Discovering Space Module Review

Choose the answer that is most descriptive of the Solar System.

• Nebulas, star clusters, super novas, black holes, binary stars

• Jupiter, Great Red Spot, 8 regular moons, ±58 irregular moons

• Sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets

• Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, dwarf planets

Which of the following best describes a nebula?

• denser clouds of particles found in the interstellar medium

• the distance light travels in a year

• a big star that explodes

• a group of over 100 billion stars in which we live

Students with a telescope are viewing the Orion Nebula which is a giant gas cloud and with stars in the Orion constellation in our galaxy, The Milky Way. It is 1500 light years away from the earth. A teacher is describing the immense size of the nebula that would swallow up hundreds of solar systems like ours. What unit of measure should be used to describe this galactic formation?

• Light years

• Astronomical units

• Kilometers

• Miles

Why is the term "spaceship" a metaphor for the planet Earth? Choose the best explanation.

• Dozens of rockets are launched each year from the surface of the Earth into space. Many different types of payloads provide us with communications and scientific knowledge.

• Like a spaceship the Earth is accelerating through space at nearly the speed of light.

• The Earth is like a self-contained vessel that is home for us and other living things. Like a spaceship it provides a protective environment from the vacuum, radiation and coldness of space.

• The Earth is sometimes referred to as a spaceship because we are on a journey that will allow us to visit distant stars and planets as we pass by.

If we look up in to the night sky and observe which stars appear to be the brightest. What are we actually observing?

• luminosity

• absolute brightness

• distance from the Earth

• apparent magnitude

What characteristic does a star’s color indicate?

• the temperature of the star

• the distance of the star

• the density of the star

• what the star is made of

What is a quasar?

• A collapsed star emitting no light

• Two stars moving around each other

• A system of stars held together by gravity

• A star that emits a repeated radio signal

• A star that emits intense radio and light energy

Smaller stars, such as the Sun, have a different life cycle than large stars. Choose the answer that describes the life cycle of the Sun.

• gas clouds, neutron star, hydrogen depleted, red giant, white dwarf

• gas clouds, nuclear reaction, hydrogen depleted, red giant, neutron star

• gas clouds, nuclear reaction, hydrogen depleted, red giant, supernova, neutron star

• gas clouds, nuclear reaction, hydrogen depleted, red giant, white dwarf

Choose the statement that is NOT true.

• Hundreds of stars with planets have been confirmed using the radial velocity method and the transit method

• More than 50% of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy have at least one planet orbiting

• Planets orbiting stars in the "habitable zone" are likely to have life existing on them

• The first Earth-size planets ever found outside the solar system were discovered in 2012 by the Kepler Mission team

What best describes a planet in the "habitable zone"?

• Jupiter

• Mercury

• Earth

• Venus