20180919

Online reading assignment: runaway planets, jovian planets, and dwarf planets (oh my!) (SLO campus)

Astronomy 210, fall semester 2018
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students have a weekly online reading assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com), where they answer questions based on reading their textbook, material covered in previous lectures, opinion questions, and/or asking (anonymous) questions or making (anonymous) comments. Full credit is given for completing the online reading assignment before next week's lecture, regardless if whether their answers are correct/incorrect. Selected results/questions/comments are addressed by the instructor at the start of the following lecture.

The following questions were asked on reading textbook chapters and previewing presentations on runaway planets (Venus and Mars), jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune), and the dwarf planets (and the International Astronomy Union classification scheme).


Selected/edited responses are given below.

Describe something you found interesting from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally interesting for you.
"It was fascinating to find out the similarities and differences between Venus, Mars, and Earth."

"That Venus' atmosphere got so hot that it completely evaporated its oceans is so fascinating. We will never know for sure how much water was on Venus, but if it was anything like Earth's oceans, it's hard to fathom that much water just evaporating."

"The Simpsons episode analogy with the gophers under the tennis court pavement helped me understand Venus' coronae much better."

"Although Mars has fewer volcanoes than Earth and Venus, they tend to be a lot larger than the rest of the planets."

"That Mars was a runaway planet very interesting because I never knew there were such things as runaway planets even more that Mars was one of them."

"To learn that Mars has weather and (dead) volcanoes."

"How insignificant plate tectonics are on other planets was interesting considering how impactful they are here on Earth."

"With all the talk of Elon Musk's pursuit to colonize Mars, I'm interested if Mars has the ability to retain an atmosphere if we could somehow build one up. If so, how would we combat the loss of atmosphere at a different rate than Earth's."

"That none of the jovian planets are dense enough to walk on. It's just a strange thought that a planet can be like that."

"That Uranus rotates on its side, because that is unusual."

"How the IAU classifies planets. This is something I never knew about."

"The classification questions for how we classify things in the solar system was interesting, I expected the qualifications to be a lot different like the questions seemed very broad."

"I found the classification system for planets to be interesting simply because I had never really known why planets were considered planets in the first place. Having a frame of reference for why Pluto isn't a planet is something I've wondered about since I was a kid, but I never really looked into it."

"I always thought that Pluto should be considered a planet without doing research on why it wouldn't be."

Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"I just need further review on how mass and distance affect outgas, atmosphere density, and temperature depending on a specific planet's greenhouse factors."

"I'm confused on why the runaway greenhouse effect ends up happening, especially with Venus."

"Understanding the greenhouse gas effects on other planets was still a little confusing."

"I didn't really get how the mass of the planet affects its atmosphere."

"I'm only a bit confused about the Cooper Cooler™ effect because it seems like the rotation of the bottle would generate enough friction to counteract any speeding up of cooling that would be happening."

"Why or how Uranus is cooler--I get that its rotation axis is related, but I am not fully following how that relates?"

"What's the difference between dwarf planets and the planets that we usually discuss about?"

"I still need to figure out a way to classify all of the planets."

"Why Pluto isn't a planet any more and why it once was, but is no longer."

Identify the relative amounts of these characteristics for Venus, compared to Earth. (Only correct responses shown.)
Interior core heat, today: about the same as Earth [38%]
Geologic activity, today: less than Earth [55%]
Volcanic outgassing, up until now: about the same as Earth [41%]
Heat from the sun: more than Earth [90%]
Amount of atmosphere, today: more than Earth [76%]

Identify the relative amounts of these characteristics for Mars, compared to Earth. (Only correct responses shown.)
Interior core heat, today: less than Earth [72%]
Geologic activity, today: less than Earth [69%]
Volcanic outgassing, up until now: less than Earth [83%]
Heat from the sun: less than Earth [93%]
Amount of atmosphere, today: less than Earth [86%]

Which jovian planet has the coolest interior temperatures?
Jupiter (most massive).   * [1]
Saturn (most prominent rings).  * [1]
Uranus (least active weather patterns).   ************ [12]
Neptune (farthest from the sun).   *********** [11]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)   **** [4]

I believe Pluto should be a planet.
Strongly disagree.   *** [3]
Disagree.   ********** [10]
Neutral.   ********** [10]
Agree.   *** [3]
Strongly Agree.   *** [3]

Briefly explain your answer to the previous question (whether Pluto should be a planet).
"It does not meet all the criteria to be a planet. It does not dominate the orbit."

"The classifications of being a planet are pretty clear...but it's Pluto so I'm going to stay neutral."

"It seems like Pluto fits in perfectly with the description of the icy worlds that are out on the edge of the solar system and if those aren't in contempt for being planets, neither should Pluto."

"Pluto should not be classified as a planet because it does not have enough mass to dominate its own orbit."

"Our solar system moves through space at roughly 70,000 km/hr. If Pluto can keep up, she should be forgiven for her obscure orbit."

"It is so far from the sun that since its discovery in 1930, it hasn't even finished a full revolution around it."

"I honestly have no clue."

"It was once classified as a planet so it deserves its title back."

"I don't feel like I know enough to answer scientifically."

"Pluto does not have the size to actually clear its orbital region of other objects."

"No, it's a dwarf planet."

"I disagree because it does not have a well-rounded shape and it doesn't dominate its orbit which are the questions that need to have an answer of yes in order to be a planet."

"I think it should still be a planet even though it's not terrestrial or jovian. I think it should be a planet because it still has it's own moons and I would say they could classify as a 'dwarf planet.' (Still a planet, right?)"

"It used to be a planet before researchers came up with some qualifications that Pluto didn't 'pass' in order to be consider a planet."

"I do not know enough to be one way or the other, I did grow up with it being a planet and never fully understood why that changed."

"I don't know either about Pluto to agree or disagree about it being a planet, but I'm excited to learn."

"I am neutral on this because I do not know enough but Pluto isn't big enough and has a different orbit."

"Pluto has a lot of the qualities that planets are suppose to have in order to be considered a planet. Pluto orbits around the sun, it has its own moons, however, it is smaller than the Earth's moon and isn't considered a "jovian or terrestrial planet. Those reasons make it very difficult to call Pluto a planet."

"Pluto is not related to jovian or terrestrial planets. It is more likely a member of icy world family."

"When I was growing up Pluto was a planet! I memorized the order of the planets by using the acronym: My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. Without Pluto its just nine nothings. Pluto used to be a planet and it should still be a planet. Why take Pluto's title away! He has feelings too!"

"I don't think it should be considered a planet because it is far too small and doesn't fit into the terrestrial or jovian planets. I think dwarf planets should just be considered a new categories of planet."

"Pluto should not be considered a planet due to its irregular orbit and small size. It should be considered a dwarf planet."

"I strongly agree because I see Pluto in a planet-like fashion because of its mass and volume."

"Pluto should not be a planet because if it were there would be innumerable planets in the solar system unlike the main eight."

"I was born at a time when Pluto was still considered a planet. At the time of discovery, Pluto meet the then accepted definition of a plant. In time, with all the new discoveries and advancements in astronomy, we have come to understand the universe and galaxy better. Pluto no longer meets the definition of planet. Then definition has evolved and so has our understand of the universe."

Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"How much did the telescope we looked through last week cost?" (That Orion SkyQuest XT 4.5 telescope sells for about $250-$300.)

"On Earth, the sky is blue. What does the sky look like on other planets? Why?" (I'll let the experts at NASA answer why our sky is blue and what color is the sky on Mars, but on a related note we'll talk about why certain dust clouds in space are blue later this semester.)

"Why is it important to fund continued missions and research to other planets in the solar system?" (It helps us find out whether we really understand how our own planet works, if we apply those ideas to the other planets' characteristics.)

"Is Mars the only potential planet we could colonize?" (Probably, as constructing habitats to survive in very cold, thin atmosphere conditions (as on Mars) is an easier problem to solve than surviving in very hot, toxic, thick atmosphere conditions (such as Venus).)

"Can we go over more of the stuff we did in the last class? I wasn't able to fully understand what we learned." (We'll use what we covered in last class to compare and contrast certain features on Venus and Mars with Earth.)

"What year was the most recent classification for planets put into effect?" (2006.)

"If you're asking us if Pluto should be classified as a planet or not then I want to know if you think Pluto should be a planet or not." (I don't think Pluto should be a planet, unless we bring back every other thing that used to be a planet in the past--e.g., Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, Iris, Pandora, etc. And that's probably not going to happen.)

"Do you provide a study guide for before the exams so we have an idea of what to expect?" (Yes, in fact the study guide for the first midterm is already posted on the course website.)

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