Astronomy and Astrophysics
Test Questions
Course Introduction
This course offers an in-depth exploration of the universe beyond our planet, focusing on the fundamental principles of astronomy and astrophysics. Students will study the origins, structure, and evolution of celestial bodies including stars, galaxies, and planetary systems, as well as the large-scale structure and history of the cosmos. Topics such as electromagnetic radiation, stellar life cycles, black holes, cosmology, and observational techniques are covered, providing a comprehensive understanding of both theoretical and practical aspects of the field. Through lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities, students gain insights into the current methodologies scientists use to investigate phenomena occurring in the vast expanse of space.
Recommended Textbook
Astronomy Today 8th Edition by Eric Chaisson
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Chapter 1: Charting the Heavens: The Foundations of Astronomy
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Sample Questions
Q1) If Taurus is now rising at sunset,which constellation will rise at sunset next month?
A) Scorpius
B) Aquarius
C) Gemini
D) Aries
E) Pisces
Answer: C
Q2) Aristotle's hypothesis was that:
A) lunar eclipses were created by our shadow.
B) only a spherical Earth would always cast a circular shadow on the Moon.
C) lunar eclipses would have to happen every full moon.
D) the Sun lay at the center of the planet orbits.
E) the Moon orbited the Earth.
Answer: B
Q3) The Milky Way galaxy contains about ________ stars.
Answer: 100 billion
Q4) Which is longer,the sidereal or solar day? By how much?
Answer: The solar day is approximately four minutes longer than the sidereal day.
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Chapter 2: The Copernican Revolution: The Birth of Modern Science
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Law of Universal Gravitation was developed by:
A) Kepler.
B) Galileo.
C) Newton.
D) Copernicus.
E) Einstein.
Answer: C
Q2) Scientists today do not accept the Ptolemaic model because:
A) it is ancient history.
B) it was too complicated, compared to Copernicus' heliocentric model.
C) it has been shown that Ptolemy faked his data.
D) it had no explanation for retrograde motion.
E) the work of Tycho and Kepler showed the heliocentric model was more accurate.
Answer: E
Q3) The orbits of most of the planets in our solar system have eccentricities close to zero.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 3: Radiation: Information from the Cosmos
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is meant by the wavelength of light? By its frequency? Show how they are related to each other.
Answer: The wavelength is the distance between successive wave crests,while the frequency is the number of waves that pass the observer per second.All forms of EM radiation travel in a vacuum at 300,000 km/sec.,and this velocity is the product of the wavelength X the frequency of the radiation.
Q2) How does human vision's peak in color sensitivity relate to the Sun?
Answer: Our eyes are tuned to utilize best the type of radiation our star produces the most of,and yellow lies in the middle of the visible spectrum.
Q3) Electromagnetic radiation:
A) can only travel in a dense medium.
B) has only the properties of waves.
C) can behave both as a wave and as a particle.
D) is the same as a sound wave.
E) has nothing in common with radio waves.
Answer: C
Q4) Light that has all the electrical fields vibrating in the same plane is said to be
Answer: polarized
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Chapter 4: Spectroscopy: The Inner Workings of Atoms
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Sample Questions
Q1) The observed spectral lines of a star are all shifted towards the red end of the spectrum.Which statement is true?
A) This is an example of the photoelectric effect.
B) This is an example of the Doppler effect.
C) The second law of Kirchhoff explains this.
D) The star is not rotating.
E) The star has a radial velocity towards us.
Q2) The splitting of spectral lines in the presence of strong magnetic fields is the:
A) Doppler effect.
B) Second Law of Kirchhoff.
C) Zeeman effect.
D) photoelectric effect.
E) polarization of sunlight.
Q3) In the Bohr model,the transitions of electrons down to ground state produce the Lyman lines in the ultraviolet.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How are we able to determine the chemical composition and temperature of any visible object?
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Chapter 5: Telescopes: The Tools of Astronomy
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Q1) The amount of diffraction a telescope creates depends upon:
A) whether the telescope is a refractor or a reflector.
B) the wavelength and the diameter of the telescope objective.
C) the magnification of the eyepiece.
D) the types of glass used in the achromat.
E) the transparency of the atmosphere.
Q2) Explain why the image seen in astronomical telescopes is inverted.
Q3) In which part of the electromagnetic spectrum have astronomers been unable to get any information?
A) gamma rays
B) X-rays
C) ultraviolet
D) microwaves
E) We now can access information in all spectral lengths.
Q4) Optical telescopes are usually used only at night,but radio telescopes can be used day or night.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Why is a complete image formed even if half of a lens or mirror is blocked?
Q6) Why is the image seen in astronomical telescope eyepieces inverted?
Page 7
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Chapter 6: The Solar System: Comparative Planetology and Formation Models
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Sample Questions
Q1) A meteorite is:
A) a chunk of space debris that has struck the ground.
B) a streak of light in the atmosphere.
C) an icy body with a long tail extending from it.
D) a chunk of space debris orbiting the Earth.
E) an irregularly shaped body, mostly found orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.
Q2) By itself,________ makes up 70% of the masses of all the planets combined.
Q3) Describe how the observable properties of the solar system are related to its process of formation.
Q4) Of all the terrestrial planets,Mercury's orbit is most eccentric and tilted most above the ecliptic.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The Kuiper Belt is:
A) another name for the Asteroid Belt.
B) a band of icy planetesimals found beyond Neptune's orbit.
C) where all comets come from.
D) the name given to icy bodies found between Jupiter and Saturn.
E) the name given to icy bodies found between Mars and Jupiter.
Q6) Contrast the densities of the terrestrial and Jovian planets. Page 8
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Chapter 7: Earth: Our Home in Space
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe several features on the Earth's crust explained by plate tectonics.
Q2) The speed of the current warming trend is no different than those seen in fossil records.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is the process that physically transfers heat from a lower (hotter)to a higher (cooler)level?
A) radiation
B) translation
C) convection
D) reflection
E) conduction
Q4) Compared to the density of water,our Earth averages about:
A) the same density, similar to Saturn.
B) 3 times denser, much like our Moon.
C) 4 times denser, similar to Mars.
D) 5 times denser, like the Mercury and Venus.
E) 10 times denser, due to our core of iron and nickel.
Q5) The ________ on the edges of the continents come from subduction of oceanic basalt beneath the advancing continental plate.
Page 10
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Chapter 8: The Moon and Mercury: Scorched and Battered Worlds
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Q1) The hollows on Mercury are:
A) isolated depressions found in all parts of impact craters.
B) clusters of depressions found near the center of impact craters.
C) large depressions found in the Caloris Basin.
D) large depressions found in the smooth plains.
E) clusters of depressions that are not associated with impact craters in the smooth plains.
Q2) Mercury has "weird terrain" directly opposite its huge Caloris Impact Basin.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Much of Mercury's cratered surface closely resembles the lunar ________.
Q4) The oldest known features of Mercury's surface formed:
A) about 4.6 billion years ago.
B) about 3.9-3.2 billion years ago.
C) just under 4 billion years ago.
D) less than a billion years ago.
Q5) The high eccentricity of Mercury's orbit probably has nothing to do with Mercury's 3:2 synch of rotation and revolution.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Venus: Earth's Sister Planet
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Sample Questions
Q1) Venus' rotation:
A) is the fastest of the terrestrial planets.
B) is counterclockwise, like the other planets.
C) takes longer than its orbit around the Sun.
D) axis is highly tilted to its orbital plane, causing large seasonal changes.
E) is tidally locked to the Sun.
Q2) Venus is brightest as seen from Earth:
A) at greatest eastern elongation, appearing half lit in the evening sky.
B) at greatest western elongation, appearing half lit in the morning sky.
C) 36 days before or after inferior conjunction, appearing as a large crescent.
D) at inferior conjunction, when closest to Earth and largest in apparent size.
E) at superior conjunction, and fully lit.
Q3) A characteristic of shield volcanoes is the formation of a crater at the summit which occurs when:
A) the volcano erupts explosively.
B) the lava withdraws and the surface collapses.
C) the lava flows melt through the thin crust of the peak.
D) the underlying hot spot suddenly turns on.
E) the volcano is impacted by a large meteorite.
Q4) Venus' high surface temperature is due to the ________ effect.
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Chapter 10: Mars: A Near Miss for Life?
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why does Mars appear red from Earth's surface?
Q2) The Curiosity rover has detected evidence of what kind(s)of chemical activity in Mars' soil?
A) organic carbon chemistry
B) helium and hydrogen
C) photosynthesis
D) water, sulfur and chlorine-containing minerals
E) minerals containing sulfur or produced by reactions with sulfuric acid
Q3) Why do we know much more about the surface of Mars than that of Venus?
Q4) What is unusual about the motion of Phobos,as seen from the surface of Mars?
Q5) The surface of Mars is surprisingly smooth and featureless.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Venus and Mars probably evolved differently from Earth because:
A) they are slightly bigger than Earth.
B) they are more massive than Earth.
C) they have thicker atmospheres than the Earth.
D) they formed sooner than Earth.
E) they orbit at different distances from the Sun.
Q7) How can Mars,a planet with so little atmosphere,have so much wind?
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Chapter 11: Jupiter: Giant of the Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) The impact of which comet helped establish the importance of impacts in our solar system?
A) Kohoutek
B) Hale-Bopp
C) Halley's Comet
D) Comet ISON
E) Shoemaker-Levy 9
Q2) Jupiter has twice the mass of all the other planets combined.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Jupiter radiates twice as much energy as it receives from solar light; the source of this "excess" energy is ________.
Q4) Amateur astronomers have contributed to the understanding of impact events on Jupiter.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Io's volcanoes contribute material to a(n)________ around the planet Jupiter's equator.
Q6) Describe the seasons of Jupiter.
Q7) What is the origin of Io's volcanism?
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Chapter 12: Saturn: Spectacular Rings and Mysterious
Moons
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Sample Questions
Q1) Relate differentiation to Saturn's excess internal heat.
Q2) Contrast the orbital eccentricity and axial tilt of Jupiter and Saturn.
Q3) When Voyager 2 was routed to fly by Saturn,it was originally the plan to have the satellite fly through the Cassini gap.Why would this have been a bad idea?
A) That route would have taken Voyager 2 within the Roche Limit and the satellite would have been torn to pieces.
B) That route would have taken Voyager 2 inside Saturn's magnetic field causing the electronics on board to be destroyed.
C) The Cassini gap actually contains a large moon that orbits Saturn with a very high speed and Voyager 2 would have collided with that moon.
D) The gaps in Saturn's ring system (including the Cassini gap) are not actually empty space, rather they are an area of low density in the rings.
E) Voyager 2 would have encountered density waves which would have crushed the satellite.
Q4) Saturn's 1990 white spot had some similarities to Jupiter's Great Red Spot.Discuss some of the similarities and differences.Speculate as to what might cause these.
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Chapter 13: Uranus and Neptune: The Outer Worlds of the Solar System
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Q1) In what ways do the magnetic fields of both Uranus and Neptune defy the conventional Dynamo Theory for planetary magnetic fields?
Q2) Which of these is true about the seasons of Uranus?
A) With a tilt of 29 degrees, they are not that different from our solstices and equinoxes.
B) Its strange tilt produces extreme seasonal variations, especially at the poles.
C) At the Uranian equator, the Sun would pass overhead every sixteen hours.
D) At the Uranian pole the Sun sets every 16 hours during the summer and winter.
E) There are no seasons at the poles.
Q3) Where do we find striking tectonic features among the small moons of Uranus?
Q4) On what basis did Herschel think he had found a comet?
A) The object appeared as a small greenish disk in his telescope.
B) It appeared to be moving slightly night by night.
C) No star appeared in that position on his charts.
D) It was not a point of light, like a star should appear.
E) All of the above are correct.
Q5) The rings of Uranus were discovered from Earth when the planet occulted a star.
A)True
B)False
Page 16
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Chapter 14: Solar System Debris: Keys to Our Origin
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Sample Questions
Q1) The three largest asteroids are:
A) Pluto, Sedna, and Quaoar.
B) Deimos, Phobos, and Athos.
C) Ida, Gaspra, and Mathilde.
D) Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta.
E) Halley, Hale-Bopp, and Hyakutake.
Q2) The NASA orbiter that ultimately landed on the surface of the asteroid Eros was:
A) New Horizons.
B) Giotto.
C) Stardust.
D) NEAR Shoemaker.
E) Clementine.
Q3) Pluto was discovered in:
A) ancient times.
B) 1789.
C) 1859.
D) 1930.
E) 1992.
Q4) Contrast the Oort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt.
Q5) How does the discovery of a comet typically differ from that of an asteroid?
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Chapter 15: Exoplanets: Planetary Systems Beyond Our Own
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Q1) What are some of the properties of objects in the solar system that a theory of its origin DOES NOT need to account for? Explain.
Q2) Most scientists think catastrophes played little role in the solar system's history.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The ________ hypothesis was considered plausible in the 1800s,but is it no longer taken seriously.
Q4) The radius of a super-Earth generally falls in the range:
A) above 5 Earth radii.
B) between 2 and 5 Earth radii.
C) between 1.25 and 2 Earth radii.
D) between 0.75 and 1.25 Earth radii.
E) below 0.75 Earth radii.
Q5) As of early 2013,the number of confirmed exoplanets found was:
A) 5, all around stars within 20 light years of us.
B) 42, all much bigger than Jupiter, but orbiting red dwarf stars.
C) over 400, orbiting more than 300 stars.
D) about 900, mainly around stars much smaller and fainter than our Sun.
E) thousands, around every star we have closely examined to date.
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Chapter 16: The Sun: Our Parent Star
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Q1) How would sunspots appear if you could magically remove them from the Sun?
A) They would appear blue-white, like Sirius but brighter.
B) Because sunspots are dark spots, they would be invisible against the blackness of space.
C) They would shine bright orange in color, like Arcturus.
D) They would not appear any differently than on the surface of the Sun.
E) They would shine only with reflected sunlight, appearing similar to Venus.
Q2) The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)is positioned:
A) in a geosynchronous orbit around the Earth.
B) in near-Earth orbit.
C) about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth at the L Lagrangian Point.
D) on the far side of the Sun at the L Langrangian Point.
E) on the far side of the Moon.
Q3) During a period of high solar activity,the corona:
A) disappears.
B) is more irregular.
C) cools almost to the temperature of the photosphere.
D) becomes smooth and even.
E) shrinks to half its normal size.
Q4) How does solar luminosity vary during the sunspot cycle?
Page 19
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Chapter 17: The Stars: Giants,Dwarfs,and the Main
Sequence
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Q1) The proper motion of a star,its distance,and Doppler shift can give us its space velocity.
A)True
B)False
Q2) On the H-R diagram,white dwarfs lie Sirius B and Procyon B lie:
A) at the top left.
B) at the top right.
C) close to the Sun, near the center.
D) at the lower left.
E) at the lower right.
Q3) The Hipparcos mission's data on parallaxes is useful for stellar distances out to about 200 pc.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In a large sampling of stars,the largest group represented in the H-R diagram will be the main sequence stars.Why are they so common?
Q5) Hydrogen lines are weaker in both very hot and very cool stars.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What is proper motion? How is it related to transverse velocity? Page 20
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Chapter 18: The Interstellar Medium: Gas and Dust among the Stars
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Q1) The "Local Bubble" was probably created by a nearby supernova in the distant past.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The dark dust clouds can be explored better with infrared than with visible light.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What effect do even thin clouds of dust have on light passing through them?
A) The light that passes through them is blue shifted due to the cloud's approach.
B) It dims and reddens the light of all more distant stars.
C) Even a little can completely block all light, such as the Horsehead Nebula.
D) Its motion causes the light of stars beyond to twinkle.
E) Its motion causes all light to be redshifted as it passes through these clouds.
Q4) Interstellar reddening of starlight occurs because the interstellar dust preferentially ________ the blue light.
Q5) Neutral hydrogen may be detected between the stars because it emits ________.
Q6) Why can radio waves get through the dust clouds,but light is blocked?
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Chapter 19: Star Formation: A Traumatic Birth
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Q1) A protostar of 20 solar masses should form a star that will stay on the main sequence twenty times longer than our Sun.
A)True
B)False
Q2) As a protostar evolves from stage 4 to stage 6,it gets hotter but much less bright.
A)True
B)False
Q3) To deduce the interior conditions of the dense regions in which stars form,it is necessary for astronomers to observe in the ________ part of the spectrum.
Q4) Collisions between galaxies tend to destroy,not create,stars.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Star formation may be triggered by ________ which aid gravity through compression of interstellar clouds to greater densities.
Q6) A typical protostar may be several thousand times more luminous than our Sun.Where does this energy come from?
Q7) What are some complications that interfere with star formation?
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Chapter 20: Stellar Evolution: The Life and Death of a Star
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Q1) In an H-R Diagram,the path showing changes in a star's luminosity and surface temperature as a function of time is called its ________.
Q2) In globular clusters,the brightest stars will be:
A) massive blue main sequence stars.
B) red supergiants.
C) T Tauri stars.
D) blue stragglers.
E) planetary nebulae.
Q3) What is the typical age for a globular cluster associated with our Milky Way?
A) a few million years
B) 200 million years
C) a billion years
D) 10-12 billion years
E) 45 billion years
Q4) While none yet exist,in the very distant future,black dwarfs will comprise the majority of the "normal matter" of the universe.
A)True
B)False
Q5) When a low-mass star runs out of hydrogen in its core,it gets brighter.Why?
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Chapter
Formation of the Elements
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Q1) If a white dwarf gains sufficient mass,it can become a:
A) brown dwarf.
B) type II supernova.
C) type I supernova.
D) planetary nebula.
E) black dwarf.
Q2) Compare the amount of time a 20 solar mass star will stay on the main sequence to the length of time its iron core can exist.
Q3) The radioactive decay of cobalt 56 into iron 56 affects the light curve of a type I supernova about ________ after the initial peak in luminosity.
Q4) In neutronization of the core,a proton and an electron make a neutron and a(n): A) positron.
B) muon.
C) neutrino.
D) pion.
E) antineutron.
Q5) Why is the post-Main Sequence structure of a high mass star sometimes described by an "onion-layer" model? Explain.
Q6) What is the CNO cycle and how is it different from hydrogen fusion?
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Chapter 22: Neutron Stars and Black Holes: Strange States of Matter
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Q1) Neutron stars and black holes are formed by:
A) the star formation process.
B) mass transfer in binary star systems.
C) novae.
D) type I supernovae.
E) type II supernovae.
Q2) A system of terrestrial-sized planets has been detected in orbit around a millisecond pulsar.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Special relativity predicts that light bends near dense objects.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What makes the Crab pulsar somewhat unusual among pulsars in general?
A) It is the most intense source of X-rays in the sky.
B) It is the fastest pulsar known.
C) It is the oldest pulsar observed.
D) Its period is not regular like other pulsars.
E) It is rather bright at visible wavelengths.
Q5) All pulsars are neutron stars; why is the reverse not true?
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Chapter 23: The Milky Way Galaxy: A Spiral in Space
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Q1) How old is the Galaxy? How do we know this?
Q2) The Galactic Year is the time for our solar system to orbit the Galaxy; it is about:
A) 15 million years.
B) 225 million years.
C) 4.5 billion years.
D) 9.6 billion years.
E) 13.5 billion years.
Q3) What is the evidence to support the existence of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way?
Q4) What features of the telescopic view of the Andromeda Galaxy,M-31,are also visible to the naked eye for our similar Galaxy?
Q5) The center of the Milky Way lies in the direction of the constellation Cygnus. A)True B)False
Q6) In the solar neighborhood we can map the position of spiral arms by observation of objects that are determined to be relatively ________ in age.
Q7) Who first attempted to find our position in the Galaxy,how did he do this,and why was his model flawed?
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Chapter 24: Galaxies: Building Blocks of the Universe
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Q1) One consequence of nuclear activity in otherwise normal galaxies as well as in quasars are jets of material moving outward at ________ speeds.
Q2) The Tully-Fisher relation exists between the galaxy's luminosity and its:
A) color.
B) age.
C) rotation.
D) mass.
E) size.
Q3) According to Hubble's Law,the greater a galaxy's redshift,the:
A) closer it is to us.
B) younger it is.
C) faster it's approaching us.
D) farther it is from us.
E) greater its mass.
Q4) Distinguish an E0 from an E7 galaxy.
Q5) Most galaxies are spirals.
A)True
B)False
Q6) The elliptical galaxies are most like what part of our Milky Way? Explain.
Q7) Why do some radio galaxies appear to have lobes while some do not?
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Chapter 25: Galaxies and Dark Matter: The Large-Scale
Structure of the Cosmos
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Q1) What evidence has Chandra found to contradict the hypothesis that black holes merge during galaxy collisions?
A) a double black hole in a single galaxy
B) a black hole without a host galaxy
C) a hypermassive black hole
D) a triple black hole system
E) a dwarf galaxy containing a black hole
Q2) In its most energetic phase,a quasar can probably only last:
A) a few days.
B) a few years.
C) a few thousand years.
D) a few million years.
E) a few billion years.
Q3) Galaxies contain at most one supermassive black hole.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Vast majority of the known volume of the universe lies in the voids.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Why would spiral galaxies be less common now than in the early universe?
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Chapter 26: Cosmology: The Big Bang and the Fate of the Universe
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Sample Questions
Q1) A critically bound universe is geometrically flat.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Big Bang was an expansion of matter into empty space.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The cosmological principle is the ultimate extension of the ________ principle; we are note at the center of the solar system,the galaxy,or the universe.
Q4) In the critical universe now proposed,the ratio of matter/energy is about:
A) 50:50.
B) 27:73.
C) 75:25.
D) 10:90.
E) 95:5.
Q5) What is the study of cosmology?
Q6) The universe has been expanding at the same rate since its formation.
A)True
B)False
Q7) State the cosmological principle.
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Q8) ________ Paradox asks "Why is the night sky dark?".
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Chapter 27: The Early Universe: Toward the Beginning of Time
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Sample Questions
Q1) Currently,most of the mass of the matter of the universe is believed to consist of:
A) baryonic matter, made up of protons and neutrons.
B) tachyonic matter, travelling only faster than the speed of light.
C) dark matter not made of protons and neutrons.
D) dark energy.
E) tiny but very numerous black holes.
Q2) Scientists are able to use the theories of physics to describe the conditions of the universe back to:
A) the moment of the Big Bang.
B) the end of the Planck Epoch.
C) the beginning of GUT.
D) the end of the Radiation Era.
E) the Recombination Epoch.
Q3) The collision of two gamma rays can result in a single particle.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The universe was two minutes old when ________ started to form from deuterium fusion.
Q5) Relate the inflationary theory to the GUTs.
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Chapter
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Sample Questions
Q1) Taking the total number of stars in the Milky Way and dividing by the age of the Milky Way is a way to estimate:
A) the age of the stars in the Milky Way.
B) the star formation rate in the Milky Way.
C) the average age of a star in the Milky Way.
D) the rate of formation of high mass stars in the Milky Way.
E) the average age of a low mass main sequence star in the Milky Way.
Q2) Considering both longevity and luminosity,which of these stars would be the most likely candidate for seeking extraterrestrial intelligence?
A) Spica, a B3 main sequence star
B) 61 Cygni, a K2 main sequence star
C) Sirius B, a white dwarf
D) Antares, a M3 supergiant
E) Barnard's star, a M5 dwarf
Q3) Why do jovian planets with highly eccentric orbits indicate that it is unlikely that a star has a habitable terrestrial planet?
Q4) If a star system at 30 parsecs distance is found to be broadcasting intelligent radio signals,then their news is already ________ years old.
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