Descriptive Astronomy
Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Descriptive Astronomy introduces students to the fundamental concepts and observational aspects of astronomy. The course covers the nature and structure of the universe, including the solar system, stars, galaxies, and cosmic phenomena. Students explore topics such as celestial motions, planetary science, and the life cycle of stars through both theoretical discussions and practical observation techniques. Emphasis is placed on understanding how astronomical discoveries are made and interpreted, making the subject accessible to those without advanced backgrounds in mathematics or physics. The course is ideal for anyone interested in gaining a broad, conceptual understanding of astronomy and its role in human history and culture.
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) The solar system is larger than the Milky Way Galaxy.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) A(n) ____________________ is the largest known structure in the universe. Answer: filament wall
Q3) The relative distance between the planets increase with distance from the Sun.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) Which of these is NOT a common misconception
A)A light year is a unit of time.
B)Stars look like disks when seen through a telescope
C)A galaxy is a star plus its planets.
D)All of the other choices are misconceptions.
Answer: D
Q5) A(n) ____________________ is the distance that light would travel in one year. Answer: light-year
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Chapter 2: A Users Guide to the Sky
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Sample Questions
Q1) In contrast to Ursa Major, the Big Dipper is not a(n) ___ but is instead a(n) ______
A)star; constellation.
B)asterism; constellation.
C)a constellation; asterism.
D)Wrong! Both are asterisms.
E)Wrong! Both are official constellations.
Answer: C
Q2) An observer in the Northern Hemisphere watches the sky for several hours. Due to the motion of Earth, this observer notices that the stars near the north celestial pole appear to move
A)counter-clockwise around the celestial pole.
B)clockwise around the celestial pole.
C)from left to right.
D)from right to left.
E)nearly vertically upward.
Answer: A
Q3) North, south, east, and west are points on the _____________ of your local sky.
Answer: horizon
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Chapter 3: Cycles of the Sun and Moon
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the evidence that best supports the Milankovitch hypothesis.
Answer: Cores of seafloor sediment, which geologists use to date the layers of the samples and determine the temperature of the oceans when the sediment was deposited. From this, scientists constructed a history of ocean temperatures that matched the predictions of the Milankovitch hypothesis.
Q2) In which direction does the daily motion of the Moon occur in the sky, against the background stars, when viewed from the Earth
A)toward the west
B)toward the east
C)toward the north celestial pole in the summer and the south celestial pole in the winter
D)No predictable pattern can be discerned.
Answer: B
Q3) If you were on the Moon during a total lunar eclipse, the Sun would be hidden behind Earth.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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5
Chapter 4: The Origin of Modern Astronomy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The force due to gravity between two objects depends on I.the mass of each object.II.the distance each object is from Earth.III.the distance between the two objects.IV.the speed of light.
A)I & II
B)I & III
C)II & IV
D)I, II, & III
E)I, II, III, & IV
Q2) Explain how gravity is used to explain the presence of the tides we experience on Earth.
Q3) Kepler's first law of planetary motion implies that
A)the planets move at a constant speed at all points in their orbits.
B)the planets all move around Earth in elliptical orbits.
C)uniform circular motion is adequate to describe the motion of all planets.
D)planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun.
Q4) The lunar tides on Earth are making the Moon recede from Earth.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Why were Galileo's telescopic observations of the phases of Venus critical evidence in favor of the Copernican theory
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Light and Telescopes
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ____ of a telescope is a measure of its ability to show fine detail and depends on the diameter of the objective.
A)light-gathering power
B)focal length
C)magnifying power
D)resolving power
E)spherical aberration
Q2) Which of the following types of electromagnetic radiation has the lowest energy
A)X-rays
B)visible light
C)ultraviolet
D)gamma rays
E)infrared radiation
Q3) Resolving power refers to the ability of a telescope to resolve fine detail.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Explain why the majority of large modern telescopes are not refractors.
Q5) How do electronic cameras resemble photographic plates How do they differ
Q6) The highest frequency and highest energy band of the electromagnetic spectrum is the ___________________ band.
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Chapter 6: Atoms and Spectra
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Sample Questions
Q1) Electrons in an atom are attracted to the nucleus by the _______________ force.
Q2) At what wavelength would a star radiate the greatest amount of energy if the star has a surface temperature of 60,000 K
A)50 nm
B)500 nm
C)300 nm
D)1.8 × 1011 nm
E)180 nm
Q3) An atom can be ionized by ____ it.
A)removing electrons from B)adding an electron to C)removing a proton from D)Either removing electron from or and adding an electron to
Q4) If one star has a temperature of 4000 K and another star has a temperature of 40,000 K, how much more energy per second will the hotter star radiate from each square meter of its surface ____________________
Q5) An atom that has lost an electron is called an ion.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 7: The Sun
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are the three layers of the Sun's atmosphere, in order of increasing distance from the surface
A)corona, chromosphere, photosphere
B)photosphere, corona, chromosphere
C)photosphere, chromosphere, corona
D)chromosphere, photosphere, corona
Q2) A(n) ____________________ is a subatomic particle produced in nuclear fusion that can travel through the Sun and escape to space without interacting with any particles in the Sun.
Q3) Why is the solar limb darker than the center
A)The limb is cooler.
B)The limb is in a shadow.
C)Light has more atmosphere to travel through and thus more light is absorbed or scattered from your line of sight.
D)None of the other choices are correct.
Q4) Why does a filtergram reveal details in higher layers of the solar atmosphere
Q5) The four fundamental forces in nature are ______________, _____________, ____________________, and _____________________.
Q6) Energy is transported through the Sun by ______________ and
Page 9
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Chapter 8: The Family of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) How do absolute visual magnitude and luminosity differ
Q2) Hydrogen Balmer lines are strongest near ____ spectral class whereas ionized Calcium (CaII) lines are strong in ___ stars.
A)A0, K
B)O5, M5
C)M5, G1
D)M0, B0
Q3) Doppler-shift observations of a spectroscopic binary star can enable astronomers to calculate ________ of its individual stars.
A)the minimum masses
B)the sizes
C)both minimum masses and sizes
D)neither minimum masses nor sizes
Q4) Which are the most common stars, massive stars or low-mass stars (relative to the Sun) High luminosity or low luminosity (relative to the Sun)
Q5) The parallax angle of the Sun is 1 arc second.
A)True
B)False
Q6) How does the luminosity depend on temperature for stars of the same size
Page 10
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Chapter 9: The Formation and Structure of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) Both the CNO cycle and the proton-proton fusion chain convert hydrogen to helium using catalysts.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The free-fall contraction of a molecular cloud
A)can be initiated by shock waves from supernovae.
B)can be initiated by nearby spectral type G stars.
C)can be initiated by the rotation of the cloud.
D)causes the cloud to become transparent to ultraviolet radiation.
E)causes the particles in the cloud to decrease the speed with which they move.
Q3) To initiate star formation in a cloud, you need a __________.
A)slow contraction of a molecular cloud
B)rotating molecular cloud
C)magnetic field
D)shock
Q4) A ZAMS star is located _______________________.
A)above the main sequence
B)on the upper edge of the main sequence
C)in the middle of the main sequence
D)on the lower edge of the main sequence
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Chapter 10: The Deaths of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) The helium core flash occurs in very high mass stars.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A(n) ____________________ supernova is caused by the collapse of a massive star that has lost its outer envelope of hydrogen.
Q3) When an aging massive star generates an iron core, the iron cannot fuse and thus the star cannot support its weight outside the core. The star is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium and collapses, forming a supernova.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A(n) _________ is a collection of 10 to 1000 stars in a region about 25 pc in diameter. The stars in the collection are typically quite young.
A)Herbig-Haro object
B)globular cluster
C)open cluster
D)giant cluster
E)supernova
Q5) Why can't a massive star generate energy through iron fusion
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Chapter 11: Neutron Stars and Black Holes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why do we not expect to find a 5-solar-mass neutron star
Q2) The mass of a neutron star is A)several time that of the Sun.
B)about the same as that of the Sun.
C)about the same as Earth.
D)smaller than any of these.
Q3) Neutron stars were first discovered in the 1930's.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The slowing of clocks in strongly curved space time is known as A)gravitational radiation.
B)time dilation.
C)gravitational curvature.
D)gravitational redshift.
E)hyperspace drag.
Q5) How are neutron stars and white dwarfs similar
Q6) The ____________________ of a black hole is the radius from the black hole at which the escape velocity is equal to the speed of light.
Q7) Energy lost by an isolated pulsar is carried away by a _____________.
Q8) An object of zero radius is known as a __________________.
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Chapter 12: The Milky Way Galaxy
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Sample Questions
Q1) How is the age of the galaxy determined
A)measuring the metallicity of Population II stars
B)finding the turnoff point in the H-R diagram of globular clusters
C)from the motion of stars in the galactic halo
D)counting the number of open clusters in the spiral arms
Q2) The center of our galaxy lies in the direction of the constellation of A)Ursa Minor.
B)Ursa Major.
C)Sagittarius.
D)Orion.
E)Monoceros.
Q3) Nucleosynthesis
A)is the process by which energy is produced at the center of the galaxy.
B)is the process by which hydrogen and helium are converted into heavier elements.
C)describes the structure of a globular cluster.
D)describes how the magnetic field of the galaxy traps cosmic rays.
E)describes the method by which neutral hydrogen produces 21-cm radiation.
Q4) Why does the rotation of our galaxy suggest that it is more massive than previously thought
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Chapter 13: Galaxies: Normal and Active
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the unified model of active galactic nuclei, ___________ is in the center surrounded by _____________with a Type 1 Seyfert or Type 2 Seyfert being seen depending on the viewing angle.
A)a supermassive black hole; an accretion disk
B)a supermassive black hole; empty space
C)no black hole; an accretion disk
D)no black hole; empty space
Q2) If the above shown spiral galaxy is 150 million ly away, how fast is it receding
A)32 km/s
B)320 km/s
C)3220 km/s
D)-320 km/s
Q3) Many disk galaxies, such as Andromeda and the Milky Way, are thought to have extended halos of dark matter because the disk circular orbital speed is observed to ____________ increasing distances from the disk center.
A)stay constant with B)decrease with C)be totally absent at
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15
Chapter 14: Modern Cosmology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Isotropic is the same as homogeneous.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which event occurred at a redshift around 1100
A)big bang
B)inflation
C)CMB
D)first stars formed
Q3) Measured ages of globular clusters suggests that the Universe is about
A)1.4 billion years old.
B)14 billion years old.
C)140 billion years old.
Q4) The density of the Universe is
A)equal to the critical density if the Universe is closed.
B)equal to the critical density if the Universe is flat.
C)greater than the critical density if the Universe is flat.
D)greater than the critical density if the Universe is open.
E)None of the other choices are correct.
Q5) Why is the primordial background radiation visible in all directions
Q6) What evidence do we have that the Universe is expanding
Page 16
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Chapter 15: The Origin of the Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) The most important effect in clearing the solar nebula of gas and dust was
A)impacts by planetesimals.
B)the solar wind.
C)the Sun's magnetic field.
D)the asteroid belt.
E)radiation pressure.
Q2) The first small solid grains or flakes formed in our solar system by the process of ____________, the addition of material to an object an atom or molecule at a time.
A)accretion
B)sublimation
C)hydration
D)condensation
E)vaporization
Q3) Which are the oldest solar system objects that have been dated radioactively What are their ages
Q4) The ____________ planets have larger radii than the ____________ planets.
Q5) Outside the ice line the temperatures are too warm for ices to condense.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 16: Earth and Moon: Bases for Comparative Planetology
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Sample Questions
Q1) The oldest parts of Earth's crust are located along the mid-ocean rifts.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of these gases is most responsible for the greenhouse effect on Earth
A)oxygen (O2)
B)nitrogen (N2)
C)carbon dioxide (CO2)
D)ozone (O3)
E)ammonia (NH3)
Q3) _____________, or dried seas of dark basalt, are only seen on the near side of the Moon, the side that faces Earth.
Q4) The presence of vesicular basalts among the lunar rock samples shows that
A)the lunar surface was fragmented by meteorite impacts.
B)volcanism did not occur on the Moon.
C)the crust must have been made of anorthosite.
D)molten lava once flowed over the lunar surface.
E)the Moon was once hit by a very large meteorite.
Q5) How is Earth's magnetic field generated
Q7) Compare the four terrestrial world atmospheres. Page 18
Q6) What property do greenhouse gases have that allow them to warm a planet
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Page 19
Chapter 17: Mercury, Venus, and Mars
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Sample Questions
Q1) How rapidly a planet loses its atmosphere depends on the planet's
I.escape velocity (determined by mass and radius).
II.atmospheric composition.
III.temperature.
IV.rotation period.
A)I & II
B)III & IV
C)I, II, & III
D)II, III, & IV
E)I, II, III, & IV
Q2) What factors determine the rate of loss of gases from a planet's atmosphere
Q3) The theory that Mercury shrank slightly when it was young has been proposed to explain
A)extended lava plains.
B)large craters.
C)magnetic field.
D)lobate scarps.
E)regolith.
Q4) Explain the differences between composite and shield volcanoes.
Q5) What evidence do we have that Mars once had a thicker atmosphere
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Chapter 18: The Outer Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) For an observer on Uranus, the ecliptic passes only a few degrees from the celestial poles.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Although Uranus and Neptune have no liquid metallic hydrogen in their interiors, they do have magnetic fields.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The rings of Neptune contain lots of dust as indicated by forward-scattering light.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which moon of the Jovian planets has a thick, hazy atmosphere
A)Io
B)Triton
C)Europa
D)Titan
Q5) What is the significance of the colors of Uranus and Neptune
Q6) Describe the possible history of a typical Plutino as astronomers now believe it occurred.
Page 21
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Chapter 19: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets
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Sample Questions
Q1) Carbonaceous chondrites are meteorites that have
A)never been melted since formation from solid particles in the solar nebula.
B)totally melted after formation.
C)been made from hydrogen and helium.
D)never entered Earth's atmosphere.
E)entered Earth's atmosphere but will be destroyed before reaching the ground.
Q2) The ____________-type asteroids are generally found in the outer portion of the asteroid belt and are very dark.
Q3) Asteroids that cross Earth's orbit and could hit Earth are known as _____________.
Q4) No asteroids have orbits that cross the Earth's orbit.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Most of the asteroids orbit the Sun in a belt between the orbits of A)Venus and Earth. B)Earth and Mars.
C)Jupiter and Saturn. D)Mercury and Venus.
E)Mars and Jupiter.
Q6) Explain how chondrules form and how we know they exist.
Page 22
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Chapter 20: Astrobiology: Life on Other Worlds
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Sample Questions
Q1) A single human cell encloses about 1.5 meters of DNA containing 4.5 billion base pairs. How far apart are these base pairs in the DNA
A)\(3.3 × 10^{ 10}\) nm
B)\(3.3 × 10^{10}\) nm
C)\(3 × 10^9\) nm
D)300 nm
E)0.33 nm
Q2) The habitable zone around a star is
A)the region on a planet where conditions are acceptable for life to exist.
B)a region around a star where a planet's temperature would permit the existence of liquid water.
C)very small for a massive star.
D)only found around G and K stars.
E)a region on a young planet where amino acids can begin to form DNA molecules.
Q3) Using laser beams within the solar system to find distances to celestial objects is possible but the length of time needed could be exceeding long for real communication.
A)True
B)False
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