Course Introduction
Cosmology Practice Questions
Cosmology is the scientific study of the origin, structure, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe. This course explores the fundamental concepts and observations that inform our current understanding of the cosmos, including the Big Bang theory, cosmic microwave background radiation, the expansion of the universe, dark matter, and dark energy. Through mathematical models and observational evidence, students will examine how galaxies, stars, and large-scale structures form and evolve, and discuss the philosophical and scientific implications of discoveries in modern cosmology.
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Astronomy The Universe at a Glance 1st Edition by Eric Chaisson
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Night Sky
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why is there a two-day difference in the sidereal and synodic months?
A) The Moon speeds up at perigee, and slows down at apogee.
B) The sidereal day is four minutes shorter than the solar day, and it adds up.
C) The Earth is closer to the Sun during the sidereal month.
D) The Earth is also revolving around the Sun, so the Moon must "catch up."
E) The Moslem lunar year is only 354 days long, on average.
Answer: D
Q2) Constellations are close clusters of stars, all at about the same distance from the Sun.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) What conditions are necessary for a partial solar eclipse?
A) New Moon on ecliptic, with us in the penumbral shadow
B) Full Moon on equator, with us in the umbral shadow
C) New Moon at perigee
D) Full Moon at apogee
E) First or third quarter Moon crossing the ecliptic
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Light and Telescopes
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Q1) Stars that appear blue or white in color are ________ than our yellow Sun.
Answer: hotter
Q2) The hottest objects with temperatures in the millions of Kelvins, give off most of their radiation in which part of the electromagnetic spectrum?
A) Visible
B) Radio
C) Ultraviolet
D) X-ray
E) Gamma ray
Answer: D
Q3) The longer the wavelength of the photon, the ________ the energy it carries.
Answer: lower
Q4) Knowing the peak emission wavelength of a blackbody allows you to determine its ________.
Answer: temperature
Q5) Due to our ozone layer, ultraviolet astronomy must be done from space.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 3: The Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Newton's third law, the Voyager probes pulled just as hard on Jupiter as it did on them when they flew past it. Why were they accelerated enough to leave the solar system but Jupiter still is in orbit about the Sun?
Answer: Jupiter was much more massive than the Voyagers, so by the second law, they slowed Jupiter down a tiny bit, but it accelerated the probes so much they escaped the gravity of the Sun itself.
Q2) Kepler based his theories on the precise planetary observations of Tycho Brahe. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The plane in which almost all planets orbit the Sun is called the A) equator of the solar system.
B) ecliptic.
C) equant.
D) node.
E) galactic plane.
Answer: B
Q4) In terms of ________, all the terrestrials are greater than any of the jovians. Answer: density
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Chapter 4: Earth and Its Moon
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Q1) The hydrosphere covers about 50% of the Earth's crust.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which side of the Moon has the thicker crust? Why?
Q3) The crust of the Earth is covered by about ________ water in the hydrosphere.
A) 50%
B) 60%
C) 70%
D) 80%
E) 90%
Q4) These are found on the side of the Moon that faces Earth, but not on the far side.
A) Highlands
B) Maria
C) Craters
D) Mountains
E) Valleys
Q5) The various layers of the atmosphere are distinguished by the behavior of the ________.
Q6) Name two consequences of the Earth's magnetic field detected from space.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: The Eight Planets
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Q1) Describe the circulation of Jupiter's belts and zones.
Q2) At the surface of Saturn's atmosphere the strength of the magnetic field is
A) about the same as Mercury's magnetic field at its surface.
B) about the same as Venus' magnetic field at its surface.
C) about the same as Earth's magnetic field at its surface.
D) about the same as Mars' magnetic field at its surface.
E) about the same as Jupiter's magnetic field at its atmospheric surface.
Q3) Mars has a weak magnetic field.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The apparent "surface" of Jupiter is actually the tops of ________.
Q5) What are the two principal components of Jupiter's atmosphere? How do they relate to its density?
Q6) What two properties of Mercury imply that it is differentiated?
A) Its size and magnetic field
B) Its large average density and its surface features
C) Its surface features and its size
D) Its large average density and its magnetic field
E) Its magnetic field and its surface features
Q7) Where is most of the water on Mars believed to be?
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Chapter 6: Small Bodies in the Solar System
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Q1) The leading hemisphere of Iapetus is much darker than the back side, which is icy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) All known asteroids can be found in the asteroid belt.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The "wispy terrain" on Rhea was revealed by the Cassini spacecraft to be
A) ice cliffs created by tectonic fractures.
B) water ice flows from past impacts that cracked its icy surface.
C) the icy ash of water volcanoes.
D) "maria" created during the period of high impacts.
E) water ice flows from geyser-like activity.
Q4) Which of the Galilean moons is the densest and most geologically active?
A) Io
B) Europa
C) Ganymede
D) Callisto
E) Titan
Q5) The moon with an atmosphere denser than ours is ________.
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Chapter 7: Formation of Planetary Systems
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Q1) In general, the surfaces of the planets will be ________ than the age of the solar system.
Q2) Which of these is NOT a characteristic of the solar nebula theory?
A) The ecliptic is the equator for the Sun.
B) All the planets should follow the ecliptic plane.
C) All the planets should orbit the Sun counterclockwise.
D) Larger planets should form closer to their star, where there is more debris.
E) Planets should rotate counterclockwise as well.
Q3) None of the other stars yet studied has more than one planet orbiting it.
A)True
B)False
Q4) According to the planetary migration model, the jovian planets are thought to have formed
A) in the orbit where they are now.
B) further from the Sun than they are now.
C) in another solar system.
D) closer to the Sun than they are now.
E) none of the above.
Q5) Why are infrared observations useful when observing extrasolar planets?
Q6) Explain the stage in which the solar system formed pretty much in a plane.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: The Sun
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Sample Questions
Q1) The speed of light is 3.00 × 10 m/s. If 2.00 kg of mass is converted to energy, how much energy will be produced?
A) 1.80 × 10¹ J
B) 6.00 × 10 J
C) 1.50 × 10 J
D) 6.00 × 10 J
E) 9.00 × 10¹ J
Q2) Studies by the Global Oscillations Network Group, along with satellite observations, indicate
A) that the standard solar model requires substantial modification.
B) that all stars show the same kind of vibrations that our Sun does.
C) that there is an unknown energy transport mechanism in the Sun.
D) that there is less convection in the Sun than predicted by the standard solar model.
E) that the standard solar model accurately models the observed solar vibrations.
Q3) In the proton-proton cycle, you must first make deuterium, then helium.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Presently, what is happening to the helium in the sun's core?
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Measuring the Stars
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Q1) In a spectroscopic binary system, the star showing the larger blue shift is
A) cooler and receding the fastest.
B) less massive of the pair and receding slower.
C) more massive and approaching us.
D) less massive and approaching us at this moment.
E) hotter and receding faster.
Q2) All classes of binary stars yield the basic information on stellar ________.
Q3) Why must both parallax and proper motion be known to give transverse velocity?
Q4) Which of the following is the most common type of star?
A) High mass main sequence
B) Low mass main sequence
C) White dwarfs
D) Red giants
E) Blue supergiants
Q5) A star's motion across the sky is its ________ motion.
Q6) From hottest to coolest, the seven letters for the star types are ________.
Q7) What types of observations are necessary to determine the absolute luminosity of a star?
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Q8) Capella is the same temperature as our Sun, but about ten times the Sun's diameter; it must be about ________ times as luminous as our star.
Chapter 10: Star Formation and Evolution
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Q1) Which statement is TRUE about the interstellar medium?
A) Gas contains a lot of carbon atoms.
B) Dust blocks the longest electromagnetic wavelengths.
C) Gas obscures the light from distant stars.
D) We know more about the gas than the dust.
E) Dust is spread uniformly through the galaxy.
Q2) What element are most white dwarfs primarily made of? Why?
Q3) 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 ________.
Q4) All planetary nebulae are slowly-expanding spherical disks ejected by red giants, while their exposed cores appear as white dwarfs.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Interstellar matter is distributed very evenly through the galaxy.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Eventually, all low mass stars will become white, then black, dwarfs.
A)True
B)False
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Stellar Explosions
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Q1) Stellar nucleosynthesis is responsible for the existence of all elements except hydrogen.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Gamma-ray bursts seem to come primarily from neutron star binaries in the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy.
A)True
B)False
Q3) All neutron stars are pulsars, but not all pulsars are neutron stars.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Under what circumstances will a nova occur?
Q5) It takes less and less time to fuse heavier and heavier elements inside a high mass star.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Short duration gamma-ray bursts are explained as the merger of two neutron stars. A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Black Holes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Relate escape speed to event horizon for a black hole.
Q2) Einstein received the Nobel Prize in physics for his work with general relativity. A)True
B)False
Q3) As a spaceship nears an event horizon, a clock on the spaceship will be observed
A) to run faster.
B) to stop.
C) to run slowly.
D) to run backwards.
E) to run the same as one on Earth.
Q4) Why would the tidal forces around a black hole be of concern to a space explorer interested in investigating the area near a black hole?
Q5) The Schwartzschild radius for a 12 solar mass star is
A) 4 km.
B) 15 km.
C) 36 km.
D) 100 km.
E) 3000 km.
Q6) On a sphere, the interior angles of a triangle add up to ________ 180 degrees.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Milky Way Galaxy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which is the correct description of the Sun's location within the Milky Way?
A) At the outer edge of the Galactic bulge but in the plane of the disc
B) In the disc but at its outer edge
C) As Herschel found, very close to the Galactic center
D) Above the disc and about one-third of the Galactic radius from the center
E) In the disc and about one-half a Galactic radius from the center
Q2) Why is a variable star so convenient for measuring distances to very remote objects?
Q3) The major problem faced by optical astronomers in trying to deduce the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy is that we can see only a small part of it because of the
Q4) Spiral arms are regions of star formation, which accounts for their blue color. A)True B)False
Q5) We can estimate the mass of the Galaxy from observations of its ________ curve.
Q6) Spiral arms are thought to be sites of ________, based on the observations newly formed stars and interstellar dust lanes in and around these features.
Q7) Of what is the Galactic halo presumed to be composed? What evidence supports this conclusion?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Galaxies
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Q1) To which portion of the Milky Way are the Magellanic Clouds most similar? Why?
Q2) Most active galactic nuclei are powered by A) supermassive black holes.
B) a large number of supernovae.
C) mergers of compact objects.
D) black hole mergers.
E) extra-terrestrial civilizations.
Q3) The pregalactic blobs had masses similar to A) the earth.
B) the Sun.
C) globular clusters.
D) the Large Magellanic Cloud.
E) the Milky Way.
Q4) In Hubble's classification, which type of galaxy has no stellar disk and no gas or dust?
A) E0
B) S0
C) Sa
D) SBc
E) E9
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Cosmology and the Universe
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Q1) While a variety of factors can produce red shifts in the spectrum, the one associated with the expansion of the universe is called
A) universal.
B) cosmological.
C) olberian.
D) relativistic.
E) the Zeeman Effect.
Q2) Contrast dark matter and dark energy with respect to their roles in the future of the universe.
Q3) The ________ is the observational evidence that the whole universe was once extremely hot and dense, as called for in the Big Bang, but has now expanded and redshifted this energy to much longer wavelengths.
Q4) What is the Big Bang?
A) An enormous explosion that organized all matter in the universe
B) The creation of matter and the universe
C) The creation of the primeval fireball
D) An explosion that spewed matter all over the universe
E) The event that started the expansion of the universe
Q5) Is the Hubble Constant really constant?
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