1) Name five physical differences between the terrestrial
planets and the Jovian planets (remember that "Earth-like" and
"Jupiter-like" refer to the names and are not physical
differences).
2) What is an astronomical unit? Write down the distances from
the Sun, in astronomical units, for each planet in our solar
system.
3) Do all asteroids lie between Mars and Jupiter? (Answer with
more than just "yes" or "no".)
4) Why is it important for astronomers to catalog and track as
many asteroids as possible?
5) What planets are asteroids and meteoroids like? Comets are
like the moons of what planets?
6) Describe the difference between a meteor and a
meteorite.
7) Describe what a comet is.
8) Which way do the tails of a comet point?
9) See the "Table of Moons" the "Links" section. When were
most of Jupiter's moons discovered? Why couldn't they have been
discovered sooner?
You can use the internet for questions 10, 11, and
13.
10) What is the name of the object that the Dawn spacecraft
visited in 2011? What type of object is this? What object did the
Dawn spacecraft visit in March 2015? What type of object is
this?
11) What important thing did the Rosetta spacecraft do in
November 2014?
12) If you were on a mission to visit an asteroid, and maybe
walk around it, what would be some of the challenges you might
face?
13) What was the first spacecraft to visit Pluto? When did it
fly by Pluto? How close did it get?
14) This question involves more than just a short answer:
Read
"What Killed the Dinosaurs?" (Taken from page 108 of the seventh
edition of the book by Chaisson, and also posted in the Notes
folder). Write a brief reaction to this. What does this article
make you think? Do you think the same could happen to
humans?
[Answer question #14 in approximately 100 words (several
sentences). Also make sure your answer makes sense according to
what is written in the article and shows that you have read and
understood the article. For example, if you say that an asteroid
could not have killed all the dinosaurs because an asteroid is much
smaller than the Earth and it could only hit one part of the Earth
thereby killing only a small number of dinosaurs, then you have not
read and understood the article.]