The word astronomy means:
"Patterns among the stars."
"To study the stars."
"Discovering the universe."
"Personally traits set by the stars."
The number of classical planets in our Solar System is:
Eight
Nine
Twevle
Six
Four
A light-year is a unit commonly used in astronomy as a measure of:
Time
Speed
Mass
Distance
A term to confuse students
The early universe was composed mainly of which two elements?
Hydrogen and helium
Carbon and oxygen
Hydrogen and oxygen
Carbon and iron
Nitrogen and oxygen
There are ________ constellations in the entire sky.
12
13
88
Hundreds of
Thousands of
The meridian is defined as an imaginary circe on the sky on which lie the :
Celestial equator and vernal equinox.
North and south celestial poles.
Zenith and the north and south celestial poles.
Zenith and east and west directions.
Celestial equator and summer solstice.
What defines the location of the equator on Earth?
The axis around which Earth rotates.
Where the ground is the warmest.
The tilt of Earth's rotational axis relative to its orbit around the Sun.
The orbit of Earth around the Sun.
All of the above.
The direction directly overhead of an observer defines his or her:
Meridian
Celestial pole
Nadir
Circumpolar plane
Zenith
The apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of a year is called the:
Prime meridian
Ecliptic
Celestial equator
Eclipse
Which laws are based entirely on observational data without having any theoretical framework behind them?
Physical laws
Galileo's laws of planetary motion
Newton's law of motion
Deductive laws
Empirical laws
The time it takes a planet to complete one full orbital revolution is commonly known as its:
Period
Frequency
Orbital domain
Velocity
Eccentricity
If the Sun is located at one focus of Earth's elliptical orbit, what is at the other focus?
Earth
The moon
Another planet
Nothing
Jupiter
Kepler's third law is a relationship between an orbiting object's:
Gravitational force and mass
Acceleration and mass
Velocity and period
Period and semimajor axis
Semimajor axis and velocity
Newton's first law states that objects in motion:
Eventually come to rest.
Experience an unbalanced force.
Experience a nonzero acceleration.
Stay in motion.
Must wait for the second law to be enacted.
Which if the following properties of an astronaut changes when he or she is standing on the moon, relative to when the astronaut is standing on Earth?
Weight
Inertia
All of the above
Nothing changes
Suppose you are suddenly transported to a planet with 1/4 the mass of Earth but the same radius as the Earth. Your weight would ________ by a factor of ________.
Increase; 4
Increase; 16
Decrease; 4
Decrease; 16
Increase; 2
The force of gravity that an object is directly proportional to its:
Size
Density
If you measured the orbital period of the Moon and the distance between the Earth and the Moon then you could calculate:
The mass of the Moon
The sum of the masses of the Earth and the Moon
The average distance between the Earth and Sun
The radius of the Earth
The radius of the Moon
The speed of light was first determined by which scientist?
Galileo
Bugs Bunny
Romer
Einstein
If the Sun instantaneously stopped giving off light, what would happen on Earth?
It would immediately get dark.
It would get dark 8 minutes later.
It would het dark 27 minutes later.
It would get dark 1 hour later.
IT would get dark 24 hours later.
A light-year is a unit that is used to measure:
Wavelength
Energy
If the frequency of a beam of light were to increase, its period would ________ and its wavelength would ________?
Decrease, increase.
Increase; decrease.
Increase; increase.
Decrease; decrease.
Stay the same; stay the same
Which of the following lists different types of electromagnetic radiation in order from the smallest wavelength to the largest wavelength?
Radio waves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-rays.
Gamma rays, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, radio waves.
Gamma rays, X-rays, infrared, visible, ultraviolet.
X-rays, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, radio waves.
Radio waves, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, gamma rays
As wavelength increases, the energy of a photon ________ and its frequency ________.
Increases; decreases.
Increases; increases.
Decreases; decreases.
Decreases; increases
How do the wavelength and frequency of red light compare to the wavelength and frequency of blue light?
Red light has a longer wavelength and higher frequency than blue light.
Red light has a longer wavelength and lower frequency than blue light.
Red light has a shorter wavelength and higher frequency than blue light.
Red light has a shorter wavelength and lower frequency than blue light
Why is an iron atom a different element than a carbon atom?
A carbon atom has fewer neutrons in its nucleus than an iron atom.
An iron atom has more protons in its nucleus than a carbon atom.
An iron atom has more electrons than a carbon atom.
A carbon atom is bigger than an iron atom.
All of the above are true.
When an electron moves from a higher energy level in an tom to a lower energy level:
The atom is ionized.
A continuous spectrum is emitted.
A photon is absorbed.
The electron needs to lie down to take a rest.
A photon is emitted.
Which of these objects would emit an absorption spectrum?
An incandescent light bulb.
A fluorescent light bulb.
An isolated hot gas cloud.
A hot, solid object.
A thin, cool gas cloud that lies in front of a hotter blackbody.
A spaceship is traveling toward Earth while giving off a constant radio signal with a wavelength of 1 meter. What will the signal look like to people on Earth?
A signal with a wavelength less than 1m.
A signal with a wavelength more than 1m.
A signal moving faster than the speed of light.
A signal moving slower than the speed of light.
A signal with a wavelength of 1m, moving the normal the normal speed of light.
Which of these would have the biggest redshift?
A star moving slowly toward you.
A star moving fast toward you.
A star moving slowly away from you.
A star moving fast away from you.
A star that is not moving away from you or toward you.
What does it mean to say that an object is in thermal equilibrium?
It isn't absorbing any energy.
It isn't radiating any energy.
It is radiating more energy than it is absorbing.
It is absorbing more energy than it is radiating.
It is absorbing the same amount of energy that it is radiating.
The Kelvin temperature scale is used in astronomy because:
At 0 K an object has absolutely zero energy.
Water freezes at 0 K.
Water boils at 100 K.
Hydrogen freezes at 0 K.
The highest temperature possible is 1000 K.
Why do some stars in the sky appear blue, while other stars appear red?
The red stars are hotter on their surfaces than the blue stars.
The blue stars are hotter on their surfaces than the red stars.
The blue stars are closer to us than the red stars.
The red stars are closer to us than the blue stars.
The blue stars are moving away from us faster than the red stars.
A reflecting telescope is preferable over a refracting telescope because:
Its lack of chromatic aberration.
Its shorter length for the same aperture size.
There is no aperture limit.
Its lighter weight for larger apertures.
All of the above are valid reasons.
Which telescope would collect 100 times more light than a 1-meter telescope?
100-meter telescope.
80-meter telescope.
50-meter telescope.
30-meter telescope.
10-meter telescope.
Chromatic aberration results from:
Blue light being reflected more than red light.
Red light being reflecting more than blue light.
Red light being refracted more than blue light.
Blue light being refracted more than red light.
A lens being polished incorrectly.
