Today is Thursday,May 21st, 2015

Pre-Class:Today we are reviewing.

Have your questions ready!

Today’s Agenda

• Review• Review• Fashion?• Review

Review Game Rules

• I will ask a question to the class.• Each participant (that’s you) writes down the

answer silently.– Not each group…each individual.

• After a few moments, I will say, “Compare answers.”

• Each of you will look at what the other wrote.

Review Game Rules

• Did you each get the right answer?– 2 points.

• Did one of you get the right answer?– 1 point.

• Neither of you?– For shame. 0 points.– And eternal guilt.

Review Game Rules

• The List of Do Nots:– Do not talk to each other, make noises, gesture,

give answers (my discretion here) between when the question has been read and when I say, “Compare answers.”• Doing so will result in a disqualification for that round.

Don’t believe me? Try it.

– Do not fall asleep when I’m getting scores.• If you’re not paying attention, I’m not giving you points.

Review Question 1

• Neptune and Uranus take on a somewhat blue color due to the presence of what gas in their atmospheres?– Methane.

Review Question 2

• What is the name of the dwarf planet in the asteroid belt?– Ceres.

Review Question 3

• What three characteristics must an object have to be considered a planet, according to the current IAU definition? MUST GET ALL THREE FOR CREDIT.– Round.– Orbiting the Sun.– Cleared its neighborhood of most other debris.

Review Question 4

• BONUS NON-ASTRONOMY QUESTION• You may wager any/all of your points.• Category: Clothing

• What’s an espadrille?– A shoe (women’s) that has a rope sole.

Review Question 5

• A comet that orbits perpendicular to the plane of the solar system likely originated where?– The Oort Cloud.

Review Question 6

• If it’s a comet from the Oort Cloud, it likely has an orbital period greater than…?– 200 years (long period comet).

Review Question 7

• What’s the first planet in the solar system to have a ring system, when counting from the Sun outward?– Jupiter.

Review Question 8

• If I somehow pushed the Moon to within the Roche limit of Earth, what would happen to it?– It would break apart due to tidal stresses.

Review Question 9

• What’s the difference between the radial velocity method and the astrometric (wobble) method of exoplanet detection?– Radial velocity measures shifts in wavelength

while the astrometric method measures movement in the planet’s parent star.

Review Question 10

• How many moons does Mars have?– 2.

Review Question 11

• BONUS NON-ASTRONOMY QUESTION• You may wager any/all of your points.• Category: Aviation History

• In 1947, Howard Hughes, the famous business tycoon and aviator, built the airplane that still holds the record for largest wingspan. Its official name was the Hughes H-4 Hercules. What was its nickname?– The Spruce Goose.

Review Question 12

• A comet’s tails point nearly in the same direction as it is moving during which part of its orbit: approaching perihelion or approaching aphelion?– Approaching aphelion.

Review Question 13

• How old is the solar system?– 4.6 billion years.

Review Question 14

• What’s the difference between the shape of an asteroid’s orbit and a comet’s orbit?– A comet’s orbit is much more eccentric/elliptical.

Review Question 15

• When counting from the Sun outward, which planet is the first to have an atmosphere?– Venus.

Review Question 16

• Craters on a planet’s surface indicate that the planet has no/limited atmosphere or…what?– It’s got an old surface.

Review Question 17

• Suppose a space rock lands directly on my head and afterward I need an ice pack. What hit me?– A meteorite.

Review Question 18

• In truth, the asteroid belt is not nearly as crowded as you might be thinking. The spaces between the asteroids are often huge – so huge you might have trouble even seeing one from another one. That said, some areas in the asteroid belt are somewhat emptied of asteroids. What are these areas called?– Kirkwood Gaps.

Review Question 19

• 4 point question: Mercury somehow manages to meet the qualifications for being a planet, although there are several moons in the solar system bigger than it. What’s the largest moon in the solar system, and to which planet does it belong?– Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter.

Review Question 20

• Which planet rotates almost completely on its side? In other words, which planet rotates on a nearly 90° angle.– Uranus.

Review Question 21

• What was the first artificial satellite launched by the United States, and the third one launched in history?– Explorer I.

Review Question 22

• BONUS NON-ASTRONOMY QUESTION• You may wager any/all of your points.• Category: Horse Racing

• Affirmed was the last horse to win the Triple Crown, as in, placed first at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. In which US state is the Belmont Stakes held?– Elmont, New York.

Review Question 23

• What is the shape of the Oort Cloud?– Sphere.

Review Question 24

• Which is further away, the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud?– The Oort Cloud (by far).

Review Question 25

• When the European Space Agency’s Philae probe landed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, on what part of the comet did it land?– The nucleus.