8) How are wavelength, frequency, and energy related for photons of light?

A) Longer wavelength means lower frequency and lower energy.

B) Longer wavelength means higher frequency and lower energy.

C) Longer wavelength means higher frequency and higher energy.

D) Longer wavelength means lower frequency and higher energy.

E) There is no simple relationship because different photons travel at different speeds.

9) What do astronomers mean by light pollution?

C) Light pollution refers to light used for human activities that brightens the sky and hinders astronomical observations.

A) Light pollution refers to pollution caused by light industry as opposed to heavy industry.

B) Light pollution refers to harmful gases emitted by common street lights.

D) Light pollution refers to the lights that must be used inside major observatories and that make it difficult for astronomers' eyes to adapt to darkness.

E) Light pollution is another name for sunlight, which makes it impossible to see stars in the daytime.

10) What is meant by spectral resolution?

B) It is a measure of how close two spectral lines can be distinguished.

A) It is a measure of how much energy an object emits in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

C) It is a measure of how close two point sources can be distinguished.

D) It is the same as angular resolution when applied to telescopes operating at different wavelengths.

12) According to our basic scenario of solar system formation, why do the jovian planets have numerous large moons?

A) As the growing jovian planets captured gas from the solar nebula, the gas formed swirling disks around them, and moons formed from condensation accretion within these disks.

B) Because of their strong gravity, the jovian planets were able to capture numerous asteroids that happened to be passing nearby, and these became the major moons of the jovian planets.

C) The large moons of the jovian planets originally formed in the inner solar system and these moons then migrated out to join up with the jovian planets.

D) The many moons of the jovian planets remains one of the unexplained mysteries of the formation of our solar system.

13) Which of the following statements about the asteroid belt is not true?

A) The combined mass of all the asteroids is roughly the same as the mass of Earth.

B) It is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

C) Asteroids in the asteroid belt orbit the Sun in the same direction that planets orbit the Sun.

D) Asteroids in the asteroid belt are made mostly of rock.

14) Venus has a higher average surface temperature than Mercury. Why?

B) because its surface is heated by an extreme greenhouse effect

A) because it is closer to the Sun

C) because its surface is covered with hot lava from numerous active volcanoes

D) because its slow rotation gives it more time to heat up in sunlight

15) In what way is Pluto more like a comet than a planet?

C) It is made mostly of rock and ice.

A) It sometimes enters the inner solar system.

16) How is Einstein's famous equation, E= mc2, important in understanding the Sun?

A) It explains the fact that the Sun generates energy to shine by losing some 4 million tons of mass each day.

B) It explains why the Sun's surface temperature is about 6,000°C.

C) It explains why the Sun is so massive.

D) It explains why the Sun has a magnetic field strong enough influence the atmospheres of the planets.

18) Why did the solar nebula heat up as it collapsed?

B) As the cloud shrank, its gravitational potential energy was converted to kinetic energy and then into thermal energy.

A) Nuclear fusion occurring in the core of the protosun produced energy that heated the nebula.

C) Radiation from other nearby stars that had formed earlier heated the nebula.

D) The shock wave from a nearby supernova heated the gas.

E) Collisions among planetesimals generated friction and heat.

19) What was the frost line of the solar system?

C) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for hydrogen compounds to condense into ices, between the present-day orbits of Mars and Jupiter

A) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for metals to condense, between the Sun and the present-day orbit of Mercury

B) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for rocks to condense, between the present-day orbits of Mercury and Venus

D) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for asteroids to form, between the present-day orbits of Venus and Earth

E) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for hydrogen and helium to condense, between the present-day orbits of Jupiter and Saturn

20) According to our theory of solar system formation, why do we find some exceptions to the general rules and patterns of the planets?

B) Most of the exceptions are the result of giant impacts.

A) Our theory is not quite correct because it cannot explain these exceptions.

C) The exceptions probably represent objects that formed recently, rather than early in the history of the solar system.

D) The exceptions probably represent objects that were captured by our solar system from interstellar space.

E) The exceptions exist because, even though our theory is as correct as possible, nature never follows rules precisely.

21) Which planet has the highest average surface temperature, and why?

C) Venus, because of its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere

A) Mercury, because it is closest to the Sun

B) Mercury, because of its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere

D) Mars, because of its red color

E) Jupiter, because it is so big

22) What is the primary reason that astronomers suspect that some jovian moons were captured into their current orbits?

D) Some moons have orbits that are "backwards" (compared to their planet's rotation) or highly inclined to their planet's equator.

A) Some moons have a composition that differs from the composition of the planets.

B) Astronomers have observed moons being captured.

C) Some moons are surprisingly large in size.

23) According to our present theory of solar system formation, how did Earth end up with enough water to make oceans?

C) The water was brought to the forming Earth by planetesimals that accreted beyond the orbit of Mars.

A) The water was mixed in the other materials in the planetesimals that accreted at our distance from the Sun.

B) The water was formed by chemical reactions among the minerals in the Earth's core.

D) Earth formed in the relatively narrow region of the solar nebular in which liquid water was plentiful.

24) The nebular theory of the formation of the solar system successfully predicts all but one of the following. Which one does the theory not predict?

C) the equal number of terrestrial and jovian planets

A) Planets orbit around the Sun in nearly circular orbits in a flattened disk.

B) the compositional differences between the terrestrial and jovian planets

D) asteroids, Kuiper-belt comets, and the Oort cloud

25) According to the nebular theory, how did the Kuiper belt form?

B) It is made of planetesimals that formed beyond Neptune's orbit and never accreted to form a planet.

A) It is material left over from the interstellar cloud that never contracted with the rest of the gases to form the solar nebula.

C) It consists of objects that fragmented from the protosun during a catastrophic collision early in the formation of the solar system.

D) It is made of planetesimals between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that never formed into a planet.

E) It is made of planetesimals formed in the outer solar system that were flung into distant orbits by encounters with the jovian planets.

26) What is the primary reason why a Pluto flyby mission would be cheaper than a Pluto orbiter?

D) The fuel needed for an orbiter to slow down when it reaches Pluto adds a lot of weight to the spacecraft.

A) The flyby can use less expensive cameras than the orbiter.

B) The flyby is easier to design than the orbiter.

C) The fuel needed for an orbiter to slow down when it reaches Pluto is very expensive in and of itself.

E) The question is incorrect; in general, orbiters are cheaper than flybys.

27) Suppose you start with 1 kilogram of a radioactive substance that has a half-life of 10 years. Which of the following statements will be true after 20 years pass?

A) You'll have 0.25 kilogram of the radioactive substance remaining.

B) All the material will have completely decayed.

C) You'll have 0.75 kilogram of the radioactive substance remaining.

D) You'll have 0.5 kilogram of the radioactive substance remaining.

28) How does the Sun's mass compare with that of the planets?

C) It is a thousand times more massive than all the planets combined.

A) It is a hundred times more massive than Earth.

B) It is a thousand times more massive than Earth.

D) It is about as massive as all the planets combined.

30) The spectra of most galaxies show redshifts. This means that their spectral lines

B) have wavelengths that are longer than normal.

A) always are in the red part of the visible spectrum.

C) have wavelengths that are shorter than normal.

D) have a higher intensity in the red part of the spectrum.

E) have normal wavelengths, but absorption of light makes them appear red.

31)Which of the following statements about light focusing is not true?

D)The focal plane of a reflecting telescope is always located within a few inches of the primary mirror.

A)In a healthy eye, light is focused on the retina.

B)Film should be placed at the focal plane in a camera.

C)If you try to look at an image that is not formed at the focal plane, it will be blurry.

E)Light can be focused with a lens or a mirror.

32)Which of the following could not be measured by an observation that uses only imaging?

A)the rate at which a variable star brightens and dims

B)the general shape of an interstellar cloud of gas

D)the brightness of a star in our sky

E)the number of bright stars in a nearby star cluster

33)Which of the following is not an advantage of the Hubble Space Telescope over ground-based telescopes?

B)Stars do not twinkle when observed from space.

C)It can observe infrared and ultraviolet light, as well as visible light.

D)It never has to close because of bad weather.

E)Observers on the ground can use it at any time of day (i.e., not only during their night).

34)What does the technique of interferometry allow?

B)It allows two or more telescopes to obtain the angular resolution of a single telescope much larger than any of the individual telescopes.

A)It allows two or more telescopes to obtain a total light-collecting area much larger than the total light-collecting area of the individual telescopes.

C)It allows us to determine the chemical composition of stars.

D)It allows astronomers to make astronomical observations without interference from light pollution.

E)It allows the same telescope to make images with both radio waves and visible light.

36)Where are most of the astroids found?

A)between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter

D)between the orbits of the Jovian planets

E)between the orbits of the terrestrial planets

37)How do asteroids differ from comets?

A)Asteroids are rocky bodies and are denser than the comets, which are made of icy material.

B)Asteroids are rocky bodies and are less dense than the comets, which are made of icy material.

C)Asteroids are made of icy material and are denser than the comets, which are more rocky.

D)Asteroids are made of icy material and are less dense than the comets, which are rockier.

E)Asteroids and comets are both made of rocky and icy material, but asteroids are smaller in size than comets.

38)Where did the elements heavier than hydrogen and helium come from?

C) They were produced inside stars.

A) They were produced in the Big Bang.

B) They evolved from hydrogen and helium shortly after the Big Bang.

D) They were produced inside dense interstellar gas.

39)Why did the solar nebula flatten into a disk?

D) It flattened as a natural consequence of collisions between particles in the spinning nebula, changing random motions into more orderly ones.

A) The interstellar cloud from which the solar nebula formed was originally somewhat flat.

B) The force of gravity from the Sun pulled the material downward into a flat disk.

C) As the nebula cooled, the gas and dust settled onto a disk.

E) The force of gravity from the planets pulled the material downward into a flat disk.

40)What happened during the accretion phase of the early solar system?

B) Particles grew by colliding and sticking together.

A) Atoms and molecules in the gas bonded together and solidified.

C) The solar nebula differentiated into metals inside of the frost line and ices beyond.

D) Large planetesimals captured atmospheres from the solar nebula.

E) Earth gained its oceans from icy planetesimal capture.

41)Based on our current theory of Earth's formation, the water we drink comes from

A) ice that condensed in the solar nebula in the region where Earth formed.

B) chemical reactions that occurred in Earth's crust after Earth formed.

C) chemical reactions that occurred in Earth's core after Earth formed.

D) material left behind during the giant impact that formed the Moon.

43)The age of the solar system can be established by radioactive dating of

B) the oldest rocks on the Moon.

45)How does visible light compare to radio waves?

C)Visible light waves have a shorter wavelength than radio waves.

A)Visible light is a form of light while radio waves are not.

B)Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic wave, while visible light is not.

D)Radio waves have a higher frequency than visible light waves.

46)Why don't we glow in the dark

B)People only emit light that is invisible to our eyes.

A)People do not emit any kind of light.

C)People are too small to emit enough light for us to see.

D)People do not contain enough radioactive material.

47)Why can cameras see objects too faint to be seen by the eye?

B. They can record light for a longer period of time.

C. Their detectors are more sensitive to light than the eye.

D. They have more pixels than the eye.

Astronomy Test 2

Authored by Laura Solimani

Science

University

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47 questions

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MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 5 pts

1) From shortest to longest wavelength, which of the following correctly orders the different categories of electromagnetic radiation?

A) infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X rays, gamma rays, radio

B) radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X rays, gamma rays

C) visible light, infrared, X rays, ultraviolet, gamma rays, radio

D) gamma rays, X rays, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, radio

E) gamma rays, X rays, visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, radio

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 5 pts

2) When an atom absorbs a photon containing energy, any of the following can happen except which?

A) The atom becomes excited.

B) The atom is ionized.

C) An electron moves from an upper energy level to a lower one.

D) An electron moves from a lower energy level to an upper one.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 5 pts

3) Consider an atom of gold in which the nucleus contains 79 protons and 118 neutrons. What is its atomic number and atomic weight?

A) The atomic number is 79, and the atomic weight is 197.

B) The atomic number is 79, and the atomic weight is 118.

C) The atomic number is 118, and the atomic weight is 197.

D) The atomic number is 118, and the atomic weight is 79.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 5 pts

4) How can an electron in an atom lose energy to go from a higher energy level to a lower energy level?

A) It loses kinetic energy.

B) It releases a photon equal in energy to its own energy drop.

C) It absorbs a photon equal in energy to its own energy drop.

D) It loses gravitational potential energy.

E) It exchanges gravitational potential energy for kinetic energy.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 5 pts

5) You observe a distant galaxy. You find that a spectral line normally found in the visible part of the spectrum is shifted toward the infrared. What do you conclude?

A) The galaxy is moving away from you.

B) The galaxy is moving toward you.

C) The galaxy has very weak gravity.

D) The galaxy is made purely of hydrogen.

E) The composition of the galaxy is changing.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 5 pts

6) Suppose the angular separation of two stars is smaller than the angular resolution of your eyes. How will the stars appear to your eyes?

A) You will not be able to see these two stars at all.

B) The two stars will look like a single point of light.

C) The two stars will appear to be touching, looking rather like a small dumbbell.

D) You will see two distinct stars.

E) You will see only the larger of the two stars, not the smaller one.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

30 sec • 5 pts

7) Which of the following could not be determined by an observation that uses only spectroscopy?

A) the chemical composition of a distant star

B) the speed at which a distant galaxy is moving away from us

C) the surface temperature of a distant star

D) the rotation rate of a distant star

E) the size of a distant galaxy

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