1. Some of the definitions of the different types of objects in has the greatest orbital inclination (orbit at the the solar system overlap. Which one of the greatest angle to that of Earth)? following pairs does not overlap? That is, if an A) Mercury object can be described by one of the labels, it B) Mars cannot be described by the other. C) Jupiter A) dwarf planet and asteroid D) Pluto B) dwarf planet and Kuiper belt object C) satellite and Kuiper belt object D) meteoroid and planet 10. Of the following objects in the solar system, which one has the greatest orbital eccentricity and therefore the most elliptical orbit? 2. Which one of the following is a small solar system body? A) Mercury A) Rhea, a moon of Saturn B) Mars B) Pluto C) Earth C) Ceres (an asteroid) D) Pluto D) Mathilde (an asteroid) 11. What is the largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto 3. Which of the following objects was discovered in the called? twentieth century? A) Chiron A) Pluto B) Callisto B) Uranus C) Charon C) Neptune D) Triton D) Ceres 12. If you were standing on Pluto, how often would you see 4. Pluto was discovered in the satellite Charon rise above the horizon each A) 1930. day? B) 1846. A) once each 6-hour day as Pluto rotates on its axis C) 1609. B) twice each 6-hour day because Charon is in a retrograde D) 1781. orbit C) once every 2 days because Charon orbits in the same direction Pluto rotates but more slowly 5. How was the dwarf planet Pluto discovered? D) never—Charon is a synchronous satellite with an orbital A) by prediction using Newton's laws to account for the period exactly equal to Pluto's rotation period deviations from uniform orbits of Uranus and Neptune B) by the infrared cameras on the IRAS spacecraft 13. Earth's Moon subtends an angle of about 0.5° when C) by Voyager spacecraft cameras, which were used between viewed from Earth. Charon is about 1200 km in planetary encounters to survey the planetary diameter and about 18,490 km away from the system surface of Pluto. How large an angle does it D) by searching photographs of the sky for an object that subtend when viewed from Pluto? moved against the background of distant stars A) about the same size angle as Earth's Moon B) about 7 times larger an angle than Earth's Moon C) about 11 times larger an angle than Earth's Moon 6. Pluto is believed to have D) over 100 times larger an angle than Earth's Moon A) no atmosphere at all. B) a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide. C) a thin atmosphere of water vapor. 14. What technique has allowed scientists to determine the D) a thin atmosphere containing some nitrogen. relative sizes of Pluto and Charon? A) imaging by the Voyager spacecraft in 1989 B) direct photography using adaptive-optics telescopes on 7. Which of the following objects was farthest from the Sun Earth in 1995 in 1990? C) occultation of this planet by Earth's Moon during the A) Pluto 1980s B) Charon D) eclipses of the planet's surface by its moon, Charon, C) Neptune during 1985–1990, viewed from Earth D) Uranus 15. What is unique about the Pluto-Charon system, compared 8. Which planet or dwarf planet in our solar system has the with all other planets in the solar system? moon with the largest diameter compared with the A) Both Pluto and Charon are volcanically active, with lava diameter of the planet or dwarf planet itself? flows and vents of sulfur dioxide gas. A) Earth B) Charon is an icy moon, but it is in orbit around a giant B) Saturn planet made mostly of liquid hydrogen. C) Neptune C) Pluto has only one satellite. D) Pluto D) Both Pluto and Charon are in synchronous rotation, so each object maintains the same face toward the other object at all times. 9. Of the following objects in the solar system, which one B) Gaspra 16. The Pluto-Charon system moves in which way in its C) Ceres mutual motion? D) Pallas A) Charon orbits Pluto with exactly Pluto's rotation period. B) Charon orbits Pluto once while Pluto rotates twice. C) There is no relationship between rotation period of Pluto 24. The size of the largest asteroid, Ceres, compared with the and orbital period of Charon. largest mare or impact basin on the Moon, Mare D) Charon orbits Pluto twice while Pluto rotates once. Imbrium, is A) not comparable because all asteroids are very small objects (1 km diameter), whereas most maria 17. Based on its mean density, the dwarf planet Pluto is are large (100–1000 km diameter). A) similar to the Jovian planets in composition, although it is B) much smaller, only about 1/3 the size. much smaller in size. C) very similar, about 1000 km across. B) similar to the terrestrial planets in composition, although D) much larger, by a factor of more than 2. it is much smaller in size. C) similar to the terrestrial planets in composition, although it is much larger in size. 25. What is the diameter of the largest asteroid in the solar D) a real oddity, denser than the Jovian planets but lighter system, Ceres, compared with the diameter of than the terrestrial planets. Earth, which is about 12,800 km? A) smaller than 1/100 Earth's diameter B) less than 1/10 Earth's diameter 18. Based on its mean density, the dwarf planet Pluto appears C) about 1/4 Earth's diameter to be composed of D) about 1/2 Earth's diameter A) rock and iron. B) a mixture of rock and ice. C) gases such as methane and ammonia, possibly with a 26. When compared with the diameter of Earth's Moon, the small, liquid core. diameters of the biggest asteroids are D) the very lightest elements, hydrogen and helium. A) very much smaller (less than 1/10). B) about the same size. C) very much larger, by a factor of at least 5. 19. The first satellite discovered in orbit about Pluto was D) between 1/10 and 1/3 as large. Charon. What is unusual about this moon? A) Charon is the only moon in the solar system known to have an atmosphere. 27. If all the material in the asteroid belt were to be B) Charon is much warmer than it should be, given its combined to produce a planet, how big would it be? position in the solar system. A) about 1500 km in diameter, less than half the diameter of C) Compared with planet-satellite systems in the rest of the the Moon solar system, Charon is very large and very B) only a few kilometers in diameter, similar to an average close to Pluto. mountain on Earth D) Charon is geologically active. C) about the size of Earth, with a diameter of about 13,000 km. D) about the size of Mercury, with a diameter of about 5000 20. Which solar system object was found on January 1, 1801, km. located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter? A) asteroid Ceres B) Halley's comet 28. A few of the largest asteroids appear to be spherical. C) Kuiper belt object 1993 SC How do you think they got this way? D) asteroid Gaspra A) The visible outer atmospheres of these large asteroids are spherical even though the underlying surfaces are irregular. 21. Who was the first person to discover an asteroid? B) The largest asteroids solidified from spherical gas clouds A) German astronomer Johann Bode in their early history and retained this shape. B) English astronomer Sir William Herschel C) Repeated collisions with other asteroids have worn the C) German mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss largest asteroids down to spheres. D) Italian astronomer Guiseppe Piazzi D) Self-gravity was sufficient to pull the largest asteroids into a spherical shape during their early history. 22. On New Year's Day, 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the asteroid Ceres. His search was inspired by an event that had occurred only about twenty years 29. Unlike the other dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, before. What was the event? Makemake has no moons. Is this significant? A) first astronomical use of the telescope by Galileo A) No. Having or not having a moon does not really make a B) invention of the first practical reflecting telescope by significant difference. Newton B) Yes. It indicates that Makemake is older than the others. C) discovery of Uranus by Herschel C) Yes. It indicates that Makemake is younger than the D) discovery of Pluto by Tombaugh others. D) Yes. It means that it is harder to determine the mass of Makemake. 23. What is the largest known asteroid in our solar system? A) Phobos 30. An asteroid is charted, with a redshifted solar spectrum of A) a small, easily recognizable group of stars within a reflected light. constellation. B) The asteroid would appear as a short trail against the B) a planetesimal moving in an orbit around the Sun. background stars on a sky-tracked long- C) another name for the nucleus of a comet, a volatile object exposure photograph, and its spectrum would that moves around the Sun in a long, show no Doppler shift. elliptical orbit. C) The asteroid would appear as a slowly brightening point D) a meteorite before it enters the atmosphere and plunges to of light where no star had previously been Earth.