Earth Science 102: Astronomy

Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
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The outermost layer of the sun is called the:
1. ionosphere
2. chromosphere
3. corona
4. megasphere
5. photosphere
The most explosive events to occur on the sun are:
1. granules
2. filaments
3. solar flares
4. solar winds
5. sun spots
Which main-sequence stars are the least massive?
1. red
2. white
3. orange
4. blue
5. yellow
Possibly the most cataclysmic act to occur in nature is;
1. electron degeneration
2. a nova
3. a supernova
4. the collision of two galaxies
The sun produces energy by converting:
1. oxygen to carbon dioxide
2. oxygen to nitrogen
3. carbon monoxide to oxygen
4. hydrogen to helium
5. helium to hydrogen
The nearest star
1. Alpha Centauri
2. Sirius
3. Procyon
4. the Sun
Although the Sun appears sharp, we can actually see about ____

The visible surface of the Sun
1. corona
2. chromosphere
3. photosphere
4. nuclear core
The cooler layer of the Sun where the lines in the Solar

Deep in the Sun, energy is transferred by
1. conduction
2. convection
3. radiation
Streams of protons and electrons emitted from the sun produce(s):
1. quasars
2. spicules
3. the solar wind
4. prominences
5. granules
During periods of high solar activity, huge cloudlike

Our galaxy is called:
1. Milky Way
2. Pleiades
3. Panorama galaxy
4. Andromeda
5. Orion
Which color stars have the highest surface temperature?
1. red
2. white
3. orange
4. blue
5. yellow
The layer of the sun which radiates most of the light that reaches the earth is called the:
1. ionosphere
2. chromosphere
3. corona
4. megasphere
5. photosphere
The layer of the solar atmosphere directly above the photosphere is called the:
1. ionosphere
2. solarsphere
3. corona
4. megasphere
5. chromosphere
Which color stars have the coolest surface temperature?
1. red
2. white
3. orange
4. blue
5. yellow
Which main-sequence stars are the most massive?
1. red
2. white
3. orange
4. blue
5. yellow
The source of the sun's energy is:
1. chemical burning
2. heat of contraction
3. nuclear fission
4. potential energy
5. nuclear fusion
The final stage for a star which is as massive as the sun:
1. black hole
2. red giant
3. black dwarf
4. white dwarf
5. main-sequence
When a main-sequence star has exhausted the hydrogen fuel in its core, it becomes a:
1. black hole
2. black dwarf
3. neutron star
4. red giant
5. white dwarf
Stars that are composed of matter in which electrons have combined with protons are called:
1. black hole
2. red giant
3. black dwarf
4. white dwarf
5. neutron star
This property of a star can be determined from its color:
1. mass
2. surface temperature
3. stellar distance
4. volume
5. velocity
These can be produced during a supernova event:
1. black hole
2. red giant
3. black dwarf
4. white dwarf
5. main-sequence star
A star in which light cannot escape because of the immense

The black lines across the spectrum of the sun or a star are caused by
1. planets getting in the way
2. absorption of light by atoms in the star
3. emission of light by atoms in the star
4. chemical reactions
The common image of a telescope, a lens in the front and an eyepiece at the back, is a _________ telescope
1. refracting
2. reflecting
3. compound
4. achromatic
The largest astronomical telescopes are
1. refracting
2. reflecting
3. compound
4. achromatic
The largest astronomical telescopes are of that design because
1. it is cheaper to fabricate large mirrors than lenses
2. it is cheaper to fabricate large lenses than mirrors
3. large mirrors absorb more light than lenses
4. large mirrors require color correction whereas lenses do not.
The Doppler Effect causes light from an object moving toward us to:
1. be red-shifted
2. be blue-shifted
3. undergo no change
4. become green
The Doppler Effect causes light from an object moving away from us to:
1. be red-shifted
2. be blue-shifted
3. undergo no change
4. become green
The Doppler Effect causes light from an object moving across our line of sight to:
1. be red-shifted
2. be blue-shifted
3. undergo no change
4. become green
The constellations as we see them from Earth would change noticeably in (pick the shortest applicable time):
1. 100 years
2. 10,000 years
3. 1,000,000 years
4. a billion years
Stars in a given constellation:
1. all formed together
2. are all moving in the same direction
3. are all the same type
4. are usually not physically related
Why is there a North Star but not a South Star?
1. the Earth's north magnetic pole is stronger
2. people chose to live in the hemisphere that had a Pole Star
3. the Earth is on the north side of the Galaxy
4. just by chance there is a bright star near the north celestial pole.
The celestial equivalent of latitude is:
1. right ascension
2. declination
3. galactic longitude
4. spherical aberration
To an astronomer, the most important purpose of a telescope is:
1. great magnification
2. gathering light
3. measuring positions
4. penetrating clouds
To an astronomer, the least important purpose of a telescope is:
1. great magnification
2. gathering light
3. measuring positions
4. penetrating clouds
Gravity overwhelms all other forces in this object:

Largest of all stars

Can be a pulsar

What the most massive stars become

What the sun will probably become next

The last stage in the evolution of the Sun

Nearest planet with surface visible from Earth

Has a Giant Red Spot

Has four giant moons

Has a runaway greenhouse effect

Has enormous volcanoes and rift valleys

Once had liquid water

Has a moon with an atmosphere

Has clouds of sulfuric acid droplets

Closest to the sun and smallest of the group listed

Has polar ice caps that expand and contact with its seasons

The principal clue that the surface of a planet is geologically young
1. Atmosphere
2. Heavy cratering
3. Volcanoes
4. Lack of craters
A moon of Jupiter that has active volcanoes
1. Titan
2. Triton
3. Io
4. Callisto
5. Europa
A massive star sometimes explodes in a great explosion called
1. Supernova
2. Quasar
3. Big Bang
4. Thermonuclear
5. Neutrino
Why astronomers are not as concerned as one might guess about the "missing mass" in the Universe:
1. It's probably due to errors of observation
2. It's been found
3. There are so many possible explanations
4. They have no funds to investigate it
Great spiral mass of stars about 100,000 light years across
1. Nebula
2. Globular Cluster
3. Pulsar
4. Quasar
5. Galaxy
Technique astronomers use to find distance to nearby stars
1. Parallax
2. Spectroscopy
3. Doppler Shift
Estimated age of the Universe
1. 1.4 billion years
2. 13 billion years
3. 120 billion years
4. 1.7 trillion years
The color of a star is due to:
1. Its distance
2. Its composition
3. Its temperature
4. Its age
5. Its size
All objects exist as the result of a balance between some force and:
1. Centrifugal force
2. Electromagnetism
3. Gravity
4. Nuclear Forces
5. Radiation
What force keeps Planets from collapsing?
1. Radiation
2. Gravity
3. Nuclear Forces
4. Electron repulsion
5. Forces between atoms
6. No known force can prevent collapse
What force keeps Normal Stars from collapsing?
1. Radiation
2. Gravity
3. Nuclear Forces
4. Electron repulsion
5. Forces between atoms
6. No known force can prevent collapse
What force keeps White Dwarfs from collapsing?
1. Radiation
2. Gravity
3. Nuclear Forces
4. Electron repulsion
5. Forces between atoms
6. No known force can prevent collapse
What force keeps Neutron Stars from collapsing?
1. Radiation
2. Gravity
3. Nuclear Forces
4. Electron repulsion
5. Forces between atoms
6. No known force can prevent collapse
What force keeps each Black Holes from collapsing?
1. Radiation
2. Gravity
3. Nuclear Forces
4. Electron repulsion
5. Forces between atoms
6. No known force can prevent collapse
Planets are what approximate size?
1. No size at all
2. 10 km
3. 10,000 km
4. 1,000,000 km
5. 100,000,000 km
Normal Stars are what approximate size?
1. No size at all
2. 10 km
3. 10,000 km
4. 1,000,000 km
5. 100,000,000 km
Giant Stars are what approximate size?
1. No size at all
2. 10 km
3. 10,000 km
4. 1,000,000 km
5. 100,000,000 km
White Dwarfs are what approximate size?
1. No size at all
2. 10 km
3. 10,000 km
4. 1,000,000 km
5. 100,000,000 km
Neutron Stars are what approximate size?
1. No size at all
2. 10 km
3. 10,000 km
4. 1,000,000 km
5. 100,000,000 km
Black Holes are what approximate size?
1. No size at all
2. 10 km
3. 10,000 km
4. 1,000,000 km
5. 100,000,000 km
Parallax is:
1. The apparent shift in a star’s position from one side of the Earth to the other
2. The apparent shift in a star’s position from one side of the Earth’s orbit to the other
3. The apparent diameter of a star as seen in a telescope
4. The amount a star moves in a year due to its own motion
What two elements make up 99.9% of the cosmos?
1. iron and silicon
2. hydrogen and helium
3. carbon and silicon
4. hydrogen and oxygen
5. carbon and hydrogen
Where did the heavy elements in the Solar System come from?
1. comets coming in from outside
2. formed in earlier generations of stars
3. formed in the Sun
4. formed by nuclear reactions as the Solar System was condensing
The spacecraft HIPPARCOS provided us with:
1. Images of planets around other stars
2. Vastly improved measurements of the sizes of stars
3. Images of the most distant galaxies
4. Vastly improved measurements of the distances of stars
To determine distances in the Solar System, we used observations of which bodies?
1. Mars and the Moon
2. Venus and nearby asteroids
3. Mercury and Saturn
4. Jupiter and its moons
To determine distances in the Solar System, we must:
1. Determine the distance to each planet separately
2. Determine one distance and use Kepler's Third Law to find the rest
3. Determine the distance to the Moon accurately
4. Determine the diameter of the Earth accurately
The violent collapse and explosion of a star is termed a:
1. Supernova
2. Nebula
3. Starburst
4. Stellar Implosion
The heavier (more complex) an element is, the __________
1. rarer it is in the Universe
2. more common it is in the universe
3. less essential it is for life
4. more likely it is to occur on Earth
5. more important it is for producing energy in stars
Great spiral mass of stars about 100,000 light years across
1. Nebula
2. Globular Cluster
3. Pulsar
4. Quasar
5. Galaxy
Technique astronomers use to find distance to nearby stars
1. Parallax
2. Spectroscopy
3. Doppler Shift
4. Radar
Deneb, 1600 light years away, is too far even for HIPPARCOS to measure its distance accurately. We estimate its distance by:
1. Observing its motion
2. Comparing it to stars of the same type whose distance we can measure
3. Knowing it's in a globular star cluster
4. Measuring its red shift
The most likely cause of the eventual extinction of life on earth:
1. The Sun becoming a supernova
2. The Sun becomes a red giant
3. The Sun becomes a white dwarf
4. The Sun becomes a Quasar
5. Gradual heating of the earth as the Sun brightens
How Big is our Galaxy?
1. 1000 light years across
2. 10,000 light years across
3. 100,000 light years across
4. 1,000,000 light years across
Where are we in our Galaxy?
1. In the central hub
2. In the disk 2/3 of the way to the edge
3. At the extreme edge of the disk
4. Neither in the hub nor the disk
We know our location in our Galaxy by observing what?
1. The movements of nearby stars
2. Positions of Globular Star Clusters
3. Motions of small satellite galaxies
4. The expansion of the Universe
5. Areas of star formation in the Galaxy
Our galaxy is in the center of:
1. We are not at the center of anything
2. A small group of 100 galaxies
3. A cluster of 1,000 galaxies
4. A supercluster of a million galaxies
How is our Sun moving in the galaxy?
1. Standing Still
2. Moving straight away from the center
3. Moving out of the disk plane
4. Orbiting once every 250 million years
The evidence that galaxies are receding from us is:
1. They have gotten smaller since we first observed them
2. They have gotten fainter since we first observed them
3. Their light is blue-shifted
4. Their light is red-shifted
The energy released at the Big Bang is now observed as:
1. Visible light
2. X-rays
3. Infrared
4. Ultraviolet
5. Faint microwaves
In the evenings in _______ we look toward the center of the galaxy
1. Summer
2. Fall
3. Winter
4. Spring
Where is the Solar System in relation to the center of the Milky Way?
1. near the center
2. at the extreme outer rim
3. outside it
4. two-thirds of the way from the center to the rim
These stars give us a distance scale to the galaxies:
1. Cepheid variables
2. red giants
3. white dwarfs
4. pulsars
Why aren’t astronomers very worried about the "missing mass" in the universe?
1. They think the entire concept is an error.
2. The missing mass has recently been accounted for.
3. There are no ways to estimate the amount of mass in the Universe.
4. There are so many forms the missing mass could take.
The "missing mass" in the universe is more accurately described as:
1. Antimatter
2. Imaginary
3. Non-luminous
4. Undiscovered particles
Matching (More than one answer may be correct)

Matching (More than one answer may be correct)

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Created 10 September 2003, Last Update 08 December 2003

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