Exam 9: Small Bodies of the Solar System

Why are cometary dust tails curved along the orbit of a comet?

Name three properties of the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris that are similar.

Which property of a moon might lead you to hypothesize it was a captured asteroid?

Which moon gives rise to the particles that make up Saturn's E Ring?

Consider three comets that have orbital periods of 10,100,and 1,000 years.Where would each of these comets likely originate,in the Oort Cloud or the Kuiper Belt? If you wanted to study material that was the best example of pristine Solar System material,which would you study?

Why do long-period comets usually put on a much more visually spectacular display than short-period comets?

Give the definitions of meteoroid,meteor,and meteorite,and clearly explain how they differ.

If ultraviolet photons destroy methane,why does Titan have so much of it in its atmosphere?

The darkest asteroids are:

What must an asteroid have in order for us to determine its mass?

What are the possible geological states of a moon?

Meteorites contain clues to all of the following EXCEPT:

What are the two basic materials of which the moons in the Solar System are composed? For each type of material,name an example of a moon whose surface is composed primarily of that material.

Which group of meteoroids is more likely to have compositions indicative of those in the early Solar System?

You find a blackened rock lying on top of the snow.You find that it is fairly dense and suspect it might be a meteorite.You take it to a lab,and they find that its age is 1.3 Gyr.Is this a meteorite? Why,or why not?

Which of following is FALSE?

Examine the figure below.How is it possible for the tails of a comet to move ahead of the comet itself?

Which of the following does NOT describe comets in the Oort Cloud?

Which object has turned itself inside out numerous times,leading to lighter elements escaping,sulfur compounds composing the crust,and heavier elements making up the core?

Two moons are observed to each have a large amount of cratering over their surfaces.However,one of the moons has portions of its surface that are darker than other portions.What might this suggest regarding the state of geologic activity of these moons?