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Study Questions Part 1              Study Questions Part 2                  Study Questions Part 3  

 

STUDY QUESTIONS PART 1

Study Questions Week 1

Chapter 1

  1. Define and describe the systems of celestial coordinates and reference points (e.g. celestial equator, right ascension, etc.) Know all the terms on the handout of Celestial Coordinates from the first day of class.
  2. Explain the difference between a solar day and a sidereal day.
  3. What is precession?
  4. What is an "astronomical unit"? What does it measure?

Review and Discussion Chapter 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Chapter 6

  1. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the Terrestrial planets?
  2. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the Jovian planets?
  3. List the components of the solar system.
  4. Describe the positions of the planets on a plot of radius vs. density.
  5. What are typical densities of rocks? What are typical densities of the terrestrial planets? What are typical densities of the Jovian planets?
  6. Be able to recognize a full disk image of each of the planets (except Pluto) and the Moon.
  7. Explain the connection between Mercury's orbit and rotation.
  8. In what ways in Pluto unusual.
  9. What is Bode’s Law? What does it tell you?
  10. What does density measure?
  11. What is the difference between a solar day and a sidereal day?
  12. Explain why we always see the same face of the Moon.
  13. Describe and explain retrograde motion.
  14. Which are superior planets? Which are inferior planets?
  15. Which planet, planets, or moons were visiting by the following spacecraft:

Review and Discussion Chapter 6: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18

Study Questions Week 2

Chapter 2

  1. What are Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion? What does each one mean?
  2. Define aphelion and perihelion.
  3. Explain the terms semi-major axis and eccentricity.
  4. How do you draw an ellipse? Know how to determine the semi-major axis, the eccentricity, perihelion and aphelion from a drawing of an ellipse representing a planetary orbit.
  5. How did Newton modify Kepler’s third law?
  6. According to Newton, how does the gravitational force between two objects depend on the masses and on the distance between them?
  7. How do we determine the mass of objects in the solar system?
  8. What quantity does your weight represent?
  9. What is escape speed?
  10. Know the units used for Kepler’s third law in both forms.

Review and Discussion Chapter 2: 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20

Study Questions Week 3

General questions about Venus (chapter 9 or other reading)
  1. Describe the general characteristics of Venus. Be able to recognize a visual (as opposed to radar) image of Venus.
  2. When was Magellan at Venus?
  3. How did Magellan map the surface of Venus.
  4. What are the significant findings from the Magellan mission? 
  5. Why does Venus have no magnetic field?

 

Major Points/Questions from the video "Venus Unveiled"

  1. What is a "runaway greenhouse" effect?
  2. What are major mechanisms of heat loss for planets?
  3. Is there evidence for major tectonics on Venus? Is there evidence for major current volcanic activity on Venus?
  4. How did the Magellan spacecraft map the surface of Venus?
  5. What are two important points about the distribution of impact craters on Venus, and what do they tell us?
  6. Explain "catastrophism" versus "uniformitarianism".
  7. What is the expected relative strengths of surface rocks on Venus compare to those on Earth? Why are they different?
  8. Explain the controversy in the thick or thin lithosphere debate. How is this related to heat loss?
  9. Describe the overall picture of Venus’s geologic history that is presented in the video. Is this model universally accepted?

 

Discussion questions from the "Scientific American"  article:

  1. What mechanisms are responsible for how planets loose heat? Which is most important on Venus? Which is most important on Earth?  Mars is smaller, and probably cooled much more quickly than Earth or Venus. Based on this, what do you predict about these processes on Mars?
  2. Describe the observations of impact craters on Venus. What are the implications of these observations?
  3. Explain how the "greenhouse" effect works. What greenhouse gases are found in the atmosphere of Venus? How does formation of clouds impact on the greenhouse effect? Which of the greenhouse gases form clouds?
  4. In the article, what evidence is presented that Venus was once much hotter than it is today?
  5. What happens to water in the upper atmosphere of a planet?
  6. Summarize the model presented in the Scientific American article of what happened to Venus's atmosphere after a massive episode which repaved the planet approximately 800 million years ago.
  7. What evidence suggest that there is current (or at least recent) volcanic activity on Venus?

Surface Processes:

  1. What are the major processes that modify planetary surfaces? Which is most important on Mercury? On Venus? On Earth?
  2. Describe how the major surface features (e.g. mountain ranges, mid-ocean ridges, deep ocean trenches) of Earth are related to plate tectonics.
  3. What is differentiation of a planet?

Review and Discussion Ch. 7: 1, 7, 8a, 10, 11

Study Questions Week 4

  1. What is the driving force of plate tectonics?
  2. What role does radioactivity play in determining a planets structure?
  3. Describe what the magnetization of the ocean floor tells us about the history of Earth's magnetic field, and also about the motion of plates.
  4. Describe the formation of an impact crater. Describe what is meant be the terms "hypersonic" and  "shock wave" with regards to the formation of an impact crater.
  5. Describe the morphology and features of an impact crater. (See Figure 9.7 of handout)
  6. Define the terms: primary crater, secondary crater, ejecta blanket, rays, simple crater, central peak, complex crater, multiring basin.
  7. How are secondary craters formed?
  8. Explain the differences between simple craters, complex craters, and multiring basins.
  9. What factors govern a crater’s size and morphology?
  10. What is meant by "crater saturation equilibrium"?
  11. Explain in a general way how crater counts are used to date surfaces.
  12. Explain how radioactive dating is used to determine ages.
  13. What is superposition and why is it important?

Chapter 14:

  1. What are the differences between asteroids and comets?
  2. What are the different classes of asteroids as based on composition? How abundant are each kind?
  3. Compare and contrast the orbital properties of the different groups of asteroids.
  4. Explain the terms: meteor, meteorite, and meteoroid.
  5. What is the connection between comets and meteors?
  6. Discuss the composition of meteorites. What does this tell us about their origins?
  7. Compare and contrast the places where comets originate. (Oort cloud and Kuiper belt)
  8. Describe the structure and composition of a comet. What happens as a comet approaches the Sun?
  9. Compare and contrast the orbits of comets and asteroids.
  10. How many asteroids are known? What is the total mass of all the known asteroids?
  11. What are the composition and physical properties of a typical asteroid?