ASTR 135.02 Final Exam 2001.12.19 – form A
Name:_________________________ID number:____________________
For multiple choice questions, circle the letter of the most correct answer.
1) It is now generally accepted that extremely large numbers of incipient comets surround the solar system in a spherical shell nearly one light-year in radius called the
a)
Asteroid
belt
b)
Kuiper
Belt
c)
Oort
cloud
d)
Halley
Sphere
e)
Bode
zone
2)
What
is remarkable about comet Halley?
a)
It
crashed into Jupiter in 1994.
b)
It
was the brightest comet in recent years.
c)
It
came close to hitting Earth.
d)
It
broke apart due to tidal forces.
e)
It
was the first comet recognized to be periodic.
3)
If
a fragment of interplanetary matter survives its descent to Earth, and you
later pick it up, you are holding a
a)
meteoroid
b)
meteorite
c)
meteor
d)
bolide
e)
chondrite
4)
When
Earth passes through the region of space occupied by a dead or dying periodic
comet’s orbit we experience a(n)
a)
aurorae
b)
explosion
c)
meteor
fall
d)
meteor
shower
e)
meteor
radiant
5)
The
size of object that is considered to impart the greatest risk to humans is a
a)
Meteoroidal
impactor, less than a few meters across
b)
Small
impactor, less than 1 km across
c)
Large
impactor, more than 10 km across
d)
Medim
impactor, a few km across
6)
The
bottom layer of the solar atmosphere is the
a)
corona
b)
photosphere
c)
chromosphere
d)
convective
envelope
e)
solar
wind
7)
The
spiky atmospheric layer just above the sun’s visible layer is the
a)
corona
b)
photosphere
c)
chromosphere
d)
convective
envelope
e)
solar
wind
8)
If
you consider the sun as a blackbody, its λmax is in the ______
part of the spectrum
a)
ultraviolet
b)
visible
c)
infrared
d)
microwave
e)
X-ray
9)
Solar
surface granulation is caused by
a)
radiation
b)
convection
c)
conduction
d)
thermal
flux
e)
radioactivity
10)
The
most correct name for the process that powers the sun is
a)
thermonuclear
fission
b)
gravity
c)
thermonuclear
fusion
d)
thermodynamic
equilibrium
e)
oxidation
11)
Compared
to surrounding regions on the solar “surface,” sunspots are
a)
hotter
b)
cooler
c)
deficient
in helium
d)
at
higher altitude
e)
at
lower altitude
12)
Categories
of stars based on their respective spectra are called
a)
absorption
groups
b)
spectral
groups
c)
spectral
types
d)
line
groups
e)
luminosity
classes
13)
Stellar
parallax is
a)
how
the star moves across the sky
b)
why
light rays go parallel to each other
c)
a
method for getting star distances
d)
the
reason stars do not collide
e)
measured
in parsecs
14)
The
magnitude that a star would have if it were placed at the standard 10-parsec
distance is its
a)
apparent
magnitude
b)
parallax
c)
brightness
d)
luminosity
e)
absolute
magnitude
15)
A
star at 1000 parsecs distance has a brightness of 16 femtowatts/m2.
An identical star at 500 parsecs would have a brightness of
a)
8
femtowatts/m2
b)
32
femtowatts/m2
c)
4
femtowatts/m2
d)
64
femtowatts/m2
e)
16
femtowatts/m2
16)
Which
of the following stars has the hottest photospheric temperature?
a)
K
b)
O
c)
G
d)
A
e)
Brown
dwarf
17)
It
is March. Approximately, what is the right ascension of the sun?
a)
0
h
b)
6
h
c)
12
h
d)
18
h
18)
It
is late June. Approximately, what is the right ascension of the moon if it is
full?
a)
0
h
b)
6
h
c)
12
h
d)
18
19)
It
is late December. Approximately, what is the sun’s declination?
a)
–66.6°
b)
–23.4°
c)
0°
d)
23.4°
e)
66.6°
20)
At
sunset one evening you notice the moon high in the sky directly south. What
phase is it in?
a)
new
b)
first
quarter
c)
full
d)
last
quarter
21)
As
seen from Pullman, when will an upright flagpole cast no shadow because the sun
is directly above the flagpole?
a)
Every
day at noon.
b)
On
the first day of summer.
c)
On
the first day of winter
d)
On
both the spring and fall equinoxes.
e)
Never.
22)
The
period-luminosity relation applies to which kind of variable star?
a)
Cepheid
variables
b)
RR
Lyrae variables
c)
Mira
variables
d)
Cataclysmic
variables
e)
Delta
Scuti variables
23)
If
one RR Lyrae variable has the pulsation period as another RR Lyrae variable but
appears 4 magnitudes brighter, then its absolute magnitude is
a)
4
magnitudes fainter
b)
4
magnitudes brighter
c)
1
magnitude fainter
d)
¼
magnitudes fainter
e)
the
same
24)
Star
clusters with dozens to thousands of stars containing relatively large amounts
of heavier elements are called
a)
globular
clusters
b)
galaxy
clusters
c)
open
clusters
d)
heavy
clusters
25)
Most
globular clusters are located in the Milky Way’s
a)
spheroid
b)
disk
c)
neither
d)
both
26)
Young
stars in the Milky Way are located in the
a)
spheroid
b)
disk
c)
neither
d)
both
27)
Nearly
circular, coplanar star orbits are the hallmark of the
a)
spheroid
b)
disk
c)
neither
d)
both
28)
A
star cluster’s age is found by finding
a)
the
RR Lyrae variable stars
b)
the
most massive main-sequence star
c)
the
brightest red giant
d)
the
cool end of the main sequence
29)
Which
main sequence star will live the longest time?
a)
A
b)
F
c)
M
d)
O
e)
B
30)
Main
sequence stars produce energy by destroying
a)
Carbon
b)
Helium
c)
Hydrogen
d)
Oxygen
31)
The
process of building heavier atoms from lighter ones is called
a)
atom
building.
b)
nuclear
mitosis
c)
nucleosynthesis
d)
ionization
e)
chemistry
32)
When
a low-mass star nears the end of its life, it ejects shells of gas into space
forming a(n)
a)
dust
cloud
b)
asteroid
belt
c)
planetary
nebula
d)
protoplanet
e)
solar
system
33)
Jocelyn
Bell discovered a new type of celestial object in 1967 with a radio telescope.
After the possibility that it was a signal from an alien civilization was
discarded, these objects were named
a)
radio
stars
b)
quasars
c)
binary
stars
d)
supernovae
e)
pulsars
34)
Black
holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs can all be occasionally found surrounded
by a disk of material gathered up from a(n)
a)
presolar
nebula
b)
companion
star
c)
planetary
nebula
d)
solar
wind
e)
supernova
remnant
35)
If,
after a supernova, the stellar remnant at the center masses about two solar
masses, the result is a
a)
white
dwarf
b)
neutron
star
c)
black
hole
d)
brown
dwarf
36)
Matter
flowing into the gravitational field of a black hole will form a(n)
a)
bipolar
flow
b)
accretion
disk
c)
planet
d)
singularity
e)
asteroid
belt
37)
Which
type of nebulae is associated with a newly formed star cluster?
a)
dark
nebula
b)
H
II region
c)
planetary
nebula
d)
solar
nebula
38)
What
kind of objects did Harlow Shapley study to find that the sun was many thousand
parsecs from the center of the Milky Way?
a)
open
clusters
b)
galaxy
clusters
c)
globular
clusters
d)
elliptical
clusters
39)
The
hydrogen in an H II region is predominantly
a)
neutral
b)
ionized
c)
molecular
d)
bonded
with oxygen
40)
Most
of the Milky Way’s gas is in the
a)
disk
b)
spheroid
c)
both
d)
neither
41)
He
III has two protons and
a)
2
electrons
b)
4
electrons
c)
1
electron
d)
3
electrons
e)
0
electrons
42)
The
Hubble “tuning fork” classification system considers what galaxy attribute?
a)
size
b)
shape
c)
luminosity
d)
mass
43)
The
small galaxy cluster containing the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about
20 smaller galaxies is the
a)
Virgo
cluster
b)
Large
Magellanic Cloud
c)
Pleiades
d)
Perseus
cluster
e)
Local
group
44)
Edwin
Hubble found the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy by using the inverse-square
law on
a)
RR
Lyrae variable stars
b)
Cepheid
variable stars
c)
Long-period
variable stars
d)
Globular
clusters
e)
Main-sequence
stars
45)
The
implication of the “Hubble Law” is that the universe is
a)
expanding
b)
contracting
c)
steady
state
d)
finite
e)
infinite
46)
Assuming
H = 50 km/s/Mpc, we would expect a galaxy at a distance of 300 million parsecs
to have a recessional velocity of
a)
60
km/s
b)
60
Mpc
c)
15000
km/s
d)
15000
Mpc
e)
300
km/s
47)
What
is probably at the center of a quasar?
a)
A
nucleus
b)
A
neutron star
c)
A
black hole
d)
A
white hole
e)
A
cataclysmic variable
48)
A
closed universe has density
a)
less
than critical density.
b)
equal
to critical density.
c)
more
than critical density.
d)
zero
49)
The
cosmic background radiation was predicted as an outcome of the
a)
Steady-state
theory
b)
Theory
of General Relativity
c)
Theory
of stellar evolution
d)
Big
Bang theory
50)
At
redshift 1000 the CBR had a temperature of 3000 K. What is its observed
temperature?
a)
3000
K
b)
300
K
c)
30
K
d)
3
K
e)
0.3
K
51)
Draw
an H-R diagram below. Label the horizontal and vertical axes. Label 4 named
regions on the diagram where stars congregate.
52)
Explain
the Fermi paradox.