AST1002 FINAL ACTUAL TEST QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS GRADED A+ PREMIUM
RESOURCE
●● Which of the following is most important in causing a cloud of gas to
collapse to form a star and planets?
Answer: Gravity pulls all the gas inward.
●● This diagram shows the positions of about 150,000 asteroids on a
single night.
What would be different if this figure were drawn accurately to scale?
Answer: The dots that represent individual asteroids would have to be
much smaller.
●● Which of the following is furthest from the Sun?
Answer: a comet in the Oort cloud
●● What do we call a small piece of solar system debris that has fallen
to the surface of Earth?
Answer: A meteorite
,●● An icy leftover planetesimal (or dirty snow balls) orbiting the Sun is
called a(n)
Answer: comet.
●● Why don't most of the particles that make meteors actually reach the
surface of Earth?
Answer: They are too small and burn up in the atmosphere.
●● Why did the solar nebula heat up as it collapsed?
Answer: As it shrank in size, gravitational potential energy was
converted to thermal energy.
●● According to the nebular theory, what are asteroids and comets?
Answer: leftover planetesimals that never accreted into planets
●● Comets are made mostly of
Answer: rock and ice.
●● If an interstellar gas cloud shrinks in size, what does the law of
conservation of angular momentum predict it will do?
Answer: spin faster
●● The age of our solar system is approximately
, Answer: 4.5 billion years.
●● As the solar nebula contracts due to gravitation, the cloud
Answer: spins faster.
●● What is surprising about Earth's Moon?
Answer: It is surprisingly large in comparison to the size of its planet.
●● In what region of the solar system is Pluto found?
Answer: the Kuiper belt
●● Which characteristic listed below describes the jovian planets?
Answer: low density
●● What is unusual about the planet Venus?
Answer: It rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of its orbit.
●● Mercury's most unusual orbital feature, as compared to the other
planets, is
Answer: The shape of its orbit
●● The Oort cloud is
AND SOLUTIONS GRADED A+ PREMIUM
RESOURCE
●● Which of the following is most important in causing a cloud of gas to
collapse to form a star and planets?
Answer: Gravity pulls all the gas inward.
●● This diagram shows the positions of about 150,000 asteroids on a
single night.
What would be different if this figure were drawn accurately to scale?
Answer: The dots that represent individual asteroids would have to be
much smaller.
●● Which of the following is furthest from the Sun?
Answer: a comet in the Oort cloud
●● What do we call a small piece of solar system debris that has fallen
to the surface of Earth?
Answer: A meteorite
,●● An icy leftover planetesimal (or dirty snow balls) orbiting the Sun is
called a(n)
Answer: comet.
●● Why don't most of the particles that make meteors actually reach the
surface of Earth?
Answer: They are too small and burn up in the atmosphere.
●● Why did the solar nebula heat up as it collapsed?
Answer: As it shrank in size, gravitational potential energy was
converted to thermal energy.
●● According to the nebular theory, what are asteroids and comets?
Answer: leftover planetesimals that never accreted into planets
●● Comets are made mostly of
Answer: rock and ice.
●● If an interstellar gas cloud shrinks in size, what does the law of
conservation of angular momentum predict it will do?
Answer: spin faster
●● The age of our solar system is approximately
, Answer: 4.5 billion years.
●● As the solar nebula contracts due to gravitation, the cloud
Answer: spins faster.
●● What is surprising about Earth's Moon?
Answer: It is surprisingly large in comparison to the size of its planet.
●● In what region of the solar system is Pluto found?
Answer: the Kuiper belt
●● Which characteristic listed below describes the jovian planets?
Answer: low density
●● What is unusual about the planet Venus?
Answer: It rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of its orbit.
●● Mercury's most unusual orbital feature, as compared to the other
planets, is
Answer: The shape of its orbit
●● The Oort cloud is
