General Astronomy Mock Exam
Course Introduction
General Astronomy introduces students to the fundamental concepts and principles governing the universe beyond Earth. Covering topics such as the solar system, stars, galaxies, cosmology, and the tools and techniques used to study celestial objects, this course explores the physical processes that shape astronomical phenomena. Through lectures, observations, and hands-on activities, students develop a deeper understanding of the origins, structure, and evolution of the cosmos, while also gaining insight into humanitys place in the universe.
Recommended Textbook
Discovering the Essential Universe 6th Edition by Neil F. Comins
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15 Chapters
4447 Verified Questions
4447 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Discovering the Night Sky
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370 Verified Questions
370 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) An asterism is:
A) exactly the same thing as a constellation.
B) a group of stars that have planets orbiting around them.
C) a pattern of relatively bright stars.
D) the remnant of an exploded massive star.
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following bodies will never be seen from Earth as a crescent?
A) Mercury
B) Mars
C) Venus
D) the Moon
Answer: B
Q3) A given star will reach its highest point in the sky for a particular observer in the southern hemisphere when it passes through the:
A) ecliptic plane.
B) zodiac.
C) celestial equator.
D) region of the sky due north.
Answer: D
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Gravitation and the Waltz of the Planets
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344 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) An accelerating body must at all times:
A) have an increasing velocity.
B) be moving.
C) have a changing direction of motion.
D) have a changing velocity.
Answer: D
Q2) Kepler's third law tells us that the:
A) period of a planet in years is the same number as its semimajor axis in AU.
B) square of a planet's period in years is the same number as the cube of its semimajor axis in AU.
C) square of a planet's period in years is the same number as the fourth power of its semimajor axis in AU.
D) cube of a planet's period in years is the same number as the square of its semimajor axis in AU.
Answer: B
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4
Chapter 3: Light and Telescopes
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the seventeenth century,Isaac Newton suggested a particle theory for light and Christian Huygens proposed a wave theory.Our present understanding is that:
A) the wave theory is correct but the particle theory is not.
B) the particle theory is correct but the wave theory is not.
C) neither theory provides a correct description of light.
D) a combination of both theories is necessary to provide a correct description of light.
Answer: D
Q2) The two ranges of electromagnetic radiation for which Earth's atmosphere is reasonably transparent are:
A) X-rays and visible light.
B) visible light and radio waves.
C) visible light and far-infrared radiation.
D) ultraviolet radiation and radio waves.
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Formation of the Solar System and Other
Planetary Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) The large gravitational influences of Jupiter and Saturn forced some planetisimals in their neighborhood to move outward away from the Sun.A consequence of these gravitational forces was:
A) that conservation of angular momentum caused the giant planets to spin faster.
B) collisions that produced many fragments that became the rings of the outer planets.
C) collisions that formed Uranus and Neptune.
D) the creation, or at least enlargement, of the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud.
Q2) The asteroid Gaspra (see Figure 4-7,Comins,Discovering the Essential Universe,6th ed.)is typical of most asteroids in that it is:
A) potato-shaped with a smooth, metallic surface.
B) spherical and densely covered with craters.
C) potato-shaped with large and small craters.
D) spherical and deformed by thermal activity.
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Chapter 5: Exoplanets
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Sample Questions
Q1) In 2004,an object designated 2M1207b was directly imaged orbiting the brown dwarf 2M1207.The object,however,has not been designated a planet because it:
A) does not have enough gravity to form a spherical shape.
B) does not clear its orbit of debris.
C) does not orbit a star.
D) is smaller than Mercury.
Q2) The exoplanet HAT P-32b,discovered in 2011 in the constellation Andromeda,has been measured to have a mass about the same as Jupiter's but a radius about twice that of Jupiter.How does its density compare with Jupiter's density?
A) It is smaller than Jupiter's density.
B) It is about the same as Jupiter's density.
C) It is twice Jupiter's density.
D) It is eight times Jupiter's density.
Q3) At the present time,the discoveries of how many extrasolar planets have been confirmed?
A) none
B) one
C) a few thousand
D) millions
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Page 7
Chapter 6: The Terrestrial Planets and Their Moons
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Sample Questions
Q1) Water was once much more abundant on Venus than it is now.Where did this ancient water go?
A) It evaporated into space.
B) It is locked up in rocks on the surface.
C) It is in underground reservoirs.
D) It formed the cloud layers.
Q2) Which statement describes a characteristic of the Moon?
A) The rocks lack almost all volatile material.
B) Its composition is similar to that of Earth, particularly the proportion of iron.
C) It has a strong magnetic field.
D) Its crust is thinner on the far side.
Q3) The overall geography of the Venusian surface has been determined largely by:
A) photography from orbiting spacecraft in long elliptical orbits in order to descend below the clouds during part of their orbits.
B) unmanned spacecraft that landed on the surface.
C) radar techniques from orbiting spacecraft.
D) visible light photography.
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8
Chapter 7: The Outer Planets and Their Moons
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366 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Miranda,a satellite of Uranus:
A) shows active geysers and resurfacing due to water flows.
B) has a thick atmosphere containing methane, nitrogen, and hydrocarbons.
C) shows an ancient surface uniformly covered with impact craters.
D) appears to have been reassembled from separate parts after being shattered by an impact.
Q2) The inner two Galilean satellites of Jupiter differ from the outer two by having:
A) much higher average densities and almost crater-free surfaces.
B) almost the same average densities but much older, more heavily cratered surfaces.
C) much lower average densities and heavily cratered surfaces.
D) almost the same average densities but much younger, less-cratered surfaces.
Q3) The MOST massive planetary satellite in the solar system is:
A) Jupiter's satellite Europa.
B) Jupiter's satellite Ganymede.
C) Earth's Moon.
D) Saturn's satellite Titan.
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Chapter 8: Vagabonds of the Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Kirkwood gaps (see Figure 8-11,Comins,Discovering the Essential Universe,6th ed.)are in the:
A) asteroid belt at places where there are very few asteroids.
B) rings of Saturn, where there is less material than at other radii.
C) spectrum of hydrogen gas, where light has been absorbed by molecules first identified by Kirkwood.
D) equatorial region of the Sun, where no sunspots are found.
Q2) What is the purpose of the Stardust space probe?
A) to plunge into the nucleus of a comet, throwing dust and icy grains out from under the comet''s surface into space, where they can be seen and analyzed from the EarthEarth
B) to analyze dust samples from other stars and transmit the results back to the EarthEarth
C) to fly through the tail of a comet and transmit images back to the EarthEarth
D) to collect samples of comet material and bring them back to the EarthEarth
Q3) Which are the most MOST common types of meteoroids in space?
A) stony- irons
B) stones
C) irons
D) carbonaceous chondrites
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Chapter 9: The Sun: Our Extraordinary Ordinary Star
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274 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The bright X-ray image obtained of the solar corona when the Sun is photographed at this wavelength indicates that the gas temperature at these heights is:
A) extremely high, above 10 K.
B) extremely low, much cooler than the photosphere.
C) about twice that of the photosphere.
D) about the same temperature as the photosphere.
Q2) At the present time,the energy of the Sun is generated:
A) throughout the Sun by gravitational contraction.
B) in the central core by fusion of helium nuclei and in an outer shell by fusion of hydrogen nuclei.
C) only in its central core by fission of heavy nuclei.
D) only in its central core by fusion of hydrogen nuclei.
Q3) What is a positron?
A) a chargeless and almost massless particle
B) the nucleus of a helium atom
C) a positive electron
D) the nucleus of a hydrogen atom
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Chapter 10: Characterizing Stars
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261 Verified Questions
261 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Two stars in a binary system orbit around a common point that is:
A) exactly midway between the two stars.
B) closer to the less massive star.
C) closer to the more massive star.
D) inside one of the stars.
Q2) What is the ONLY way to measure the mass of a star accurately?
A) Measure its distance using trigonometric parallax and its brightness using photometry.
B) It is not possible to measure the mass of a star.
C) Measure its spectral type and luminosity class, then use the H-R diagram.
D) Measure its gravitational effect on another object.
Q3) Which molecule produces the strong absorption bands in the spectrum of a cool M-type star,as can be seen in Figure 10-5 of Comins,Discovering the Essential Universe,6th ed.?
A) HCl, hydrogen chloride
B) CaI, calcium iodide
C) H O, water vapor
D) TiO, titanium oxide
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Chapter 11: The Lives of the Stars From Birth Through Middle
Age
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322 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Brown dwarfs and Jovian planets have many similarities.In which aspect are they NOT similar?
A) Neither produces energy by hydrogen fusion.
B) They are primarily composed of hydrogen and helium.
C) They produce similar spectra.
D) They are both fully convective at various stages.
Q2) The periods of Type I Cepheids and Type II Cepheids are different for stars of the same luminosity.What is the physical difference between these stars that causes the periods to be different?
A) Type II Cepheids are older, having evolved from Type I Cepheids.
B) The two types have different metallicities.
C) Type I Cepheids are members of binary systems, whereas Type II Cepheids are solitary stars.
D) Type II Cepheids have gone through the helium flash, whereas Type I Cepheids have yet to do so.
Q3) What is the typical mass of a giant molecular cloud?
A) 10 to 100 solar masses
B) 1000 to 10,000 solar masses
C) 100,000 to 1 million solar masses
D) 10 million to 1 billion solar masses
Page 13
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Chapter 12: The Deaths and Remnants of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) The detection of neutrinos from supernova SN 1987A occurred 3 hours before the detection of the burst of visible light.What caused this time lag?
A) Neutrinos travel faster in a vacuum than light does.
B) The space between the supernova and Earth is not a perfect vacuum but is filled with very rarified gas and dust, which impedes the passage of light (very slightly) but not of neutrinos.
C) The neutrinos and the light were produced at the same time, but the light bounced back and forth between the core and the outer layers several times before these layers expanded to the point that they became transparent.
D) The neutrinos were produced earlier (when the core collapsed) and the light was produced 3 hours later (when the shock wave reached the outer layers).
Q2) You are going to make measurements of the following entities.For which one will Newtonian physics give you answers that are precise enough for practical use?
A) the advance of the perihelion of the orbit of Mercury
B) the orbit of a satellite around Earth
C) two neutron stars orbiting each other
D) GPS locations on Earth from orbiting satellites
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Chapter 13: The Galaxies
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465 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Who won the Shapley-Curtis debate when it concluded in 1920?
A) Shapley won.
B) Curtis won.
C) Both sides won in the sense that each successfully explained part of the data that were being debated.
D) Neither side won because there was no hard, reliable evidence to support either side.
Q2) In which constellation in Earth's sky is the center of the Milky Way Galaxy located?
A) Sagittarius
B) Lyra
C) Hercules
D) Ursa Major
Q3) The typical fluctuation time for the brightnesses of quasars can be as short as a:
A) few seconds.
B) month.
C) day.
D) year.
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Cosmology
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205 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The cosmic microwave background radiation is not uniform over the sky-it is slightly hotter toward the constellation Leo and slightly cooler in the opposite direction,toward Aquarius.Why?
A) The difference is probably a statistical fluctuation and therefore not real.
B) The background radiation really is uniform; the observed difference is due to Earth's motion through the universe.
C) Earth is slightly off-center in the universe, so one side of the universe is a bit closer and the other is a bit farther away.
D) That is the way the universe began-hotter in one direction and cooler in the other.
Q2) If the early universe had been perfectly uniform,galaxies could not have formed.As it is,we believe the variations in density which were sufficient to produce the galaxies and other structure we now see were only about one part in:
A) 10.
B) 1000.
C) 100,000.
D) 10 million.
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Chapter 15: Astrobiology
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73 Verified Questions
73 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which type of meteorite was found to contain large organic molecules that make up the building blocks of life and provide strong evidence for their extraterrestrial production?
A) iron
B) stony iron
C) carboneous chondrite
D) stony
Q2) Which statement is NOT considered to be a reason carbon is thought to be the element on which complex extraterrestrial life is likely to be based?
A) Carbon forms chemical bonds that are both strong and flexible.
B) Every life-form on Earth is carbon-based, over an immense range of conditions.
C) Carbon releases a significant amount of energy when it combines with hydrogen.
D) Carbon provides a basis for forming long, complex chains of molecules.
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