Contemporary Astronomy Exam Practice Tests
Course Introduction
Contemporary Astronomy explores the current understanding of the universe, including the latest discoveries and advancements in celestial phenomena, stellar evolution, galaxies, black holes, and cosmology. The course covers modern observational techniques, the role of technology in deep-space exploration, and the implications of recent missions and data. Students will engage with topics such as exoplanet research, dark matter and dark energy, and the origin and fate of the universe, gaining insights into how scientific theories are developed and challenged in the light of new evidence.
Recommended Textbook
The Essential Cosmic Perspective 6th Edition by Jeffrey O. Bennett
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18 Chapters
2158 Verified Questions
2158 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Our Place in the Universe
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102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Voyager 2 should reach the nearest stars (besides the Sun) in about 500 years.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) The total number of stars in the observable universe is about ________.
A) 100 billion
B) the same as the number of grains of sand in a school sandbox
C) the same as the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth
D) the same as the number of atoms that make up the Earth
Answer: C
Q3) According to current scientific estimates, when did the Big Bang occur?
A) About 10 billion years ago
B) About 4.5 billion years ago
C) About 14 billion years ago
D) About 20 billion years ago
E) About 65 million years ago
Answer: C
Q4) Consider the following statement, and explain whether or not it is sensible: Earth is always precisely 1 AU from the Sun.
Answer: Not sensible: One AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun.
Page 3
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Chapter 2: Discovering the Universe for Yourself
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135 Verified Questions
135 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Consider the following statement, and explain whether or not it is sensible: Last night I saw Mars move westward through the sky in its apparent retrograde motion.
Answer: This statement does not make sense because the apparent retrograde motion is noticeable only over many nights, not during a single night. (Of course, like all celestial objects, Mars moves from east to west over the course of every night.)
Q2) "Gibbous" means a nearly full moon. If I see a waxing gibbous moon tonight, what moon phase will I see in one week?
A) Waning crescent
B) Waxing gibbous
C) Waning gibbous
D) Waxing crescent
Answer: C
Q3) Suppose you lived on the Moon near the center of the face that we see from Earth. During the phase of full moon, what phase would you see for Earth? Would it be day or night at your home?
Answer: During the full moon, it would be daytime and you would see the phase of new Earth.
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Page 4
Chapter 3: The Science of Astronomy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Metonic cycle is the
A) 29 1/2-day period of the lunar cycle.
B) 12-month period of a lunar calendar.
C) 19-year period over which the lunar phases occur on about the same dates.
D) 18-year, 11-day period over which the pattern of eclipses repeats.
E) period between successive Easters.
Answer: C
Q2) How did ancient peoples of central Africa predict the weather?
Answer: They observed the orientation of the crescent moon relative to the horizon. The orientation of the "horns" is related to rainfall patterns.
Q3) Identify the falsi able statement below:
A) The universe was created by God.
B) The Sun is at the center of the solar system.
C) The laws of nature are magni cent and beautiful.
D) President Kennedy's murder was orchestrated by an undetectable shadow government of the United States.
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Making Sense of the Universe: Understanding
Motion, Energy, and Gravity
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103 Verified Questions
103 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If I drop a golf ball and a bowling ball simultaneously from same height above the ground, what will happen? Neglect the effects of wind or air resistance.
A) The golf ball and the bowling ball will hit the ground at the same time.
B) The bowling ball will hit the ground before the golf ball.
C) The golf ball will hit the ground before the bowling ball.
Q2) What would happen if the Space Shuttle were launched with a speed greater than Earth's escape velocity?
A) It would travel away from Earth into the solar system.
B) It would travel in a higher orbit around Earth.
C) It would take less time to reach its bound orbit.
D) It would orbit Earth at a faster velocity.
E) It would be in an unstable orbit.
Q3) Suppose you lived on the Moon. Which of the following would be true?
A) Your weight would be less than your weight on Earth, but your mass would be the same as it is on Earth.
B) Both your weight and your mass would be less than they are on Earth.
C) Your mass would be less than your mass on Earth, but your weight would be the same as it is on Earth.
D) Both your weight and your mass would be the same as they are on Earth.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Light: the Cosmic Messenger
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139 Verified Questions
139 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose an astronomer proposed to build a major observatory on the campus of your school. Would it make a good observing site? Explain why or why not.
Q2) Explain why an absorption line spectrum is not filled back in (to make the original continuous spectrum) by the photons that are emitted as the excited electrons decay back down to their original energy levels.
Q3) Which of the following statements about X-rays and radio waves is not true?
A) Neither X-rays nor radio waves can penetrate Earth's atmosphere.
B) X-rays have shorter wavelengths than radio waves.
C) X-rays and radio waves are both forms of light, or electromagnetic radiation.
D) X-rays have higher frequency than radio waves.
E) X-rays have higher energy than radio waves.
Q4) Everything looks red through a red filter because
A) the filter emits red light and absorbs other colors.
B) the filter absorbs red light and emits other colors.
C) the filter transmits red light and absorbs other colors.
D) the filter reflects red light and transmits other colors.
Q5) Atomic nuclei consist of protons and electrons.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Formation of Planetary Systems: Our Solar System
and Beyond
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174 Verified Questions
174 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which moons are sometimes called the Galilean moons?
A) The four largest moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
B) The two largest moons in the solar system: Ganymede and Titan
C) The moons that orbit their planet "backward" compared to their planet's rotation, such as Neptune's moon Triton
D) The moons orbiting Uranus, which was once named "planet Galileo"
Q2) Why did the solar nebula heat up as it collapsed?
A) Nuclear fusion occurring in the core of the protosun produced energy that heated the nebula.
B) As the cloud shrank, its gravitational potential energy was converted to thermal energy.
C) Radiation from other nearby stars that had formed earlier heated the nebula.
D) The shock wave from a nearby supernova heated the gas.
E) Collisions among planetesimals generated friction and heat.
Q3) Which planet, other than Earth, has visible water ice on it?
A) Mercury
B) Venus
C) the Moon
D) Mars
E) Jupiter
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Earth and the Terrestrial Worlds
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Sample Questions
Q1) How is the atmosphere of a planet affected by the rotation rate?
A) The rotation rate determines how much atmosphere a planet has.
B) The rotation rate determines how long the planet is able to retain its atmosphere.
C) Faster rotation rates raise surface temperatures and thus determine how much material is gaseous versus icy or liquid.
D) Faster rotation rates raise the atmospheric temperature.
E) Faster rotation rates produce stronger winds.
Q2) How does the size of a planet determine its internal temperature?
Q3) What type of stresses broke Earth's lithosphere into plates?
A) impacts of asteroids and planetesimals
B) internal temperature changes that caused the crust to expand and stretch
C) the circulation of convection cells in the mantle, which dragged against the lithosphere
D) cooling and contracting of the planet's interior, which caused the mantle and lithosphere to be compressed
E) volcanism, which produced heavy volcanoes that bent and cracked the lithosphere
Q4) Why did Earth retain most of its water while Venus and Mars lost theirs?
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Chapter 8: Jovian Planet Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the possible origins of Jupiter's vibrant colors. Contrast these with the origins of the colors of the other jovian planets.
Q2) Overall, Jupiter's composition is most like that of ________.
A) the Sun
B) Earth
C) a comet
D) an asteroid
Q3) Contrast Jupiter's magnetosphere with that of Earth and of the other jovian planets.
Q4) Describe two leading scenarios for the origin of the planetary rings. What makes us think that ring systems must be continually replenished?
Q5) The water-ice particles forming Saturn's rings are frozen together into a thin sheet that rotates around Saturn like a solid body.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Suppose the jovian planet atmospheres were composed 100 percent of hydrogen and helium rather than 98 percent of hydrogen and helium. How would the atmospheres be different in terms of color and weather?
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Chapter 9: Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets: Their
Nature, Orbits, and Impacts
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118 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) You find yourself on a silent airless world! The of the lack of an atmosphere means that you must be very careful not to look at the Sun so that you will not be blinded by its ultraviolet and X-ray radiation. However, you are able to determine that the Sun has about the same angular size that you are used to on Earth. Although this world is clearly lifeless, you are surprised to find footprints and car tracks etched in the powdery surface.
Q2) What do asteroids and comets have in common?
A) Most are unchanged since their formation in the solar nebula.
B) They have similar densities.
C) They have similar orbital radii.
D) They have a similar range of orbital inclinations.
E) They have nothing in common with each other.
Q3) During the time that a comet passes through the inner solar system, the comet can appear quite bright because
A) increasing friction causes the comet's nucleus to glow.
B) heat from the Sun causes the comet's nucleus to glow.
C) sunlight reflects off the comet's tail and coma.
D) sunlight reflects off the comet's nucleus.
Q4) Describe the Deep Impact and Stardust missions and what they were designed to achieve.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Our Star
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Sample Questions
Q1) What would happen in the Sun if the temperature of the core decreased?
A) The fusion rate decreases, then the core shrinks and heats.
B) The fusion rate decreases, then the core expands and heats.
C) The fusion rate increases, then the core expands and cools.
D) The fusion rate increases, then the core shrinks and heats.
Q2) Briefly explain how the Sun became hot enough for nuclear fusion.
Q3) The proton-proton chain is ________.
A) the specific set of nuclear reactions through which the Sun fuses hydrogen into helium
B) the linkage of numerous protons into long chains
C) another name for the force that holds protons together in atomic nuclei
D) an alternative way of generating energy that is different from the fusion of hydrogen into helium
Q4) Nuclear Fusion Power Plants: The public often reacts with fear to any energy source involving the word "nuclear." Imagine that you are discussion the problem of energy generation with a friend, and you mention that nuclear fusion power plants should be investigated. Your friend expresses worry about all of the nuclear waste that would be produced. How would you explain to your friend that this fear is misplaced?
Q5) What was the solar neutrino problem?
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Chapter 11: Surveying the Stars
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129 Verified Questions
129 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The spectral sequence, in order of decreasing temperature, is
A) OFBAGKM.
B) OBAGFKM.
C) OBAFGKM.
D) ABFGKMO.
E) BAGFKMO.
Q2) Suppose our Sun were suddenly replaced by a supergiant star. Which of the following would be true?
A) Earth would be inside the supergiant.
B) The supergiant's surface temperature would be much hotter than the surface temperature of our Sun.
C) Earth would fly off into interstellar space.
D) The supergiant would appear as large as the full Moon in our sky.
Q3) A star with an apparent magnitude of 10 appears fainter than a star with an apparent magnitude of 9.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Explain why stars displaying spectral lines of molecules must be relatively cool.
Q5) Which group represents hydrogen-burning stars with the shortest lifetimes?
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Chapter 12: Star Stuff
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which event marks the beginning of a supernova?
A) the onset of helium burning after a helium flash in a star with mass comparable to that of the Sun
B) the sudden outpouring of X-rays from a newly formed accretion disk
C) the sudden collapse of an iron core into a compact ball of neutrons
D) the beginning of neon burning in an extremely massive star
E) the expansion of a low-mass star into a red giant
Q2) Approximately what core temperature is required before hydrogen fusion can begin in a star?
A) 10 million K
B) 10,000 K
C) 10 trillion K
D) 10 billion K
E) 1 billion K
Q3) Briefly describe how a star forms.
Q4) The ultimate fate of our Sun is to ________.
A) become a white dwarf that will slowly cool with time
B) explode in a supernova
C) become a rapidly spinning neutron star
D) become a black hole
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Bizarre Stellar Graveyard
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110 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, and neutrons stars are all kept from collapsing by degeneracy pressure.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The surface of the neutron star RXJ2015 has a temperature of 10 million K. This neutron star glows most strongly in
A) infrared light.
B) X-ray light.
C) radio light.
D) visible light.
E) emission lines.
Q3) What is the evidence that gamma-ray bursts originate from beyond the Milky Way Galaxy?
Q4) A typical neutron star is more massive than our Sun and about the size (radius) of
A) a small asteroid (10 km in diameter)
B) Earth
C) the Moon
D) Jupiter
Q5) Why do white-dwarf supernovae all have the same maximum luminosity?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Our Galaxy
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Sample Questions
Q1) What produces the 21-cm radio line that we can be used to map the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) atomic hydrogen
B) ionized hydrogen
C) molecular hydrogen
D) carbon monoxide
E) helium
Q2) All the following types of objects are found almost exclusively in the disk (rather than the halo) of the Milky Way except ________.
A) globular clusters
B) young stars
C) X-ray binaries
D) high-mass, red supergiant stars
Q3) Red and orange stars are found evenly spread throughout the galactic disk, but blue stars are typically found ________.
A) only in or near star-forming clouds
B) in the halo
C) only in the central bulge
D) also evenly spread throughout the galactic disk
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Galaxies and the Foundation of Modern Cosmology
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Sample Questions
Q1) The collision of two spiral galaxies will likely result in a single giant spiral galaxy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In 1924, Edwin Hubble proved that the Andromeda Galaxy lay far beyond the bounds of the Milky Way, thus putting to rest the idea that it might have been a cloud within our own galaxy. How was he able to prove this?
A) By observing individual Cepheid variable stars in Andromeda and applying the period-luminosity relation
B) He was able to measure the parallax of the Andromeda Galaxy.
C) He found that the universe is expanding, and therefore concluded that Andromeda must lie outside our own galaxy.
D) He was the first person ever to look through a telescope at the object we now call the Andromeda Galaxy.
Q3) Hubble's "constant" is constant in
A) time.
B) space.
C) space and time.
D) our Galaxy, but it is different in others.
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Chapter 16: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe
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Sample Questions
Q1) One possible ingredient of dark matter is known as WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles. Our best guess is that WIMPs probably are made of protons and neutrons.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is the primary way in which we determine the mass distribution of a spiral galaxy?
A) We construct its rotation curve by measuring Doppler shifts from gas clouds at different distances from the galaxy's center.
B) We calculate its mass-to-light ratio.
C) We apply Newton's version of Kepler's third law to the orbits of globular clusters in the galaxy's halo.
D) We count the number of stars we can see at different distances from the galaxy's center.
Q3) Which hypothetical universe will eventually contract, if there were no dark energy?
A) The universe with 0.5 times the critical density of matter
B) The universe with 1.5 times the critical density of matter
C) The universe with 1.0 times the critical density of matter
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Chapter 17: The Beginning of Time
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about the cosmic background radiation is not true?
A) It has a temperature of about 3 degrees K above absolute zero.
B) It is the result of a mixture of radiation from many independent sources, such as stars and galaxies that formed within the first billion years of the Big Bang.
C) It had a much higher temperature in the past.
D) It was discovered by Penzias and Wilson in the mid 1960s.
E) It appears essentially the same in all directions (it is isotropic).
Q2) Why can't current theories describe what happened during the Planck era?
A) We do not yet have a theory that links quantum mechanics and general relativity.
B) We do not understand the properties of the antimatter that would have been produced at this time.
C) We do not yet have a theory that links the weak and electromagnetic forces.
D) We do not yet have a theory that explains how the universe underwent a rapid period of inflationary expansion.
E) The Planck era was the time before the Big Bang, and we cannot describe what happened before the beginning of the universe.
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
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Sample Questions
Q1) Nearly all of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere was originally produced by photosynthesis in the leaves of trees that covered the continents 3.5 billion years ago.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following gases, which we can detect (if present) in infrared spectra, would be a strong indicator of life on another planet?
A) carbon dioxide
B) ozone
C) methane
D) water vapor
E) sulfuric acid
Q3) Briefly summarize current knowledge about the term f_life in the equation Number of Civilizations = Np × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \)life × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \)civilization × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \) now
Q4) The Kepler mission, scheduled for launch in 2009, will search for Earth-like planets by looking for the dip in the brightness of a star as a (potential) planet transits across it. Why will this technique actually miss the vast majority of planets around the stars it observes?
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