Introductory Astronomy: Old Test Questions

Sky behavior and Astronomy History

At [sunset/midnight/sunrise/noon], a moon that is overhead is in what phase?: new; first quarter; full; last quarter
The formula P² = a³ is an expression of: Newton's second law; Kepler's first law; Kepler's second law; Kepler's third law
At what time is a [first-quarter/full/last-quarter/new] moon overhead?: 12 noon; 6 p.m.; 12 midnight; 6 a.m.
The daily rotation of the earth has what consequence?: The sun moves along the ecliptic about 1° a day.; The moon shows phases.; Time exposures of the night sky show star trails.; In May, the sun is really in Aries, not Taurus like the astrology columns all say.
What is 2 × 10⁶ multiplied by 10^-3?: 2 × 10^-3; 2 × 10³; 2 × 10⁹; 1/2 × 10^-3
A young, hip civilization on the planet Bebop has two cities almost directly north and south of each other. Vertical sticks placed at both cities show that the sun's angle is 10° different between the two cities, which are 1000 km apart. What is the circumference of planet Bebop?: 360 km; 3,600 km; 36,000 km; 360,000 km
The name for the average sun-to-earth distance is: a parsec.; an astronomical unit.; a light year.; a year.
The sun's path (ecliptic) and the celestial equator cross at: the equinoxes.; the zodiac.; the nexus.; the precession.
On June 21, the summer solstice, you are vacationing on a cruise ship in the Pacific ocean. The Captain tells you that the ship is located on the Tropic of Cancer. (It is summer in the northern hemisphere, and the Tropic of Cancer is the northern tropic.) That noon, you can expect the sun to pass: 23.4 degrees north of the southern horizon.; 23.4 degrees north of the zenith.; 23.4 degrees south of the zenith.; directly overhead.
What did Galileo not see?: Mountains on the earth's moon.; Uranus's moons Titania and Oberon.; Jupiter's 4 largest moons.; The phases of Venus.
Let's suppose the force that the sun exerts on Mars is exactly 10²² Newtons. What would the force be if Mars were twice as far away?: 0.25 × 10²² N.; 0.5 × 10²² N.; 2.0 × 10²² N.; 4.0 × 10²² N.
Retrograde motion is exhibited: by inner planets.; by the moon.; by outer planets.; during eclipses.
To have a solar eclipse, the sun, moon, and earth are in this order:: moon-sun-earth; sun-earth-moon; sun-moon-earth; earth-sun-moon
What is one of the reasons the sun does not keep ``mean solar time?'': The earth spins at different speeds during different parts of the year.; Don't be silly, the sun doesn't even have a watch.; Because of earth's 23.4 degree tilt the sun's motion does not project uniformly on the celestial equator.; The earth's orbit is elliptical and therefore its orbital speed varies slightly.
Which astronomer of antiquity measured the size of the earth?: Eratosthenes; Aristarchus; Ptolemy; Copernicus
Which astronomer of antiquity made elaborate models of an earth-centered universe?: Aristarchus; Ptolemy; Copernicus; Tycho Brahe
Which astronomer of antiquity first applied a telescope to astronomical observation?: Ptolemy; Copernicus; Tycho Brahe; Galileo Galilei
The formula F=ma is: Kepler's third law.; Newton's first law.; Newton's second law.; a formula used by Galileo.
Seasons are caused by the earth's orbital motion and: tropics and circles.; earth's axial tilt.; a variable sun.; precession of the equinoxes.
Where on earth do you have to be in order to see the south celestial pole directly overhead?: North pole; Tropic of Cancer; Equator; South Pole
When is the next leap year? (Do not use the Julian calendar.): 2018; 2019; 2020; 2024
Why isn't there a lunar eclipse every full moon and a solar eclipse every new moon?
What are degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds (and how many of which fit into what)?
Sketch an ellipse below. Label at least four parts important for the geometry of an ellipse.
Sketch an outer planet (Mars, for example) and its orbit(s) in two different cosmological models. On the left sketch Mars's orbit(s) as envisioned by Ptolemy, on the right as envisioned by Copernicus.
Make a sketch illustrating why we have seasons.

Light and Telescopes

Who first used the telescope to look at planets?
Who invented the reflecting telescope?
How is the energy carried by one photon related to the wavelength of light carried by that photon?
How is the temperature of a blackbody related to the wavelength at which most of its light is emitted?
Name the three main types of spectra and give examples for objects that give off the spectra.
List these in the correct order, shortest wavelength first: visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, microwave, gamma rays, radio, X-rays.
An astronomer takes a high resolution spectrum of a nearby star and finds that a spectral line normally seen at 5000 Å appears instead at 5005 Å. This star is: coming toward us.; going away from us.
If the speed of light is 3 × 10⁵ km/s, the velocity of the star in the previous question is: 3 km/s.; 30 km/s.; 300 km/s.; 500 km/s.; 3000 km/s.

Inner Planets

What causes the aurora borealis (and aurora australis)?
Plate tectonics is important in shaping the surface of: Earth; Venus; Moon; Mars
Hot-spot volcanism created truly gargantuan mountains on: Earth; Venus; Moon; Mars
The ``oldest surface'' award goes to: Earth; Venus; Moon; Mars
The ``largest greenhouse effect'' award goes to: Earth; Venus; Moon; Mars
Mercury's orbital period is very close to 1/4 that of earth. Does that imply that Mercury is located at 1/4 A.U.?: yes; no
After a sun-drenched day Joe Beachcomber watches a crystalline tropical sunset and notices (1) there are neap tides, and (2) he doesn't see any moon in the sky. The phase of the moon is: new; first quarter; full; last quarter
The planets' paths in the sky stay quite close to: the celestial equator; the ecliptic; the line of nodes; the vernal equinox
The fact that the plane of the moon's orbit is much closer to the ecliptic than to the earth's equatorial plane argues most strongly against which of these lunar formation scenarios?: fission; cocreation; capture; collision
The fact that the moon's density and isotopic composition closely resembles the mantle layers of earth favors which lunar formation scenario?: cocreation; capture; collision
Which method for making an atmosphere is almost certainly not important, at least for Venus and the earth?: Early accretion of icy bodies; Solar nebula; Solar wind; Late comet and asteroid impacts
Which structural layer of earth is liquid?: inner core; outer core; mantle; crust
Radar is nifty because information on the following is available, even through clouds:: distance and angular size; a unique spectral signature of the composition; all your favorite radio stations; distance and velocity
If interstellar miners removed half of the mass of the moon, by what factor would the moon-earth gravitational force change?: 1/4; 1/2; no change; 2
By counting craters we know that lunar _________ are older.: maria; highlands
Sketch the geometry of the orbit of Mars, labeling at least 3 geometrical features and indicating the position of the sun. It is OK to exaggerate the eccentricity of the orbit to show the parts more clearly.
Why is CO₂ missing from Earth's atmosphere?
Why is H₂O missing from Venus's atmosphere?

Outer Planets

Laplace's original ``nebular hypothesis'' for the formation of the solar system had a difficult time starting the gravitational accretion process by which planets form. Today's version of this theory incorporates what feature that bridges the gap between no clumping of matter and clumps large enough to have noticeable gravity?: very massive gas molecules; mini black holes; sticky dust particles; comets and asteroids
Which is not a point of difference between terrestrial and jovian planets?: distance from the sun; orbital plane; size of atmosphere; total mass
If interstellar miners removed half of the mass of the moon, by what factor would the moon-earth gravitational force change?: 1/4; 1/2; no change; 2

Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors

In the absence of perturbations from the gravity of planets, do comets such as Halley's or Hale-Bopp travel on elliptical orbits?: yes; no

The Sun

The part of the sun that we normally see is called the: atmosphere.; chromosphere.; photosphere.; corona.
A complete magnetic solar cycle takes: 5.5 years.; 11 years.; 22 years.; 44 years.
The sun gets its energy from: core hydrogen fusion.; shell hydrogen fusion.; core helium fusion.; latent heat.
begin A Joule is the amount of energy a 1-Watt light bulb gives off in one second (the standard units for the meter-kilogram-second system of units that we have been using). How much energy would be produced by the total conversion of 1 kg of material into energy? (For your information, the sun converts this much mass to energy in less than a billionth of a second!): 9 × 10¹⁶ Joules; 9 × 10¹³ Joules; 9 × 10¹⁰ Joules; 3 × 10⁵ Joules

Stars

Which of the following is about the size of the earth?: a black hole from a 20 M_☉ star.; a neutron star.; a white dwarf.; a pulsar.
The element iron came from: the Big Bang.; fusion in stars like the sun.; fusion in massive stars.; dust and gas in the Milky Way.
The element hydrogen came from: the Big Bang.; fusion in stars like the sun.; fusion in massive stars.; dust and gas in the Milky Way.
Cepheid variable stars are important distance indicators because (1) they are supergiants and thus visible for many Mpc, well into the realm of galaxies, and (2): measurement of the apparent magnitude gives the pulsation period of the star.; measurement of the period of pulsation gives the size of the star.; measurement of the period of pulsation gives the apparent magnitude of the star.; measurement of the period of pulsation gives the absolute magnitude of the star.
An H II region usually appears red in color because: interstellar dust both extincts and reddens light.; the red H alpha line from recombining hydrogen is very strong.; blue light is scattered from dust clouds, while red light gets through unattenuated.; it is very cool.
Which could not be plotted on the $x$ axis of the H-R diagram?: color; spectral type; magnitude; temperature
Which could not be plotted on the $y$ axis of the H-R diagram?: absolute magnitude; luminosity; apparent magnitude; radius
Consider a cold gas cloud that collapses under its own gravity. By rare coincidence, it has no net spin at all. Will this cloud collapse to a disk shape?: yes.; no.
How distant is a star that has an astronomical parallax of 1/20th of an arcsecond?: 1/2 pc.; 20 pc.; 200 pc.; 50 pc.
Open cluster NGC 6791 has a distance modulus m - M = 10 magnitudes. Therefore, at, say, spectral type G, the stars in NGC 6791 are 100 × 100 = 10000 times dimmer than a G star at 10 parsecs. Using either the inverse square law or the distance modulus formula, what is the distance to NGC 6791?: 100000 pc.; 100 pc.; 1000 pc.; 10000 pc.
List the spectral types, hottest first.
Regarding planetary nebulae: What is the mass of the star from which the P.N. formed? What does the central star become after a few tens of thousands of years?
Regarding supernovae: What is the mass of the star that caused the S.N.? What possible stellar remnants are left after the explosion?
Describe the reason why the sun will eventually leave the main sequence, and how the location of fusion changes as it ``climbs'' the red giant branch.

Galaxies

For each of the next 5 questions, choose either (a) disk, or (b) spheroid, and write ``a'' or ``b'' next to the number.: Where am I likely to find globular clusters?; Where am I likely to find H II regions?; Which appears yellow to red in color, if I see it from a distance?; In which do I need to worry about interstellar extinction?; Where am I likely to find open clusters?
The spiral arms of a galaxy appear blue because of: the presence of interstellar dust clouds.; the presence of many H II regions.; the presence of many globular clusters.; the presence of young stars.
Which galaxy type is basically all spheroid?: Barred spiral.; Spiral.; Irregular.; Elliptical.

                Slide Identifications
   (Recognize pictures of the following objects.)

(a) spiral galaxy (unbarred)   (e) dark cloud 
(b) barred spiral galaxy       (f) H II region 
(c) irregular galaxy           (g) reflection nebula 
(d) elliptical galaxy          (h) Bok globule

Cosmology

Tell how we can have (1) a universe with no center and (2) every galaxy receeding from {\it the Milky Way} as if we {\it were} the center of the expansion.
Write the formula, due to Hubble, that describes the expansion of the universe.
If H₀ = 50 km/s/Mpc, what is the approximate distance of a galaxy observed to have a redshift of 5000 km/s?: 250 Mpc; 100 Mpc; 25 Mpc; 10 Mpc
If the universe has less than the critical density of matter, we live in: an open universe.; a closed universe.

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LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

Very old tests in TEX format.

Midterm test, fall 2001

Final exam, fall 2001

Key to F2001 final exam