What is the meaning of the word cosmos?
A) the origin of Earth and life upon it
B) the light from a distant astronomical object C) the Milky Way
D) the sum total of all matter and energy, that is, everything within and between all galaxies E) the dark sky
D) the sum total of all matter and energy, that is, everything within and between all galaxies
Which of the following has your "address" in the correct order?
A) you, Earth, solar system, Local Group, Local Supercluster, Milky Way B) you, Earth, solar system, Milky Way, Local Supercluster, Local Group C) you, Earth, solar system, Local Group, Milky
E) you, Earth, solar system, Milky Way, Local Group, Local Supercluster
About where is our solar system located within the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) at the center of the galaxy
B) about 10 percent of the way from the center of the galaxy to the outskirts of the galactic disk C) about two-thirds of the way from the center of the ga
C) about two-thirds of the way from the center of the galaxy to the outskirts of the galactic disk
Roughly how many stars are in the Milky Way Galaxy?A) 1 billion
B) 100 billion
C) 10 billion
D) 100 million
E) 1 trillion
B) 100 billion
Modern telescopes are capable of seeing bright galaxies up to about
A) 1 million light-years away.
B) 10 million light-years away.
C) 1 billion light-years away.
D) 10 billion light-years away. E) 1 trillion light-years away.
D) 10 billion light-years away.
6) Suppose we imagine the Sun to be about the size of a grapefruit. How big an area would the orbits of the eight planets of the solar system cover?
A) the size of a typical dorm room
B) the size of a typical campus building
C) the size of a typical campu
C) the size of a typical campus
What do we mean when we say that the universe is expanding?
A) Average distances are increasing between star systems within galaxies.
B) Everything in the universe is gradually growing in size.
C) Average distances are increasing between galaxies.
D) The
C) Average distances are increasing between galaxies.
The age of the universe is
A) between 10 million and 16 million years. B) between 100 million and 160 million years. C) between 1 billion and 1.6 billion years.
D) between 10 billion and 16 billion years.
E) between 100 billion and 160 billion years.
D) between 10 billion and 16 billion years.
9) How are galaxies important to our existence?
A) Without galaxies, there could not have been a Big Bang.
B) Without galaxies, the universe could not be expanding.
C) Galaxies prevent planets from leaving their orbits around stars; e.g., our galaxy preve
D) Galaxies recycle heavy elements produced in stars into future generations of stars.
Earth is made mostly of metals and rocks. Where did this material come from? A) It was produced in the Big Bang.
B) It was created by chemical reactions in interstellar space.
C) It was produced by nuclear fusion in stars.
D) It was made by our Sun.
E) It
C) It was produced by nuclear fusion in stars.
11) What is nuclear fusion?
A) an explosion caused by putting together two volatile chemicals
B) the process of splitting nuclei to produce energy
C) the process of turning matter into pure energy
D) the process of combining lightweight nuclei to make hea
D) the process of combining lightweight nuclei to make heavier nuclei
12) Why did Carl Sagan say that we are star stuff?
A) The composition of most stars (mostly hydrogen and helium) is about the same as the composition of our bodies.
B) Cosmic rays reaching Earth from distant astronomical sources may be one source of mutat
C) Nearly every atom from which we are made once (before the solar system formed) was inside of a star.
Which of the following statements does not use the term light-year in an appropriate way? A) It's about 4 light-years from here to Alpha Centauri.
B) It will take me light-years to complete this homework assignment.
C) A light-year is about 10 trillion ki
B) It will take me light-years to complete this homework assignment.
14) One light-hour is the distance that light travels in an hour. How far is this, in kilometers? (Recall that the speed of light is 300,000 km/s.)
A) 300,000 km
B) 18 million km
C) 100 million km D) 1.08 billion km E) 9.46 trillion km
D) 1.08 billion km
15) Suppose we look at a photograph of many galaxies. Assuming that all galaxies formed at about the same time, which galaxy in the picture is the youngest?
A) the one that is farthest away
B) the one that is reddest in color
C) the one that is bluest in
A) the one that is farthest away
16) What do we mean by the observable universe?
A) the part of the universe that we can see with the naked eye
B) the part of the universe that we can see through telescopes
C) the part of the universe that could be observed in principle, including things
C) the part of the universe that could be observed in principle, including things that may require future technologies
17) Suppose we imagine the Sun to be about the size of a grapefruit. Which of the following describes the size and distance of Earth on the same scale?
A) Earth is the size of a point about 1 meter away from the Sun.
B) Earth is the size of a golf ball ab
C) Earth is the size of a point about 15 meters away from the Sun.
What is the Sun mainly made of? A) hydrogen and oxygen
B) hydrogen and helium
C) carbon and nitrogen
D) oxygen and carbon
E) nearly equal portions of all the elements
B) hydrogen and helium
Which of the following is smallest? A) size of a typical planet
B) 1 light-second
C) 1 AU
D) size of a typical star
A) size of a typical planet
Which of the following is largest?
A) size of a typical galaxy
B) size of Pluto's orbit
C) distance to the nearest star (other than our Sun) D) 1 light-year
A) size of a typical galaxy
21) On the 1-to-10-billion scale, about how far is it to the nearest stars besides the Sun? A) 4 kilometers
B) 400 kilometers
C) 1,000 kilometers
D) 4,400 kilometers E) 10,000 kilometers
D) 4,400 kilometers
Suppose we imagine the Sun to be about the size of a grapefruit. How far away are the nearest stars (the three stars of Alpha Centauri)?
A) the length of a football field
B) 2.5 miles
C) 250 miles D) 2,500 miles E) 25,000 miles
D) 2,500 miles
If we use 1 millimeter to represent 1 light-year, how large in diameter is the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) 100 millimeters
B) 100 meters
C) 1 kilometer
D) 100 kilometers
E) 1 million millimeters
B) 100 meters
24) Which of the following best describes the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) a spiral galaxy with a disk about 100,000 light-years in diameter and containing between 100 billion and 1 trillion stars
B) a spiral galaxy with a disk about 1 billion kilometers in diame
A) a spiral galaxy with a disk about 100,000 light-years in diameter and containing between 100 billion and 1 trillion stars
25) How long would it take to count all the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy at a rate of one star per second?
A) several days
B) several weeks
C) several years
D) several thousand years
E) hundreds of thousands of years
D) several thousand years
26) How many galaxies are there in the observable universe?
A) roughly (within a factor of 10) the same as the number of stars in our galaxy B) roughly a thousand times more than the number of stars in our galaxy
C) about as many as the number of stars we
A) roughly (within a factor of 10) the same as the number of stars in our galaxy
27) If you represented each star by a grain of sand, how much sand would it take to represent all the stars in the universe?
A) all the sand in a typical playground sandlot
B) all the sand on Miami Beach
C) all the sand on the beaches of California
D) all
E) more than all the sand on all the beaches on Earth
On the scale of the cosmic calendar, in which the history of the universe is compressed to 1 year, how long has human civilization (i.e., since ancient Egypt) existed?
A) about half the year
B) about a month
C) a few hours
D) a few seconds
E) less than a
D) a few seconds
On a cosmic calendar, in which the history of the universe is compressed into 1 year, when did the dinosaurs become extinct?
A) in late December
B) in late November
C) in late October D) in late September E) in late August
A) in late December
On a cosmic calendar, in which the history of the universe is compressed into 1 year, when did Kepler and Galileo first discover that we live on a planet in a solar system?
A) 1 second ago
B) 1 day ago
C) 1 week ago D) December 25 E) December 30
A) 1 second ago
31) On a cosmic calendar, in which the history of the universe is compressed into one year, how long is the average human life span?
A) 0.2 millisecond
B) 0.2 second
C) 2 seconds D) 2 minutes E) 2 hours
B) 0.2 second
32) Approximately how fast are you moving with the rotation of Earth? A) 13,000 km/hr
B) 1,300 km/hr
C) 130 km/hr
D) 13 km/hr
E) not moving at all
B) 1,300 km/hr
What is an astronomical unit?
A) the average speed of Earth around the Sun
B) the length of time it takes Earth to revolve around the Sun C) the average distance from Earth to the Sun
D) the diameter of Earth's orbit around the Sun
E) any basic unit used
C) the average distance from Earth to the Sun
Which of the following statements about the ecliptic plane is not true? A) It is the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun.
B) It is the plane of the Moon's orbit around Earth.
C) During a solar eclipse, the Moon lies in the ecliptic plane.
D) During a lu
B) It is the plane of the Moon's orbit around Earth.
Patterns of stars in constellations hardly change in appearance over times of even a few thousand years. Why?
A) Stars are fixed and never move.
B) Stars move, but they move very slowly-only a few kilometers in a thousand years.
C) Although most stars mov
D) The stars in our sky actually move rapidly relative to us-thousands of kilometers per hour- but are so far away that it takes a long time for this motion to make a noticeable change in the patterns in the sky.
How long does it take our solar system to complete one orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy? A) 10 thousand years
B) 230 thousand years
C) 1 million years
D) 100 million years E) 230 million years
E) 230 million years
Which of the following statements about the Milky Way Galaxy is not true?
A) It contains between 100 billion and 1 trillion stars.
B) Our solar system is located very close to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
C) Our view of distant objects is obscured
B) Our solar system is located very close to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Which of the following correctly lists speeds from slowest to fastest?
A) Earth's speed of revolution about the Sun, typical speeds of stars in the local solar neighborhood relative to us, Earth's speed of rotation on its axis, the speed of our solar syst
B) Earth's speed of rotation on its axis, Earth's speed of revolution about the Sun, typical speeds of stars in the local solar neighborhood relative to us, the speed of our solar system orbiting the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, the speeds of very dist
Most of the mass in the Milky Way Galaxy is located A) in the halo (above/below the disk).
B) within the disk.
C) in the stars in the spiral arms.
D) in the gas and dust.
E) in the central bulge of the galaxy.
A) in the halo (above/below the disk).
The distribution of the mass of the Milky Way Galaxy is determined by A) counting the number of stars.
B) determining the amount of gas and dust.
C) studying how stars are distributed in the Milky Way.
D) studying the rotation of the galaxy.
E) weighing v
D) studying the rotation of the galaxy.
From the fact that virtually every galaxy is moving away from us and more distant galaxies are moving away from us at a faster rate than closer ones, we conclude that
A) the Milky Way Galaxy is expanding.
B) we are located at the center of the universe.
C
D) the universe is expanding.
By studying distant galaxies in the 1920s, Hubble made which of the following important discoveries that led us to conclude that the universe is expanding?
A) All galaxies contain billions of stars, and all galaxies have spiral shapes.
B) All galaxies wer
C) All galaxies outside the Local Group are moving away from us, and the farther away they are, the faster they're going.
Imagine that we put a raisin cake into the oven, with each raisin separated from the others by 1 cm. An hour later, we take it out and the distances between raisins are 3 cm. If you lived in one of the raisins and watched the other raisins as the cake exp
B) More distant raisins would be moving away from you faster.
Which scientists played a major role in overturning the ancient idea of an Earth-centered universe, and about when?
A) Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo; about 400 years ago
B) Aristotle and Copernicus; about 400 years ago
C) Newton and Einstein; about 100
A) Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo; about 400 years ago
T/F Our solar system is located in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
false
The solar system contains about 100 billion stars.
false
A typical supercluster contains no more than about 10,000 stars.
false
One light-year is about 10 trillion kilometers.
true
In the grapefruit model of the solar system, it would take a few minutes to walk from the Sun to the inner edge of the Kuiper Belt (Pluto).
true
The observable universe is the same size today as it was a few billion years ago.
false
The Milky Way is moving further away from most other galaxies in the Universe.
true
No galaxies existed before the Big Bang.
true
Voyager 2 should reach the nearest stars (besides the Sun) in about 500 years.
false
Earth is always precisely 1 AU from the Sun.
false
1) Which of the following is not a general difference between a planet and a star? A) Planets are smaller than stars.
B) Planets are dimmer than stars.
C) All planets are made of rock and all stars are made of gas.
D) Planets orbit stars, while stars orbi
C) All planets are made of rock and all stars are made of gas.
Our solar system consists of
A) the Sun and all the objects that orbit it.
B) the Sun and the planets, and nothing else.
C) a few hundred billion stars, bound together by gravity.
D) the Sun and several nearby stars, as well as the planets and other objec
A) the Sun and all the objects that orbit it.
A typical galaxy is a
A) collection of a few hundred million to a trillion or more stars, bound together by gravity. B) large, glowing ball of gas powered by nuclear energy.
C) nearby object orbiting a planet.
D) relatively small, icy object orbiting a st
A) collection of a few hundred million to a trillion or more stars, bound together by gravity.
4) Which of the following best describes what we mean by the universe?
A) the sum total of all matter and energy
B) a vast collection of stars that number as many as the grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth C) all the galaxies in all the supercluste
A) the sum total of all matter and energy
5) What do astronomers mean by the Big Bang?
A) the event that marked the beginning of the expansion of the universe
B) a gigantic explosion that blew all the galaxies in the universe to smithereens C) the explosion of a massive star at the end of its lif
A) the event that marked the beginning of the expansion of the universe
6) What do we mean when we say that the universe is expanding?
A) Everything in the universe is gradually growing in size.
B) Within galaxies, average distances between star systems are increasing with time.
C) The statement is not meant to be literal; ra
D) Average distances between galaxies are increasing with time.
Based on observations of the universal expansion, the age of the universe is about A) 14,000 years.
B) 14 million years.
C) 14 billion years.
D) 14 trillion years.
C) 14 billion years.
A television advertisement claiming that a product is light-years ahead of its time does not make sense because
A) it doesn't specify the number of light-years.
B) it uses "light-years" to talk about time, but a light-year is a unit of distance.
C) a ligh
B) it uses "light-years" to talk about time, but a light-year is a unit of distance.
The term observable universe refers to
A) that portion of the universe that we have so far photographed through telescopes.
B) the portion of the universe that can be seen by the naked eye.
C) the portion of the universe that is not hidden from view by, f
D) that portion of the universe that we can see in principle, given the current age of the universe.
On a scale in which the distance from Earth to the Sun is about 15 meters, the distance from Earth to the Moon is
A) small enough to fit within your hand.
B) about 1 meter.
C) about 5 meters. D) about 30 meters.
A) small enough to fit within your hand.
On a scale where the Sun is about the size of a grapefruit and the Earth is about 15 meters away, how far away are the nearest stars besides the Sun?
A) 100 meters
B) about the distance across 50 football fields
C) about the distance across the state of D
D) about the distance across the United States
The number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy is approximately A) a few hundred.
B) a few hundred thousand.
C) a few hundred billion.
D) a few hundred million.
C) a few hundred billion.
An astronomical unit (AU) is
A) any very large unit, such as a light-year.
B) the average distance between Earth and the Sun.
C) the current distance between Earth and the Sun.
D) the average distance between any planet and the Sun.
B) the average distance between Earth and the Sun.
What is the ecliptic plane?
A) the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun B) the plane of Earth's equator
C) the plane of the Sun's equator
D) the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy
A) the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun
How long does it take the Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun? A) one year
B) one day
C) one month
D) one week
E) The time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun changes significantly from one orbit to the next.
A) one year
Which of the following has your "cosmic address" in the correct order?
A) You, Earth, solar system, Local Group, Local Supercluster, Milky Way Galaxy, universe B) You, Earth, solar system, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Local Supercluster, universe C) You
B) You, Earth, solar system, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Local Supercluster, universe
Using the ideas discussed in your textbook, in what sense are we "star stuff"?
A) The overall chemical composition of our bodies is about the same as that of stars.
B) Movie stars and other people are all made of the same stuff, so we all have the potenti
C) Nearly every atom from which we are made was once inside of a star.
How are galaxies important to our existence?
A) Without galaxies, there could not have been a Big Bang.
B) Without galaxies, the universe could not be expanding.
C) Deep in their centers, galaxies created the elements from which we are made.
D) Galaxies r
D) Galaxies recycle material from one generation of stars to the next, and without this recycling we could not exist.
When we look at an object that is 1,000 light-years away we see it A) as it was 1,000 years ago.
B) as it was 1,000 light-years ago.
C) as it is right now, but it appears 1,000 times dimmer.
D) looking just the same as our ancestors would have seen it 1,0
A) as it was 1,000 years ago.
Suppose we look at two distant galaxies: Galaxy 1 is twice as far away as Galaxy 2. In this case,
A) Galaxy 1 must be twice as big as Galaxy 2.
B) we are seeing Galaxy 1 as it looked at an earlier time in the history of the universe than Galaxy 2.
C) we a
B) we are seeing Galaxy 1 as it looked at an earlier time in the history of the universe than Galaxy 2.
Suppose we make a scale model of our solar system, with the Sun the size of a grapefruit. Which of the following best describes what the planets would look like?
A) The planets are all much smaller than the Sun. Four planets are within about 20 meters of
A) The planets are all much smaller than the Sun. Four planets are within about 20 meters of the Sun, while the rest planets are spread much farther apart.
If you could count stars at a rate of about one per second, how long would it take to count all the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) several days
B) several weeks
C) several years
D) several thousand years
D) several thousand years
The total number of stars in the observable universe is about
A) 100 billion.
B) the same as the number of grains of sand in a school sandbox.
C) the same as the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. D) the same as the number of atoms that
C) the same as the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth.
Where is our solar system located within the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) very near the center of the galaxy
B) at the far edge of the galaxy's visible disk
C) roughly halfway between the center and the edge of the visible disk of the galaxy D) in the halo of the
C) roughly halfway between the center and the edge of the visible disk of the galaxy
If we imagine the history of the universe compressed into one year, dinosaurs became extinct A) about 6 months ago.
B) about 3 weeks ago.
C) yesterday morning.
D) about an hour ago.
C) yesterday morning.
Relative to the age of the universe, how old is our solar system? A) It is about 1% as old as the universe.
B) It is between about 5% and 10% as old as the universe.
C) It is about one-third the age of the universe.
D) It is nearly the same age as the uni
C) It is about one-third the age of the universe.
How do the speeds at which we are moving with Earth's rotation and orbit compare to the speeds of more familiar objects?
A) Earth's rotation carries most people around the axis faster than a commercial jet travels, and Earth's orbit carries us around the
A) Earth's rotation carries most people around the axis faster than a commercial jet travels, and Earth's orbit carries us around the Sun faster than the Space Shuttle orbits Earth.
Why do the patterns of the stars in our sky look the same from year to year?
A) because the stars in the constellations are so far away
B) because the stars in the constellations are not moving
C) because the stars in the constellations all move at the sa
A) because the stars in the constellations are so far away
Astronomers infer that the universe is expanding because distant galaxies all appear to A) be growing in size.
B) be moving away from us, with more distant ones moving faster.
C) be made mostly of dark matter.
D) rotate rapidly.
B) be moving away from us, with more distant ones moving faster.
Which statement about motion in the universe is not true?
A) The mysterious dark matter is the fastest-moving material in the universe.
B) Some stars in the Milky Way Galaxy are moving toward us and others are moving away from us.
C) Except for a few near
A) The mysterious dark matter is the fastest-moving material in the universe.
When did humans learn that the Earth is not the center of the universe? A) within the past 500 years
B) about 2,500 years ago
C) about 1,000 years ago
D) We haven't; there is still considerable scientific debate about whether Earth is the center of the un
A) within the past 500 years