ATT Test 2 (Latest 2024/ 2025 Update) Questions
and Verified Answers| 100% Correct| Grade A
How do astronomers know that the age of the solar system is about 4.5 billion years
old? - ANSWERradioactive dating of the primitive meteorites indicates they have that
age (since they are left-over building blocks of the solar system)
One region on Earth that has become a rich source of new meteorites in recent
decades (including the meteorite from Mars that got famous because some
scientists claimed they had found evidence for the building blocks of life on Mars) is:
- ANSWERthe Antarctic
Which of the following worlds does NOT have a ring (as far as we know)? -
ANSWERVenus
Which of the following pieces of observational evidence does our modern "solar
nebula" theory of the formation of the solar system NOT explain directly? -
ANSWERthe plane of the orbit of Pluto
Three kinds of worlds are round in our solar system. Which of the following is NOT a
type of world that is typically round? - ANSWERminor planet (asteroid)
One of the most perplexing issues raised by the discovery of thousands of exoplanets
is the existence of "hot Jupiters" - planets with the masses and compositions of
Jupiter, but orbiting closer to their stars than Mercury does in our solar system.
What is our best idea currently about how such "hot Jupiters" came to be? -
ANSWERhot Jupiters formed further out in their star system, and then migrated
inward somehow
Differential rotation - ANSWERthe phenomenon that occurs when different parts of a
rotating object rotate at different rates at different latitudes
Which of the following is not a characteristic that worlds in our solar system have in
common: - ANSWERthat all the planets have solid surfaces on which we can see
impact craters
At the beginning of the solar system's history, a ready supply of proto-planets or
mini-planets crashed into the developing planets and each other - something
astronomers call the "era of giant impacts." How long do astronomers estimate this
era lasted? - ANSWERabout 100 million years (0.1 billion)
The ages of stony meteorites have been measured to be roughly equal to: -
ANSWERthe oldest ages we have measured for any bodies in the solar system
Meteor - ANSWERa small piece of solid matter that enters Earth's atmosphere and
burns up, popularly called a shooting star because it is seen as a small flash of light
, Iron meteorite - ANSWERa meteorite composed primarily of iron and nickel
stony-iron meteorites - ANSWERa type of differentiated meteorite that is a blend of
nickel-iron and silicate materials
Meteorite - ANSWERa portion of a meteor that survives passage through the
atmosphere and strikes the ground
One of the best proofs that our theory of how the solar system formed is correct is
that astronomers now observe - ANSWERdisks around other stars which show
evidence of gaps where planets may be forming
How can astronomers measure the age of a meteorite that fell from the skies? -
ANSWERThey measure the amount still left of radioactive materials in the meteorite,
and how much has turned into decay products
Astronomers call the vast, rotating cloud of vapor and dust from which the solar
system formed: - ANSWERthe solar nebula
Stony meteorite - ANSWERa meteorite composed mostly of stony material, either
primitive or differentiated
The first technique that allowed astronomers to find exoplanets involved: -
ANSWERmeasuring changes in the radial velocity (Doppler shift) of the star caused
by the pull of orbiting planets
Meteor shower - ANSWERoccurs when many meteors appear to radiate from one
point in the sky; produced when Earth passes through a cometary dust stream
A key difference between the protoplanets that formed in the outer solar system
and those that formed in the inner solar system was that - ANSWERthose in the
outer solar system were in a place where ice, not just rock, condensed and thus
could grow larger
Some of the early planetesimals that formed the solar system still survive today.
Where would you find such planetesimals? - ANSWERin the asteroid and Kuiper belts
Accretion - ANSWERthe gradual accumulation of mass, as by a planet forming from
colliding particles in the solar nebula
Astronomers now believe that the differences in composition among the planets
reflect what characteristic in the early solar system - ANSWERtemperature
One of the best ways to learn more about a world is to have samples from its surface
to analyze in our laboratories. From which of the following worlds do we NOT yet
have a sample to analyze here on Earth? - ANSWERVenus
and Verified Answers| 100% Correct| Grade A
How do astronomers know that the age of the solar system is about 4.5 billion years
old? - ANSWERradioactive dating of the primitive meteorites indicates they have that
age (since they are left-over building blocks of the solar system)
One region on Earth that has become a rich source of new meteorites in recent
decades (including the meteorite from Mars that got famous because some
scientists claimed they had found evidence for the building blocks of life on Mars) is:
- ANSWERthe Antarctic
Which of the following worlds does NOT have a ring (as far as we know)? -
ANSWERVenus
Which of the following pieces of observational evidence does our modern "solar
nebula" theory of the formation of the solar system NOT explain directly? -
ANSWERthe plane of the orbit of Pluto
Three kinds of worlds are round in our solar system. Which of the following is NOT a
type of world that is typically round? - ANSWERminor planet (asteroid)
One of the most perplexing issues raised by the discovery of thousands of exoplanets
is the existence of "hot Jupiters" - planets with the masses and compositions of
Jupiter, but orbiting closer to their stars than Mercury does in our solar system.
What is our best idea currently about how such "hot Jupiters" came to be? -
ANSWERhot Jupiters formed further out in their star system, and then migrated
inward somehow
Differential rotation - ANSWERthe phenomenon that occurs when different parts of a
rotating object rotate at different rates at different latitudes
Which of the following is not a characteristic that worlds in our solar system have in
common: - ANSWERthat all the planets have solid surfaces on which we can see
impact craters
At the beginning of the solar system's history, a ready supply of proto-planets or
mini-planets crashed into the developing planets and each other - something
astronomers call the "era of giant impacts." How long do astronomers estimate this
era lasted? - ANSWERabout 100 million years (0.1 billion)
The ages of stony meteorites have been measured to be roughly equal to: -
ANSWERthe oldest ages we have measured for any bodies in the solar system
Meteor - ANSWERa small piece of solid matter that enters Earth's atmosphere and
burns up, popularly called a shooting star because it is seen as a small flash of light
, Iron meteorite - ANSWERa meteorite composed primarily of iron and nickel
stony-iron meteorites - ANSWERa type of differentiated meteorite that is a blend of
nickel-iron and silicate materials
Meteorite - ANSWERa portion of a meteor that survives passage through the
atmosphere and strikes the ground
One of the best proofs that our theory of how the solar system formed is correct is
that astronomers now observe - ANSWERdisks around other stars which show
evidence of gaps where planets may be forming
How can astronomers measure the age of a meteorite that fell from the skies? -
ANSWERThey measure the amount still left of radioactive materials in the meteorite,
and how much has turned into decay products
Astronomers call the vast, rotating cloud of vapor and dust from which the solar
system formed: - ANSWERthe solar nebula
Stony meteorite - ANSWERa meteorite composed mostly of stony material, either
primitive or differentiated
The first technique that allowed astronomers to find exoplanets involved: -
ANSWERmeasuring changes in the radial velocity (Doppler shift) of the star caused
by the pull of orbiting planets
Meteor shower - ANSWERoccurs when many meteors appear to radiate from one
point in the sky; produced when Earth passes through a cometary dust stream
A key difference between the protoplanets that formed in the outer solar system
and those that formed in the inner solar system was that - ANSWERthose in the
outer solar system were in a place where ice, not just rock, condensed and thus
could grow larger
Some of the early planetesimals that formed the solar system still survive today.
Where would you find such planetesimals? - ANSWERin the asteroid and Kuiper belts
Accretion - ANSWERthe gradual accumulation of mass, as by a planet forming from
colliding particles in the solar nebula
Astronomers now believe that the differences in composition among the planets
reflect what characteristic in the early solar system - ANSWERtemperature
One of the best ways to learn more about a world is to have samples from its surface
to analyze in our laboratories. From which of the following worlds do we NOT yet
have a sample to analyze here on Earth? - ANSWERVenus
