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Everything, The Universe...And Life

Total questions: 16

Worksheet time: 8mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

What field of astronomy does Phil Plait find the most exciting right now?

a)

stellar nucleosynthesis

b)

black holes

c)

exoplanets

d)

active galaxies

2.

When was the first confirmed detection of an exoplanet?

a)

1972

b)

1982

c)

1992

d)

2002

3.

Most of the detected exoplanets are giants, and likely to have very thick atmospheres like ___

a)

Mercury or Venus

b)

Venus or Mars

c)

Mars or Pluto

d)

Neptune or Jupiter

4.

In Earth-like atmospheres, which molecules are extremely reactive, and won't last long without being replenished?

a)

oxygen

b)

nitrogen

c)

carbon dioxide

d)

argon

5.

In Earth-like atmospheres, what is the easiest way we know to replenish oxygen?

a)

combustion

b)

biology

c)

stellar nucleosynthesis

d)

addition reactions

6.

Which infrared space telescope is designed to look for the signature of oxygen on distant worlds?

a)

the Spitzer Space Telescope

b)

Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE)

c)

the Einstein Observatory (HEAO 2)

d)

the James Webb Space Telescope

7.

We now think that most stars in the galaxy have planets. How many stars are in our galaxy?

a)

under 20 million stars

b)

about 200 million stars

c)

about 20 billion stars

d)

over 200 billion stars

8.

We see traces of life on Earth going back nearly ___

a)

4 million years

b)

40 million years

c)

4 billion years

d)

40 billion years

9.

Life existed on Earth not too long after it cooled enough to have ___

a)

liquid water on its surface

b)

solid water on its surface

c)

an oxygen atmosphere

d)

gaseous water in the atmosphere

10.

For most of Earth's history the most advanced life was basically ___

a)

minerals

b)

algae

c)

Carboniferous plants

d)

primates

11.

For communicating information across space, you don't need a lot of super sophisticated tech to make ___

a)

sound waves

b)

radio waves

c)

an interstellar version of the Pony Express

d)

a spaceship

12.

SETI stands for ___

a)

the "search for earth terraforming intelligence"

b)

the "search for extraterrestrial intelligence"

c)

the "seismic engineering of terrestrial intelligence"

d)

the "space for extraterrestrial interference"

13.

We've detected exoplanets older than our Earth. How old is our Earth?

a)

about 4.5 million years old

b)

about 45 million years old

c)

about 4.5 billion years old

d)

about 45 billion years old

14.

The folks at SETI scan the skies at various ___

a)

ultrasonic frequencies

b)

infrasonic frequencies

c)

radio wavelengths

d)

infrared wavelengths

15.

The SETI scientist Seth Shostak predicts that, if anyone out there is broadcasting, we'll pick up the signal in ___

a)

the next 5 years

b)

the next 20 years

c)

the next 50 years

d)

the next 200 years

16.

We now stand on the edge of understanding some our grandest questions, because of ___

a)

religion

b)

philosophy

c)

science

d)

theology