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.
"The descriptions of other terrestrial planets, which makes it just more of a miracle that Earth is capable of hosting life, when others with just some things a bit wonky are inhospitable."
"How Venus is 95% of Earth's diameter but it's very different from Earth. It has volcanos, lava flows, and impact craters, in a deep hot atmosphere."
"I don't know why but I always looked at Venus and thought 'huh, she's kinda pretty.' I knew she was made of gas. But I didn't know she was hot enough to melt lead, smells bad and that the greenhouse effect is much worse there."
"I found it interesting that Venus had geological features (such as coronae) unique to anywhere else in the solar system. I had some curiosity about studying planets and the characteristics that make them unique (such as Uranus' reverse rotation). This information can help us compare our own planet with others and understand geologic activity elsewhere in the solar system."
"I found the ability to determine certain areas of a planet as new or old very fascinating. Being able to figure out which parts of the crust are fresh, or how long it's has been there is interesting to know. Also I really enjoyed the thick gravy skin analogy in describing hot spots."
"I liked learning about the surface features of Venus and Mars. I also like seeing the different things the other planets and Earth have in common. "
"I found learning about the greenhouse factors on Venus and Mars interesting because I have heard Earth's greenhouse effect discussed often but never considered other planets' greenhouse effects."
"Reading about the conditions of Mars was interesting to me. It's a lot less inhabitable sounding that it's been made to seem."
"I found the amount of water that is predicted to be on and within Mars interesting. Especially the early stages of Mars where there were large bodies of water."
"These were the most interesting points I read: (1) Venus is a hot lava volcano planet. (2) Liquid water on Mars can't exist because it would boil away instantly. (3) Jupiter has four large moons and at least 60 small moons. (4) Saturn's rings are ice. (5) Pluto has five moons."
"I found the part about water on Mars the most intriguing. the fact that there is still frozen water on the poles, as well as signs of liquid water on the surface, is really cool and makes me wonder what else we may have yet to find on Mars."
"I found it super-interesting that none of the jovian planets have a surface that you would be able to walk on, because they are hydrogen-rich planets and are have lots of water in both solid and liquid."
"I found it interesting that Saturn's rings are actually composed of ice particles. I never knew this before, so I found it interesting to actually be told what exactly it's composed of and why."
"One thing I found interesting was that when the sun warns the clouds, they tend to rise higher in the sky on Jupiter. However, Saturn doesn't receive as much sunlight so the color and clouds are lower ant faint."
"I found Jupiter and its atmosphere extremely interesting, I just think that it is crazy that Jupiter is mostly composed of liquid metallic hydrogen."
"How Uranus has the coldest interior temperature of the jovian planets."
"I found the information about the planets interesting. I'm especially interested in planetary classification and excited to dive deeper into it."
"I found the extreme differences between the planets to be very interesting. I remember learning a lot 'about' the planets in grade school. By a lot, I mean we learned how many there are (were, RIP Pluto) and memorized mnemonic devices for their order. However, I don't recall focusing much on their matter or other specifics or most importantly, what these mean for their history. I enjoyed getting to know more about the planets and what is important about this hints to how they came to be."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"Nothing was specifically confusing, but I can feel that I will have a hard time remembering the different aspects of greenhouse gases and how they relate to planets. (Though the turkey/Cornish hen image does help a ton!)"
"I think it's kinda weird and confusing how the oceans dried up on the other planets and how we know they were there at one point. Why did they disappear or evaporate?"
"I was confused about how Mars and Venus compared to Earth in terms of geologic activity and core features. I felt pretty clear about how each planet retained heat but was unsure about these two particular things."
"I had trouble understanding the 'runaway atmospheres.' I can't seem to grasp how each planets greenhouse cycle was broken, or how the breaking of each cycle began in the first place. The order of events in which the cycle proved to be broken was difficult to understand."
"How the greenhouse effect works. I was trying to figure out how mass and other things that affect it."
"I found it confusing that the textbook said Mars had no water, but then proceeded to say that the water is found through the permafrost and in the polar caps. It was very confusing, because it felt like they kept contradicting themselves."
"How if there is water on Mars it boils away because of the low air pressure, but the only water found on Mars is like permafrost."
"I didn't completely understand the 'Cooper Cooler® effect.' I found this confusing because I didn't fully understand what the it was used to explain."
"I would like to understand jovian planets better and what determined a planet to be a ice or gas giant, and greenhouse factors for the terrestrial planets."
"The different clouds and gas situations with the jovian planets. I think I just need better visuals. "
"Dwarf planets and how are they formed."
"It wasn't quite clear to me what makes something a planet versus a dwarf planet."
"I don't understand why scientists reclassified Pluto. What new criteria did they add that suddenly knocked Pluto down to being a dwarf planet?"
"Trying to figure out whether or not Pluto is a planet was confusing. there are a few things that define a planet and Pluto seems to fit so but not all."
"There wasn't much to be confused about because it was mainly just describing the planets."
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 [26%]
Geologic activity, today: less than Earth [47%]
Volcanic outgassing, up until now: about the same as Earth [33%]
Heat from the sun: more than Earth [86%]
Amount of atmosphere, today: more than Earth [62%]
Identify the relative amounts of these characteristics for Mars, compared to Earth. (Only correct responses shown.)
Interior core heat, today: less than Earth [76%]
Geologic activity, today: less than Earth [68%]
Volcanic outgassing, up until now: less than Earth [62%]
Heat from the sun: less than Earth [85%]
Amount of atmosphere, today: less than Earth [85%]
Which jovian planet has the coolest interior temperatures?
Jupiter (most massive). * [1] Saturn (most prominent rings). [0] Uranus (least active weather patterns). ************** [14] Neptune (farthest from the sun). ************* [13] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) ****** [6]
I believe Pluto should be a planet.
Strongly disagree. * [1] Disagree. ************ [12] Neutral. ************ [12] Agree. ******** [8] Strongly Agree. * [1]
Briefly explain your answer to the previous question (whether Pluto should be a planet).
"I am not too sure what to think!"
"We should continue studying Pluto."
"It was once a planet and has the qualities of a dwarf planet so I think it should still be considered one."
"Although my childhood consisted of identifying Pluto as a planet, there are much smarter people than me, that have established the necessary guidelines for being a planet. They have determined Pluto does not qualify, and I have no grounds to stand against their expertise."
"I disagree that Pluto should be a planet because it's out of the orbiting rings."
"It should be considered a planet due to it still being in the solar system and that it was one of the first planets they spotted."
"Growing up, I was always told that Pluto was a planet. So it is a little confusing why the scientists reclassified it."
"Just always remember being taught the solar system when I was younger and learning all the planets and now being taught that Pluto isn't a planet just brings out the little kid in me wanting it to be classified as a planet again."
"I am a little on the fence on this one, but since it is not similar to the jovian or terrestrial planets, and there is other icy bodies orbiting beyond Neptune, some more massive then Pluto, it seems fit that it would not be considered a planet unless other ones were also."
"Honestly I can not say I would need more peoples point of view on whether it is a planet or not."
"I am not sure on the difference between a planet and at what point its a dwarf, so I cant say for sure."
"I believe scientifically that Pluto is a dwarf planet but it will always be a planet in my heart."
"I hate to say it this way, but I guess I just don't really care if it's considered a planet or not--labels, ya know?"
"I agree because it has an orbit, has moons, and has different gasses on its surface. Just because it's tiny and a little farther out there, shouldn't discard it from being a planet. It's hard to make a decision on an issue that was decided on by scientists much more advanced that I will ever be, and overturned as well."
"They can't make Pluto a planet and then take the title away. Plus it's still a dwarf planet."
"It is one of many objects in the outer belt of the solar system, so if Pluto should be considered a planet than so should the others."
"I don't believe that it qualifies as a planet because of the fact that it is so small, it doesn't even qualify as a jovian planet, and its orbit can bring it closer to the sun than Neptune at times. That doesn't seem like any type of orbit of a planet in our solar system, therefore I don't think ti should qualify as one. Even if it has its own moons."
"Too small to be a planet and doesn't have too many characteristics of a planet."
"I don't really care either way."
"No Pluto is too small and lacks gravitas."
"It is a dwarf planet, not big enough to be move stuff, but large enough to be a something. It is not big enough or diverse enough to be able to say that it is a planet."
"Personally I don't mind Pluto can be who he wants to be but scientifically speaking he can't really be classified as a planet."
"I feel that since Pluto is somewhat planet like but seems to be an outlier and differ in some aspects that it should remain as it is. Why change it after all this time if it is fine the way it is. They clearly made that decision for a reason."
"Pluto fits the definition planet: a celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit around a star."
"While Pluto does have its own moon, there are other planets of similar mass nearby. For instance, there are a series of other planet-like objects orbiting in the outer edge of solar system (Eres, Ceres, Makemake for example). This suggests that Pluto does not meet the third IAU criteria, meaning it cannot expel neighboring dwarf planets/objects."
"I think size should matter to determiner weather something is a planet or not and Pluto has gotten to small I think to be called a planet."
"I honestly don't know enough to know how to answer."
"Pluto doesn't fall under the category of being a terrestrial planet nor a Jovian planet, therefore it is it's own identity which is considered a dwarf planet."
"Pluto should be a planet for several reasons. First of all it has a large enough gravitational pull to be described as a planet. Second of all, just because it does not fit into the categories of jovian or terrestrial does not mean that it is not a planet, it is a different type of planet. Third of all, Pluto is super cool and it is messed up that we gave Pluto the title of planet and then revoked the title."
"If Pluto doesn't fit all the IAU rules and classes then it shouldn't be called a planet."
"The IAU has been studying these things for some time. If we don't stick to some kind of set rules for naming things, we'll have too many planets."
"I'm not too invested into whether or not Pluto should be a planet."
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"Can you further explain what happened to Mars' water, because I am still confused."
"Something I found confusing is that on Mars water would immediately boil into vapor, but there are polar caps that are frozen? That confuses me because wouldn't the polar caps just vaporize, too?" (Liquid water would immediately boil into vapor, but solid chunks of ice could survive, especially underground (permafrost), or at the much colder polar caps (which are so cold that carbon dioxide snows as dry ice.)
"Have you ever watched the show Psych? One of the main character's pick up line was, 'You heard about Pluto? That's messed up, right?'"
"I have read that Pluto is a part of the Kuiper belt, is that true?" (Yes, Pluto is just one of an estimated 100,000 other comparable-sized dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt.)
"Is Pluto a planet or not?"
"Do you think Pluto should be a planet?" (Eh, no. Otherwise then everybody else in the Kuiper belt would get to be planets, too.)
"Would you ever purchase a star and name it after something? (Like your wife lol.)" (No, because I think that company is honestly pretty shady, and not really the "official" registry for star names, as well.)
"Why does Haumea look like an egg?" (It is hypothesized that its rapid rotation rate stretched and distorted its shape as it solidified.)
"This lesson seems easy at first but kinda have to remember a lot."
"Are we going to eventually learn the math for what we have learned/are learning?"
"There are some claims that were made about NASA not actually making it to the moon, are these some things we can consider or that it's just conspiracy theory?" (Buzz Aldrin, the second person to set foot on the moon, was so annoyed by a conspiracy theorist pestering him to admit the moon landings were fake that he punched him in the face. #justsaying)
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