Test 4, July 20, 2017
Jupiter and Saturn
- Describe the interiors of Jupiter and Saturn. What is meant by
liquid, metallic hydrogen? (That is, what is a liquid? what does
metallic mean?)
- Jupiter and Saturn radiate more energy than they receive from
the Sun. What is the explanation for this? What is the siginificance of
helium rain o Saturn? Is helium rain on Saturn consistent with the
chemical composition of Saturn's atmosphere?
- What are the properties of the belts, zones, and bands on Jupiter and
Saturn? Why does the atmosphere of Jupiter and Saturn circulate in these
patterns?
- Derscribe the cloud layers in Jupiter's and Saturn's atmospheres. Why
do the layers have different colors?
- Describe the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. The Great Red Spot is in the
southern hemisphere of Jupiter; the gas circulates in the CCW sense in the
Great Red Spot. What does this motion tell us about the type of storm
the Great Red Spot must be and what does it tell us about
the pressure in the Great Red Spot.
- What is the Roche limit? What is the significance of the Roche limit
with respect to the rings of the Jovian planets?
- Describe the ring system of Saturn. What is the Cassini Division, the
Encke Division? What is thought to cause the Cassini and Encke divisions?
What are shepherd moons? What do shepherd moons have to do with the F-ring?
Describe the ring systems of the other Jovian planets.
Life in the Universe
- What is the Habitable Zone? What determines the size
of the Habitable Zone? How many planets in our Solar System are in
the Habitable Zone? Which planets or moons are in the Habitable Zone?
Describe the differences between Venus, Earth, and Mars in the context of
Habitable Zone? What caused Venus, Earth, and Mars to evolve so differently?
- Describe the Viking biology experiments. Describe the outcome of the
Viking biology experiments. What is the current take on the results of the
Viking life experiments (how have more recent missions altered our thinking
on the results of the Viking experiments?)?
- What is LAWKI? How did the idea of LAWKI influence the design of
the Viking experiments (and, in fact, all searches for life)?
- Describe ALH84001 and the results based on the study of ALH84001.
Describe the outcome of the
study of ALH84001. What is the current take on the results of the
study of ALH84001?
- Discuss the cases of Europa and Enceladus. First off, why is it
somewhat surprsing we even consder Europa and Enceladus as objects that
might support life?
- How does Titan figure discussions of searches for life in the Solar
System? What studies how have been performed on Titan (in terms of searches
for extra-solar life)?
Pluto, Comets, Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud, and New Horizons
- What is meant by dwarf planets? What is the most prominent of the
dwarf planets? Why was the class of dwarf planets first defined
by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006?
- When was Pluto discovered? Why was the discovery of Pluto considered to a
predicted accident? When was Charon discovered. Why is the Pluto-Charon
considered to be a double planet rather than a planet-moon system?
- What are the general properties of Pluto? Is it a terrestrial planet? Is
it a jovian planet? Does Pluto have an atmosphere? If so, described its
atmosphere.
- What are the properties of Pluto's orbit? What about its spin and its
spin axis?
- When was New Horizons launched? When did it flyby Pluto? What were the
primary results learned from New Horizons flyby of Pluto? Does Pluto show
recent geology? If so, what is the evidence for recent geology on Pluto? Does
Charon show evidence of recent geology? If so, what is the evidence for recent
geology on Charon?
- Why is it surprising that Pluto and Charon show signs of recent geology?
What has been suggested as a plausible source of energy (heat) to drive
geology on Pluto and Charon?
- Does the discovery of recent geology on Pluto and Charon carry
implications for how habitable zones in planetary systems are thought about?
Explain you answer.
- What is the Kuiper Belt? What are Plutinos? New Horizons hopes to have
a flyby of a Kuiper Belt object, PT1 on January 1, 2016. What do scientists
hope to learn more about how the Solar System formed by flying by PT1, a tiny
object only 45 kilometers across?
- What supplied the electrical energy needed to run the cameras, the radio
transmmitter, the computer, the guidance systems, ... on New Horizons? How
much power was used by New Horizons (compare it to a 1000 Watt hair dryer).
- Describe the computing power on-board New Horizons. Which is more powerful,
your Iphone or New Horizons cameras, transmitters, and computer?
- How were Pluto's ice mountains formed? What is Tombaugh Regio?
-