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Astronomy Exam 3: Solar System Formation and Exoplanets, Exams of Astronomy

A.T. Still University of Health Sciences (ATSU)Astronomy

A series of questions and answers related to astronomy, focusing on the formation of the solar system, properties of planets, and the discovery of exoplanets. It covers topics such as the nebular theory, condensation of materials, exoplanet detection methods, and the characteristics of different types of exoplanets. The questions require an understanding of fundamental astronomical concepts and the ability to apply them to various scenarios. It also touches on solar dynamics and the sun's composition. This material is suitable for students studying astronomy or related fields, providing a comprehensive review of key concepts in planetary science and stellar physics.

Typology: Exams

2025/2026

Available from 09/25/2025

DrShirley
DrShirley 🇺🇸

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Astronomy Exam 3
1) Which of these statements is a fundamental property of the Solar System that needs
explaining by a formation theory?
Almost all satellites orbit in a prograde direction.
2) Why do we think that the solar system formed from a rotating, collapsing cloud of gas that
ended up as a disk orbiting the Sun?
All of these answers.
3) Besides total mass, what two quantities is the angular momentum in a object proportional
to?
Rotation speed times radius.
4) What allowed the newly formed disk that would become the Solar System to begin cooling?
The cessation of In-falling material from the proto-solar nebula.
5) Which of the following explanations is given by nebular theory for the different
compositions of the terrestrial, gas giant, and ice giant planets?
The terrestrial planets were formed near the Sun where, because of the high temperatures, only
refractory materials were able to condense.
6) Which material condensed in great abundance in the vicinity of Jupiter's orbit distance?
Water ice.
7) If the ices could not condense where the terrestrial planets formed, where did their
atmospheres come from?
Gas giant gravity flinging comets inward from the Centaur region.
8) Why isn't there a planet where the asteroids are?
Jupiter's gravity prevented accumulation.
9) The present most widely accepted model for the formation of the moon is
a result of a Mars-sized impact with the proto-Earth.
10) Planets orbiting around stars other than the Sun are called
exoplanets
11) Finding planets around other stars by observing small periodic Doppler shifts in the
spectrum is called
the radial velocity method.
12) Which method was employed by the Kepler Space Telescope to search for exoplanets?
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Astronomy Exam 3

  1. Which of these statements is a fundamental property of the Solar System that needs explaining by a formation theory? Almost all satellites orbit in a prograde direction.
  2. Why do we think that the solar system formed from a rotating, collapsing cloud of gas that ended up as a disk orbiting the Sun? All of these answers.
  3. Besides total mass, what two quantities is the angular momentum in a object proportional to? Rotation speed times radius.
  4. What allowed the newly formed disk that would become the Solar System to begin cooling? The cessation of In-falling material from the proto-solar nebula.
  5. Which of the following explanations is given by nebular theory for the different compositions of the terrestrial, gas giant, and ice giant planets? The terrestrial planets were formed near the Sun where, because of the high temperatures, only refractory materials were able to condense.
  6. Which material condensed in great abundance in the vicinity of Jupiter's orbit distance? Water ice.
  7. If the ices could not condense where the terrestrial planets formed, where did their atmospheres come from? Gas giant gravity flinging comets inward from the Centaur region.
  8. Why isn't there a planet where the asteroids are? Jupiter's gravity prevented accumulation.
  9. The present most widely accepted model for the formation of the moon is a result of a Mars-sized impact with the proto-Earth.
  10. Planets orbiting around stars other than the Sun are called exoplanets
  11. Finding planets around other stars by observing small periodic Doppler shifts in the spectrum is called the radial velocity method.
  12. Which method was employed by the Kepler Space Telescope to search for exoplanets?

the transit method.

  1. About how many planets around other stars than the Sun have been observed so far? More than 3000.
  2. What kinds of exoplanets seem to be the most common so far? Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes.
  3. How do we think hot Jupiters formed? They migrated in toward the center from beyond the snow line early in the system history.
  4. What kind of exoplanet found so far does not exist in our Solar System? Super-Earth.
  5. Which of these statements is a fundamental property of the Solar System that needs explaining by a formation theory? All planets orbit in the same direction and nearly in the same plane (the ecliptic).
  6. What was the initial form of the material destined to become the Sun and Solar System? A slowly rotating clump of interstellar gas and dust.
  7. A skater can spin faster by pulling her amrs in closer to her body or spin slower by spreading her arms out. This result is due to conservation of angular momentum.
  8. What kept the newly formed disk that would become the Solar System hot? In-falling material from the proto-solar nebula crashing on the disk.
  9. Which of the following explanations is given by nebular theory for the different compositions of the terrestrial, gas giant, and ice giant planets? The terrestrial planets were formed near the Sun where, because of the high temperatures, only refractory materials were able to condense.
  10. Which of the following planets was the closest to the Sun able to form at temperatures below the freezing point of water? Jupiter.
  11. What is the likely origin of the Oort Cloud? Gas giant gravity flinging comets out from the Centaur region.
  12. What is the likely reason that Mars is smaller than both Earth and Jupiter? Jupiter's gravity prevented accumulation.
  13. The Moon has proportionally much less iron than other terrestrial objects. Where is the Moon's rightful complement of iron?
  1. Which is the correct order of material condensation as an initially hot gas cools? Metal oxides, iron-nickel alloys, silicates, carbon rich, water ice, methane and nitrogen.
  2. Which of the following planets was the closest to the Sun able to form at temperatures below the freezing point of water? Jupiter.
  3. Why did being beyond the snow line allow the gas giants to grow bigger than the terrestrials? When they can form, the ices are much more abundant that rock or iron.
  4. What is the likely reason that Mars is smaller than both Earth and Jupiter? Jupiter's gravity prevented accumulation.
  5. The present most widely accepted model for the formation of the moon is a result of a Mars-sized impact with the proto-Earth.
  6. Planets orbiting around stars other than the Sun are called exoplanets.
  7. Finding planets around other stars by observing small accompanying faint objects is called The direct imaging method.
  8. Why does the transit method pick up only a small fraction of possible planets? Because transits require the orbit plane to be nearly aligned with Earth.
  9. About how many planets around other stars than the Sun have been observed so far? More than 3000.
  10. Why won't the transit method find many planets with orbit periods more than one Earth- year? Orbits for such planets would have to be almost exactly aligned with Earth.
  11. Astronomers have discovered massive gas giant planets like Jupiter orbiting companion stars at closer than 0.7 AU (about the distance of Venus' orbit). Why don't astronomers believe that these gas giant planets originally formed at these locations? The temperatures in the early stellar disk was too high at these distances.
  12. How do the exoplanets discovered so far confuse our understanding of planetary system formation? We were not expecting hot Jupiters.
  13. Please watch NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory "Aurora; What Causes Them?" 5min video. Sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth. How long would it take an average CME (or "solar storm") to reach Earth?

18 hours.

  1. What is the Sun (and most stars, as it turns out) mostly made of? Hydrogen and helium.
  2. What keeps a star inflated against the pull of gravity, which wants the whole thing to collapse on the core? Pressure from the hot plasma.
  3. The energy to heat the Sun comes from the core, where protons are fusing into helium nuclei.
  4. How will the composition of the Sun change over the next billion years? There will be less hydrogen and more helium.
  5. Solar neutrinos are produced as a by-product of the P-P chain.
  6. What process carries Solar energy the last third of the way to up to the surface? Convection.
  7. What is the correct order of visible layers outward from the Sun? Photosphere, chromosphere, transition region, corona, wind.
  8. The surface of the Sun looks to be covered with uneven dark and light patterns that come and go. What is this patterning called? Granulation.
  9. What are spicules? Jets of chromospheric material penetrating the transition region.
  10. Comet tails are blown away from the Sun by the solar wind.
  11. What is responsible for the filament-like structures seen in the corona? Magnetic fields.
  12. Sunspots are regions of strong magnetism on the surface of the Sun.
  13. Coronal material occasionally condenses and rains back to the surface as prominences.
  14. What is a solar flare? A explosive brightening in the chromosphere above an active sunspot region.
  1. Sunspots are dark because they are cooler than surrounding plasma.
  2. Coronal material occasionally condenses and rains back to the surface as prominences.
  3. What is a solar flare? A explosive brightening in the chromosphere above an active sunspot region.
  4. Shortly after Galileo first observed sunspots in 1612, the Sun went through an extended period of minimal spot activity lasting nearly 70 years. This period is called the Maunder minimum.
  5. Which kind of particles in an atom are responsible for its chemical properties? Electrons
  6. What keeps atomic electrons in the vicinity of the nucleus? The attraction to the positive protons.
  7. The principle quantum number n is a measure of the total number of crests in the electron wave.
  8. When an atom absorbs an incoming photon, what happens? An electron jumps to a higher vibration state.
  9. The presence of dark features at specific wavelengths in an otherwise continuous spectrum can be explained most easily by which of the following? A cool gas between observer and source is absorbing light at the wavelengths corresponding to the missing photons.
  10. A spectrum of a distant object reveals a sequence of known absorption lines that are all shifted to longer wavelengths. What can be concluded about the object? It must be moving away from us.
  11. Which star system is the Sun's nearest neighbor? Alpha Centauri.
  12. To measure a star's true brightness, or luminosity, which of the following do you need to know? Its apparent brightness and distance.
  13. Magnitude values increase with faintness.
  14. Why is color an unreliable measure of stellar temperatures?

Interstellar reddening by dust.

  1. A red giant of spectral type K9 and a red main sequence star of the same spectral type have about the same temperature.
  2. About what is the minimum likely mass for stars? 1/10 the mass of the Sun.
  3. 90% of all stars lie on a diagonal line on the HR diagram called the main sequence.
  4. Rigel is much more luminous than Sirius B. Rigel and Sirius B have the same temperature. Which star has the greater surface area? Rigel.
  5. A Cepheid variable with a longer period is more luminous.
  6. What is a Cepheid variable star? A type of very luminous star that makes an excellent standard candle.
  7. Rigel is much more luminous than Sirius B. Rigel and Sirius B have the same temperature. Which star has the greater surface area? Rigel.
  8. On the HR diagram, where would you find a cool star with a very high luminosity? Top right.
  9. About what is the maximum likely mass for stars? 100x the mass of the Sun.
  10. A red giant of spectral type K9 and a red main sequence star of the same spectral type have about the same temperature.