Use these questions to test your understanding. If you get them wrong, you will be linked back to the relevant part of the notes.
Be sure you study them thoroughly (don't just get a quick fix for your mistake) so your overall understanding is improved.
1. Saturn is most similar to
a. Earth b. Mars c. Jupiter d. Mercury e. Venus
2. Uranus is very similar to
a. Venus b. Jupiter c. Neptune d. Pluto e. all of the above
3. Moons that come too close to a planet
a. will disintegrate b. will heat up c. will have magnetic fields
d. will gain mass e. will sweep up some of the planet's atmosphere
4. Rings around planets
a. are leftover from the planet's formation b. are comprised of gas
c. are due to strong magnetic fields d. are common around terrestrial planets
e. are common around giant planets
5. Prior to the Cassini mission, we had not made a good map of the surface features on Titan because
a. it has a relatively opaque atmosphere b. its surface is liquid
c. it is so far away d. it is so icy e. we can't see it from Earth
6. The densest of Jupiter's large moons are found
a. far from Jupiter b. close to Jupiter c. in retrograde orbits d. in highly elliptical orbits
e. distributed throughout the Jovian moon system
7. This moon of Jupiter has a relatively smooth icy surface suggesting an underlying ocean.
a. Ganymede b. Amalthea c. Europa d. Io e. Callisto
8. Volcanoes may occur on a moon because of
a. tidal heating b. sunlight reflecting off a giant planet c. collisional heating by meteors
d. icy compositions e. all of the above
9. The rings of Saturn are made of
a. a solid platter of material that orbits like a wagon wheel
b. small particles largely of ice
d. magnetic needles that align to reflect the sunlight efficiently
10. Now that Huygens has landed on Titan, we see that its surface
a. is home to a special breed of cats
b. is entirely covered with liquid
c. has drainage channels that look a bit like arroyos
e. is so covered with mist we still have not seen it
11. Gaps and sharp edges in Saturn's rings are caused by
a. gravitational effects of the planet's moons
b. places where large ring particles orbit and clear out the small ones
c. the rings just formed that way and have not had time to change