Basic Astronomy
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Course Introduction
Basic Astronomy introduces students to the fundamental concepts of astronomy, covering the structure and scale of the universe, the motion of celestial bodies, and the principles underlying observational techniques. The course explores the solar system, stars, galaxies, and cosmology, along with the tools and methods astronomers use to gather and interpret data. Emphasis is placed on understanding the scientific method, the history of astronomical discoveries, and the relevance of astronomy to everyday life. This foundational course is designed for students with little or no prior background in the subject and prepares them for more advanced study in astronomy and related fields.
Recommended Textbook Astronomy Preliminary Edition by Adam Frank
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Chapter 1: Getting Started: Science, astronomy, and Being Human
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Q1) Which of the following statements uses the word theory in the sense meant by scientists?
A) The astronomer's theory had not yet been tested by experiments.
B) The astronomer's theory had passed so many experimental tests that it had become accepted wisdom throughout the community.
C) The astronomer's theory was an elegant hypothesis.
D) The astronomer's theory was in conflict with the prevailing explanation.
Answer: B
Q2) What kind of astronomical object is hundreds of millions of times smaller than the Milky Way galaxy?
Answer: Stars.
Q3) Provide examples of societies that have used astronomy for survival,for creative purposes,and to explain the context of their lives.
Answer: Any number of examples would be correct,but from this section they are as follows: ancient farmers used the positions of stars to determine when to plant seeds,early physicists applied the laws of physics to planetary motion,and creation myths explained context.
Q4) Identify the base,coefficient,and exponent in the number 4.07 × 10 .
Answer: The base is 10,the coefficient is 4.07,and the exponent is 6.
Page 3
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Chapter 2: A Universe Made, a Universe Discovered
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Q1) Suppose Earth were tilted 40° relative to the plane of its orbit (rather than 23.5°).How would the seasons change?
Answer: If Earth's axis had a larger tilt,the temperature variations from summer to winter would be more extreme,because both the angle at which the Sun's rays hit Earth and the length of days and nights would vary more.
Q2) You see two balls in the distance.The blue ball is half a degree across and rests half of a football field away.The red ball is one-quarter of a degree across and rests two football fields away.The red ball is ________ as large as the blue ball.
A) one-quarter
B) one-half
C) two times
D) four times
Answer: C
Q3) Most Greek astronomers took the lack of a stellar parallax as evidence against the heliocentric model.What is the true explanation for the lack of an apparent parallax?
Answer: The stars are so distant from us that the parallax cannot be perceived with the naked eye.
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Chapter 3: A Universe of Universal Laws
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Q1) Pluto has a perihelion of about 50 AU and an aphelion of 30 AU.What is the ratio of the gravitational force at aphelion to the gravitational force at perihelion?
A) 1
B) 5/3
C) 25/9
D) 25/3
Answer: C
Q2) Galileo observed Venus to attain a full phase.Why did this disprove the geocentric model?
Answer: Venus always remains near the Sun on the sky.In a geocentric model,this meant the Sun could never be between Earth and Venus,so Venus could never reach the full phase.
Q3) What was the first observation to challenge Aristotle's conception of perfect and unchanging heavens?
A) phases of the Moon
B) craters on the Moon
C) retrograde motion
D) Tycho's supernova
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: A Universe of Universal Laws
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Q1) Describe the path of light in a reflecting telescope with a Newtonian focus.
Q2) A spectrograph measures the:
A) speed of a light beam.
B) energy carried by each component wavelength of a light beam.
C) polarization of a light beam.
D) atmospheric distortion experienced by a light beam.
Q3) A pair of radio dishes,each with collecting area 100 m²,lie a distance of 10 km from each other.With them,astronomers can make a measurement with an effective collecting area of ________ and an effective angular resolution of a telescope with a ________ diameter.
A) 10<sup>8</sup> m<sup>2</sup>; 200 m
B) 10<sup>8</sup> m<sup>2</sup>; 200 m.
C) 200 m<sup>2</sup>; 10 km
D) 200 m<sup>2</sup>; 10 km.
Q4) List the seven components of the electromagnetic spectrum from shortest to longest wavelength.
Q5) How would you use a star's spectrum to measure its temperature?
Q6) A particular water wave has an amplitude of 2 m and a wavelength of 3 m.With this wave,the time between successive crests hit shore is 2 seconds.What is the speed of the wave?
Page 6
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Chapter 5: The Architecture and Birth of Planetary Systems
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Q1) Most of the asteroids in the asteroid belt are S-type.What does this tell us about their history?
Q2) Two planets,A and B,have identical compositions.Planet A has an orbital radius of 0.5 AU and a mass equal to 0.5 Earth masses.Planet B has an orbital radius of 1 AU and a mass equal to 1 Earth mass.Which planet is denser? Why?
Q3) The largest explosions in Earth's history were a result of:
A) radioactivity in Earth's core.
B) Earth-crossing asteroids.
C) nuclear weapons.
D) volcanoes.
Q4) A comet with an orbit near the ecliptic plane and an orbital period of 75 years most likely comes from the:
A) asteroid belt.
B) Kuiper Belt.
C) Oort Cloud.
D) Trojan asteroids.
Q5) Suppose Jupiter's orbit suddenly became highly eccentric.How would this affect the Solar System?
Q6) How do terrestrial planets form?
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Chapter 6: Home Base: Earth and Moon
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Q1) How is the heat powering a shield volcano generated and transported?
Q2) The Moon formed primarily from:
A) a captured planetesimal.
B) Earth's mantle.
C) Earth's core.
D) the same mixture of material as Earth.
Q3) Earth's magnetic field is created by:
A) the magnetized inner core.
B) iron deposits in the crust.
C) interactions with the solar wind.
D) currents in the outer core.
Q4) Spring tides occur:
A) during new and full moons.
B) during first quarter moons.
C) at the vernal equinox.
D) during new moons.
Q5) The fission hypothesis states that the Moon formed when rotation pulled material away from the molten Earth.What is the primary objection to this scenario?
Q6) According to plate tectonics,where do most earthquakes occur?
Q7) Why is the Moon's rotation period equal to its orbital period?
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Chapter 7: Sibling Worlds: Mercury, Venus, and Mars
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Q1) Mercury's iron content indicates that it may have:
A) strong magnetic fields.
B) retained much of its internal heat.
C) undergone a significant impact early in its history.
D) formed before the other terrestrial planets.
Q2) How did Venus's magnetic field soon after its formation compare to its magnetic field now? What,if anything,is responsible for any change?
Q3) Name two ways in which Phobos and Deimos differ from Earth's Moon.
Q4) If Mars had a Moon like Earth's,it would be more hospitable for the evolution of life because:
A) Mars has a stronger magnetic field.
B) Mars's obliquity is more stable.
C) Mars has suffered fewer impacts.
D) Mars's atmosphere is thicker.
Q5) How would Earth change if it were moved to Mercury's orbit? Consider its atmosphere,internal structure,magnetic field,and day-night cycle.
Q6) Why does Mercury lack a substantial atmosphere?
Q7) How do the volcanoes on Venus compare to those on Earth?
Q8) What geographic features on Mars provide evidence for water on Mars?
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Chapter 8: Gas, ice, and Stone: the Outer Planets
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Q1) Why is Saturn's magnetic field 20 times weaker than Jupiter's?
A) The decreased pressure on Saturn implies a smaller liquid hydrogen layer.
B) Saturn's atmosphere responds easily to magnetic fields, partially canceling them.
C) Saturn's rapid rotation causes its electric currents to short-circuit.
D) All of the above.
Q2) What is the internal structure of the giant planets?
Q3) Saturn's atmosphere contains cloud layers composed of all of the following molecules EXCEPT:
A) ammonia.
B) methane.
C) ozone.
D) water.
Q4) What is the most volcanically active world in the Solar System?
A) Venus
B) Earth
C) Io
D) Titan
Q5) Why does Saturn bulge outward at the equator rather than its poles?
Q6) What is responsible for the coloration of Jupiter's clouds?
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Chapter 9: Life and the Search for Habitable Worlds
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Q1) Life is a process in the sense that:
A) all organisms reproduce.
B) all organisms go through a process of development over their lives.
C) most of its qualities are actions.
D) scientists are still coming to terms with its meaning.
Q2) Which of the following factors does NOT appear in the Drake equation?
A) the number of stars in the Milky Way
B) the fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligence evolves
C) the average lifetime of a technologically advanced civilization
D) the average delay between the formation of a planet and the appearance of life
Q3) A lock requires a three-number sequence to open,with each number ranging from 1 to 10.If a thief requires three seconds to try any one combination,what is the maximum number of seconds before the thief opens the lock?
A) 3<sup>10</sup>
B) 10<sup>3</sup>
C) 3 × 10<sup>3</sup>
D) 10<sup>6</sup>
Q4) What defines the habitability zone around a star?
Q5) Why is carbon so well suited to forming the building blocks of life?
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Chapter 10: The Sun As a Star
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Q1) A pot of boiling water sits on a hot stove.How is heat transported from the bottom of the pot to the water's surface?
A) radiative transport
B) convection
C) conduction
D) phase transitions
Q2) If scientists observe a coronal mass ejection,the Sun likely has:
A) fewer sunspots than usual.
B) just experienced a polarity reversal.
C) no magnetic field lines.
D) experienced recent reconnection events.
Q3) The Sun produces energy through:
A) fission.
B) the triple alpha reaction.
C) the proton-proton chain.
D) the CNO cycle.
Q4) What are the two properties that define a star?
Q5) What can astronomers learn by measuring the regular oscillations of material on the Sun's surface?
Q6) How can heat be transported across a vacuum?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Measuring the Stars: the Main Sequence and Its Meaning
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Q1) What causes a star to leave the main sequence?
A) the decreasing temperature of the star
B) the decreasing temperature of the star's core
C) the consumption of all the star's hydrogen
D) the consumption of the stellar core's hydrogen
Q2) Star A has an apparent magnitude of 5,while star B has an apparent magnitude of 10.If star A is twice as far from Earth as star B,how do the luminosities of the two stars compare?
Q3) Star A is twice as luminous as star B but has half the temperature of star B.How large is the radius of star A compared to star B?
A) 23/2 as large
B) 22 as large
C) 25/2 as large
D) 23 as large
Q4) What information do you need to calculate the apparent magnitude of a star? What about the absolute magnitude?
Q5) Why does the nature of a star's energy source require a star to change over time?
Page 13
Q6) How are globular clusters used to test stellar models?
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Chapter 12: Nursery of the Stars: the Interstellar Medium and
Star Formation
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Q1) A massive protostar is more luminous than a low-mass protostar because it:
A) undergoes a different set of fusion reactions.
B) has a lower temperature.
C) releases less of its thermal energy.
D) had more potential gravitational energy before it collapsed.
Q2) Which of the following changes would help a molecular cloud to resist gravitational collapse longer?
A) increasing the cloud's average velocity relative to the center of the Milky Way.
B) decreasing the cloud's temperature
C) decreasing the fraction of metals in the cloud
D) changing the cloud's composition
Q3) What are two reasons that molecules are so abundant within giant molecular clouds?
Q4) How might an astronomer measure the initial mass function?
A) catalog the masses of all the stars in the Milky Way
B) catalog the masses of all nearby galaxies
C) catalog the masses of all the molecular clouds in the Milky Way
D) catalog the masses of all the stars in a young open cluster
Q5) What is the criterion for a collapsing cloud to become a protostar?
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Chapter 13: To the Graveyard of Stars: the End Points of
Stellar Evolution
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Q1) Which of the following does NOT generate its energy through fusion?
A) main sequence star
B) nova
C) Type Ia supernova
D) Type II supernova
Q2) Why is an intermediate mass star's time on the horizontal branch much shorter than its time on the main sequence?
Q3) Which of the following phases lasts for the shortest time as a massive star evolves?
A) hydrogen burning
B) helium burning
C) oxygen burning
D) silicon burning
Q4) How does a horizontal branch star produce energy?
A) fusion of hydrogen in the core only
B) fusion of hydrogen in the core and helium in a shell
C) fusion of helium in the core only
D) fusion of helium in the core and hydrogen in a shell
Q5) How will the Sun generate its energy when it eventually passes up the asymptotic giant branch?
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Chapter 14: Down the Rabbit Hole: Relativity and Black Holes
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Q1) What does the "no-hair" theorem state?
A) Black hole formation cannot be observed.
B) Nothing can escape a black hole.
C) Black holes can be described by just three numbers.
D) Black holes can only be observed through gravitational lensing.
Q2) A galaxy is positioned precisely behind another,very massive,galaxy on the sky.We would observe the more distant galaxy as a:
A) ring, displaced from the galaxy's true location.
B) pair of identical images, displaced from its true location.
C) single magnified image, at its true location.
D) single magnified image, displaced from its true location.
Q3) The first experimental verification of the general theory of relativity was:
A) gravitational waves.
B) gravitational lensing.
C) time dilation.
D) the detection of black holes.
Q4) What are the two fundamental postulates of special relativity?
Q5) What are the three observable properties of black holes?
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Q6) In the late 19th century,how did scientists explain the wavelike properties of light?
Chapter 15: Our City of Stars: the Milky Way
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Q1) On average,which of the following stellar populations formed earliest in the Universe's history?
A) Population III
B) Population II
C) Population I
D) Populations are not related to age.
Q2) How did astronomers rule out the MACHO dark matter hypothesis?
A) rotation curves
B) gamma-ray bursts
C) underground dark matter detectors
D) microlensing
Q3) Which of the four fundamental forces of nature could dark matter experience?
A) gravity and the weak nuclear force
B) gravity, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force
C) gravity and the strong nuclear force
D) gravity only
Q4) Why might it be surprising that the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is not luminous?
Q5) What is a WIMP?
Q6) What is the shape of the Milky Way's central component?
Page 17
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Chapter 16: A Universe of Galaxies
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Q1) Suppose astronomers discover an error in the size of the astronomical unit.How would this affect distances measured with Hubble's law?
A) It would not affect such measurements, because they use galaxy redshifts.
B) It would not affect such measurements, because calibration protects against such errors.
C) Measurements with Hubble's law would change because of the change to inferred galaxy redshifts.
D) Measurements with Hubble's law would change because of the calibration process.
Q2) The mass of a supermassive black hole within the galaxy will most accurately predict the:
A) total mass of the galaxy.
B) mass of the galaxy's stellar halo.
C) mass of the galaxy's bulge.
D) mass of the galaxy's gas clouds.
Q3) Which cosmic distance measurement techniques rely on the observation of standard candles?
Q4) An astronomer measures the rotation speed of a spiral galaxy.How can she use this to estimate the galaxy's distance?
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Chapter 17: The Cosmic Web: the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
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Q1) What physical principle is most responsible for galaxies forming disks?
A) the inverse square law
B) hydrostatic equilibrium
C) conservation of angular momentum
D) universal gravity
Q2) Why do astronomers refer to the Dark Ages as "dark"?
Q3) What is the typical environment of a spiral galaxy?
A) isolated
B) inside a group of a few dozen members
C) inside a group with 100 members
D) inside a cluster with 1,000 or more members
Q4) Why are most galaxies inside clusters ellipticals or lenticular galaxies?
Q5) Why do redshift surveys require so much telescope time?
Q6) Which of the following objects will produce the strongest gravitational lensing,all other things being equal?
A) the hottest galaxy cluster
B) the most distant galaxy cluster
C) the most massive galaxy cluster
D) the galaxy cluster with the largest radius
Q7) Why were quasars most common 10 billion years ago? Page 19
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Chapter 18: Cosmology
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT an example of a cosmological investigation?
A) using supernovas to understand the stellar population
B) using Cepheid variables to measure the Hubble constant
C) using the cosmic microwave background to measure the geometry of the Universe
D) characterizing the average abundance of different elements in the Universe
Q2) A particular region in space has a galaxy cluster today.How would the density and temperature of that same region have compared to an average region of the Universe at the time of cosmological recombination?
Q3) Which of the following were necessary for Einstein to formulate equations describing the Universe as a whole?
A) homogeneity
B) isotropy
C) general relativity
D) all of the above
Q4) In the context of the classic Big Bang model,why is the uniformity of the cosmic microwave background's temperature puzzling?
Q5) What are the three most important observational pillars for the Big Bang model?
Q6) What is goal of cosmology?
Q7) How do scientists characterize the Universe before the Big Bang?
Page 21
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