General Astronomy
Pre-Test Questions
Course Introduction
General Astronomy provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts of the universe, encompassing the study of celestial objects such as planets, stars, galaxies, and nebulae. The course explores the structure and scale of the cosmos, the principles of light and telescopic observation, and the laws of motion and gravity that govern astronomical phenomena. Students will gain insights into the life cycles of stars, the evolution of galaxies, and current theories regarding the origin and fate of the universe, while also developing analytical skills through practical problem solving and observation.
Recommended Textbook
Discovering the Essential Universe 6th Edition by Neil F. Comins
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15 Chapters
4447 Verified Questions
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Discovering the Night Sky
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Sample Questions
Q1) At approximately what time does the new Moon rise?
A) sunset
B) close to sunrise
C) midday
D) midnight
Answer: B
Q2) The celestial equator and the ecliptic:
A) are parallel paths across the sky and thus never intersect.
B) intersect at two points because they are perpendicular to each other.
C) intersect because they are inclined at an angle of 23.5° to each other.
D) lie on top of each other because they are on the same path across the sky.
Answer: C
Q3) At approximately what time will the first quarter Moon rise?
A) 6 a.m.
B) midnight
C) 6 p.m.
D) noon
Answer: D
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3
Chapter 2: Gravitation and the Waltz of the Planets
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Kepler's law,the approximate sidereal period of an asteroid moving around the Sun in the asteroid belt is:
A) 2.8 years.
B) 46.8 years.
C) 1.99 years.
D) 4.68 years.
Answer: D
Q2) The Copernican system for planetary motions is:
A) Earth-centered, with the planets, the Sun, and the stars mounted on crystal spheres, pivoted to allow the correct motions around Earth.
B) Earth-centered, with the planets moving in epicycles around Earth.
C) Sun-centered, with the planets moving in elliptical orbits and the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
D) Sun-centered, with the planets moving in perfect circles around the Sun.
Answer: D
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4
Chapter 3: Light and Telescopes
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Sample Questions
Q1) In a telescope,to what does the term aberration refer?
A) the absorption of light by the glass in the lenses
B) the magnifying power of the telescope
C) the fundamental limitation of any telescope to resolve very small details in the image
D) a defect in design that blurs or distorts the image
Answer: D
Q2) A radio telescope:
A) is very similar to a refracting optical telescope.
B) is very similar to a reflecting optical telescope.
C) is completely different in design from any optical telescope.
D) combines major features of both refracting and reflecting optical telescopes.
Answer: B
Q3) The position of an element in the periodic table,its atomic number,is equal to the:
A) number of protons in the nucleus of the atom.
B) number of the column in which the element is placed in the periodic table.
C) sum of the number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus of the atom.
D) number of neutrons in the nucleus of the atom.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Formation of the Solar System and Other
Planetary Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) The manner in which the terrestrial planets formed was the:
A) gravitational condensation of hydrogen, helium, and dust in eddies or vortices in the solar nebula.
B) gravitational condensation of gas, followed by the capture of solid planetesimals.
C) accretion of solid planetesimals containing mostly rocky material.
D) accretion of planetesimals to form a core, followed by the gravitational capture of gas from the solar nebula.
Q2) Viewed from a position above the north pole of the Sun,the direction of the motion of the planets in their orbits is:
A) clockwise.
B) counterclockwise.
C) clockwise, except for the direction of Venus.
D) counterclockwise, except for the direction of Mercury.
Q3) The ice giants are:
A) Jupiter and Saturn.
B) Neptune and Uranus.
C) Titan and Pluto.
D) Tatooine and Alderaan.
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Chapter 5: Exoplanets
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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.
Q2) MOST extrasolar planets have been found:
A) around stars in the disk of our Galaxy.
B) in globular clusters.
C) near the center of our Galaxy.
D) outside our Galaxy.
Q3) Exoplanets were first observed in:
A) 1810.
B) 1931.
C) 1992.
D) 2012.
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Chapter 6: The Terrestrial Planets and Their Moons
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Sample Questions
Q1) Where has water ice been found on Mercury?
A) nowhere
B) suspended as microscopic crystals in the stratosphere
C) in permanently shadowed crater floors at the north and south poles
D) in deep fissures on the night side
Q2) A regolith is a(n):
A) extremely large, isolated rock on the surface of a planet or other object.
B) lithospheric plate, moved slowly by geologic processes.
C) heavily cratered region on a planet or other object.
D) layer of pulverized rock on the surface of a planet or other object.
Q3) What is the "face" on Mars?
A) a natural rock formation that looks like a face in the right light
B) a small carved portrait placed on the Martian surface by one of the Viking landers.
C) a sculpted hill carved either by a long-dead Martian civilization or by visiting aliens
D) a natural arrangement of volcanoes and lava plains that gives the appearance of a face when viewed from Earth
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Chapter 7: The Outer Planets and Their Moons
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is believed to be the source of the many colors seen on the surface of Io,the inner large satellite of Jupiter?
A) impurities in a water ice crust
B) sulfur and sulfur compounds
C) phosphorus compounds
D) organic (carbon) compounds discolored by solar ultraviolet light
Q2) Io,one of the major moons of Jupiter,is undergoing extensive volcanic activity associated with interior heating that is caused by:
A) deposition of energy by particles from within Jupiter's Van Allen belts.
B) original heat caused by gravitational condensation at the moon's formation.
C) tidal distortion and internal friction because of flexing.
D) solar radiation and heat falling on the surface.
Q3) Which spacecraft recently dropped a probe into the atmosphere of Jupiter?
A) Ulysses
B) Voyager
C) Cassini
D) Galileo
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Chapter 8: Vagabonds of the Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) Visible comets originating in the Oort cloud do not NOT have orbits which that are:
A) circular.
B) highly elliptical.
C) parabolic.
D) slightly hyperbolic.
Q2) The ecliptic is the plane defining the EarthEarth''s orbit around the Sun.The orbits of most other objects in the solar system generally lie fairly close to the ecliptic.However,the orbits of which one of the following types of objects do NOT generally lie close to the ecliptic?
A) Trojan asteroids
B) asteroid belt asteroids
C) comets
D) Kuiper belt objects
Q3) A meteor shower occurs when:
A) the head of a comet hits the EarthEarth''s atmosphere.
B) a meteor disintegrates in the EarthEarth''s atmosphere.
C) Earth passes through the asteroid belt.
D) Earth passes through a swarm of dust particles in space.
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Chapter 9: The Sun: Our Extraordinary Ordinary Star
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which phenomeon is NOT a characteristic of the peak period in the solar activity cycle?
A) increased surface temperature on the Sun and a measurable increase in the temperature of Earth's atmosphere
B) increased solar flare activity with consequent disruption of radio communications on Earth
C) stronger magnetic field on the Sun and increased numbers of sunspots
D) enhanced aurora activity on Earth
Q2) The word chromosphere refers to a:
A) dense, spherical interstellar cloud of glowing gas.
B) layer in Earth's atmosphere just below the ionosphere.
C) layer in the Sun's atmosphere.
D) light-emitting region just outside the event horizon of a black hole.
Q3) In terms of its total hydrogen-burning lifetime,the Sun is about:
A) 3/4 of the way through its life.
B) 1/10 of the way through its life.
C) 1/4 of the way through its life.
D) halfway through its life.
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11
Chapter 10: Characterizing Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) The motion that is used to change the position of the observer in the most common parallax measurements of distances to relatively nearby stars is the:
A) motion of the Sun around the galactic center.
B) change in latitude of the observation point on Earth.
C) motion of Earth in its orbit around the Sun.
D) rotation of Earth on its axis.
Q2) The surface temperature of a nearby star can BEST be determined from spectral classification by examining the:
A) pattern of spectral absorption lines from various atoms.
B) relative intensities of light measured through different photometric filters.
C) peak wavelength of the star's continuous blackbody spectrum.
D) pattern of emission lines that are on the star's spectrum.
Q3) Luminosity is measured in:
A) watts.
B) watts per second.
C) watts per square meter.
D) parsecs.
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Chapter 11: The Lives of the Stars From Birth Through Middle Age
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Sample Questions
Q1) What appears to be the limit to the amount of mass that can accumulate as a star before energy from intense nuclear fusion,emitted in the form of electromagnetic radiation,ejects further mass away from the star?
A) at least 150 solar masses
B) only about 3 solar masses, hence the similarity of all observed stars
C) 10 solar masses
D) 10 solar masses
Q2) Which factor,more than any other,modifies the evolutionary tracks of stars in binary combinations compared with their single-star counterparts?
A) tidal distortion of the shapes of the stars
B) reduction of the quantum mechanical limitation on continued shrinking of one star by the gravitational field of the second star
C) mass exchange between the stars
D) radiation from one star heating the surface of the second star
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13
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) The formation of an iron core is an important stage in the development of a supernova because:
A) iron nuclei cannot participate in nuclear reactions.
B) when iron nuclei undergo nuclear reactions, they always absorb energy.
C) when iron nuclei undergo nuclear reactions, they always give out energy.
D) iron nuclei make the core magnetic.
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Chapter 13: The Galaxies
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is an E3 galaxy?
A) a galaxy with a smooth light distribution and a moderately elongated elliptical shape without a disk or central bulge
B) a galaxy with a smooth light distribution and a very elongated elliptical shape without a disk or central bulge
C) a galaxy with a smooth light distribution and a moderately elliptical shape, having a pronounced disk and central bulge
D) a galaxy with an irregular light distribution and a very elongated shape
Q2) Which object typically has the greatest luminosity? (See Table 13-2,Comins,Discovering the Essential Universe,6th ed.)
A) a giant elliptical galaxy
B) a Seyfert galaxy
C) a radio galaxy
D) a quasar
Q3) A grand-design spiral of type SBa has all of the following EXCEPT:
A) tightly wound spiral arms.
B) a central bar.
C) about 25% gas and dust.
D) a halo of globular clusters.
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Cosmology
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Sample Questions
Q1) During the formation of the universe,where did the density enhancements come from that subsequently collapsed to form superclusters of galaxies?
A) turbulence during the time when the universe was opaque, which left denser regions that were free to collapse when the universe became transparent
B) quantum fluctuations in the density of matter during the early Big Bang, which were later expanded by inflation
C) spatial variations in the rate heating from pair annihilation after the first second of the Big Bang
D) random gravitational fragmentation of the matter in the universe after the era of recombination
Q2) According to Hubble's law,how old is the universe (H = Hubble's constant)?
A) v/H (where v = recession velocity in km/s)
B) r/H (where r = distance in Mpc)
C) H
D) 1/H
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Chapter 15: Astrobiology
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Sample Questions
Q1) On which object in our planetary system is it NOT likely that life exists or existed at an earlier time?
A) Mars
B) Callisto, a moon of Jupiter
C) Europa, a moon of Jupiter
D) Io, a moon of Jupiter
Q2) What is the status of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence?
A) The search must rely upon only small, inexpensive TV satellite antennas, and thus most astronomers believe it cannot succeed.
B) We have received on several occasions repeated signals that appear to be from some intelligent source, but we are waiting to receive one from the vicinity of an Earthlike planet before declaring that SETI has made contact with an extraterrestrial race.
C) Because of funding limitations, the entire program has been terminated and is no longer active.
D) We have occasionally detected particularly strong or unusual signals from space, but they have not been repeated, so we do not believe they are from an intelligent source.
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