SMT 314 - Introduction to Cosmology » Fall 2020 » HW8

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Question #1
A meteoroid that has landed on the surface of a planet or moon is called a ______________.
A.   meteorite
B.   asteroid
C.   meteor
Question #2
It is now generally thought that billions, or even trillions, of tail-less comets surround the Solar System in a spherical shell nearly one light-year in radius called the [a].
A.   Halley's Comet
B.   Oort Cloud
C.   Great Comet
Question #3
Pluto is a large member of the _________ , and thus is no longer considered to be a genuine planet. 
A.   trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs)
B.   terrestrial planets
C.   dwarf planets
Question #4
Which part of a comet has the most mass?
A.   Coma
B.   Tail
C.   Nucleus
Question #5
A big rock, over 1,000 km across, orbiting the Sun would be called a _________________.
A.   Asteriod
B.   Planetesimal
C.   Comet
D.   Blackhole
Question #6
When Earth passes through the orbit of an old, disintegrated comet, a [a] can occur.
A.   meteor shower
B.   eclipse
C.   shooing stars
Question #7
If an asteroid with a diameter of 30 km were to collide with the Earth, it would probably
A.   burn up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground
B.   bring an end to human civilization, or at least destroy much of the human race
C.   create a crater more than 300 km in diameter, but have little or no effect on the rest of Earth and its inhabitants
D.   only crush a car, if one happened to be at the point of impact
E.   devastate an area no larger than 30 km in diameter
Question #8
Which of the following statements is true?
A.   The main asteroid belt if probably debris that would have formed a planet had Jupiter not prevented it.
B.   There is no evidence that the material from which asteroids formed was ever part of one or more larger bodies that could have experienced differentiation.
C.   The iron/nickel asteroids are the most common kind.
D.   The mass of all the asteroids together is roughly that of the Earth.
E.   All asteroids appear to be quite solid objects, rather than collections of smaller rock held together by gravity.
Question #9
Which statement about Pluto is true?
A.   Has no moons
B.   Is massive enough to substantially affect the orbit of Uranus, which led to its discovery
C.   Has a nearly circular orbit around the Sun, due to its interactions with other objects in the vicinity
D.   Is about as large as the planet Mercury
E.   Has a density intermediate between that of the terrestrial planets and the giant planets
Question #10
What is a comet dust tail?
A.   It is ions blown out by the Sun's solar wind.
B.   A bright gas cloud released by sublimation on the Sun side of the comet.
C.   A protrusion out of one end of the potato-like comet nucleus.
D.   Gas, dust & gravel left behind in the comet's orbital path.
Question #11
Most known comets do not reappear in our sky very often because:
A.   comets burn quite rapidly, using up all their fuel within a few decades
B.   comets are not gravitationally bound to our Solar System
C.   most comets only pass close to the Sun 2 or 3 times, and then they disintegrate
D.   it is impossible to tell when most comets will return close to the Sun
E.   orbits of comets are highly eccentric and their semimajor axes are large

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