Astronomy

Questions in this quiz

1. 1. What is true for a type-Ia ("type one-a") supernova?
   1. This type occurs in binary systems.
   2. This type occurs in young galaxies.
   3. This type produces gamma-ray bursts.
   4. This type produces high amounts of X-rays.
2. 2. If you know both the actual brightness of an object and its apparent brightness from your location then with no other information you can estimate:
   1. Its speed relative to you
   2. Its composition
   3. Its size
   4. Its distance from you
3. 3. Why is the sky blue?
   1. Because the molecules that compose the Earth's atmosphere have a blue-ish color.
   2. Because the sky reflects the color of the Earth's oceans.
   3. Because the atmosphere preferentially scatters short wavelengths.
   4. Because the Earth's atmosphere preferentially absorbs all other colors.
4. 4. You’ve made a scientific theory that there is an attractive force between all objects. When will your theory be proven to be correct?
   1. The first time you drop a bowling ball and it falls to the ground proving your hypothesis.
   2. After you’ve repeated your experiment many times.
   3. You can never prove your theory to be correct only “yet to be proven wrong”.
   4. When you and many others have tested the hypothesis.
5. 5. Which of the following is/are true?
   1. Titan is the only outer solar system moon with a thick atmosphere
   2. Titan is the only outer solar system moon with evidence for recent geologic activity
   3. Titan's atmosphere is composed mostly of hydrocarbons
   4. A and D
6. 6. A comet of mass m impacts the earth (mass M radius R) at the minimum impact speed. What is the expression for the total energy released in the impact?
   1. m*v
   2. 0.5*m/(R^3)
   3. 0.5*m*(2GM/R)
   4. 0.6*G(M^2)/R
7. 7. Some of Mars'water is frozen in the soil and the ice caps and some was lost due to solar wind stripping but much of the original water is thought to have been lost through another mechanism. What happened to this "lost"water?
   1. it was stripped away by the magnetic field when it rapidly decreased in strength
   2. it was broken into hydrogen and oxygen by ultraviolet light and the hydrogen was lost through thermal escape
   3. it was consumed by a civilization of thirsty Martians
   4. it was vaporized during a period of intense volcanism and was lost to space through thermal escape
8. 8. Most rocks on the Moon's surface are older than those on the Earth's surface. The best evidence for this is:
   1. Lunar rocks are composed of fragments pulverized by many impacts.
   2. Radioactive dating of lunar samples shows that they are older.
   3. The Moon's surface is more heavily eroded than the Earth's surface.
   4. The Moon's surface has more impact craters than the Earth's surface.
9. 9. What is the second most common element in the solar system?
   1. Iron
   2. Hydrogen
   3. Methane
   4. Helium
10. 10. What is the source of the material that causes meteor showers?
    1. Near-Earth asteroids gradually disintegrate and spread out along their orbital path. When the Earth passes through the orbit of an asteroid we are bombarded by sand-sized particles which cause a meteor shower.
    2. Near-Earth asteroids disintegrate as they enter Earth's atmosphere creating hundreds of bright meteors that appear to radiate from a single location in the sky.
    3. The nuclei of comets disintigrate as they enter Earth's atmosphere creating hundreds of bright meteors that appear to radiate from a central location in the sky.
    4. The nuclei of comets gradually disintegrate and spread out along the comet's orbital path. When the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet we are bombarded by sand-sized particles which cause a meteor shower.
11. 11. Why does the plasma (ion) tail of a comet always point away from the Sun?
    1. Radiation pressure from the Sun's light pushes the ions away.
    2. The conservation of the angular momentum in the tail keeps it always pointing away from the Sun.
    3. The ions are following Keplerian orbits that lead away from the Sun.
    4. The solar wind electromagnetically "blows" the ions directly away from the Sun.
12. 12. How did Eratosthenes estimate the size of Earth in 240 B.C.?
    1. By observing the duration of a solar eclipse.
    2. By measuring the size of Earth's shadow on the Moon in a lunar eclipse.
    3. By comparing the maximum altitude of the Sun in two cities at different latitudes at the same time on the same day.
    4. By sending fleets of ships around Earth.
13. 13. The Large Magellanic Cloud is ...
    1. a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.
    2. the closest planetary nebula to the Earth.
    3. a bright star cluster discovered by Magellan.
    4. the outer arm of the Milky Way named after Magellan.
14. 14. Why do we look for water-ice in craters at Mercury's pole?
    1. Actually water-ice is all over Mercury and not just at the poles.
    2. The pole is the only place fortunate enough to have had comet impacts
    3. Radar from the earth can only see Mercury's poles.
    4. These craters contain the only permanently shadowed regions on Mercury
15. 15. The Milky Way is part of a giant supercluster with a diameter of 160 Mpc. What is the name of this supercluster?
    1. Virgo
    2. Laniakea
    3. Sculptor
    4. Boötes
16. 16. On which planet in our solar system can you find the Great Red Spot?
    1. Venus
    2. Mars
    3. Jupiter
    4. Saturn
17. 17. Why does Earth have the strongest magnetic field among the terrestrial worlds?
    1. It is by far the largest terrestrial world.
    2. It is the most volcanically active world.
    3. It is the only one that has both a partially molten metallic core and reasonably rapid rotation.
    4. It rotates much faster than any other terrestrial world.
18. 18. Which of the following is not true?
    1. The Earth and Venus are in a 1:1 orbital resonance (for every 1 Earth orbit there is exactly 1 Venus orbit)
    2. Neptune and Pluto are in a 3:2 orbital resonance (for every 3 Neptune orbits there are exactly 2 Pluto orbits)
    3. The Kirkwood Gaps in the asteroid belt are due to resonances with Jupiter
    4. Neptune and Pluto won't collide because of their orbital resonance
19. 19. Which of the following is/are common feature(s) of all fresh (i.e. not eroded) impact craters formed on solid surfaces:
    1. ejecta
    2. raised rims
    3. central peaks
    4. A and B only
20. 20. From laboratory measurements we know that a particular spectral line formed by hydrogen appears at a wavelength of 486.1 nanometers (nm). The spectrum of a particular star shows the same hydrogen line appearing at a wavelength of 485.9 nm. What can we conclude?
    1. The star is getting hotter.
    2. The star is getting colder.
    3. The star is moving toward us.
    4. The star is moving away from us.
21. 21. The lithosphere of a planet is the layer that consists of
    1. the softer rocky material of the mantle.
    2. the lava that comes out of volcanoes.
    3. material between the crust and the mantle.
    4. the rigid rocky material of the crust and uppermost portion of the mantle.
22. 22. What is the Cassini division of Saturn's rings?
    1. a dark ring visible from Earth composed of dark dusty particles
    2. the most opaque ring of Saturn made of highly reflective ice particles
    3. the widest ring of Saturn located between two large ring gaps
    4. a large gap visible from Earth produced by an orbital resonance with the moon Mimas
23. 23. Which of the following statements about sidereal and solar days is not true?
    1. The time it takes for the Sun to make one circuit of our sky is one solar day.
    2. A solar day is 4 minutes longer than a sidereal day.
    3. A solar day represents more than 360° of rotation for the earth.
    4. The time it takes for the Moon to make one circuit of our sky is one solar day.
24. 24. Meteorites with high metal content probably are
    1. pieces of comets rather than of asteroids.
    2. chunks of large differentiated asteroids that were shattered by collisions.
    3. chunks of rock chipped off the planet Mars.
    4. leftover chunks of rock from the earliest period in the formation of the solar system.
25. 25. Most people use C°(degree Celsius) to measure everyday temperatures. Astronomers prefer to use K (Kelvin) to measure temperatures. Approximately how many Kelvin are 25 C°?
    1. 200 Kelvin
    2. 250 Kelvin
    3. 300 Kelvin
    4. 350 Kelvin