General Astronomy Test Bank
Course Introduction
General Astronomy offers an introduction to the fundamental concepts and principles of astronomy, exploring the structure and dynamics of the universe. The course covers topics such as the solar system, stars, galaxies, cosmology, and the tools and techniques used in astronomical observations. Students will learn about the origin and evolution of celestial bodies, the physical laws governing their motion, and the latest discoveries in the field. Through lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities, students will gain a broad understanding of humanitys place in the cosmos and the scientific processes that drive astronomical research.
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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Chapter 1: Discovering the Night Sky
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370 Verified Questions
370 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41413
Sample Questions
Q1) In this age of space exploration,mankind has now traveled to the Moon.By how many orders of magnitude (powers of ten)was this journey greater than that of Columbus when he traveled from the Old World to the Americas?
A) 1 order of magnitude, or 10¹
B) 6 orders of magnitude, or 10
C) 10
D) 10-²
Answer: A
Q2) In view of the elliptical orbits of Earth and the Moon,which of the following conditions will result in the LONGEST period of totality during a total solar eclipse?
A) Earth is closest to the Sun when the Moon is farthest from Earth.
B) Earth is closest to the Sun when the Moon is closest to Earth.
C) Earth is farthest from the Sun when the Moon is farthest from Earth.
D) Earth is farthest from the Sun when the Moon is closest to Earth.
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: Gravitation and the Waltz of the Planets
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344 Verified Questions
344 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the geocentric universe,when is the planet closest to Earth?
A) There is no specific time in the orbit when the planet is closest to Earth.
B) during retrograde motion, westward
C) during direct motion, eastward
D) when the planet is crossing the deferent
Answer: B
Q2) If a tenth planet (tentatively predicted to exist on the basis of perturbations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune)were to be discovered with a sidereal period of 125 years,what would be the radius of its orbit (assumed to be circular)?
A) 8.55 AU
B) 125 AU
C) 1 AU
D) 25 AU
Answer: D
Q3) The model of the solar system that Johannes Kepler proposed was:
A) Earth-centered, with the Sun, the Moon, and the planets moving in ellipses.
B) Sun-centered, with elliptical planetary orbits.
C) Sun-centered, with planets moving in circles around it.
D) Earth-centered, with planets moving in epicycles.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Light and Telescopes
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413 Verified Questions
413 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the photoelectric effect,a beam of light impinges on a metal,and it is observed that electrons are ejected from the metal in greater numbers as the:
A) wavelength of the light is increased.
B) wavelength of the light is decreased.
C) intensity of the light is increased.
D) intensity of the light is decreased.
Answer: C
Q2) When light passes through a prism of glass,the:
A) different colors, or wavelengths of light, are separated in angle by the prism.
B) different colors are caused by multiple reflections in the prism and interference between the resulting beams.
C) prism absorbs colors from different parts of the broad beam coming out of the prism, leaving the complementary colors that we see.
D) prism adds colors to different parts of the broadly scattered beam coming out of it.
Answer: A
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5
Chapter 4: Formation of the Solar System and Other
Planetary Systems
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115 Verified Questions
115 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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.
Q2) Which was the MOST probable time sequence for the formation of the solar system?
A) The Sun contracted first as a gas ball, and the planets and moons formed shortly afterward by accretion and condensation.
B) The Sun formed first, the planets were spun off from the Sun, and the moons in turn were spun off from the planets.
C) The planets formed first out of a cold nebula of gas and dust, followed by the Sun, which formed when the gas had become much hotter.
D) The Sun formed initially, and the planets and major moons were captured much later as they drifted by the Sun.
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Chapter 5: Exoplanets
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43 Verified Questions
43 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What type of search technique has discovered the largest number of systems with multiple exoplanets?
A) distorted protoplanetary disks
B) the transit method
C) the radial-velocity method
D) the astrometric method
Q2) The largest exoplanet discovered thus far has a radius about how many times Earth's radius?
A) 2
B) 10
C) 25
D) 800
Q3) In the search for planets around other stars,which possible line of evidence has NOT yet been seen?
A) a warped disk of dust and gas around a young star
B) the wavy path of a star through space, as if the star were being tugged by an orbiting planet
C) faint pinpoints of light slowly circling a star
D) cyclic Doppler shift variations in a star's spectrum
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Page 7
Chapter 6: The Terrestrial Planets and Their Moons
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605 Verified Questions
605 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which planet MOST resembles the Moon in visible surface features and atmosphere?
A) Mars
B) Venus
C) Uranus
D) Mercury
Q2) What are spring tides?
A) any low tides
B) any high tides
C) high tides that are significantly lower than the average high tide
D) high tides that are significantly higher than the average high tide
Q3) The type of rock that makes up the lunar highlands is:
A) granite.
B) limestone.
C) anorthosite.
D) basalt.
Q4) Which mechanism forms the magnetospheres around several of the planets?
A) repulsion of the solar wind by the planetary magnetic field
B) repulsion of solar electromagnetic radiation by the planetary magnetic field
C) very rapid spin of these planets spinning the atmosphere outward
D) heating of the upper atmosphere by solar ultraviolet radiation
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Chapter 7: The Outer Planets and Their Moons
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366 Verified Questions
366 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41419
Sample Questions
Q1) The magnetic field strength at Jupiter's "surface" exceeds that at Earth's equatorial surface by a factor of about:
A) 20,000.
B) 1 million.
C) 14.
D) 2.
Q2) The interior of Uranus has three layers.These do NOT include:
A) liquid hydrogen and helium.
B) liquid metallic hydrogen.
C) compressed liquid water.
D) rocks and metals.
Q3) The brown ovals seen in Jupiter's atmosphere appear bright in an image taken in infrared radiation.Why is this?
A) The ovals are moving toward us, and the Doppler blueshift makes them appear brighter.
B) The ovals are moving away from us, and the Doppler redshift makes them appear brighter.
C) The ovals are high up in the Jovian atmosphere.
D) The ovals are deep within the Jovian atmosphere.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Vagabonds of the Solar System
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196 Verified Questions
196 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The estimated total infall of meteoritic and extraterrestrial material from space per day on the EarthEarth is:
A) about 30 tons.
B) less than 1 ton.
C) about 1 million tons.
D) about 300 tons.
Q2) What is the origin of iron meteorites?
A) Since they are iron, they must have been produced within the nearby supernova which that exploded 4.6 billion years ago and caused the collapse which resulted in our solar nebula.
B) Since iron has a high condensation temperature, theyse must have been formed in orbits very close to the sun. They were probably drawn outward by the pull of the Jovian planets when they were in the inner solar system (Nice model).
C) Iron is formed in various chemical reactions, but only at very low temperatures. So these meteoroids must have been formed in the outer solar system and drifted toward the Sun along with the Jovian planets.
D) They came from the core of an asteroid which had differentiated due to the heat of radioactive materials within it.
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Chapter 9: The Sun: Our Extraordinary Ordinary Star
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274 Verified Questions
274 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the theoretical model of the Sun shown graphically in Figure 9-22b of Comins,Discovering the Essential Universe,6th ed.,where is the vast majority of solar energy generated?
A) within 0.60, or 60%, of a solar radius of the Sun's center
B) throughout the whole Sun
C) within 0.25, or 25%, of a solar radius of the Sun's center
D) within 0.8, or 80%, of a solar radius of the Sun's center
Q2) What is the rotation period of the Sun?
A) about two rotations per year
B) about one rotation per day
C) about four rotations per month
D) about one rotation per month
Q3) Convection currents in the Sun's interior occupy what fraction of the Sun's radius?
A) outer 20% of the radius
B) inner 10% of the radius, at the core
C) whole radius
D) inner 80% of the radius
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Chapter 10: Characterizing Stars
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261 Verified Questions
261 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The intensity of sunlight per square meter reaching Jupiter is approximately what fraction of that at Earth's orbital distance? (For orbital radii,see Appendix,Table C-1,Comins,Discovering the Essential Universe,6th ed.)
A) 25 times
B) about the same
C) 1/5
D) 1/25
Q2) The luminosity of a star is a unique measure of its:
A) total energy output.
B) velocity of recession away from us.
C) temperature.
D) physical size.
Q3) What is a white dwarf star?
A) a large, planetary object, such as Jupiter
B) a star of about the same size (diameter) as Earth
C) a star that is significantly smaller than a giant or supergiant star
D) a main-sequence star with a surface temperature near 12,000 K
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12
Chapter 11: The Lives of the Stars From Birth Through Middle Age
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322 Verified Questions
322 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Approximately what fraction of its main-sequence lifetime has the Sun completed at the present time (see Table 11-2,Comins,Discovering the Essential Universe,6th ed.)?
A) about 1/4
B) less than 10%
C) about 1/2
D) about 3/4
Q2) What is the Pauli exclusion principle?
A) Photons of less than a certain wavelength cannot eject electrons from a metal.
B) Two identical particles cannot occupy the same place at the same time.
C) Two different atoms cannot have the same energy levels.
D) Two identical photons cannot be absorbed by the same atom.
Q3) The helium flash results from the:
A) sudden release of energy in strong magnetic fields near a sunspot.
B) electron degeneracy or quantum crowding in the core of a low-mass red giant star.
C) sudden onset of nuclear reactions at the end of the protostar.
D) high temperature in the helium core of a blue (spectral class O or B) supergiant star.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: The Deaths and Remnants of Stars
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395 Verified Questions
395 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Some magnetars with particularly strong magnetic fields emit huge bursts of highfrequency radiation as well as output at other wavelengths.Such magnetars are called:
A) soft gamma-ray repeaters.
B) hard gamma-ray repeaters.
C) neutron accretion disks.
D) ultra-high-frequency sources.
Q2) Many possible explanations were offered when pulsars were first discovered.Which explanation proved to be CORRECT?
A) alien civilizations
B) expansion and contraction
C) small rotating objects
D) large rotating objects
Q3) What is located in the exact center of a Kerr (rotating)black hole?
A) nothing
B) the singularity
C) the event horizon
D) the ergoregion
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14
Chapter 13: The Galaxies
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465 Verified Questions
465 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41425
Sample Questions
Q1) What important role do Cepheid variables stars have in astronomy?
A) distance measurements to distant galaxies
B) the determination of stellar luminosities
C) the determination of speeds of stars in galactic arms from the Doppler shift of their spectra
D) the keeping of accurate time
Q2) The method used by Harlow Shapley in 1917 to estimate the Sun's location in the Milky Way Galaxy was the measurement of the:
A) locations of globular clusters around the Galaxy.
B) density of stars in different directions along the Milky Way.
C) distances to open star clusters and H II regions in the disk of the Galaxy.
D) structure of the Andromeda Galaxy and a comparison of it with the structure of the Milky Way.
Q3) A quasar is now thought to be a:
A) long-lived supernova explosion.
B) very luminous object at a very large distance from the Sun.
C) nearby star, ejected with great violence and velocity from the center of a galaxy.
D) distant but very luminous and active star in the Milky Way Galaxy.
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Chapter 14: Cosmology
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205 Verified Questions
205 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) When did Einstein originally introduce his theory of general relativity,including the cosmological constant?
A) in 1896, before the modern stellar spectral classification scheme was devised
B) in 1915, before the question of the nature of the Milky Way Galaxy had been resolved
C) in 1930, after Hubble had discovered evidence for the expanding universe
D) in 1968, after the discovery of the cosmic microwave background gave evidence of the Big Bang
Q2) Two light beams that are initially parallel to each other will eventually converge in what kind of universe?
A) flat only
B) hyperbolic only
C) either flat or hyperbolic
D) closed
Q3) Which of the four fundamental forces holds the electrons in the atom?
A) strong nuclear force
B) gravitational force
C) weak nuclear force
D) electromagnetic force
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16
Chapter 15: Astrobiology
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73 Verified Questions
73 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41427
Sample Questions
Q1) One of the great lessons being learned from modern astronomy is that:
A) Earth occupies a unique position in the universe, and nowhere else are conditions equivalent to those in the solar system likely to be found.
B) Earth's position and circumstances in the universe are quite ordinary and certainly not unique.
C) the chemistry, geology, and physics on Earth are unique to our planet, and the behavior of matter anywhere else appears to be significantly different from that on Earth.
D) Earth is at the center of a very massive black hole, and all the observed cosmological effects such as redshift and cosmic background radiation and even the evolution of life are a consequence of the unique position Earth occupies.
Q2) The Drake equation attempts to predict the:
A) number of inhabitable planets around stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
B) number of intelligent civilizations that exist in the whole universe.
C) probability of primitive life existing elsewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy.
D) number of technically advanced civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy.
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