Quiz about ASTRONOMY MIDTERM

Question 1

Tidal friction causes:

Accepted Answer

The Earth's spin to slow down and the days to lengthen

Answer

The moon's spin to speed up and move it closer to Earth

Answer

The Earth's spin to speed up and the days to lengthen

Answer

The Earth's spin to slow down and the days to shorten

Answer

The Earth's spin to speed up and the days to shorten

Question 2

The length of Earth's precession period is:

Accepted Answer

26,000 years

Answer

26,000 months

Answer

26,000 days

Answer

26,000,000 years

Question 3

A day when the earth's axis is either closest or farthest from the sun is known as a

Accepted Answer

solstice

Answer

rotation

Answer

lunar month

Answer

season

Answer

equinox

Question 4

During a total lunar eclipse, during totality, you'd expect:

Accepted Answer

To see an orange/copper red moon

Answer

To see a bluish moon

Answer

To see no stars

Answer

To see a full moon, bright as usual

Answer

To see no moon at all, it will be completely invisible

Question 5

This is the time when the sun is in its southernmost point:

Accepted Answer

When it's winter in the northern hemisphere

Answer

When it's summer in the northern hemisphere

Answer

During the summer solstice

Answer

During fall in the northern hemisphere

Answer

When it's winter in the southern hemisphere

Question 6

The point in Earth's orbit where it's closest to the sun is called the:

Accepted Answer

Perihelion

Answer

Aphelion

Answer

Fall equinox

Answer

Spring solstice

Answer

Spring equinox

Question 7

Precession causes:

Accepted Answer

The coordinates of stars to change with time

Answer

The Earth to revolve around the sun clockwise

Answer

Nothing to happen

Answer

The Earth to change its rotation to a clockwise fashion

Answer

None of these answers are correct

Question 8

The northern lights are the:

Accepted Answer

Aurora Borealis

Answer

Aurora Europalis

Answer

Aurora Americalis

Answer

None of these answers are correct

Answer

Aurora Australis

Question 9

Which of these is true of areas located near the equator?

Accepted Answer

They have little variation in temperature.

Answer

Their location to the equator does not affect their temperature.

Answer

They have cold winters and cold summers

Answer

They have very cold winters.

Answer

They have hot summers and cold winters.

Question 10

Which of these is true?

Accepted Answer

We never get to see the far side of the moon

Answer

The far side of the moon is always in total darkness

Answer

The moon doesn't rotate

Answer

The side of the moon we see is always illuminated by the sun

Answer

The moon doesn't orbit the Earth

Question 11

The first phase of the moon is:

Accepted Answer

The new moon

Answer

First quarter

Answer

Waxing crescent

Answer

The full moon

Answer

Last quarter

Question 12

This is the phase of the moon that follows the waxing crescent:

Accepted Answer

First quarter

Answer

Waning crescent

Answer

Full moon

Answer

Waxing quarter

Answer

Waning gibbous

Question 13

Which of these statements is incorrect?

Accepted Answer

The sky is red during daylight hours on the moon.

Answer

The moon is unable to hold on to much of its atmosphere

Answer

The solar wind contributes to and also removes molecules and atoms of gas away from the moon

Answer

The moon's temperature varies greatly because of its thin atmosphere

Answer

The sky is black during daylight hours on the moon

Question 14

The Giant Impact theory states that ____.

Accepted Answer

the Earth was hit by something huge and a piece of the Earth was ejected into space

Answer

when the Earth was young, it spun so fast that a piece of it broke off and was flung into space where it became the Moon

Answer

the Moon was formed elsewhere in the universe and was captured by the Earth's gravitational field when it came too close

Answer

the Earth and Moon formed at the same time from a nebula

Question 15

The new moon would be expected to rise at:

Accepted Answer

Sunrise

Answer

Midnight

Answer

None of these answers are correct

Answer

Sunset

Answer

Noon

Question 16

You'd expect the first quarter moon to rise at:

Accepted Answer

Noon

Answer

Midnight

Answer

None of these answers are correct

Answer

Sunrise

Answer

Sunset

Question 17

The synodic month is sometimes known as the:

Accepted Answer

Lunar month

Answer

Sidereal month

Answer

Lunar sidereal

Answer

Lunar synodic

Answer

Lunar week

Question 18

This is the phase of the moon we normally don't see:

Accepted Answer

New moon

Answer

Waning Gibbous

Answer

Waxing crescent

Answer

Full moon

Answer

Waning crescent

Question 19

This is an extension of the solar corona expanding into space, composed of a stream of atoms, ions, protons, and electrons flowing away from the sun at upwards of 1000 km/s:

Accepted Answer

The solar wind

Answer

The magnetic carpet

Answer

The photosphere

Answer

The chromosphere

Answer

The solar ocean

Question 20

Which of these is not correct regarding a prominence?

Accepted Answer

It is located in the photosphere

Answer

It is a bright, relatively dense gas formation.

Answer

It is located in the chromosphere and corona.

Answer

Its makeup is of ionized gas.

Answer

It's a relatively cool arch of gas.

Question 21

Sunspots occur because (choose the best answer):

Accepted Answer

Magnetic fields disrupt the normal process of convection

Answer

Magnetic fields disrupt the normal process of radiation

Answer

The lack of magnetic fields stops the process of convection

Answer

The sun has too much melanin accumulating from years of U.V. damage from exposure to itself

Answer

Magnetic fields disrupt the normal process of conduction

Question 22

The visible glowing surface of the sun is called the/a:

Accepted Answer

Photosphere

Answer

Sunspot

Answer

Chromosphere

Answer

Supergranule

Question 23

The solar corona is:

Accepted Answer

The outermost layer of the solar atmosphere

Answer

The innermost layer of the sun's atmosphere

Answer

Is a very dense layer of gas

Answer

Is colder than the photosphere

Answer

The middle layer of the sun's atmosphere

Question 24

What is happening in the sun's core?

Accepted Answer

Nuclear fusion

Answer

Nuclear fission

Answer

Nothing

Answer

The star is collapsing inward

Answer

Carbon is burning

Question 25

This is a sudden, brief (typically lasting only a few minutes), and explosive release of solar magnetic energy:

Accepted Answer

Solar flare

Answer

Filament

Answer

Corona

Answer

Coronal mass ejection

Answer

Prominence

Question 26

The planets all revolve in the same direction because they all:

Accepted Answer

Formed in a rotating disk of gas

Answer

Evolved from a different cloud of gas

Answer

Formed in a stationary disk of gas

Answer

Got hit by some giant object that sent them miraculously spinning the same way

Answer

None of these answers are correct

Question 27

Venus rotates:

Accepted Answer

Counterclockwise

Answer

The same way as Uranus

Answer

In the same direction as all the other planets

Answer

Clockwise

Answer

On its side

Question 28

This is a small icy body that orbits in the solar system and develops a tail of gas as it approaches the sun:

Accepted Answer

Comet

Answer

Iceberg! Straight Ahead!

Answer

Meteoroid

Answer

Asteroid

Answer

Moon

Question 29

This is the hypothesis that states that our solar system formed thanks to a sudden and improbable event such as the collision of two stars:

Accepted Answer

Catastrophic hypothesis

Answer

Alvarez hypothesis

Answer

Solar nebula theory

Answer

The big solar bang

Answer

Evolutionary hypothesis

Question 30

What is the name for the cloud of interstellar gas and dust that condensed to form the entire solar system, including the sun and planets?

Accepted Answer

Planetary nebula

Answer

Catastrophic nebula

Answer

Interstellar nebula

Answer

Condensing nebula

Question 31

What is the IAU's definition of a dwarf planet?

Accepted Answer

A celestial body in direct orbit of the sun that is massive enough to form an ellipsoid shape from its gravitational force, but has not cleared its neighborhood from other objects.

Answer

Any object that isn't big enough to be rounded by its own gravity.

Answer

A celestial body that orbits another celestial body.

Answer

A celestial body that is larger than a planet.

Question 32

What are small rocky objects with gravity known as?

Accepted Answer

Asteroids

Answer

Planets

Answer

Stars

Answer

Galaxies

Question 33

Which region of space, filled with small, icy bodies, is found starting about 30 AU (just beyond the orbit of Neptune) from the sun?

Accepted Answer

Kuiper belt

Answer

Pluto belt

Answer

Martian belt

Answer

Asteroid belt

Question 34

A comet is a(n)

Accepted Answer

icy ball of rock that displays a coma, a fuzzy temporary atmosphere, or a tail when it travels close to the sun.

Answer

a class of small inner solar system bodies that orbit around the sun.

Answer

a planet that has yet to be named.

Answer

a natural object from small to ginormous that originates in space and survives impact with the Earth's surface.

Question 35

An asteroid is a(n)

Accepted Answer

a class of small inner solar system bodies that orbit around the sun.

Answer

area between Mars and Jupiter where rocks are born.

Answer

a cloud called the Oort cloud in the outer reaches of the solar system.

Answer

icy ball of rock that displays a coma, a fuzzy temporary atmosphere, or a tail when it travels close to the sun.

Question 36

Comets come from

Accepted Answer

the Oort Cloud or the Kuiper Belt.

Answer

the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Answer

an area of small inner solar system bodies that orbit around the sun.

Answer

anywhere in the Milky Way but not in our solar system.

Question 37

Asteroids originate mostly in the

Accepted Answer

Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

Answer

Area between Neptune and Pluto

Answer

Oort cloud

Answer

Kuiper belt

Question 38

A meteorite is a(n)

Accepted Answer

natural object from small to ginormous that originates in space and survives impact with the Earth's surface.

Answer

icy ball of rock that displays a coma, a fuzzy temporary atmosphere, or a tail when it travels close to the sun.

Answer

asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Answer

a class of small inner solar system bodies that orbit around the sun.

Question 39

The Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram:

Accepted Answer

Plots a star's luminosity vs. surface temperature

Answer

Plots a star's color vs. surface temperature

Answer

Plots a star's size vs. surface temperature

Answer

Plots a star's density vs. surface temperature

Question 40

Where would you find a red giant on the H-R diagram?

Accepted Answer

In the upper right

Answer

In the upper left

Answer

In the lower right

Answer

On the main sequence

Question 41

Where would you find a blue giant on the H-R diagram?

Accepted Answer

In the upper left

Answer

On the main sequence

Answer

In the lower right

Answer

In the upper right

Question 42

Using your knowledge of how distance, apparent brightness, and luminosity relate to one another, then if an imaginary star were to move farther away from us, yet maintain its apparent brightness at the same time, then:

Accepted Answer

Its luminosity has to increase

Answer

Its luminosity must decrease

Answer

It has to radiate less energy per second

Answer

It must become smaller

Question 43

If you triple the distance to a light source, then the apparent brightness will:

Accepted Answer

Decrease by 9

Answer

Increase by 9

Answer

Decrease by 3

Answer

Increase by 6

Question 44

What spectral classification is our sun?

Accepted Answer

G

Answer

m

Answer

F

Answer

B

Question 45

What spectral classification of stars is the hottest?

Accepted Answer

O

Answer

K

Answer

M

Answer

F

Question 46

What is the spectral order of stars from hottest to coolest?

Accepted Answer

OBAFGKM

Answer

OFAMKGB

Answer

MKGFABO

Answer

MAOBKGF

Question 47

Using the magnitude scale, a star with magnitude 6 is ______ than a star with magnitude 1.

Accepted Answer

Fainter

Answer

Brighter

Answer

Larger

Answer

Closer

Question 48

Apparent Visual Magnitude takes ______ into account.

Accepted Answer

Only visible light

Answer

None of these answers are correct

Answer

All forms of light

Answer

Only UV and Infrared light

Question 49

The brightness of a star as seen from Earth is known as:

Accepted Answer

Apparent visual magnitude

Answer

Luminosity

Answer

Absolute visual magnitude

Answer

Partial visual magnitude

Question 50

The total energy a star radiates in one second is:

Accepted Answer

Luminosity

Answer

None of these answers are correct

Answer

Apparent luminosity

Answer

Apparent visual magnitude

Question 51

Luminosity is sometimes called:

Accepted Answer

Intrinsic brightness

Answer

Absolute visual brightness

Answer

Apparent visual magnitude

Answer

Apparent brightness

Question 52

There is:

Accepted Answer

No liquid water on Mars, only water ice

Answer

No evidence of prior liquid water on Mars

Answer

No water at all on Mars

Answer

All of these answers are correct

Question 53

The closest planet to the sun and the planet that revolves fastest around the sun is:

Accepted Answer

Mercury

Answer

Earth

Answer

Mars

Answer

Jupiter

Question 54

The process that helped increase the levels of oxygen on Earth is known as:

Accepted Answer

Photosynthesis

Answer

Global warming

Answer

Greenhouse effect

Answer

Nitrogen cycle

Question 55

Which phases of the moon are associated with weak ocean tides?

Accepted Answer

First Quarter

Accepted Answer

Third Quarter

Answer

New Moon

Answer

Full Moon

Question 56

Which planet is the smallest in the solar system?

Accepted Answer

Mercury

Answer

Both Mercury and Venus

Answer

Venus

Answer

Earth

Question 57

The atmosphere on Venus:

Accepted Answer

Contributes to a significant greenhouse effect

Answer

None of these answers is correct

Answer

Is very thin

Answer

Is mainly composed of water vapor

Question 58

Technically, the absolute visual magnitude of a star is what its apparent visual magnitude would be if the star was only ____ away:

Accepted Answer

10 pc

Answer

10 m

Answer

10 km

Answer

10 seconds

Answer

10 light years

Question 59

Unlike luminosity, apparent brightness depends on:

Accepted Answer

Distance

Answer

Light

Answer

Energy

Answer

Radiation

ASTRONOMY MIDTERM

Create a free account and access millions of resources

Similar Resources on Wayground

Popular Resources on Wayground

Discover more resources for Science