Astronomy for Non-Science Majors
Exam Materials
Course
Introduction
Astronomy for Non-Science Majors introduces the fundamentals of astronomy in an accessible and engaging manner, focusing on key concepts rather than advanced mathematics. The course explores the nature and motions of celestial bodies, the structure of our solar system, basic principles of light and telescopes, stellar evolution, galaxies, and the broader universe. Emphasis is placed on the scientific process, historical milestones in astronomy, and current discoveries, helping students develop an appreciation for the scale and complexity of the cosmos while encouraging scientific literacy and critical thinking in understanding the universe.
Recommended Textbook
HorizonsExploring the Universe 14th Edition by
Michael A. Seeds
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20 Chapters
2483 Verified Questions
2483 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Here and Now
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Sample Questions
Q1) Choose the best answer. The Milky Way Galaxy
A)is part of a cluster of a few dozen galaxies.
B)is about 200 light-years in diameter.
C)is the largest known object in the universe.
D)is part of a cluser of a few dozen galaxies, is about 200 ly in diameter, and is the largest known object in the universe
E)is part of a cluster of a few dozen galaxies and is the largest known object in the universe
Answer: A
Q2) A(n) ____________________ is the distance that light would travel in one year. Answer: light-year
Q3) The ____________________ contains a large amount of gas and dust and a great number of stars, and our Sun is one of those stars.
Answer: Milky Way Galaxy
Q4) In the mnemonic, My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles, _________ refers to Mars.
Answer: Mother
Q5) ________ is the smallest planet in the solar system.
Answer: Mercury
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Chapter 2: A Users Guide to the Sky
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Sample Questions
Q1) You live at a latitude of 73° N. What is the angle between the northern horizon and the north celestial pole
A)73°
B)27°
C)17°
D)23.4°
E)5°
Answer: A
Q2) If an observer walks north toward increasing latitude, the number of circumpolar stars would
A)remain constant.
B)decrease.
C)increase.
D)Unknown unless you also state the longitude of the observer.
Answer: C
Q3) Star A has an apparent visual magnitude of 6.3 and star B has an apparent visual magnitude of 5.3. Star A is _________ times (fainter or brighter) than star B.
Answer: 2.51; fainter
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4
Chapter 3: Cycles of the Sun and Moon
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Sample Questions
Q1) The vernal equinox is the point on the sky where the Sun crosses the ____________ going north and east.
A)north celestial pole
B)south celestial pole
C)celestial equator
D)horizon
Answer: C
Q2) An eclipse season is the period of time during which the
A)Moon crosses a node in its orbit.
B)Sun crosses a node in the Moon's orbit.
C)line of nodes crosses the Moon's orbit.
D)Moon is new or full.
E)Moon is visible during the day.
Answer: B
Q3) In the summer in the northern hemisphere,
A)the Earth is closer to the Sun.
B)the Earth's northern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun.
C)the Earth's northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun.
Answer: B
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Page 5
Chapter 4: The Origin of Modern Astronomy
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Sample Questions
Q1) A(n) ____ is well supported (observationally and/or experimentally) system of rules and principles that can be applied to a wide variety of circumstances.
A)hypothesis
B)paradigm
C)theory
D)model
Q2) If a planet orbits the Sun at a distance of 4 AU, then its orbital period is 8 years.
A)True
B)False
Q3) If an object's orbital velocity exceeds a celestial object's escape velocity, the object will follow closed orbits.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Tycho failed to detect ______ for the nova of 1572 indicating it was ______.
A)parallax; beyond the orbit of Earth's Moon
B)parallax; inside the Earth's atmosphere close to Earth
C)light; beyond the orbit of Earth's Moon
D)light; inside the Earth's atmosphere close to Earth
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6
Chapter 5: Light and Telescopes
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156 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Reflecting telescopes are no longer popular with astronomers because they are expensive and suffer from chromatic aberration.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A ___________ has a few million light-sensitive diodes in an array typically about a half-inch square.
A)photometer
B)charge-coupled device
C)spectrograph
D)photographic plate
E)grating
Q3) What are sources of light pollution and how do those affect astronomical observations
Q4) What is the wavelength of the shortest wavelength light visible to the human eye
A)400 nm
B)4000 nm
C)7000 nm
D)700 nm
E)\(3×10^8\) m
Q5) Electromagnetic radiation, or light, travels at speed ___________ m/s.
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Chapter 6: Atoms and Spectra
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Doppler effect is sensitive only to motion along the line of sight.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The nucleus of the hydrogen atom consists of a single neutron.
A)True
B)False
Q3) ______________ will give you information on the surface temperature of the star after you obtain the wavelength of maximum emission from the ________________ spectra.
Q4) You would like to find the surface temperature of a star so you will need the star's _____________________ spectrum and use _____________ to find the temperature. Knowing the temperature, you can use _________________ to find the total energy the star radiates at its surface.
Q5) If continuous spectrum light from a star passes through a cool, low-density gas on its way to your telescope and spectroscope, ____ spectrum on the continuous spectrum results.
A)a dark (absorption) line
B)a bright (emission) line
C)continuous
Q6) __________________ is the agitation among the molecules and/or atoms of a body.
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Chapter 7: The Sun
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Sample Questions
Q1) Spicules
A)are found in the photosphere.
B)are magnetic disturbances that push large loops of material off the solar surface.
C)are responsible for twisting the solar magnetic field and causing the sunspot cycle.
D)appear in the corona near the north and south poles of the Sun during a total solar eclipse.
E)are visible in filtergrams of the solar chromosphere.
Q2) The corona is heated by magnetic carpets.
A)True
B)False
Q3) ________ is (are) produced by atomic transitions in the presence of a strong magnetic field.
A)Differential rotation
B)Granules
C)The Zeeman effect
D)Spicules
E)The coronal hole
Q4) Discuss a theory that explains how the corona is heated.
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Chapter 8: The Family of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) To determine the orbital period of a visual binary, we must measure
A)brightness.
B)position on the sky.
C)wavelengths.
D)luminosity.
E)temperature.
Q2) Stellar parallax is used to measure distances of celestial bodies within the solar system.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The method of spectroscopic parallax cannot be applied to stars beyond about 100 pc.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Reorder the spectral sequence to include the L and T dwarfs. What is the new sequence
Q5) The light curve of a/an ___________ binary can reveal both masses and diameters of the stars.
Q6) In a/an ____________ binary, the orbits of both stars can be mapped.
Q7) How do absolute visual magnitude and luminosity differ
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Chapter 9: The Formation and Structure of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Orion region contains young main-sequence stars and an emission nebula, but the original molecular cloud they formed out of has been dispersed.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The visual pink glow of the Great Nebula in Orion
A)is a Herbig-Haro object.
B)is a reflection nebula of dust.
C)is an emission nebula of thin gas.
D)contains only young low mass stars.
E)is believed to be about 5 billion years old.
Q3) In the Herbig-Haro object shown above, the Herbig-Haro is the ___________.
A)red jet
B)white/blue colored interstellar medium the red jet runs into
C)dusty disk containing a newborn star and the red jet
D)All of these choices are correct.
Q4) What is the difference between the proton-proton chain and the CNO cycle
Q5) Hydrostatic equilibrium refers to the balance between weight and pressure.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Why is there a lower end to the main sequence
Page 11
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Chapter 10: The Deaths of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the orbital plane of a binary star system matter can be transferred from one star to the other through the ___________, located directly between the two stars is the point where the Roche lobes meet.
A)turnoff points
B)horizontal branch
C)Lagrangian points
D)synchrotron points
E)radiation belts
Q2) If the Sun and stars are supported by gas pressure, what supports a white dwarf
Q3) A type II supernova
A)occurs when a white dwarf's mass exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit.
B)is the result of helium flash.
C)is characterized by a spectrum that shows hydrogen lines.
D)occurs when the iron core of a massive star collapses.
E)is characterized by a spectrum that shows hydrogen lines and occurs when the iron core of a massive star collapses.
Q4) The average size of a white dwarf is about the same size as the Earth.
A)True
B)False
Q5) ___________ clusters are compact, round, and red, containing mostly old stars.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Neutron Stars and Black Holes
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Sample Questions
Q1) A scientific theory can be proven true if the correct experiments are performed.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The density of a neutron star is
A)about the same as that of a white dwarf.
B)about the same as that of the Sun.
C)about the same as an atomic nucleus.
D)zero.
Q3) Which of the following objects is considered to possibly contain a black hole
A)the central star of the Crab nebula
B)the Orion nebula.
C)LMC X-3
D)Algol
E)PSR 1257+12
Q4) The first pulsar was discovered by _________ in November of 1967.
A)Jocelyn Bell
B)Isaac Newton
C)Albert Einstein
D)Walter Baade
E)Edwin Hubble
Page 13
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Chapter 12: The Milky Way Galaxy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The units of proper motion are km/s because proper motion is the motion of stars across the sky.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The energy source at the center of our galaxy is called
A)Cygnus X-1.
B)the Orion arm.
C)the Sun.
D)Sagittarius A*.
Q3) Globular clusters are primarily found in the ____________________ component of the galaxy.
Q4) The center of the Milky Way galaxy must be less than 1 AU in diameter and contain at least 4 million solar masses. Therefore, the center of the Milky Way galaxy must be a ____________________,
Q5) O and B stars are examples of ________________ that are used to outline the arms in a galaxy like the Milky Way galaxy.
Q6) Discuss how Harlow Shapley determined the structure of the Milky Way galaxy from his study of globular clusters.
Q7) What is the difference between a population I star and a population II star
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Galaxies: Normal and Active
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Sample Questions
Q1) The rotation curve method can be applied only to pairs of galaxies orbiting each other.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Most of the mass of a galaxy is contained in the
A)massive O and B stars in the galaxy.
B)H I regions of the galaxy.
C)H II regions of the galaxy.
D)dark matter of the galaxy.
E)disk of the galaxy.
Q3) Poor clusters of galaxies often contain an excess of E and S0 galaxies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A ___________ generally contains well over 1000 galaxies and is quite dense. They often contain many giant elliptical galaxies.
A)local group
B)poor cluster
C)rich cluster
D)tidal tail
E)quasar
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Modern Cosmology
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Sample Questions
Q1) The sum of the baryonic and non-baryonic matter is 27.9% and thus equal to the critical density.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What evidence do we have that the Universe is expanding
Q3) Even if the Universe has no edge, it has a center.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Dark matter makes up 18.7% of the Universe.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The ___________ is that the Universe is both isotropic and homogeneous.
Q6) If the Universe is truly flat, then what is the curvature and type of Universe
A)positive, open
B)zero, flat
C)negative, closed
D)None of the other choices are correct.
Q7) Dark matter is known to be the source to dark energy.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: The Origin of the Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) Jovian worlds that orbit close to their host stars are called ____________.
Q2) ________________ hypotheses involve a rare event in the origin of the solar system.
Q3) How is the presence of space debris accounted for by solar system models
A)Space debris is left over material from the early solar system that never formed into a planet.
B)Space debris was formed by the collision of objects after the planets formed.
C)Space debris is material that existed in our region of space before the Sun formed.
D)Space debris is left over material from the early solar system that never formed into a planet and was formed by the collision of objects after the planets formed.
E)All of the other choices are correct.
Q4) The original cloud from which the Sun and planets formed had a composition rich in hydrogen and helium.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The pressure of sunlight was one of the forces that cleared the solar nebula.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 16: Earth and Moon: Bases for Comparative Planetology
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Sample Questions
Q1) On the Moon, the maria have fewer craters than the highlands.
A)True
B)False
Q2) in the following cartoon, infrared radiation is bouncing around in the atmosphere of a planet. Which wavelength band of photons passes through the planet's atmosphere as shown above by the longest wave
A)radio
B)infrared
C)visual
D)ultraviolet
Q3) The greenhouse effect occurs because carbon dioxide is opaque to infrared radiation.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Motion of the plates of Earth's crust is thought to be due to A)the solar wind.
B)convection from the hot interior.
C)tides in the oceans.
D)friction between wind and the land surface.
E)Earth's magnetic field.
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Chapter 17: Mercury, Venus, and Mars
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Sample Questions
Q1) The absence of folded mountain ranges on Mars suggests that it has been subjected to plate tectonics.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The size of Olympus Mons suggests that the crust of Mars is very thick.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Explain the differences between composite and shield volcanoes.
Q4) _____________ is a very long and deep canyon on Mars.
A)Valles Marineris
B)Ishtar Terra
C)Tharsis Bulge
D)Lobate Scarp
E)Phobos
Q5) The greenhouse effect occurs because carbon dioxide is opaque to infrared radiation.
A)True
B)False
Q6) If you went to Mars, would you have to wear a space suit Explain why or why not.
Q7) ____________________ formed as Mercury cooled and shrank.
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Chapter 18: The Outer Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) The rings of ____________ were discovered when they occulted a star.
Q2) Triton has a retrograde orbit around Neptune. This means that ____________.
A)Triton orbits in the same direction as Neptune rotates on its axis.
B)Triton orbits in the opposite direction to the way Neptune rotates on its axis.
C)Triton does not orbit around Neptune. Instead, it stands still.
Q3) In which corner of the figure above is Uranus moving from fall to winter in the southern hemisphere
A)upper left
B)upper right
C)lower left
D)lower right
Q4) In Jupiter's atmosphere, winds circulate _________ in the ________ hemisphere and ________ in the _________ hemisphere
A)clockwise, southern, counterclockwise, northern
B)counterclockwise, southern, clockwise, northern
C)clockwise, northern, counterclockwise, southern
D)counterclockwise, northern, clockwise, southern
Q5) The one object in the solar system suspected of having a semi-liquid on its surface is ____________.
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Chapter 19: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets
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Sample Questions
Q1) ____ are round bits of glass found in some stony meteorites.
A)Chondrites
B)Anthrasites
C)Achondrites
D)Widmanstätten patterns
E)Chondrules
Q2) Which of the following is evidence for the connection between comets and meteor showers
A)Meteor and comets have the same appearance in the sky.
B)Meteor showers always occur when a comet is visible.
C)Meteor showers always occur 6 months after a comet passes Earth.
D)Meteor showers are an annual event. Many of these are known to be when the Earth crosses a comet's orbit.
Q3) No asteroids have orbits that cross the Earth's orbit.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Choose the correct object to make the statement correct:A/An ____(meteor, meteoroid, meteor shower, meteorite, asteroid)______ impact could result in a climate change for the world.
Q5) Explain how chondrules form and how we know they exist.
Page 21
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Chapter 20: Astrobiology: Life on Other Worlds
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Viking spacecraft searched for life on Mars by looking for the effects of life on the upper atmosphere.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Viking landers searched for life on ____________.
Q3) What limitation(s) make it impossible to travel between stars
I.fuel requirements
II.the tremendous distances between stars
III.the finite speed at which objects can travel
A)I
B)II
C)III
D)II & III
E)I, II, & III
Q4) The primordial soup is not organic-rich.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Genetic information is stored in DNA.
A)True
B)False
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