Exam 9: Moons, Rings, and Plutoids: Small Worlds Among Giants

What is the closest thing to a binary planet we find in the solar system? Why?

Two of the Galilean moons of Jupiter are the size of Mercury, and the two others are about as big as our own Moon.

All four of Jupiter's big moons, like most moons in the solar system, revolve clockwise (retrograde) around their planet's equator.

Triton and Pluto both probably originated in the Kuiper Belt.

The Galilean moon of most interest to exobiologists is

While Ganymede and Callisto are about the same size, the surface of Callisto is much younger, with considerable tectonic reformation.

The tectonic surface features we see on Triton are similar to the grooves of Ganymede.

A moon whose surface is smooth, with no craters, is probably .

The planet with the least obvious ring system is .

All four ring systems lie around their planet's .

Why did Saturn's rings appear very different in 1995 and 2003?

Charon's orbit

On Neptune's moon , geysers of liquid nitrogen rise 10 km high.

As we go outward from Io to Ganymede, the density of the moons .

To explain its magnetic field, Europa must have an ocean of

Which of these moons are most interesting to exobiologists?

Like Saturn's more famous ring system, Jupiter's ring is also made of ice, just older and dirtier than the bright fresh material at Saturn.

Due to tidal stresses, it is likely most of Io is molten, with a relatively thin solid crust.

The tidal stresses that create Io's volcanism come from Jupiter and

What best explains the darkness of the rings beyond Saturn's?