Exam 18: The Outer Solar System

The graph below indicates the temperature of Saturn's atmosphere as a function of distance from the upper cloud layer. Water will condense to form droplets at a temperature of approximately 270 K in the atmosphere of Saturn. At what distance from the upper cloud layer will clouds of water vapor form?

How does the Charon-Pluto system resemble the Earth-Moon system (in contrast to Mars and its moons or even Jupiter and its moons)?

____ is a satellite of Pluto.

Uranus and Neptune do not contain liquid metallic hydrogen because they

Pluto's density is 1.8 g/cm³. Iron is about 5 g/cm³. Rock is about is 3 g/cm³. Ice or water is 1.0 g/cm³. This implies that

How do we know that the interior of Jupiter is a liquid metallic material?

We can be sure the particles in the rings of Neptune are very small because

Contrast the lightness/darkness of the ring particles orbiting Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Uranus and Neptune appear blue or blue-green because

Although Uranus and Neptune have no liquid metallic hydrogen in their interiors, they do have magnetic fields.

Both Jupiter and Saturn

Describe the possible history of a typical Plutino as astronomers now believe it occured.

The fresh, newly created surfaces of icy satellites of Jovian planets

The ____________________ was a large cyclonic storm in the atmosphere of Neptune observed by Voyager 2.

Which of these are nearly 90 degrees to the orbit plane of Uranus?

Saturn is less dense than Jupiter.

The atmosphere of ____ contains mostly nitrogen with some methane.

Satellites that lack craters are generally old, inactive bodies.

What is the significance of the colors of Uranus and Neptune?

The rotation of Uranus is peculiar in that