepted Answer

Collisions between ring particles cause them to settle into a thin, flat disk due to the conservation of angular momentum and energy dissipation, leading to the thinness of the rings.

Question 7

Why are some of Saturn's rings diffuse?

Accepted Answer

Particles in diffuse rings collide infrequently, allowing them to maintain irregular orbits and spread out.

Question 8

What can we conclude from a random distribution of volcanoes on a moon, and why?

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Question 9

What makes extremophile organisms different from other life forms?

Accepted Answer

Extremophiles are organisms that thrive in extreme conditions that are typically inhospitable to most life forms, such as extreme temperatures, pressures, salinity, or acidity.

Question 10

Saturn's rings are much brighter than the rings of the other giant planets because

Accepted Answer

The material in Saturn's rings is made mostly of ice, which reflects sunlight more effectively than rock, making the rings appear brighter.

Question 11

The semimajor axis of Iapetus's orbit around Saturn is approximately 3.56 * 10⁶ km, and its orbital period is approximately 79 days.Use these data and Newton's version of Kepler's third law to calculate the mass of Saturn.

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Question 12

Particles that make up the rings of Uranus and Neptune are composed of

Accepted Answer

The particles in the rings of Uranus and Neptune are primarily composed of organic material that has been darkened by bombardment from high-energy charged particles.

Question 13

Explain how a planet obtains a regular moon orbiting it.

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Question 14

What material has been seen erupting from the surface of the icy moon Enceladus, and why?

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Question 15

Ganymede is one of the largest moons in the Solar System.It shows some terrain that is ancient and heavily cratered, and some younger terrain with fewer craters, but no terrain that is free of craters.Why would Ganymede's geological activity stop?

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Question 16

Saturn's E Ring is generated by material ejected from its moon Enceladus (the bright dot within the ring), as pictured in the figure below.What is the minimum velocity that Enceladus's material must achieve in order to become part of the ring? Enceladus has a mass Of 1.08 *10²⁰ kg and a radius of 250 km.

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Question 17

What are the orbital characteristics of a regular moon?

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Question 18

Name two properties of moons that are in tidally locked orbits.

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Question 19

What are the two basic materials from which the moons in the Solar System are composed?
For each type of material, name an example of a moon whose surface is composed primarily
of that material.

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are the two basic materials from...

Question 20

Jupiter's rings are made of material from

Accepted Answer

Jupiter's rings are primarily composed of dust particles ejected from its innermost moons, such as Metis and Adrastea, due to micrometeoroid impacts.

Quiz 11: Planetary Moons and Rings