practice exam 4

Question 1

what is a meteroid?

Answer 1

in orbit/space

Question 2

what is a meteorite?

Answer 2

has hit the ground

Question 3

what is a meteor?

Answer 3

has entered the atmosphere

Question 4

cosmology is the study of

Answer 4

the properties and history of the universe

Question 5

how can the amount of light gathered by a telescope be increased?

Answer 5

increase the size of the opening (aperture)

Question 6

what happens when a mass range 3 star runs out of hydrogen to fuse into helium in its core?

Answer 6

expands and becomes a red giant

Question 7

the luminosity of a star measures what?

Answer 7

the amount of energy a star emits per second

Question 8

of the following, the best example of a black body is (the moon, a meteoroid, the earth, the sun, a chunk of coal)

Answer 8

the sun

Question 9

the event horizon is what?

Answer 9

the place at which, after crossing, nothing can escape from a black hole

Question 10

what do we know from the spectrum of a star?

Answer 10

the elements/compounds present in the atmosphere and its temperature

Question 11

how can black holes by detected?

Answer 11

a massive object in a binary star system that emits large amounts of x-ray radiation

Question 12

what is ‘apparent visual magnitude’?

Answer 12

the brightness of a star as seen from Earth

Question 13

jupiter radiates approximately how much more energy than it receives from the sun?

Answer 13

twice as much

Question 14

what caused the gas tail of comet hale-bopp to point so directly away from the sun?

Answer 14

the solar wind

Question 15

what distinguishes very new craters on the moon?

Answer 15

new craters have ejecta blankets

Question 16

the shape of the universe is best described as

Answer 16

flat

Question 17

during ‘retrograde motion’ planets move in which direction from night to night?

Answer 17

west

Question 18

the planet Neptune shared what feature with Earth

Answer 18

they have roughly the same axis tilt

Question 19

the color of a hot star and the color of a cold star are, respectively

Answer 19

blue, red

Question 20

spiral galaxies have star formation occurring mainly where?

Answer 20

in the spiral arms

Question 21

what is the force that holds a galaxy together?

Answer 21

gravity

Question 22

match the type of radiation to one of its characteristics

Answer 22

ultra-violet: the cause of sunburns
gamma: the most destructive type of radiation
x-ray: allows doctor to see your insides
visible: the only type we can see
radio: the longest wavelength
infra-red: is best known as heat

Question 23

match the items in the first column with the number in the second column that is the closest answer

Answer 23

how many galaxies in the universe: roughly 10^11 (100 billion)
how many stars in our solar system: 1
how many moons in the solar system: roughly 160
how many planets in the solar system: 8
how many asteroids larger than 1 km diameter are there: roughly 50,000

Question 24

____ is when a planet is spinning on its axis, with each latitude of its apparent surface going around at a slightly different speed

Answer 24

differential rotation

Question 25

with respect to the horizon, on any night, mars appears to move

Answer 25

east to west always

Question 26

the magnetic fields of a pair of sunspots in the suns northern hemisphere were measured. the leading spot was found to be north magnetic polarity. what would be the most probable magnetic polarities of a pair of sunspots in the southern hemisphere at the same time?

Answer 26

leading spot south, trailing spot south

Question 27

what is the source of the outward forces that balances gravity in a main sequence star?

Answer 27

thermonuclear (fusion) reactions

Question 28

the surface pressure of the atmosphere of which of the following is most similar to that of Earth?

Answer 28

titan

Question 29

what outward pressure or force presently helps prevent our sun from collapsing?

Answer 29

photon pressure

Question 30

retrograde motion is

Answer 30

a planet appearing to move east-to-west among the stars, from night to night

Question 31

which of following is never true?

Answer 31

venus is on the opposite side of the sky from the sun at full moon

Question 32

a main sequence with which of the following spectral classes will stay longest on the main sequence?

Answer 32

M

Question 33

a very hot body that is solid or dense gas radiates what kind of spectrum?

Answer 33

continuous

Question 34

where could i find mercury at sunset?

Answer 34

in the west

Question 35

how large are visible light waves (wavelength)?

Answer 35

atoms

Question 36

why is there a 'far side of the moon', that is, why is there a side that we cannot see from Earth?

Answer 36

the moon rotates once a month

Question 37

the tilt of the EArths axis causes our seasons by

Answer 37

making the sun appear higher in our sky sometimes and lower at others

Question 38

as of today, about how many planets have been detected orbiting around other stars?

Answer 38

4,000

Question 39

which of the following is always true?

Answer 39

venus is on the opposite side of the sky from the sun at full moon

Question 40

the sun will explode as

Answer 40

a planetary nebula

Question 41

where would I find the first quarter moon at midnight?

Answer 41

not in the sky at all, it would have set well before midnight

Question 42

the time is takes a star to go from one place in our sky to exactly the same place again is most accurately called

Answer 42

sidereal day

Question 43

if the moon is past full and before third quarter, the phase is called

Answer 43

waning gibbous

Question 44

of the following 5 lists, which list is just jovian planets?

Answer 44

uranus, saturn, and neptune

Question 45

the f-ring of saturn is held in place by

Answer 45

the shepherd moons

Question 46

the sun is composed mostly of which of the following pairs of elements?

Answer 46

helium and hydrogen

Question 47

which statement about the highlands on our moon is correct?

Answer 47

they have far higher density of craters than the lowlands

Question 48

where is the center of the universe?

Answer 48

no center of the universe exists

Question 49

miranda is particularly unusual because

Answer 49

it has a very disturbed surface

Question 50

mars rotates on its axis every 24 hours 37 minutes. this rotation accounts primarily for which of the following on mars?

Answer 50

day and night

Question 51

according to our current best theories, which of the following does the universe have?

Answer 51

a beginning point in time