The Solar System- Crash Course

Question 1

Who's astronomical observations were an essential contribution to Kepler's model?

Accepted Answer

Tycho Brahe

Question 2

What can be thought of as "all the stuff held sway by the Sun’s gravity"?

Accepted Answer

the Solar System

Question 3

After the Sun, what is the next most massive object in the Solar System?

Accepted Answer

Jupiter

Question 4

Where is the the asteroid belt located?

Accepted Answer

between Mars and Jupiter

Question 5

What is the term for a very young star that is still gathering mass?

Accepted Answer

protostar

Question 6

Who applied physics and calculus to determine how gravity worked?

Accepted Answer

Isaac Newton

Question 7

"Heliocentrism" refers to a model where _____

Accepted Answer

the Sun is the center of the solar system

Question 8

What process in the Sun creates energy?

Accepted Answer

hydrogen fusing into helium

Question 9

What is the name for the "wee baby planets" that formed from clumps of dust?

Accepted Answer

planetesimals

Question 10

Which ancient culture knew the Earth was a sphere, and had even measured its size?

Accepted Answer

ancient Greeks

Question 11

Which object is "11 times wider than the Earth and a thousand times it's volume"?

Accepted Answer

Jupiter

Question 12

Which term has been difficult to define?

Accepted Answer

planet

Question 13

Which planets are found closer to the Sun?

Accepted Answer

rocky planets

Question 14

Where is the the Oort Cloud located?

Accepted Answer

out beyond the orbit of Neptune

Question 15

What are "Kuiper Belt Objects"?

Accepted Answer

rocky ice balls beyond Neptune

Question 16

Who realized the planets moved around the Sun in ellipses, not circles?

Accepted Answer

Johannes Kepler

Question 17

The latin term "sol" in Solar System refers to _____

Accepted Answer

the Sun

Question 18

In 1543, who published their work proposing a Sun-centered model of the universe?

Accepted Answer

Copernicus

Question 19

What percentage of the mass of the entire solar system is due to the Sun?

Accepted Answer

98%

Question 20

All the orbits of the planets _____

Accepted Answer

lie in a relatively flat disk

Question 21

Which planets are commonly referred to as the "inner planets"?

Accepted Answer

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

Question 22

When did the Solar System form?

Accepted Answer

4.6 billion years ago

Questions 22