If a planet is seeing its Moon in the New Phase right now, in what phase would the planet appear to be when viewed from its Moon?
Full Planet
What is the reason for the season on earth?
Earth is tilted with respect to the Sun by about 23.5 degrees
As compared to a cool star, a hotter star emits:
shorter wavelength, higher frequency, bluer color
At approximately what time does the third quarter Moon rise?
midnight
The electron in a cloud of hydrogen gas are making the transition from excited states to the ground state. What does the spectrum of this cloud of gas look like?
It will consist of a few bright emission lines at very specific wavelengths
If Earth had its orbit changed so that at all points along its orbit it was always the same distance from the Sun (circular orbit), how would this affect the seasons on Earth?
they same as they are now, nothing would change
I detect a star giving off more ultraviolet light than green light. What property of the star can I estimate with this information?
Its temperature
What do you expect the spectrum of an object that is 1,000,000 Kelvin to be like?
It should peak at X-ray wavelengths
What time of year is it dark all day (and night) at the South pole?
June
A planet with its rotation axis tilted by 40 degrees relative to its orbital plane around its star would;
have dark all the time on the South pole during its winter
The planets are seen in the Zodiac constellations because:
they orbit the sun in the same plane as the earth does
What makes a transition from a higher energy state to a lower energy state when a photon is emitted by an atom?
electron
Which of the following is False?
-light, radio, ultraviolet, and gamma rays are all forms of electromagnetic radiation.
-emission spectra are characterized by narrow, bright lines of different colors
an absorption spectrum appears as a continuous spectrum
The wavelengths of the emission lines produced by an element are different from the wavelengths of an absorption line produced by the same element
One of the lines of Hydrogen has a wavelength of 121.6 nm. If a cloud of Hydrogen is moving TOWARDS us at 200km/s, what will we detect?
As emission in the cloud's spectrum with a wavelength shorter than 121.6nm
Why does light come in different colors?
because the differences in the wavelenghts
Say you are in the bottom of Happy Valley. How does the force of gravity compare what is would be on the top of Mount Nittany?
It would be slightly greater in the happy valley than on Mount Nittany
What kind of telescope would have to be put in space to be effective?
X-ray
Dark lines in an absorption spectrum represent:
particular energies of light coming from a distant object that are absorbed by material in between
If the mass of the Sun were cut in half, how would the force between the and the earth change?
it would decree by a factor of two
In what way does a 30 meter telescope outperform a 10 meter telescope?
the images of the 30 meter are 9times brighter than those of a 10 meter
On a planet whose Moon is in the same orbital plane as the planet's orbit around its star, how often will solar eclipses occur?
Once every orbit of its moon (its month)
say that our Moon was Full on May 1, 2007. When was the next First Quarter phase after that Full Moon?
May 22
Why does a neon light appear red?
It gives off an emission spectrum with mostly red spectral lines.
Why don;t we see the constellation Orion all year?
As the earth orbits the Sun, its nighttime side points to different constellations at different points along its orbit
From earth, in which type of constellation might you find the planet Saturn?
Only in a Zodiac constellation
What is the main constituent of the atmosphere of Venus?
carbon dioxide
The escape velocity needed for an atom in the atmosphere of planet to escape the gravitational pull of the planet is smaller if:
the mass of the planet is smaller
The planets of the solar system were formed;
as individual condensation/accretion centers in a rotating solar nebula
Which of the following is true about Neptune?
- Its atmospheric composition and rings are most line Saturn's
-Its atmospheric composition is most like Saturn's but its rings are more like those of Uranus and Jupiter.
-Its atmospheric composition is most l
Its atmospheric is most like Uranus and its rings are like those of Uranus and Jupiter
The Oort Cloud is thought too be?
A spherical cloud of comets surrounding the solar system
Venus is visible to us;
only near sunrise or sunset
Planet A has an orbit with a semi-major axis of 3au. Planet B has an orbit with a semi-major axis of 12 au. how does the orbital period compare between the two planets? Use P squared= a cubed to estimate
Planet B has an orbital period 8 times longer than Planet A
How would an inflated landing module bounce if it were dropped onto the surface of Earth from the same altitude as it was on mars?
It would bounce lower and fewer times than it did on the surface of mars
How does Pluto's mass compare with that of Earth's moon?
The Moon is roughly 7times more massive than Pluto
How was earth's Moon formed according to the currently most-accepted theory?
It formed from debris produced by the collision of a mars-sized object with the Earth
Why does mars have season?
Its axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane
Which planet is able to retain the largest( by radius and by volume) atmosphere?
Jupiter
The process of formation of the Solar System
took only a small fraction of the age of the solar system
Which is smallest?
-Saturn's moon Encledus
-Saturn's moon Titan
-Mercury
-Earth
-Jupiter's moon Ganymede
Saturn's moon encledus
Which of the following is typical of a Terrestrial planet?
-evidence of volcanic activity
-a hydrogen rich composition
-an average density much less than that of rock
-the presence many moons
-an orbit outside the asteroid belt
evidence of volcanic activity
What are the most abundat gases in Jupiter's atmosphere?
hydrogen and helium
Which has the lowest average density?
-Mercury
-Venus
-Uranus
-mars
- the moon
uranus
Which of these planets have rings?
-Jupiter
-pluto
-Venus
-mars
-mercury
jupiter
Which fact about mars is not true?
-there are giant volcanoes on mars, larger than any on earth
-there was one water on the surface of mars
-the viking spacecraft landed on mars in 1976
-it is always colder than freezing on mars surface
-mars has a thicke
Mars has a thicker atmosphere that earth does
Mars has a mass that is 1/10th the mass of Earth and a radius that is 1/2 the radius of Earth. Compare the force of gravity on Mars's surface to that on the surface of Earth using the proportional relationship F is proportional to M/R^2
Gravity on Mars is 4/10ths as strong as on Earth
The Sun is at one focus of the elliptical orbit of the earth around the sun. What is at the other focus?
Nothing
Which are the Jovian planets
Jupiter Saturn Uranus, Neptune
Which of the following statements is True?
- Jupiter's sold surface lies just below the cloud layers visible from Earth
-The Great Red Spot is a dust storm near the south polar cap of Mars
-There is no evidence to suggest that either Jupiter or Saturn has
the planet Uranus is blue-green and virtually featureless
The surface of Venus is hotter than the surface of mercury because:
Venus is more massive and is able to retain a thick atmosphere
What fraction of the solar system's mass is the Sun?
about 99 percent
How do astronomers measure the temperature of stars?
By looking at which absorption lines are present in the star's spectrum
How do we determine the age of a star cluster?
by identifying the type of stars that have k=just turned off the main sequence
A hypothetical star has a parallax of 0.05 arcseconds. how far away is it?
20 parsecs
A 10 solar mass star:
will eventually develop a Iron core
A star that is twice the mass of Sun would have a habitable zone that;
includes mars but not the earth
The largest fraction of nearby stars( e.g., w/in 100 light years) are:
red dwarfs
A cold irregularly shaped region in the interster medium
...
In nuclear fusion, energy is produced because:
the mass of the reacting chemicals is larger than that of the products
Is the Milky Way Galaxy currently participating in Galactic cannibalism, and if so what is it devouring?
It is currently pulling apart and "eating" that Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy
Fill in the black in the following chemical reaction that occurs in the Sun: Deuterium + proton= ?? + energy
helium-3
What happens when you drop a clock into a black hole?
The clock appears to be advancing slowly from the point of view of an outside observer, but normally for an observer falling with the clock
In which part of the Sun are gamma rays produced?
core
Which is the longest time?
a) the time it takes for a photon to pass through the radiative zone of the Sun
b) the time it takes a photon to pass through the corona of the Sun
c) one hour
d) the time it takes a photon to pass from the photosphere of the Su
the time is takes for a photon to pass through the radiative zone of the Sun
Which star is closest if all have the same apparent brightness?
a) a main sequence star with a luminosity 100 times that of the Sun
b) a temperature 6000 K main sequence star
c) a temperature 10000 K main sequence star
d) white dwarf
e) a red giant
a white dwarf
If two stars are he same temperature, how can one be more luminous than the other?
IT can have a larger radius
A planetary nebula;
is the ejected envelope of a low to intermediate mass star
A supernova can occur when:
material from a companion star falls onto a white dwarf
Which of the following is TRUE?
a) The Eagle nebula is an example of a planetary nebula.
b) A brown dwarf is a case where the temperature of a protostar did not grow enough to
burn Hydrogen.
c) Bok globules are very luminous regions in the interstellar me
A brown dwarf is a case where the temperature of a protostar did not grow enough to burn Hydrogen
The Star in the halo of our galaxy are:
older and redder than those in the disk
How can we see through the dusty plane of the Milky Way disk in order to study star formation
Look at infrared radiation with the Spitzer Space Telescope
Which of the following is FALSE?
a) A star with spectral type of B is sometimes hotter than a star with spectral type A,
and sometimes colder.
b) The lifetimes of stars range from a few million years for the most massive to much
more than 14 billion years
Cold dark matter particles travel more slowly than hot dark matter particles
Which source is the most luminous (or would be, if all its energy were out in visible light)?
A gamma-ray burst
Which force holds the quarks together within a proton?
The 'strong' force, through exchange of gluons
Which is true about cold dark matter?
Cold dark matter particles travel more slowly than hot dark matter particles
What element is only produced in a supernova explosion?
gold
Which is a reason that we know dark energy is a major component the universe
The universe is flat and regular matter doesn't contribute enough energy density
When examining a spectrum of a particular galaxy, an astronomer notices that the spectra lines are shifted toward shorter wavelengths. What does this mean?
the galaxy is very likely to be one of the nearest galaxies to the milky way
Why can't we see back the whole way to the Big Bang?
the radiation scatters off matter frequently so the Universe is opaque
Which is the smallest?
a) The distance from the Sun to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy
b) The distance from the Sun to the Andromeda Galaxy
c) The Solar System.
d) The distance from the Sun to the Virgo cluster of galaxies
e) The distance from the Sun
the solar system
Which one of the following is TRUE?
a) Irregular galaxies rarely have star formation taking place in them.
b) Galaxy collisions destroy most of the stars in the galaxies involved.
c) Most elliptical galaxies contain only young stars.
d) Most galaxies appe
There is a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy
What type of boson is responsible for the electromagnetic force?
photon
An up quark has charge +2/3, a down quark has charge -1/3, and a strange quark has
charge -1/3. The Sigma0 particle is formed by a combination of two down quarks and one
strange quark. What is its charge?
-1
Which of the following is TRUE?
a) It is possible for galaxies that are very distant to actually move through space at
a speed several times the speed of light.
b) A redshift occurs when a photon loses energy and slows down as it moves through space.
c) W
We see distant galaxies as they were billions or even tens of billions of years ago
Among these choices, which is the first thing that happens in the history of the universe?
a) formation of nuclei of helium
b) binding of electrons to nuclei
c) first stars form
d) universe becomes transparent
e) first supernova explosions occur
formation of nuclei of helium
Which of the following statements is definitely FALSE?
a) String theory suggests that extra dimensions may exist beyond our three known spatial
dimensions and time.
b) There is an absence of space beyond the boundaries of our observable universe.
c) There
There is an absence of space beyond the boundries of our observable universe
What do quasars look like?
individual stars in the milky way
Does the existence of quasars imply that radiation can escape a back hole/
No, the emission of radiation occurs before material falls in through the event horizon
Which of the following makes a meson?
a) a photon and a graviton
b) an up quark and an anti-down quark
c) three up quarks
d) a charm quark and a strange quark
e) two down quarks and an anti-up quark
an up quark and an anti-down quark
What property of dark matter leads to it keeping galaxy clusters together?
It produces gravity due to its mass
What did the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe measure?
difference in the temperature of radiation coming from the Big Bang from different directions
What fraction of the energy density of the universe consists of dark matter?
21 percent
Compared to spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies have
less gas, less dust, and less new star formation
What happens to the planets in a galaxy when that galaxy collides with another galaxy?
nothing because the spaces between stellar systems in a galaxy is much larger than their size
If extra dimensions do exist, why wouldn't we see obvious evidence for them in everyday life?
They would be quite small and hard to detect
How do astronomers measure the mass of a supermassive black hole?
by measuring the speed at which stars move in its vicinity
What produces the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst?
collision of expanding stellar material with gas and dust in the interstellar medium
What produces the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst?
Collision of expanding stellar material with gas and dust in the interstellar medium
.Dark lines in an absorption spectrum represent:
particular energies of light coming from a distant object that are absorbed by material in between.
From our point of view on Earth, how do the planets appear to move compared to the stars?
The Planets sometimes drift eastward and sometimes westward with respect to the stars.
The Keck Telescope in Hawaii has a lower/poorer angular resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope because:
it is below the Earth's atmosphere
Which of the following is the correct expression of Newton's second law?
Force = Mass x Acceleration
Three stars, Deneb in Cygnus, Altair in Aquila, and Vega in Lyra, are among the brightest in the summer sky. What are they sometimes called?
the Summer Triangle
If the mass of the Sun were smaller by a factor of 1/3, how would the force between the Sun and the Earth change?
it would decrease by a factor of three
When is the best time for you to be able to see the constellation that is your sign of the Zodiac?
tilted at 23.5 degrees relative to the axis of the Earth's orbit around the Sun.
Day and night are due to:
the rotation of the Earth
Which of the following is FALSE?
A) The wavelengths of the emission lines produced by an element are different from the wavelengths of an absorption line produced by the same element.
B) The energy of a photon is inversely proportional to the wavelength o
The wavelengths of the emission lines produced by an element are different from the wavelengths of an absorption line produced by the same element.
The North star is a star in the constellation of Ursa Minor, which lies just above the North pole of Earth. Which of the following is FALSE?
A) The Zodiac constellations are not located just above the North pole of Earth.
B) The Zodiac constellations are
D) Ursa Minor is a Zodiac constellation.
If a planet with half the mass of Earth was in Earth's orbit around the Sun, how would the force between the planet and the Sun compare to the force between the Earth and the Sun?
A) the force between the new planet and the Sun would be half as much
B) th
A) the force between the new planet and the Sun would be half as much
If Earth had its orbit changed so that at all points along its orbit it was always the same distance from the Sun (circular orbit), how would this affect the seasons on Earth
A) there would no longer be seasons.
B) longer than they are now.
C) reversed in
D) the same as they are now.
Say you are on the top of Mount Nittany. How does the force of gravity compare to what it would be at the bottom of Happy Valley?
A) two times greater on Mount Nittany than in Happy Valley
B) slightly less on Mount Nittany than in Happy Valley
C) slightly
B) slightly less on Mount Nittany than in Happy Valley
There are a total of 88 constellations. Together the areas of these constellations:
A) contain about half of the stars.
B) cover a quarter of the sky as senn in the winter in the Northern hemisphere
C) contain about ten percent of the stars.
D) cover a qu
E) cover the entire sky
Why do firemen use infrared cameras to look into smoke filled buildings?
A) They can see if there is anything radioactive in the room.
B) They can see through the smoke to look for people inside the room.
C) They can avoid all the broken glass because gla
B) They can see through the smoke to look for people inside the room.
The meridian is:
A) the equator of the Earth
B) the plane that the Moon crosses during a lunar or solar eclipse
C) the line perpendicular to the equator of the Earth that points to the North star
D) the imaginary line that the Sun crosses halfway between
D) the imaginary line that the Sun crosses halfway between sunrise and sunset
Why does a particular gas cloud in the constellation Orion appear red?
A) The cloud must be made of some element or elements that give off red emission lines.
B) The cloud must be made up of neon and nothing else.
C) The gas in the cloud is emitting all c
A) The cloud must be made of some element or elements that give off red emission lines.
If the Earth rotated on its axis more slowly than it does now:
A) its days would be shorter
B) its days would be longer
C) its years would be shorter
D) its months would be longer
E) its months would be shorter
B) its days would be longer
Jupiter emits radio waves and also visible light (reflected Sunlight). At Earth, we observe:
A) the optical and the radio waves arrive at Earth simultaneously.
B) the optical light only, the radio waves do not make it to Earth's surface.
C) the optical li
A) the optical and the radio waves arrive at Earth simultaneously.
Which of the following is true?
A) The wavelengths of the emission lines produced by an element are different from the wavelengths of the absorption lines produced by the same element.
B) An absorption spectrum appears as a continuous spectrum interrupted
B) An absorption spectrum appears as a continuous spectrum interrupted by a series of dark lines.
Since the Hubble Space Telescope is in orbit around the Earth but the Keck Telescope is on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which of the following is true?
A) The Keck telescope will be able to better resolve two close stars than Hubble.
B) The Hubble Space Telescope
B) The Hubble Space Telescope will be able to take sharper images than Keck.
hat kind of a telescope would have to be put in space to be effective?
A) radio
B) refracting
C) optical
D) X-ray
E) reflecting
D) X-ray
What Moon phase can be seen 7 days after a Full Moon?
A) Last Quarter
B) New Moon
C) Waxing Crescent
D) another Full Moon
E) First Quarter
A) Last Quarter
During what time of year is Orion most prominent in the sky over Pennsylvania?
A) It is visible year round.
B) Summer
C) Spring
D) Fall
E) Winter
E) Winter
What makes a transition from a lower energy state to a higher energy state when a photon is absorbed into an atom?
A) electron
B) neutron
C) graviton
D) photon
E) proton
A) electron
During a full Moon, where is the Moon relative to the Sun and the Earth?
A) between the Sun and the Earth
B) at a 45 degree angle from the Sun
C) at a 90 degree angle from the Sun
D) on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun
E) on the opposite side o
D) on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun
Radio waves can travel large distances without interference because:
A) they have shorter wavelengths than visible light
B) they have high energies
C) they have longer wavelengths than visible light
D) they travel at the speed of light
E) they travel slow
C) they have longer wavelengths than visible light
How long would one need to observe a star on a 10 meter telescope to collect the same amount of light as one collects in one hour on a 5 meter telescope?
A) 30 minutes
B) 5 minutes
C) 1 hour
D) 15 minutes
E) 2.5 hours
D) 15 minutes
Approximately two weeks after a Solar Eclipse, what phase will the Moon be in?
A) New
B) Full
C) Waning Crescent
D) Waxing Crescent
E) Third Quarter
B) Full
A blackbody or continuous source of light produces
A) a spectrum containing emission and absorption lines but no continuum
B) an absorption spectrum
C) an emission spectrum
D) only a single X-ray emission line
E) a continuous spectrum with no absorption l
E) a continuous spectrum with no absorption lines
Why does light come in different colors?
A) warping of space it travels through
B) it travels at different speeds
C) differences in intensity of radiation
D) differences in the wavelength
E) bending of light in space
D) differences in the wavelength
In what way does a 4 meter telescope outperform a 0.5 meter telescope?
A) All objects observed by the 4 meter telescope will appear larger than those of the 0.5 meter.
B) The images of the 4 meter are 1/16th as large as those of a 0.5 meter.
C) The images
E) The images of the 4 meter are 64 times brighter than those of a 0.5 meter.
How many Zodiac constellations are there?
A) 16
B) 6
C) 12
D) 28
E) 365
C) 12
An emission line is produced when:
A) an electron passes from a higher to a lower energy level.
B) radiation passes through the outer layers of a star.
C) a proton passes from a higher to a lower energy level.
D) an electron passes from a lower to a highe
A) an electron passes from a higher to a lower energy level
The spectrum of an oxygen lamp looks different than the spectrum of a sodium lamp because:
A) oxygen photons have more mass than sodium photons
B) each atom has a unique set of electron orbits
C) each atom has a unique set of proton orbits
D) each atom ha
B) each atom has a unique set of electron orbits
On a planet whose Moon is in the same orbital plane as the planet's orbit around its star, how often will solar eclipses occur?
A) Twice every rotation of the planet (twice a day).
B) Once every orbit of its moon (its month).
C) Twice every orbit of its m
B) Once every orbit of its moon (its month).
What time of year is it dark all day (and night) at the equator?
A) June
B) March
C) never
D) December
E) September
C) never
If I apply exactly the same amount of force to a pebble and a boulder, what will happen?
A) The boulder will move faster.
B) Both will move the same distance.
C) Both objects will remain at rest.
D) Both will move at the same velocity.
E) The pebble will
E) The pebble will move faster
If you are standing on the street listening to the siren of an ambulance as it is moving away from you, which of the following is TRUE?
A) the pitch/frequency of the siren seems higher than it really is
B) the siren sounds louder than it really is
C) the
C) the pitch/frequency of the siren seems lower than it really is
What is the reason for the seasons on Earth?
A) Earth is tilted with respect to the Sun by about 23.5 degrees.
B) Earth rotates more slowly in winter, faster in summer.
C) Earth orbits the Sun more slowly in winter, faster in summer.
D) Earth is closest t
A) Earth is tilted with respect to the Sun by about 23.5 degrees.
A solar eclipse can occur:
A) during any phase of the Moon
B) only during a quarter Moon
C) only during a new Moon
D) during a new Moon or a full Moon
E) only during a full Moon
C) only during a new Moon
What is the primary difference between a refracting telescope and a reflecting telescope?
A) A refracting telescope can detect more wavelengths of light than a reflector.
B) A refractor is a telescope in space, while a reflector is a ground-based telescop
C) A refractor uses a lens to gather light, while a reflector uses a mirror.
What phase does the Moon experience 14 days after the time of a lunar eclipse?
A) full
B) third quarter
C) new
D) waning gibbous
E) first quarter
C) new
Compared to ultraviolet radiation, X-rays have a wavelength that is:
A) longer
B) stationary
C) amplified
D) shorter
E) the same
D) shorter
If I fire a cannonball from the top of a mountain, traveling parallel to the Earth's surface at 14,000 miles per hour, it travels a great distance before falling to Earth. If instead, I fire it at 16,000 miles per hour it:
A) drops to Earth immediately
B)
D) travels completely around the Earth before returning to the mountaintop
Which is the correct model to describe our Solar System?
A) heliocentric
B) lunarcentric
C) geocentric
D) planocentric
E) random motion
A) heliocentric
If the Earth's North polar axis is always tilted 23.5 degrees toward the Sun, but the Earth is still rotating about this axis once each day:
A) the stars would never be visible from anywhere in the Southern hemisphere
B) it would always be summer in the S
C) it would always be winter in the Southern hemisphere
Which planet is able to retain the largest (by radius and by volume) atmosphere?
A) Mercury
B) Jupiter
C) Venus
D) Mars
E) Earth
B) Jupiter
Which of the following is TRUE?
A) Venus has no volcanoes on its surface.
B) Mercury has a very thick atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide.
C) The runaway greenhouse effect causes the present temperatures on Mars to exceed those on Earth.
D) Mercury r
D) Mercury rotates exactly one and a half times for every one revolution around the Sun.
How does Pluto's mass compare with that of Earth's Moon?
A) They both have the same mass.
B) The Moon is roughly 7 times more massive than Pluto.
C) Pluto is roughly 7 times more massive that the Moon.
D) The Moon's mass is roughly 1/20th the mass of Plut
B) The Moon is roughly 7 times more massive than Pluto.
Imagine that planet B is revolving around star A. Which of the following scenario describes 'tidal locking' of planet B by star A?
A) When the mutual gravitational force between the two bodies cancel out.
B) When the tides on planet B are locked by the ti
C) When the time it takes for B to complete one rotation on its axis becomes equal to the time that B
What is thought to lie at the center of Jupiter?
A) Gaseous hydrogen and helium, as is found throughout the entire planet.
B) Hydrogen fusing into helium.
C) Helium fusing into carbon.
D) A massive core of rocky material.
E) A hot liquid sea of hydrogen.
D) A massive core of rocky material.
Why do the planets orbit the Sun in close to the same plane?
A) Because they all happen to be in the same plane completely by chance; our solar system is peculiar this way.
B) Because a big explosion at the time of the formation of the solar system pushed
D) Because they all formed in a disk around the early Sun and there was little material outside of that disk.
Which of the following is true about Neptune?
A) Its atmospheric composition is most like Uranus and its rings are like those of Uranus and Jupiter.
B) It is more like the Earth than it is like any of the other giant planets.
C) Its atmospheric compositio
A) Its atmospheric composition is most like Uranus and its rings are like those of Uranus and Jupiter.
Why are Uranus's rings darker in color (gray) than Saturn's or Jupiter's?
A) they do not have as much nuclear activity in them, so they do not produce as much light.
B) there is less sunlight incident on Uranus's rings because of its smaller distance from
E) they have a lot of carbon/soot-like material in them.
Which is smallest?
A) Jupiter's moon Ganymede
B) Saturn's moon Titan
C) Mercury
D) Jupiter's moon Io
E) Earth
D) Jupiter's moon Io
Meteors are
A) comets that escape the Solar System without being vaporized by the Sun
B) a group of rocky objects between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
C) asteroids or comet debris that passes into Earth's atmosphere and burns up
D) comets that are vapor
C) asteroids or comet debris that passes into Earth's atmosphere and burns up
What was Kepler's First Law?
A) Planets revolve around the sun in circular orbits with Sun in the center.
B) Planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits with Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
C) The Earth is stationary, and the Sun and other planet
B) Planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits with Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
Given what we learned about the history of the solar system and the "heavy bombardment phase" that it went through, if a planet or a moon has very few craters on its surface, then which of the following is the most likely reason?
A) The planet (or moon) h
C) The planet (or moon) did have impacts with asteroids and comets from space, but the craters from those impacts were eroded over time by some natural process
Mars has a mass that is 1/10th the mass of the Earth and a radius
that is 1/2 the radius of Earth. Compare the force of gravity on
Mar's surface to that on the surface of Earth using the proportional
relationship F is proportional to M/R2.
A) Gravity on M
C) Gravity on Mars is 4/10ths as strong as on Earth.
If not a single solid sheet, then the ring system of Saturn is best described as:
A) randomly moving particles that frequently collide, so that the force of collision quickly pushes the rings apart.
B) rapidly expanding gas with various different chemical
E) individually orbiting particles that are clustered around certain orbits.
Which has the lowest average density?
A) Uranus
B) Mercury
C) the Moon
D) Mars
E) Venus
A) Uranus
How was Earth's Moon formed, according to the currently most-accepted theory?
A) It was a passing body captured by Earth's gravity.
B) It formed from debris produced by the collision of a Mars-sized object with the Earth.
C) It formed from the collapsing
B) It formed from debris produced by the collision of a Mars-sized object with the Earth.
Which of the following moons is most volcanically active?
A) Titan
B) Europa
C) Callisto
D) Io
E) Ganymede
D) Io
What type of radiation gets absorbed by greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide?
A) Ultraviolet and optical.
B) Optical but not ultraviolet.
C) Ultraviolet and radio.
D) Optical but not infrared.
E) Infrared but no
E) Infrared but not optical.
Which of the following does NOT happen to any of the material in the protoplanetary disk?
A) it first falls into small irregularities and later these clumps grow into larger structures
B) it is sucked in to a black hole at the center of our Solar System
C
B) it is sucked in to a black hole at the center of our Solar System
Planet A has an orbit with a semi-major axis of 1 Astronomical Units.
Planet B has an orbit with a semi-major axis of 4 Astronomical Units.
How does the orbital period compare between the two planets?
Use P2 = a3 to estimate.
A) Planet B has an orbital pe
C) Planet B has an orbital period 8 times longer than Planet A.
How many Earth years does it take Uranus to orbit the Sun?
A) 1
B) 2.4
C) 0.48
D) 84
E) 0.27
D) 84
Based on what we see in panoramic images, why do you think Moon is likely NOT to have an atmosphere?
A) If the Moon had an atmosphere, then humans wouldn't have been able to land on its surface.
B) If the Moon had an atmosphere, then Earth couldn't have a
E) If the Moon had an atmosphere, it would scatter sunlight in all directions and the lunar sky would look bright.
Which of the following has the most significant (densest) atmosphere?
A) Mercury
B) Pluto
C) Earth's Moon
D) Mars
E) Venus
E) Venus
The Oort Cloud is thought to be:
A) A cloud of asteroids moving between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
B) A planetary nebula surrounding the second nearest star to the solar system.
C) A cloud of debris that occasionally encounters the Earth, causing a m
D) A spherical cloud of comets surrounding the solar system.
To a space probe near the surface of Mercury, how would the sky appear?
A) blue all the time since Mercury is so close to the Sun
B) pink during the day and black at night
C) blue during the day and black at night, like Earth
D) black, both during the day
D) black, both during the day and at night
Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto are called the "Galilean" satellites because:
A) They are named after Galileo's daughters.
B) The "Galileo" spacecraft discovered them.
C) Galileo was the first to identify them as moons of Jupiter.
D) "Jupiter" was orig
C) Galileo was the first to identify them as moons of Jupiter.
Which of the following is typical of a Terrestrial planet?
A) high densities and slow rotation
B) the presence many moons
C) an average density much less than that of rock
D) an orbit outside the asteroid belt
E) a hydrogen-rich composition
A) high densities and slow rotation
What is known about the formation of Valles Marineris on Mars?
A) Different parts of Valles Marineris were shaped by different kinds of geological processes and NOT a single process.
B) Valles Marineris was formed from a lava flow from a giant volcano in
A) Different parts of Valles Marineris were shaped by different kinds of geological processes and NOT a single process.
Which fact about Mars is NOT true?
A) The Viking spacecraft landed on Mars in 1976.
B) There was once water on the surface of Mars.
C) It is always colder than freezing on Mars's surface.
D) There are giant volcanos on Mars, larger than any on Earth.
E) M
E) Mars has a thicker atmosphere than Earth does.
Which is a consequence of the synchronous orbit of the Earth's Moon (equal period of rotation and revolution)?
A) the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth
B) craters on the Moon
C) solar eclipses
D) phases of the Moon
E) lunar eclipses
A) the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth
Which feature of Neptune is most responsible for its blue color?
A) large oceans covering most of the surface
B) methane in its atmosphere
C) winds blowing at speeds almost that of sound
D) excess energy emitted by the interior
E) auroral activity due to
B) methane in its atmosphere
The Sun is at one focus of the elliptical orbit of the Earth around the Sun. What is at the other focus?
A) Nothing.
B) The Moon.
C) The Earth.
D) Mars.
E) Jupiter.
A) Nothing.
Of the total amount of sunlight that is incident on Earth, about 70% is absorbed. The remaining is reflected back to space. If we calculate the temperature of Earth from the absorption of the Sun's radiation, it will come to -18 deg centigrade. However, o
A) Green house gases in Earth's atmosphere.
What is the main constituent of the atmosphere of Venus?
A) oxygen
B) nitrogen
C) hydrogen
D) carbon dioxide
E) helium
D) carbon dioxide
Which is an accurate description of a comet?
A) The brightness of comets stays the same throughout their life.
B) Comets develop a tail only when they get closer to the Sun in their orbit.
C) All comets are short period comets.
D) Comets become fainter as
B) Comets develop a tail only when they get closer to the Sun in their orbit.
How many Earth years does it take Pluto to orbit the Sun?
A) 0.2
B) 10
C) 2012
D) 0.5
E) 248
E) 248
The planets of the solar system were formed:
A) by a near collision between the Sun and a nearby star
B) as condensations/accretions of hot gases ejected from the Sun
C) by the collapse of a single higher mass star into a black hole
D) as individual conde
D) as individual condensation/accretion centers in a rotating solar nebula
A planet is in orbit around the Sun with a period of 5 years. What is the
semimajor axis of its orbit (average distance from the Sun) in AU?
Use P2 = a3 to estimate.
A) 123 AU
B) 8.65 AU
C) 1.24 AU
D) 25.0 AU
E) 2.92 AU
E) 2.92 AU
Which of the following are the jovian planets?
A) Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn
B) Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
C) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
D) Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto
E) Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
E) Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Volcanoes on Venus :
A) were never important in the planet's geological history
B) produce very large lava flows that cover at least 85% of the planet's surface
C) are much less active than volcanoes on Earth and Mars
D) are not common, with only two appa
B) produce very large lava flows that cover at least 85% of the planet's surface
Which of the following planets is never visible from Earth at midnight?
A) Uranus
B) Jupiter
C) Saturn
D) Venus
E) Mars
D) Venus
46.
Which planet has a temperature of 400 degrees Centigrade on the side facing the Sun and -180 degrees Centigrade on the side opposite the Sun?
A) Earth
B) Venus
C) Mars
D) Mercury
E) Jupiter
D) Mercury
Which of the following could be the reason that Mars has only a thin atmosphere?
A) The atmosphere is spread over a very large area.
B) The gravitational pull from Earth caused Mars to lose some of its atmosphere.
C) The gravity on Mars was insufficient t
C) The gravity on Mars was insufficient to hold a thick atmosphere and hence the gases in the atmosphere escaped over time.
Which of the following is true?
A) The Earth moves slower in its orbit when it is closer to the Sun.
B) The Earth moves slower in its orbit when it is farthest from the Sun.
C) The Earth's orbit around the Sun is a perfect circle.
D) Jupiter takes longer
B) The Earth moves slower in its orbit when it is farthest from the Sun.
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
A) The surface of Europa is completely covered by water ice.
B) Much water ice is found on Saturn's moons.
C) None of the Jovian planets but Saturn have a ring system.
D) The planet Uranus is blue-green and virt
C) None of the Jovian planets but Saturn have a ring system.
Which of the following is TRUE about Pluto?
A) it is always further away from the Sun than Neptune is
B) it was first discovered five years ago
C) its moon Charon is over half the diameter of Pluto
D) the period of its orbit around the Sun is 2 years
E) i
C) its moon Charon is over half the diameter of Pluto
A 13 solar mass main sequence star is at a smaller distance than
a 2 solar mass main sequence star. Which star appears
brighter?
A) depends on the phase of the Moon
B) cannot tell with the information given
C) stars are approximately the same brightness
D
E) the 13 solar mass main sequence star
Which is not a type of gravitationally bound stellar binary?
A) apparent binary
B) visual binary
C) spectroscopic binary
D) astrometric binary
E) eclipsing binary
A) apparent binary
Which star is the closest if all have the same apparent brightness?
A) a main sequence star with a luminosity 100 times that of the Sun
B) a temperature 6000 K main sequence star
C) a red giant
D) a temperature 10000 K main sequence star
E) white dwarf
E) white dwarf
What is Deuterium, also known as Hydrogen-2?
A) two protons and one neutron
B) four neutrons
C) two protons and two neutrons
D) four protons
E) one proton and one neutron
E) one proton and one neutron
Which of the following is FALSE?
A) Some microorganisms can survive years of radiation exposure in space.
B) Scientists have teleported the quantum state of individual atoms from one location to another.
C) Organisms have been found living in water as hot
E) We now have evidence that some form of life exists beyond Earth, at least in primitive form.
The upper right corner of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram has:
A) the coolest and most luminous stars
B) all the white dwarfs
C) the hottest and least luminous stars
D) the coolest and least luminous stars
E) the hottest and most luminous stars
A) the coolest and most luminous stars
Which of the following statements is true (only one is!)?
A) Black holes defy the laws of gravity.
B) Although visible light cannot escape from inside the event horizon of a black hole, high energy radiation, such as gamma rays, can escape.
C) There is a
D) Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.
What is the density at the center of a black hole?
A) Infinity
B) About the same as the atmosphere of Earth
C) The same a a white dwarf
D) The same as Earth's density at its core
E) The same as a neutron star
A) Infinity
What fraction of the visible matter in the Milky Way Galaxy disk is in the form
of gas and dust (and not stars)?
A) 50 percent
B) 0.1 percent
C) 90 percent
D) 10 percent
E) 75 percent
C) 90 percent
What happens to ISM atoms as they approach a star?
A) They pass right through the star.
B) They are dispersed backwards.
C) They crash into the star.
D) They are captured by the star.
E) They are deflected around the star.
E) They are deflected around the star.
If you could convert the entire mass of the Sun (mass 2 x 1033g)
into pure energy, how much energy would be produced
(in ergs) ? The speed of light c = 3 x 1010cm/s.
A) 2 x 1033ergs
B) 1.8 x 1054ergs
C) 1 x 1051ergs
D) 6 x 1043ergs
E) 6 x 10133ergs
B) 1.8 x 1054ergs
A star that is 70 percent the mass of our Sun would have a habitable zone that:
A) includes Jupiter and its moons
B) includes both Mars and the Earth
C) includes both Jupiter and Saturn and their moons
D) includes Venus but not the Earth
E) includes Mars
D) includes Venus but not the Earth
An "onion skin" shell burning structure develops in:
A) a neutron star
B) a star much more massive than the Sun
C) a star much less massive than the Sun
D) a star like the Sun
E) a white dwarf
B) a star much more massive than the Sun
In which part of the Sun are gamma rays produced?
A) convection zone
B) photosphere
C) core
D) chromosphere
E) corona
C) core
What is dust made of?
A) Carbon and silicon
B) Hydrogen and a small bit of helium
C) Just hydrogen
D) Just helium
E) Iron
A) Carbon and silicon
A star is just under the mass needed to collapse into a black hole. What will that star's core become at the end of its life?
A) a brown dwarf
B) a white dwarf
C) a black hole
D) a neutron star
E) a black dwarf
D) a neutron star
If nuclear reactions in the core produce harmful gamma rays, why are humans not destroyed?
A) Our super skin protects us.
B) We are continually destroyed and then regenerated without knowing it.
C) The reactions really produce yellow light, not gamma rays
D) The gamma rays are converted to visible light by the time they reach the photosphere.
The temperature of the photosphere of the Sun is closest to:
A) 107 K
B) 600000 K
C) 106 K
D) 100 K
E) 6000 K
E) 6000 K
How did Harlow Shapley determine the distances to globular clusters
in the Milky Way galaxy?
A) used the Period Luminosity Relation of RR Lyrae variable stars so they could be used as standard candles
B) measured the distance to the Galactic center and as
A) used the Period Luminosity Relation of RR Lyrae variable stars so they could be used as standard candles
A large luminosity star:
A) is always at a larger distance than a small luminosity star
B) is at a lower temperature than a small luminosity star
C) emits more light than a low luminosity star
D) is always at a smaller distance than a small luminosity sta
C) emits more light than a low luminosity star
A 40 solar mass main sequence star is at a larger distance than
a 3 solar mass main sequence star. Which star appears
brighter?
A) It depends on the phase of the Moon.
B) The 40 solar mass main sequence star.
C) We cannot tell with the information given.
C) We cannot tell with the information given.
Have objects like Jupiter been found? How?
A) Yes, warm Jupiters have been found from the transit method.
B) No, only Mars-like planets have been found.
C) Yes, hot Jupiters have been found from the radial velocity method.
D) No, only Earth-like planets h
C) Yes, hot Jupiters have been found from the radial velocity method.
What step in the Sun's life immediately precedes the white dwarf phase?
A) Horizontal Branch phase
B) Planetary Nebula phase
C) Black Dwarf phase
D) Main Sequence phase
E) Red Giant phase
B) Planetary Nebula phase
Do you remember how we measure distances to stars?
A) We use the inverse square law
B) We use the p-p chain
C) We use parallax
D) We measure their sizes
E) None of the above
C) We use parallax
What part of the Sun do we see?
A) Convection Zone
B) Photosphere
C) Radiation Zone
D) Inner Core
E) Corona
B) Photosphere
The star Menkent has a parallax of 0.067 arcseconds. How far away is it?
A) 10 light years
B) 10 parsecs
C) 67 parsecs
D) 15 parsecs
E) 1.5 light years
D) 15 parsecs
Fill in the blank in the following chemical reaction that occurs in the Sun: Deuterium+
proton = ?? + energy:
A) carbon-12
B) deuterium-2
C) helium-3
D) hydrogen-1
E) helium-4
C) helium-3
Compared to a low mass MS star, a high mass MS star has
A) larger radius, longer lifetime
B) higher luminosity, shorter lifetime
C) lower temperature, shorter lifetime
D) lower luminosity, longer lifetime
E) higher temperature, smaller radius
B) higher luminosity, shorter lifetime
What is the lowest rung on the astronomical distance ladder?
A) Hubble Flow
B) Cepheid Variable
C) Using Supernovae
D) PNLF method
E) the Solar System
E) the Solar System
How do globular clusters indicate the Sun's spot in the Milky Way?
A) They whisper it to you if you ask really nicely.
B) Their colors indicate how far away they are from the center.
C) Their velocities can be used to determine their orbits.
D) It's actua
E) They are spherically distributed around the center of the Milky Way.
What is the main requirement for a habitable zone?
A) Lots of sunshine
B) Liquid water
C) A large enough moon
D) Food supplies
E) Seasons
B) Liquid water
Which star is the furthest away if all have the same apparent brightness?
A) type A main sequence star
B) type G main sequence star
C) type F main sequence star
D) type M main sequence star
E) white dwarf
A) type A main sequence star
Why did astronomers introduce dark matter?
A) To make astronomy more mysterious
B) To explain flat rotation curves
C) To help explain the existence of black holes
D) More matter is needed than is seen to explain the motions of stars and gas far from the M
E) More than one of the above
Which is the least massive star?
A) Star with a surface temperature of 6000K
B) Most luminous possible main sequence star
C) Star of 2 solar masses
D) Type K main sequence star
E) Type B main sequence star
D) Type K main sequence star
What happens when a planet passes in front of its star (i.e. between the star and
us)?
A) the star appears to decrease in brightness, and then the star moves toward us
B) the star does not appear to change in brightness or move relative to us
C) the star
A) the star appears to decrease in brightness, and then the star moves toward us
What are the young cousins of globular clusters?
A) Blue Clusters
B) Open Clusters
C) Not-so-Globular Clusters
D) Young Clusters
E) Disk Clusters
B) Open Clusters
A planetary nebula:
A) is the ejected envelope of a low to intermediate mass star
B) contains a black hole at the center
C) is a fuzzy planet
D) is what stars and planets are made of
E) lasts very long in the life of every star
A) is the ejected envelope of a low to intermediate mass star
Which of the following is FALSE?
A) Transits and radar represent the bottom rung of the distance ladder.
B) A star with spectral type of B is sometimes hotter than a star with spectral type A, and sometimes colder
C) The lifetimes of stars range from a fe
B) A star with spectral type of B is sometimes hotter than a star with spectral type A, and sometimes colder
Consider star C, a measly 3000 K star, and star D, an impressive 9000 K star. Assuming they are about the same size, how do their luminosities compare?
A) Star D is 3 times as luminous as star C.
B) Star D is 4 times as luminous as star C.
C) Star D is 9
E) Star D is 81 times as luminous as star C.
Compare a Type Ia and a Type II supernova. Which of the following is TRUE?
A) A Type Ia supernova results from the death of a massive star and a Type II from a white dwarf that accretes matter from a companion.
B) Both Type Ia and Type II supernovae have
E) A Type Ia does not have Hydrogen in its spectrum and a Type II does.
Which of the following is TRUE?
A) a weak-lines T Tauri star emits strong X-rays
B) all stars form in isolation and none in binary systems
C) the interstellar medium is more dense than the core of the Sun
D) the Eagle nebula is an example of a planetary n
A) a weak-lines T Tauri star emits strong X-rays
In the convection zone of the Sun:
A) nuclear reactions convert Helium to Carbon.
B) photons produced in the core pass freely through to the surface.
C) nuclear reactions convert Hydrogen to Helium.
D) the temperature is higher than in any other region.
E
E) columns of hot gas rise, cool, and descend.
Why does a cloud speed up once it starts to collapse?
A) A black hole sucks it in.
B) As particles clump together, their gravitational attraction grows.
C) The heat makes the cloud particles swirl around.
D) All of the above
E) None of the above
B) As particles clump together, their gravitational attraction grows.
If two stars are the same temperature, how can one be more luminous than the other?
A) It can have a larger reaction rate in the core.
B) It can have stronger magnetic fields.
C) It can be a different spectral type.
D) It can be closer.
E) It can have a l
E) It can have a larger radius.
Why can't we see directly (in visible light) the region near the center of the Milky Way?
A) Tremendous amounts of dust obscures our view.
B) Dark matter blocks our view.
C) Material at the Milky Way center is moving too rapidly for us to see it.
D) It is
A) Tremendous amounts of dust obscures our view
Which of the following has the smallest radius?
A) main sequence star with surface temperature 8000 K
B) neutron star
C) type K main sequence star
D) type A main sequence star
E) white dwarf
B) neutron star
Why would a person be torn apart as he fell feet first into a black hole?
A) Because of the force of friction.
B) Because he would be traveling at the speed of light.
C) Time is distorted so that by the time the light from his feet reached his eyes, years
D) because the force on his feet would be much greater than the force on his head.
What is the name of the closest star to the Sun, and how far away is it?
A) Alpha Centauri - 4.3 light years
B) Sirius the Dog Star - 4.3 light years
C) Sirius the Dog Star - 4300 light years
D) Sirius the Dog star - 43 million light years
E) Alpha Centau
A) Alpha Centauri - 4.3 light years
What is exchanged between different particles in order to make the forces work?
A) baryons
B) bosons
C) quarks
D) electrons
E) leptons
B) bosons
Which of the following statements is definitely FALSE?
A) Universes with the largest number of black holes are favored in the theory of natural selection of universes.
B) There is a theory of quantum mechanics in which new universes split from ours at eve
C) We can easily communicate with duplicate copies of ourselves that may exist in an infinite universe
Which is true about cold dark matter?
A) Cold dark matter emits X-rays, but no other forms of radiation.
B) Cold dark matter exists only within planets and stars but not in other parts of galaxies or intergalactic space.
C) Cold dark matter particles trav
C) Cold dark matter particles travel more slowly than hot dark matter particles.
Why isn't the Andromeda galaxy's center a strong source of energy?
A) It really is; dark matter in the space between the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way is blocking our measurement of the total energy.
B) Only a relative trickle of gas falls into the b
B) Only a relative trickle of gas falls into the black hole.
Galaxy A receding from Galaxy B at a velocity of 7500 km/s, from the perspective of
Galaxy B. Hubble's Law says that V=H0 x D.
About how far is Galaxy A from Galaxy B? Use
a value of 75 km/s/Mpc for Hubble's constant.
A) 1000 Mpc
B) 50000 Mpc
C) 100 Mpc
D
C) 100 Mpc
If light takes 4 billion years to reach us from a distant
galaxy, how much further away is the distant galaxy than
the Andromeda galaxy which is 2 million light years away?
A) 4 billion times
B) 200 times
C) 2000 times
D) 20 times
E) 2 million times
C) 2000 times
About how many dots are seen in the Hubble Deep Field image, just within that image? What are the dots seen in the Hubble Deep Field?
A) 3000 stars.
B) 3000 galaxies.
C) 100 galaxies.
D) 3 million stars.
E) 3 million galaxies.
B) 3000 galaxies.
Prof. Max Tegmark believes that
A) the universe is not infinite
B) there was no Big Bang
C) we can communicate with identical copies of ourselves in a parallel universe
D) in an infinite universe there are other identical copies of Earth that are extremel
D) in an infinite universe there are other identical copies of Earth that are extremely far away
What types of fundamental particles are in an atom?
A) just up quarks and top quarks
B) just down quarks, electrons, and positrons
C) just electons and positrons
D) just up quarks, down quarks, and electrons
E) just neutrons and electrons
D) just up quarks, down quarks, and electrons
What is the temperature of the universe at present?
A) exactly 0 degrees Kelvin - absolute zero
B) about 10,000 degrees Kelvin
C) about 1 million degrees Kelvin
D) about 2.7 degrees Kelvin
E) about 300 degrees Kelvin
D) about 2.7 degrees Kelvin
An up quark has charge +2/3, a down quark has charge -1/3, and a strange quark
has charge -1/3. The Sigma0 particle is formed by a combination of two down quarks
and one strange quark. What is its charge?
A) 1
B) +1/3
C) -1
D) -1/3
E) 0
C) -1
What did the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) measure?
A) the existence of a particle emitted through negative gravity
B) the epoch of the formation of the first stars
C) the existence of low mass dark matter particles
D) the presence of superm
E) differences in the temperature of radiation coming from the Big Bang from different directions
How does an antiquark differ from a quark?
A) It has opposite mass.
B) It has a much greater mass.
C) It has a different flavor.
D) It is much more common in nature.
E) It has opposite charge.
E) It has opposite charge.
What property of dark matter leads to it keeping galaxy clusters together?
A) It contains a cosmological constant.
B) It carries the strong force.
C) It produces the electromagnetic force due to its charge.
D) It has high adhesion so galaxies stick to it.
E) It produces gravity due to its mass
What are the standard candles used to determine that the universe is accelerating?
A) light bulbs
B) elliptical galaxies
C) spiral galaxies
D) Type Ia supernovae
E) Type II supernovae formed from the death of massive stars
D) Type Ia supernovae
Which of the following areas have the most massive black holes (those with the highest masses)?
A) in the outer halos of elliptical galaxies
B) where a massive star has died
C) in X-ray binary stars
D) in the centers of spiral galaxies
E) in spiral galaxy
D) in the centers of spiral galaxies
How far away is most distant galaxy seen in the Hubble Deep Field?
A) About eighteen thousand Hubble Distance Units.
B) About forty megaparsecs.
C) About sixty million (6x107) astronomical units.
D) About twelve billion (1.2x1010) light years.
E) About tw
D) About twelve billion (1.2x1010) light years.
Which statement about spiral galaxies is FALSE?
A) a type "c" spiral has tight, smooth arms
B) their disks rotate at more than 100 kilometers per second
C) a merger of two spiral galaxies may give rise to an elliptical galaxy
D) a type "a" spiral has a la
A) a type "c" spiral has tight, smooth arms
Among these choices, which is the last thing that
happens in the history of the universe?
A) the Planck time before which all four forces are unified
B) inflationary expansion
C) formation of nuclei of helium
D) binding of electrons to nuclei
E) quarks bi
D) binding of electrons to nuclei
What elements are most common in the human body?
A) helium and iron
B) silicon and gold
C) hydrogen and helium
D) carbon, nitrogen, and boron
E) hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon
E) hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon
What type of boson is responsible for the electromagnetic force?
A) graviton
B) gluon
C) electron
D) photon
E) W boson
D) photon
How do we determine the velocities of far away galaxies, in order to use Hubble's law?
A) We look at how flattened they are, since moving at higher velocity tends to spread a galaxy out thinner.
B) We measure how fast they are rotating.
C) We determine th
E) We measure the redshifts in their spectra.
What is the difference between an E0 and an E7 type galaxy?
A) The amount of gas is larger in the E0 type eccentric galaxy.
B) The E0 is circular and the E7 more elongated.
C) The spiral arms are much tighter in the E7 type galaxy than in the E0.
D) The E
B) The E0 is circular and the E7 more elongated.
When examining a spectrum of a particular galaxy, an astronomer notices that
the spectral lines are shifted toward shorter wavelengths.
What does this mean?
A) the galaxy is moving away from us
B) the entire Universe is contracting
C) the element Helium i
E) the galaxy is likely to be one of the nearest to the Milky Way
What is the braneworld theory?
A) the theory of the inflationary epoch of the universe that happened in its early stages
B) the idea that scientists can accomplish anything if they use their brains
C) the idea that many different worlds exist in an infini
E) the idea that extra dimensions exist around us but we are confined to a membrane with just three spatial dimensions
Among these choices, which is the first thing that
happens in the history of the universe?
A) rapid expansion called inflation
B) universe becomes transparent
C) first stars form
D) formation of nuclei of helium
E) binding of electrons to nuclei
A) rapid expansion called inflation
Which one of the following is TRUE?
A) Galaxy collisions destroy most of the stars in the galaxies involved.
B) Most galaxies appear to be approaching the Milky Way Galaxy.
C) Barred spiral galaxies have similar properties to normal spirals, except for th
C) Barred spiral galaxies have similar properties to normal spirals, except for the "bar" feature.
What word or phrase would be a reasonable description of dark energy?
A) electromagnetic repulsion.
B) strong force binding.
C) attractive force.
D) weak force binding.
E) negative gravity
E) negative gravity
Galaxy A is 100 Mpc from Galaxy B. Hubble's Law says that V=H0 x D.
About how fast is Galaxy A receding from the perspective of Galaxy B? Use
a value of 75 km/s/Mpc for Hubble's constant.
A) 75 km/s
B) 30000 km/s
C) 300 km/s
D) 7500 km/s
E) 15000 km/s
D) 7500 km/s
Which is not a fundamental particle?
A) lepton
B) up quark
C) nucleus
D) photon
E) electron
C) nucleus
If the objects seen in the past are galaxies, how might they have changed?
A) The galaxies were more irregular and patchy in the past than they are at present.
B) They would have been destroyed by supernovae explosions by the present time.
C) There were m
A) The galaxies were more irregular and patchy in the past than they are at present.
When astronomers first saw the spectrum of a quasar they did
not recognize it because
A) the lines were so far shifted towards the red
B) its spectral signature was masked by the presence of the central supermassive black hole
C) the lines were so far shi
A) the lines were so far shifted towards the red
When did there first start to be four separate forces?
A) 10-43 seconds
B) 10-12 seconds
C) 100 seconds
D) 10-34 seconds
E) 1 second
B) 10-12 seconds
Which source generates the most energy over its lifetime?
A) A supernova.
B) The Sun.
C) A camp fire.
D) A gamma-ray burst.
E) A quasar.
E) A quasar.
How do astronomers measure the mass of a supermassive black hole?
A) by comparing its X-ray luminosity to its radio luminosity
B) using the formula E = mc2
C) by measuring its parallax
D) by measuring the speed at which stars move in its vicinity
E) by co
D) by measuring the speed at which stars move in its vicinity
Why can't we see back the whole way to the Big Bang?
A) It would take too long for light to travel that far.
B) The radiation scatters off matter frequently so the Universe is opaque.
C) Radiation is blueshifted out of the visible range.
D) Our telescopes
B) The radiation scatters off matter frequently so the Universe is opaque.
The hypernova model of the collapse of the core of a massive star may describe
A) a neutron star
B) the gravitational collapse of a protostar prior to the main sequence phase
C) the feeding of material into a quasar
D) a black hole
E) a relatively long ga
E) a relatively long gamma ray burst
Which of the following are flavors of quarks?
A) top and up
B) leptons and antileptons
C) baryons and antibaryons
D) blue and green
E) charge and mass
A) top and up
Which is the smallest?
A) The distance from the Sun to its nearest neighboring star
B) The distance from the Sun to the Virgo cluster of galaxies
C) The distance from the Sun to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy
D) The Solar System.
E) The distance from
D) The Solar System.
The few individual stars that are seen in the Hubble Deep Field image
A) are located in galaxies near the edge of the observable universe.
B) are the main targets for our observations of that region of the sky.
C) are stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.
D)
C) are stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.
How might a nearby neighbor change the shape of this galaxy?
A) It might make the disk of the galaxy thinner and the halo rounder.
B) The merger of two spiral galaxies may give rise to an elliptical galaxy.
C) It might obliterate all life in that galaxy b
B) The merger of two spiral galaxies may give rise to an elliptical galaxy.
Why are there dark lines in the spiral arms of the Whirlpool Galaxy?
A) There are imperfections on the mirror of the telescope that took the image.
B) Supernova explosions blew away the material in those regions.
C) Black holes in those regions are prohib
D) They are regions of dust that block the light of the stars behind them.
What do quasars look like?
A) Planetary nebulae
B) Glowing gas clouds.
C) Fuzzy, extended patches of light.
D) Large concentrations of dark matter.
E) Individual stars in the Milky Way.
E) Individual stars in the Milky Way.
How many times bigger is the Local Group of Galaxies in which the Milky Way
resides than the Milky Way Galaxy itself?
A) about 1 million times bigger
B) about 1040 times bigger
C) about 1010 times bigger
D) it isn't bigger than the Milky Way
E) about 10 t
E) about 10 times bigger
Among spiral galaxies, an "SBa" has...
A) ...a bar, tight smooth spiral arms, and a large bulge.
B) ...a bar, jagged spiral arms, and a small bulge.
C) ...a bar, very loose smooth spiral arms, and a moderate-sized bulge.
D) ...no bar, tight smooth spiral
A) ...a bar, tight smooth spiral arms, and a large bulge.
Which mysterious phenomena do scientists attribute to dark energy?
A) The increasing rate of expansion of the universe.
B) Dark energy causes ALL of the above.
C) The formation of Helium through nucleosynthesis.
D) Mysterious bonding that holds atoms toge
A) The increasing rate of expansion of the universe.
Which of the following is TRUE?
A) We measure a redshift for roughly half of the galaxies that we observe, and for the others we measure a blueshift.
B) At the time that the Big Bang expansion began, all matter and energy in our observable universe was co
B) At the time that the Big Bang expansion began, all matter and energy in our observable universe was compressed into a single point of space.
Which have more massive supermassive black holes, spiral galaxies like Andromeda or elliptical galaxies like Cygnus A?
A) Spirals.
B) Both are the same.
C) Ellipticals.
D) Neither type of galaxies has supermassiave black holes.
E) Supermassive black holes
C) Ellipticals.