Course Introduction
General Astronomy Study Guide Questions
General Astronomy provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts and phenomena of the universe beyond our planet. This course explores topics such as the solar system, stars, galaxies, and cosmology, along with the physical laws that govern celestial objects and their motions. Students will learn about the tools and techniques astronomers use to observe the sky, the life cycles of stars, the structure of galaxies, and the origin and fate of the universe. The course also discusses recent discoveries and the role of space exploration in expanding our understanding of the cosmos.
Recommended Textbook
Astronomy Preliminary Edition by Adam Frank
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Getting Started: Science, astronomy, and Being Human
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Sample Questions
Q1) How many orders of magnitude are there between the height of a person (D=10 m)and the diameter of a star (D=10 m)?
A) 4
B) 7
C) 9
D) 10
Answer: C
Q2) What is the sequence of events in the scientific method,assuming it is working properly and in its simplest form?
Answer: Observation,hypothesis,experiment,confirmation or formulate a new hypothesis.
Q3) A scientific theory is a(n):
A) well-established and well-tested physical explanation.
B) mathematical equation explaining natural phenomena.
C) unproven hypothesis.
D) hypothesis suggested by a single experiment.
Answer: A
Q4) Identify the base,coefficient,and exponent in the number 4.07 × 10 .
Answer: The base is 10,the coefficient is 4.07,and the exponent is 6.
Page 3
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Chapter 2: A Universe Made, a Universe Discovered
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Q1) The Sun's path across the celestial sphere over the course of a year is the:
A) zenith.
B) zodiac.
C) ecliptic.
D) analemma.
Answer: C
Q2) Most Greek astronomers took the lack of a stellar parallax as evidence against the heliocentric model.What is the true explanation for the lack of an apparent parallax?
Answer: The stars are so distant from us that the parallax cannot be perceived with the naked eye.
Q3) Compare and contrast the methodology Aristotle used to arrive at his model of the Universe with the scientific method.
Answer: Aristotle began with a set of beliefs he took to be self-evident and used reason,supported by select observations,to follow its consequences.He did not test his hypotheses with experiments,so did not follow the scientific method.
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Chapter 3: A Universe of Universal Laws
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Q1) Planet A has nine times the mass of planet B,but they have equal radii.How fast would you have to launch a rocket from planet A for it to escape the pull of its gravity,if the corresponding speed for planet A is 10 m/s?
A) 3 m/s
B) 10 m/s
C) 30 m/s
D) 90 m/s
Answer: C
Q2) The scientist who explained orbits as an effect of gravity was:
A) Nicolaus Copernicus.
B) Johannes Kepler.
C) Galileo Galilei.
D) Isaac Newton.
Answer: A
Q3) Who was the first astronomer to discover sunspots?
A) Tycho Brahe
B) Galileo Galilei
C) Isaac Newton
D) William Herschel
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: A Universe of Universal Laws
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Q1) An astronomer measures the spectra of two stars,A and B.She finds that star A is nine times more luminous than star B and is three times as hot.How are their surface areas related?
A) Star A's area is three times larger than star B's.
B) Star A's area is two times larger than star B's.
C) Star A's area is the same size as star B's.
D) Star A's area is three times smaller than star B's.
Q2) A wave in the electromagnetic field is:
A) light.
B) an electron.
C) radioactivity.
D) an ion.
Q3) The practice of combining signals from two or more reflectors to achieve better angular resolution is:
A) adaptive optics.
B) interferometry.
C) refraction.
D) signal processing.
Q4) Describe the path of light in a reflecting telescope with a Newtonian focus.
Q5) What does thermal energy represent?
Page 6
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Chapter 5: The Architecture and Birth of Planetary Systems
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Q1) Two comets approach the Sun with the same perihelion distance.Comet A's orbit has a higher eccentricity and is more inclined relative to the ecliptic than comet B's orbit.Which comet is more likely to come from the Oort Cloud?
Q2) C-type asteroids differ from S-type asteroids in that C-type asteroids:
A) never underwent differentiation.
B) never have Earth-crossing orbits.
C) are more reflective.
D) are more numerous.
Q3) The thinker who advocated the existence of worlds around other planets at the end of the sixteenth century was:
A) Tycho Brahe.
B) Johannes Kepler.
C) Nicolaus Copernicus.
D) Giordano Bruno.
Q4) How do terrestrial planets form?
Q5) What is the key difference between the core accretion and hydrodynamic instability models for gas giant formation?
Q6) Explain the differences between meteoroids,meteorites,and meteors.
Q7) What is a dwarf planet?
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Home Base: Earth and Moon
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Q1) Tides are caused by:
A) the centrifugal force of Earth's rotation.
B) surface gravity variations in the oceans.
C) the differential gravity of the Moon.
D) the differential gravity of the Moon and Sun.
Q2) Which of the following is NOT a common result of the collision of two plates?
A) earthquakes
B) volcanoes
C) mid-ocean ridges
D) mountain ranges
Q3) A shield volcano is most likely to be associated with a(n):
A) earthquake-active zone.
B) plate boundary.
C) mantle plume.
D) subduction zone.
Q4) The Hawaiian Islands provide evidence for:
A) mantle plumes.
B) sea-floor spreading.
C) mantle convection.
D) all of the above.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Sibling Worlds: Mercury, Venus, and Mars
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Q1) Venus and Earth are nearly identical in their:
A) escape velocity.
B) orbital semimajor axis.
C) surface temperature.
D) rotation period.
Q2) The creation of the Tharsis Bulge was also responsible for:
A) lava domes.
B) outflow channels.
C) the Danilova crater.
D) the Valles Marineris system.
Q3) Which planet rotates in the opposite direction from which it orbits the Sun?
A) Jupiter
B) Mars
C) Neptune
D) Venus
Q4) During the first 500 million years of its existence,Mars most closely resembled:
A) Earth.
B) the Moon.
C) Mercury.
D) Venus.
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Chapter 8: Gas, ice, and Stone: the Outer Planets
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Q1) What is the composition of the surfaces of Europa,Ganymede,and Callisto? Why do their albedos vary?
Q2) If Earth had a semimajor axis of 8 AU,which of the following would be true?
A) Eclipses would not occur.
B) Annular eclipses would not occur.
C) Total solar eclipses would not occur.
D) Lunar eclipses would not occur.
Q3) An exoplanet orbiting a star just like our Sun has substantial amounts of methane in its spectrum,a strong magnetic field,and a mass about twenty times larger than Earth.It most likely formed at:
A) 2 AU.
B) 5 AU.
C) 10 AU.
D) 25 AU.
Q4) How would Jupiter's Galilean moons differ if they had circular orbits?
Q5) Which of the giant planets contain significant amounts of water ice?
A) Uranus and Neptune
B) Jupiter and Saturn
C) Saturn and Neptune
D) all of the giant planets
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Life and the Search for Habitable Worlds
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Q1) According to the Miller-Urey experiment,which of the following is NOT a necessary ingredient of abiotic synthesis?
A) pressure
B) energy
C) water
D) organic molecules
Q2) Experiments have shown that a mixture of methane,hydrogen,water,and free energy is likely to produce:
A) DNA.
B) RNA.
C) proteins.
D) amino acids.
Q3) Why is liquid water considered essential for life to form?
A) Water is a highly effective solvent in biochemical reactions.
B) Most of Earth's surface is covered in water.
C) Liquid water defines the habitability zone.
D) Water is the key component of organic molecules.
Q4) According to modern understanding,what does the Miller-Urey experiment tell us about the formation of life?
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Chapter 10: The Sun As a Star
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Q1) In which of the following ways are earthquakes and oscillations on the Sun similar?
A) They propagate through the entirety of the objects.
B) They are measured through the Doppler effect.
C) They are caused by energy released in the deep interior of the objects.
D) They are the primary method of energy transport from the deep interior of the objects.
Q2) Which of the following is a result of the solar dynamo?
A) Flux tubes above the radiative zone become buoyant and rise.
B) the differential rotation of the sun.
C) solar granulation
D) none of the above
Q3) A fusion reaction between nuclei A and B releases energy if the resulting nucleus:
A) is less massive than the total mass of A and B.
B) has a lower temperature than the average of A and B.
C) is more massive than the total mass of A and B.
D) has a higher temperature than the average of A and B.
Q4) How can heat be transported across a vacuum?
Q5) What provides the energy for solar flares?
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Measuring the Stars: the Main Sequence and Its Meaning
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Q1) What properties of Cepheid variable stars are most often measured to determine their distance?
A) luminosity and brightness
B) period and brightness
C) luminosity and temperature
D) period and temperature
Q2) What is an astrometric binary?
Q3) Which of the following stellar spectral types shows the most molecular absorption lines?
A) O
B) A
C) M
D) G
Q4) Over the course of their hydrogen-fusing lives,stars:
A) move along the main sequence, from left to right.
B) remain in nearly the same location on the main sequence. C) move along the main sequence, from right to left.
D) move up the red giant branch.
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Q5) What information do you need to calculate the apparent magnitude of a star? What about the absolute magnitude?
Chapter 12: Nursery of the Stars: the Interstellar Medium and
Star Formation
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Q1) A massive protostar is more luminous than a low-mass protostar because it:
A) undergoes a different set of fusion reactions.
B) has a lower temperature.
C) releases less of its thermal energy.
D) had more potential gravitational energy before it collapsed.
Q2) Why does the initial mass function of stars differ from the actual distribution of stars in the Milky Way at the present day?
Q3) As a low-mass protostar approaches the main sequence,its central temperature ________ and its luminosity ________.
A) decreases; decreases
B) increases; increases
C) remains steady; increases
D) increases; decreases
Q4) Which of the following effects would be most likely to increase the lifetime of a giant molecular cloud?
A) accelerating the formation of high-mass stars
B) accelerating the formation of low-mass stars
C) suppressing of the formation of high-mass stars
D) suppressing the formation of low-mass stars
Page 14
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Chapter 13: To the Graveyard of Stars: the End Points of
Stellar Evolution
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Q1) At the tip of the red giant branch,a star is half as hot as it was on the main sequence and 100 times larger.How does its luminosity compare to its value on the main sequence?
A) It is now 10,000 times larger.
B) It is now 600 times larger.
C) It is now 16 times larger.
D) It is now 16 times smaller.
Q2) What supports a white dwarf star against gravity?
A) thermal pressure
B) fusion
C) electron degeneracy pressure
D) the strong nuclear force
Q3) How will the Sun generate its energy when it eventually passes up the asymptotic giant branch?
Q4) Uranium in the Universe is produced in:
A) the Big Bang.
B) supernova explosions.
C) winds from asymptotic giant branch stars.
D) cosmic ray collisions.
Q5) Why can massive stars fuse heavier elements than less massive stars?
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Chapter 14: Down the Rabbit Hole: Relativity and Black Holes
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Q1) Experiments to measure the properties of the luminiferous aether were problematic for scientists in the early 20th century because there was no evidence for:
A) the motion of observers relative to the aether.
B) absorption as light traveled through the aether.
C) emission of light from the aether.
D) gravitational effects of the aether.
Q2) Which of the following did Einstein determine to be a constant of nature?
A) the speed of a photon
B) the gravitational force of a proton
C) the mass of a proton
D) Newton's gravitational constant
Q3) Which of the following objects has the strongest tidal forces,assuming that each has the same mass?
A) black hole
B) white dwarf
C) neutron star
D) the Sun
Q4) What is the event horizon of a black hole?
Q5) What kind of objects exhibit the strongest frame-dragging effects?
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Chapter
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Q1) How does the fraction of heavy elements inside gas clouds vary with location in the Milky Way's disk?
Q2) What are the building blocks of cosmic structure?
A) sheets and filaments
B) galaxies
C) globular clusters
D) open clusters
Q3) What wavelength range is used to map the motions of stars around Sagittarius A*?
A) radio
B) infrared
C) optical
D) X-ray
Q4) Within the Milky Way,which of the following astronomical objects are preferentially found inside spiral arms?
A) molecular clouds
B) massive stars
C) atomic gas
D) all of the above
Q5) Why might it be surprising that the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is not luminous?
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Chapter 16: A Universe of Galaxies
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Q1) An astronomer discovers an unusual active galactic nucleus without any orbiting clouds.How would such a source differ from a typical quasar?
A) It would lack emission lines.
B) It would lack a jet.
C) It would not have variability.
D) all of the above
Q2) An astronomer measures a galaxy to have an apparent recession velocity of 2,100 km/s.How far away is the galaxy?
A) 300 Mpc
B) 30 Mpc
C) 300 kpc
D) 1.4 x 10<sup>5</sup> Mpc
Q3) Edwin Hubble believed that:
A) galaxies evolve from ellipticals to spirals.
B) spiral nebulae are part of the Milky Way.
C) elliptical galaxies are always more distant than spiral galaxies.
D) lenticular galaxies are the endpoint of galactic evolution.
Q4) Why were Cepheid variables essential to the discovery of galaxies outside the Milky Way?
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Chapter 17: The Cosmic Web: the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
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Q1) An astronomer observes a galaxy that is currently 1 billion light years away from us.Does he or she see the galaxy as it was 1 billion years ago,or is the look-back time greater than or less than that number? Explain your reasoning.
Q2) In what sense is the Universe homogeneous?
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a likely consequence of the merger of two spiral galaxies?
A) an elliptical galaxy
B) a starburst
C) an active galactic nucleus
D) star-star collisions
Q4) How has the rate at which galaxies interact with each other changed with time?
Q5) What is the minimum scale on which the Universe becomes homogeneous?
A) 1 Mpc
B) 10 Mpc
C) 100 Mpc
D) The Universe is not homogeneous on any scale.
Q6) Why are distant galaxies' spectra redshifted?
Q8) Why do astronomers refer to the Dark Ages as "dark"? Page 19
Q7) Why do redshift surveys require so much telescope time?
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Chapter 18: Cosmology
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Q1) In the early history of the Universe,an unstable quantum field decayed to its ground state.How did this affect the Universe?
Q2) How does inflation solve the paradox of universal uniformity?
A) It separates nearby parts of the Universe very rapidly.
B) It allows electromagnetic waves to travel faster than the speed of light.
C) It removes any fluctuations from the Universe.
D) It forces special relativity to be true.
Q3) Which of the following describes the study of the Universe as a whole?
A) inflationary theory
B) astronomy
C) cosmology
D) astrophysics
Q4) What process is thought by most astronomers to be responsible for making the Universe flat?
Q5) Which of the following is NOT an example of a cosmological investigation?
A) using supernovas to understand the stellar population
B) using Cepheid variables to measure the Hubble constant
C) using the cosmic microwave background to measure the geometry of the Universe
D) characterizing the average abundance of different elements in the Universe
Q6) How do scientists characterize the Universe before the Big Bang?
Page 21
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