WorksheetsDistances
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 10mins
Name
Class
Date
1.
Which ancient civilization concluded that the Earth was round by observing sailing ships?
a)
ancient Romans
b)
ancient Greeks
c)
ancient Egyptians
d)
ancient Persians
2.
Which philosopher calculated the size of the Earth using shadows, angles and wells?
a)
Aristotle
b)
Pythagoras
c)
Eratosthenes
d)
Socrates
3.
You can see the curve of the Earth’s edge as the shadow moves across the Moon during ___
a)
a lunar eclipse
b)
a solar eclipse
c)
the Moon's cycle of phases
d)
a new moon
4.
In the 17th century, which two scientists laid the mathematical groundwork of planetary orbits?
a)
Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei
b)
Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke
c)
Galileo Galilei and Robert Hooke
d)
Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton
5.
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is given the name ___
a)
the basic astronomical distance, or BAD
b)
the Sun-Earth distance, or SED
c)
the astronomical unit, or AU
d)
the light-year, or LY
6.
The passage of a planet across the disk of the Sun is called ___
a)
a conveyance
b)
a transit
c)
osmosis
d)
a permeation
7.
When using transits to calculate the Earth-Sun distance, why are results not highly accurate?
a)
our atmosphere blurs the images
b)
the timing devices aren't accurate enough
c)
telescopes aren't powerful enough
d)
the events occur too rarely
8.
In the 1960s, to calculate the AU, radio telescopes were used to bounce radar pulses off of ___
a)
the Sun
b)
Venus
c)
Mercury
d)
Jupiter
9.
Our ability to determine distances between objects and see the world in three dimensions is called ___
a)
depth perception
b)
3D cognition
c)
triangulation
d)
perspicacity
10.
The shift in position of an object, viewed along two different lines of sight, is called ___
a)
paralyses
b)
triangulation
c)
parallax
d)
perspicacity
11.
When using parallax, the distance between the two observation points is called ___
a)
the astronomical distance
b)
the astronomical unit
c)
the wavelength
d)
the baseline
12.
The first star to have its parallax successfully measured was 61 Cygni, in the year ___
a)
1838
b)
1888
c)
1938
d)
1988
13.
A light-year is defined as ___
a)
the distance light travels in a year
b)
the time that light travels in a year
c)
the distance between the Earth and the Sun
d)
the time for Earth to orbit the Sun
14.
A parallax shift of one arcsecond (1/3600th of a degree) is called ___
a)
a light-year
b)
an astronomical unit
c)
a parsec
d)
a Kessel Run unit
15.
How far away is Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun?
a)
4.2 astronomical units
b)
42 astronomical units
c)
4.2 light years
d)
42 light years
16.
Two stars that give off the same amount of energy are said to have the same ___
a)
intrinsic brightness
b)
apparent brightness
c)
elemental luminosity
d)
native luminosity
17.
If you have two stars that are the same intrinsic brightness and one is twice as far as the other, it will be ___
a)
just as bright
b)
1/2 as bright
c)
1/4 as bright
d)
1/8 as bright
18.
The temperature of a star can be found using ___
a)
parallax
b)
spectroscopy
c)
trigonometry
d)
its diameter
19.
Some newer methods of finding distances use pulsars which are ___
a)
stars that seem to blink with a regular rhythm
b)
dying stars
c)
exploding stars
d)
stars that change size over time
20.
We see stars in other galaxies, which means we can use them to determine ___
a)
the size and scale of the Universe
b)
the size of our galaxy
c)
the scale of our solar system
d)
the accuracy of the astronomical unit
100 %
