Which is an example of an asterism?
a. Andromeda
b. Canis Major
c. Big Dipper
d. Pegasus
d. Big Dipper
Where on Earth must one live to be able to see all of the constellations on the celestial sphere at some point during the year?
a. Near one of the poles
b. Near the equator
c. 23.5 degrees above or below the equator
d. There is no such place on Earth
b. Near the equator
Which of the following statements about the Moon is not true?
a. The Moon goes through its cycle of phases in about a month
b. The Moon’s robot around Earth is tilted about 5 degrees to the ecliptic plane
c. The Moon’s distance from Earth varies during its orbit
d. The Moon is visible is our sky only at night
e. The Moon rotates once in the same amount of time that it takes to orbit around Earth
d. The Moon is visible in our sky only at night
How many years did it take us to overcome the incorrect teachings of Aristotle?
a. About 100 years
b. About 300 years, in 1 A.D.
c. About 2,000 years
d. In the late 1960s
c. About 2,000 years
What was the most controversial issue surrounding the nature of the Universe in ancient times?
a. The movement of the visible galaxies
b. The origins of the Universe
c. The number of planets in the Solar System
d. The position of Earth in the Universe
e. The existence of life on planets other than Earth
d. The position of Earth in the Universe
At any given time, how many high tides are there on Earth?
a. One
b. Two
c. There may be none or one, depending on what time of day
d. None, one, or two- depending on the time of day
b. Two
Our solar system consists of ________?
a. the Sun and the planets, and nothing else
b. the Sun and several nearby stars, as well as the planets and other objects that orbit these stars
c. the Sun and all the objects that orbit it
d. a few hundred billion stars, bound together by gravity
c. the Sun and all the objects, that orbit it
What is the Sun mainly made?
a. hydrogen and helium
b. hydrogen and oxygen
c. carbon and nitrogen
d. oxygen and carbon
e. nearly equal portions of all the elements
a. hydrogen and helium
How many arcseconds are in one degree?
a. 60
b. 360
c. 3,600
d. 100
e. 1,000
c. 3,600
The fact that Voyagers 1 and 2 continue to speed out of the solar system, even though their rockets have no fuel, is an example of ______?
a. Newton’s 1st law of motion
b. Newton’s second law of motion
c. Newton’s third law of motion
d. Newton’s universal law of graviton.
a. Newton’s 1st law of motion
The terrestrial planets in out solar system are _____.
a. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
b. Pluto and Eris
c. Earth and Mars
d. Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
e. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranis, and Neptune
a. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Earth is made mostly of metals and rocks. Where did this material come from?
a. It was produced in the Big Bang
b. It was created by chemical reactions in interstellar space
c. It was produced by nuclear fusion in stars
d. It was made by our Sun
e. It was made by nuclear fission of uranium and other radioactive materials
c. It was produced by nuclear fusion in stars
Which of the following best describes the Milky Way Galaxy?
a. a spiral galaxy with a disk about a billion km in diameter and containing between 100 million and 1 billion stars
b. a spiral galaxy with a disk about 100,000 light-years in diameter and containing about 100,000 stars
c. a spherically shaped collection of stars including our solar system and about a dozen other solar systems, stretching about 4 light-years in diameter
d. a spherically shaped collection of about 1 million stars that is about 100 light-years in diameter
e. a spiral galaxy with a disk about 100,000 light years in diameter and containing between 100 billion and 1 trillion stars
e. a spiral galaxy with a disk about 100,000 light years in diameter and containing between 100 billion and 1 trillion stars
Which of the following statements is true?
a. both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres receive the same amount of sunlight on the equinoxes.
b. Both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres receive the same amount of sunlight on the solstices.
c. The Northern Hemisphere receives the most direct sunlight on the summer solstice
d. The Southern Hemisphere receives the most direct sunlight on the summer solstice
e. Both A and C are true
e. Both A and C are true
The great contribution of Nicholas Copernicus was to ______.
a. discover the law of gravity
b. create a detailed model of our solar system with the Sun rather than Earth at the center
b. create a detailed model of our solar system with the Sun rather than Earth at the center
The great contribution of Tycho Brahe was to ____.
a. observe planetary positions with sufficient accuracy so that Kepler could later use the data to discover the laws of planetary motion
b. discover that planets orbit the Sun in elliptical orbits with varying speed
a. observe planetary positions with sufficient accuracy so that Kepler could later use the data to discover the laws of planetary motion
Which of the following is not a general difference between a planet and a star?
a. Planets are dimmer than stars
b. Planets are smaller than stars
c. All planets are made of rock and all stars are made of gas
d. Planets orbit stars, while stars orbit the center of the galaxy
c. All planets are made of rock and all stars are made of gas
The term observable universe refers to ___________.
a. the portion of the universe that can be seen by the naked eye
b. that portion of the universe that can see in principle, given the current age of the universe
c. that portion of the universe that we have so far photographed through telescopes
d. the portion of the universe that is not hidden from the view by, for example, being below the horizon
b. that portion of the universe that can see in principle, given the current age of the universe
Which statement must be true in order for a rocket to travel from Earth to another planet?
a. It mist be launcher from space, rather than from the ground
b. It must carry a lot of extra fuel
c. it must have very large engines
d. It must attain escape velocity from Earth
d. It must attain escape velocity from Earth
North is up in the figure on the right. Can we tell whether the daylight and darkness like at the right is the sunset line or the sunrise line?
a. It is the sunset line because Earth rotates clockwise when viewed from above Earth’s North Pole
b. It is the sunset line because Earth rotations counterclockwise when viewed from above Earth’s North Pole
c. it is the sunrise line because Earth rotates counterclockwise when viewed from about Earth’s North Pole
d. It is the sunrise line because Earth rotates clockwise when viewed from above Earth’s North Pole
e. No, we can’t tell
b. It is the sunset line because Earth rotations counterclockwise when viewed from above Earth’s North Pole
How could you test the hypothesis that the acceleration of gravity does not depend on mass? (Ignore effects of air resistance)
a. Does two objects with the same mass from the same height
b. Drop two objections with the same mass from different heights
c. Drop two objects with different masses from the same height
d. Drop two objects with different masses from different height
c. Drop two objects with different masses from the same height
