Introduction to Astronomy
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Introduction to Astronomy is a foundational course designed to explore the universe beyond our planet. Covering principles of celestial phenomena, the origin and structure of stars and galaxies, planetary systems, and cosmology, this course introduces students to the scientific methods astronomers use to observe and interpret the sky. Through lectures, observational activities, and discussions on recent discoveries, students gain an appreciation for the scale of the cosmos, the life cycles of stars, the behavior of light and matter in space, and humanitys ongoing quest to understand our place in the universe.
Recommended Textbook
The Cosmic Perspective 8th Edition by
Jeffrey O. Bennett
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Page 2
Chapter 1: A Modern View of the Universe
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Q1) Which of the following has your "cosmic address" in the correct order?
A)You,Earth,solar system,Local Group,Local Supercluster,Milky Way Galaxy,universe
B)You,Earth,solar system,Milky Way Galaxy,Local Group,Local Supercluster,universe
C)You,Earth,Local Group,Local Supercluster,solar system,Milky Way Galaxy,universe
D)You,Earth,solar system,Local Group,Milky Way Galaxy,Local Supercluster,universe
E)You,Earth,Milky Way Galaxy,solar system,Local Group,Local Supercluster,universe
Answer: B
Q2) Consider the following statement,and explain whether or not it is sensible: NASA hopes to build a new telescope that will allow us to see 100 million light-years into the past.
Answer: Not sensible: It uses light-years as a length of time.
Q3) Consider the following statement,and explain whether or not it is sensible: Earth is always precisely 1 AU from the Sun.
Answer: Not sensible: One AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun.
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3
Chapter 2: Discovering the Universe for Yourself
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Q1) If the Moon is relatively far from Earth,so that the umbra does not reach Earth,someone directly behind the umbra will see
A)a penumbral lunar eclipse.
B)a partial lunar eclipse.
C)a partial solar eclipse.
D)an annular eclipse.
E)no eclipse.
Answer: D
Q2) It is possible to view the Moon in first-quarter phase the day after a total lunar eclipse.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Consider the following statement,and explain whether or not it is sensible: If you lived on the Moon,you'd see full Earth when we see new Moon.
Answer: This is true,because at full Moon,Earth lies between the Sun and the Moon.Thus,an observer on the Moon would be looking at the night side of Earth.
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4
Chapter 3: The Science of Astronomy
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Q1) The Ptolemaic model of the solar system was useless for predicting planetary positions.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Process of Science: Why is it not science to start with the answer to a question and look for evidence to support it?
Answer: The process of science involves asking a question and then forming testable hypotheses in order to gather evidence either to support or to refute it.So-called "cherry picking" of evidence to support an idea and ignoring evidence that may refute it does not advance knowledge and is not the scientific method.
Q3) The Metonic cycle is
A)used to keep lunar calendars approximately synchronized with solar calendars.
B)used to predict the future orientation of the Earth's axis in space.
C)the ancient Greek name for the cycle of lunar phases that repeats every 29 1/2 days.
D)the 18-year,11-day period over which the pattern of eclipses repeats.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Making Sense of the Universe: Understanding
Motion, Energy, and Gravity
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Q1) According to the universal law of gravitation,if you double the masses of both attracting objects,then the gravitational force between them will
A)not change at all.
B)increase by a factor of 2.
C)decrease by a factor of 2.
D)increase by a factor of 4.
E)decrease by a factor of 4.
Q2) Which of the following statements is not one of Newton's Laws of Motion?
A)What goes up must come down.
B)The rate of change of momentum of an object is equal to the net force applied to the object.
C)In the absence of a net force acting upon it,an object moves with constant velocity.
D)For any force,there always is an equal and opposite reaction force.
Q3) Process of Science: Gravity only affects very massive objects and we can therefore only test theories about it when looking at the orbits of planets.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Give an example in which kinetic energy can be converted to thermal energy.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Light and Matter: Reading Messages from the Cosmos
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Q1) If we observe one edge of a star to be redshifted and the opposite edge to be blueshifted,what can we conclude about the star?
A)We must actually be observing planets orbiting the star in opposite directions,not the star planet itself.
B)The star is rotating.
C)The star is in the process of falling apart.
D)The star is in the process of formation.
Q2) Which forms of light are lower in energy and frequency than the light that our eyes can see?
A)infrared and radio
B)ultraviolet and X-rays
C)visible light
D)infrared and ultraviolet
Q3) Grass is green because it absorbs green light,reflecting all other colors.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Suppose you have a chunk of water ice.Describe what happens to it,in terms of phases,as you raise the temperature to millions of degrees.
Q5) Define atomic weight (or atomic mass).
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Chapter 6: Telescopes: Portals of Discovery
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Q1) What is the purpose of adaptive optics?
A)It reduces blurring caused by atmospheric turbulence for telescopes on the ground.
B)It allows several small telescopes to work together like a single larger telescope.
C)It is a special technology that allows the Hubble Space Telescope to adapt to study many different types of astronomical objects.
D)It allows ground-based telescopes to observe ultraviolet light that normally does not penetrate the atmosphere.
Q2) What do we mean by the diffraction limit of a telescope?
A)It describes the farthest distance to which the telescope can see.
B)It is the angular resolution the telescope could achieve if nothing besides the size of its light-collecting area affected the quality of its images.
C)It is the maximum size to which any telescope can be built.
D)It describes the maximum exposure time for images captured with the telescope.
Q3) Suppose an astronomer proposed to build a major observatory on the campus of your school.Would it make a good observing site? Explain why or why not.
Q4) Explain what an interferometer is and give an example.
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Chapter 7: Our Planetary System
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Q1) The Cassini mission to Saturn consists of
A)an orbiter that orbits Saturn and a probe that descended to the surface of Titan.
B)a large spacecraft that flew by Saturn on its way to other planets.
C)an orbiter that orbits Saturn and a probe that descended into Saturn's atmosphere.
D)a spacecraft that orbits Saturn and a sample return mission that landed on Titan,scooped up a surface sample,and will return it to Earth.
Q2) When we say that jovian planets contain significant amounts of hydrogen compounds,we mean all the following chemicals except A)water.
B)carbon dioxide.
C)ammonia.
D)methane.
Q3) All comets orbit the Sun in the same direction as the planets. A)True
B)False
Q4) What is comparative planetology,and what is its basic premise?
Q5) Briefly summarize the differences between terrestrial and jovian planets.
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Chapter 8: Formation of the Solar System
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Q1) The nebular theory of the formation of the solar system successfully predicts all but one of the following.Which one does the theory not predict?
A)Planets orbit around the Sun in nearly circular orbits in a flattened disk.
B)the compositional differences between the terrestrial and jovian planets
C)the equal number of terrestrial and jovian planets
D)asteroids,Kuiper-belt comets,and the Oort cloud
E)the craters on the Moon
Q2) What happened during the accretion phase of the early solar system?
A)Atoms and molecules in the gas bonded together and solidified.
B)Particles grew by colliding and sticking together.
C)The solar nebula differentiated into metals inside of the frost line and ices beyond.
D)Large planetesimals captured atmospheres from the solar nebula.
E)Earth gained its oceans from icy planetesimal capture.
Q3) Process of Science: We cannot test the nebular theory for the formation of the Solar System in a rigorous scientific way because the Sun and planets formed in the distant past.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Planetary Geology: Earth and the Other
Terrestrial Worlds
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Q1) Process of Science: Our theory of solar system formation suggests that larger planets cool more slowly than small ones.What does this suggest regarding geologic activity on Venus? Do we expect Venus to be geologically active? How did scientists test this hypothesis?
Q2) The main process by which heat flows upward through the lithosphere is A)conduction.
B)convection.
C)radiation.
D)accretion.
E)differentiation.
Q3) What are the conditions necessary for a terrestrial planet to have a strong magnetic field?
A)a molten metallic core only
B)fast rotation only
C)a rocky mantle only
D)both a molten metallic core and reasonably fast rotation
E)both a metal core and a rocky mantle
Q4) Why do we think Mercury contracted within about a billion years after it formed?
Page 11
Q5) What is the importance of "blueberries" found on Mars?
Q6) Why is erosion more effective on Earth than on Venus or Mars?
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Chapter 10: Planetary Atmospheres: Earth and the Other
Terrestrial Worlds
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Q1) How did molecular oxygen (O )get into Earth's atmosphere?
A)It was released by life through the process of photosynthesis.
B)It was captured from the solar nebula.
C)It was outgassed from volcanoes.
D)It came from chemical reactions with surface rocks.
Q2) Draw a diagram showing how temperature varies with altitude in a generic planetary atmosphere.Label each of the major layers (i.e. ,thermosphere,stratosphere,troposphere).
Q3) Suppose we represent Earth with a basketball.On this scale,most of the air in Earth's atmosphere would fit in a layer that is
A)about the thickness of a sheet of paper.
B)about an inch thick.
C)about 6 inches thick.
D)about a half-inch thick.
Q4) Earth's stratosphere is heated primarily by which process?
A)Convection from the Earth's surface.
B)Absorption of infrared radiation by greenhouse gases.
C)Absorption of visible light by ozone.
D)Absorption of ultraviolet radiation by ozone.
E)Atoms and molecules absorb infrared sunlight.
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Chapter 11: Jovian Planet Systems
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Q1) Why does Titan have such a nitrogen-rich atmosphere?
A)It was formed that way in the solar nebula.
B)The nitrogen comes from the breakup of ammonia (NH )by solar radiation and subsequent thermal escape of the hydrogen.
C)The nitrogen was formed from the chemical reaction of sulphuric acid with surface rocks.
D)Through the impact of nitrogen rich comets during the early solar system.
E)The nitrogen was created through a chain of fusion reactions in Titan's core.
Q2) The fact that most moons always show the same face to their planet is
A)very surprising and a great mystery.
B)a natural consequence of the fact that the entire solar nebula rotated in the same direction.
C)explained by the law of conservation of angular momentum.
D)a natural consequence of tidal forces acting on the moons.
E)a result of the fact that the moons once had atmospheres.
Q3) Which large jovian moon is thought to have been captured into its present orbit?
A)Callisto
B)Titan
C)Triton
D)Io
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Chapter 12: Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets: Their
Nature, Orbits, and Impacts
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Q1) What is a meteorite?
A)a streak of light caused by a star moving across the sky
B)a streak of light caused by a small particle from space burning up in Earth's atmosphere
C)a fragment of an asteroid from the solar system that has fallen to Earth's surface
D)a small moon that orbits one of the giant planets
E)a comet that burns up in Earth's atmosphere
Q2) Suppose you find a meteorite made almost entirely of metal.According to current science,which of the following statements must be true?
A)Radiometric dating will show the age of your meteorite to date to the formation of our solar system.
B)Your meteorite was blasted off the surface of Mars by an impact.
C)Your meteorite is a fragment of an object from the Kuiper belt.
D)Your meteorite is a fragment from the core of a large asteroid that shattered in a collision.
Q3) No spacecraft has ever visited an asteroid or comet.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Other Planetary Systems: The New Science of
Distant Worlds
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Q1) Why do we say that the Doppler technique gives the planet's "minimum mass"?
A)The size of the Doppler shift that we detect depends on whether the planet's orbit is tilted.
B)The size of the Doppler shift that we detect depends on knowing the star's mass,which can be very uncertain.
C)Extrasolar planets are always increasing in mass.
D)Doppler measurements are very difficult,producing noisy data that often cause astronomers to underestimate a planet's mass.
Q2) Process of Science:
Name a testable hypothesis of nebular theory that was shown to be incorrect in observations of extrasolar planets. Must we throw out the theory and start from scratch, i.e., is the observation completely inconsistent with a nebular formation?
Q3) Current techniques can measure stellar motion to less than
A)walking speed.
B)running speed.
C)freeway speed.
D)cruising speed of an airplane.
E)orbital speed of Jupiter.
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Chapter 14: Our Star
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Q1) The Sun generates energy primarily by nuclear fission.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What do we mean when we say that the Sun is in gravitational equilibrium?
A)The Sun maintains a steady temperature.
B)There is a balance within the Sun between the outward push of pressure and the inward pull of gravity.
C)The hydrogen gas in the Sun is balanced so that it never rises upward or falls downward.
D)The Sun always has the same amount of mass,creating the same gravitational force.
Q3) Humans have not sent a spacecraft into the interior of the Sun to confirm any models of the interior.What evidence then do we have to support our current ideas about the solar interior?
A)solar neutrinos
B)solar flares
C)sun spots
D)X-ray observations that penetrate the gas
E)We have no evidence,just informed guesses.
Q4) Briefly describe the phenomena of the sunspot cycle.
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Chapter 15: Surveying the Stars
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Q1) Some stars are cool enough to have molecules in their atmosphere.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Suppose you measure the parallax angle for a particular star to be 0.1 arcsecond.The distance to this star is
A)10 light-years.
B)10 parsecs.
C)0.1 light-year.
D)0.1 parsec.
E)impossible to determine.
Q3) Which group represents stars of the largest radii?
A)A
B)B
C)C
D)D
E)E
Q4) Which group represents stars that have no nuclear fusion in their cores?
Q5) Which star has the highest surface temperature?
Q6) Which group represents stars of the smallest radii?
Q7) Which star looks bluest in color?
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Chapter 16: Star Birth
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Q1) Most interstellar clouds remain stable in size because the force of gravity is opposed by ________ within the cloud.
A)degeneracy pressure
B)radiation pressure
C)stellar winds
D)thermal pressure
Q2) Where would a brown dwarf be located on an H-R diagram?
A)upper right
B)on the lower part of the main sequence
C)below and to the right of the lowest part of the main sequence
D)lower left
E)above and to the left of the main sequence
Q3) How do we learn the chemical composition of the interstellar medium?
A)We make an educated guess based on the Sun's composition.
B)By studying spectra of interstellar gas clouds.
C)We collect samples of gas and dust from interstellar space.
D)We use computer simulations of the interstellar medium.
Q4) Process of Science: The existence of brown dwarfs was predicted for decades before their discovery in 1995.Why did it take so long?
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Chapter 17: Star Stuff
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Q1) Which of the following pairs of atomic nuclei would feel the strongest repulsive electromagnetic force if you tried to push them together?
A)helium and helium
B)hydrogen and hydrogen
C)hydrogen and helium
D)hydrogen and deuterium
Q2) During which stage is the star's energy supplied by primarily by gravitational contraction?
A)II
B)III
C)V
D)VI
E)VII
Q3) During which stage is the star's energy supplied by gravitational contraction?
A)ii
B)iii
C)v
D)vi
E)viii
Q4) Briefly explain why high-mass stars have shorter lifetimes than low-mass stars.
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Chapter 18: The Bizarre Stellar Graveyard
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Q1) Brown dwarfs,white dwarfs,and neutrons stars are all kept from collapsing by degeneracy pressure.
A)True
B)False
Q2) How are elements more massive than iron produced?
A)inside white dwarfs
B)inside two merging white dwarfs
C)inside neutron stars
D)inside two merging neutron stars
Q3) What makes us think that the star system Cygnus X-1 contains a black hole?
A)It emits X-rays characteristic of an accretion disk,but the unseen star in the system is too massive to be a neutron star.
B)No light is emitted from this star system,so it must contain a black hole.
C)The fact that we see strong X-ray emission tells us that the system must contain a black hole.
D)Cygnus X-1 is a powerful X-ray burster,so it must contain a black hole.
Q4) It is impossible to tell the difference between the two types of supernovae.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Process of Science: How were neutron stars discovered?
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Chapter 19: Our Galaxy
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Q1) What evidence supports the galactic fountain model?
A)We see a jet of ionized gas shooting out of the bulge of our galaxy.
B)We have mapped several spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy.
C)We see hot gas above the disk of the galaxy and cool gas that appears to be raining down from the halo.
D)We have observed a lot of water molecules in the interstellar medium.
E)We have no evidence yet for the galactic fountain model.
Q2) What are cosmic rays?
A)subatomic particles that travel close to the speed of light
B)gamma rays and X-rays
C)fast-moving dust particles in the interstellar medium
D)any light waves from space
E)lasers used as weapons by extraterrestrials
Q3) Most of the current star formation in the Milky Way occurs in spiral arms.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Open clusters and young stars are generally found only in the disk of the galaxy and not in the halo.
A)True
B)False
Page 22
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Chapter 20: Galaxies and the Foundations of Modern Cosmology
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Q1) Which of the following is true about irregular galaxies?
A)They are composed solely of old stars.
B)They generally have significant bulge populations.
C)They were more common when the universe was younger.
D)They have reddish colors.
E)They have well defined spiral arms.
Q2) What is the best way to determine a galaxy's redshift?
A)Find the galaxy's apparent distance,and look up the redshift based on Hubble's law.
B)Find the color of the galaxy,and estimate its distance based on how red the galaxy is.
C)Take a spectrum of the galaxy,and measure the difference in wavelength of spectral lines from the wavelengths of those same lines as measured in the laboratory.
D)Measure the magnitude of the galaxy,estimate its distance,and calculate its redshift using Hubble's law.
Q3) Explain how we estimate that there are about 50-100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.
Q4) Process of Science: How we can test that a so-called "standard candle" is indeed standard?
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Chapter 21: Galaxy Evolution
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Q1) If we represent the Milky Way Galaxy as the size of a grapefruit (10-cm diameter),the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy would be about
A)10 cm.
B)3 m.
C)30 m.
D)1 km.
E)100 km.
Q2) How do jets produced by radio galaxies differ from those of protostars?
Q3) Two ways in which the starting conditions in a protogalactic cloud might cause it to become an elliptical (rather than spiral)galaxy are if the cloud begins with either
A)relatively little angular momentum or relatively high density.
B)relatively high angular momentum or relatively low density.
C)relatively high mass and a relatively low abundance of heavy elements.
D)relatively low mass and a relatively high abundance of heavy elements.
Q4) A protogalactic cloud with very little angular momentum is more likely to form an elliptical galaxy than a spiral galaxy.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 22: The Birth of the Universe
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Q1) What happened to the quarks that existed freely during the particle era?
A)They combined in groups to make protons,neutrons,and their antiparticles.
B)They froze out of the soup of particles at the end of the era.
C)They evaporated.
D)They combined in groups to make electrons and neutrinos.
E)They combined in groups to make W and Z bosons.
Q2) You are feeling like spaghetti.Although normally only about 2 meters tall,you are now about 25 meters long.(How fortunate,if painful,that the being has arranged for your body to become elastic enough so that it is not ripped apart under these conditions. )As you look up over your head,you see things moving pretty quickly in the universe-but that lasts only for a brief instant,and then all contact with the universe is lost.Where are you?
A)You are plunging into the Sun.
B)You are crossing the event horizon of a black hole.
C)You are being consumed by a "crack" in the universe caused by inflation.
D)You are near the center of a star that has just developed an iron core,leading to a supernova.
E)You are in a medieval torture chamber somewhere in western Europe.
Q3) What do we mean by inflation,and why might it have occurred at the end of the GUT era?
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Chapter 23: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe
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Q1) How do we know that there is an insignificant amount of dark matter in the solar system?
Q2) What is meant by "dark energy"?
A)the energy associated with dark matter through E=mc²
B)any unknown force that opposes gravity
C)the repulsive agent causing the universal expansion to accelerate
D)highly energetic particles that are believed to constitute dark matter
E)the total energy in the Universe after the Big Bang but before the first stars
Q3) The visible parts of galaxies contribute about one-tenth of the critical density of the universe.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following best sums up current scientific thinking about the nature of dark energy?
A)Dark energy most likely consists of a form of photons that we can't see or detect.
B)Dark energy is most likely made up of weakly interacting particles that do not interact with light.
C)Dark energy probably exists,but we have little (if any)idea what it is.
D)Dark energy is the source of the mind weapon used by Sith Lords in Star Wars.
Page 26
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Chapter 24: Life in the Universe
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Q1) Which of the following describes a major danger of interstellar travel at near-light speed?
A)Atoms and ions in interstellar space will hit a fast-moving spacecraft like a flood of dangerous cosmic rays.
B)Any interstellar journey will take much longer than the lives of the crew members.
C)Time dilation will slow the heart beats of the crew to a dangerously low rate.
D)Asteroid fields floating in interstellar space will present a navigational challenge.
Q2) In the Drake equation (Number of Civilizations = NHP × flife × fciv × fnow),what do we mean by fnow?
A)the fraction of planets in the galaxy on which a civilization could theoretically develop right now
B)the fraction of planets with civilizations at the present time (as opposed to only in the past or future)
C)the fraction of civilizations in the universe that currently are sending messages to us
D)the fraction of all species ever to exist that we currently are aware of
Q3) What is the evidence that suggests planetary systems are common in the universe?
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Chapter 25: Celestial Timekeeping and Navigation
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Q1) Which star remains above the horizon for the longest time each day at latitude 40°N?
Q2) Suppose it is late June.Which star crosses your meridian around midnight? Assume you live at a latitude where all the stars on this list rise above your horizon each day.
Q3) Which constellation (capital letters)is Taurus?
Q4) Our modern calendar is also known as
A)the Gregorian calendar.
B)the Julian calendar.
C)the Metonic calendar.
D)the Universal Calendar (UC).
Q5) Suppose that you are looking at the sky at about midnight on the winter solstice.Which star will be nearest to your meridian?
A)Alpha Centauri
B)Sirius
C)Spica
D)Deneb
Q6) The Summer Triangle is formed by the stars Deneb,Vega,and Altair.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 26: Space and Time
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Q1) Carol is going away from you at 75 km/hr,and Sam is going in the opposite direction away from you at 90 km/hr.According to Carol,how fast is Sam going?
A)Carol sees Sam going away from her at 75 km/hr.
B)Carol sees Sam going away from her at 90 km/hr.
C)Carol sees Sam going away from her at 15 km/hr.
D)Carol sees Sam going away from her at 165 km/hr.
E)Carol sees Sam coming toward her at 15 km/hr.
Q2) Why do the predicted consequences of the special theory of relativity seem so strange to most of us?
A)because they are self-contradictory,making it impossible to make any sense of them
B)because they are obvious only at speeds that we never experience in our daily lives
C)because they contradict the well-tested ideas of Newton's laws of motion
D)because they affect only subatomic particles and not big things like people
Q3) The idea that the speed of light is absolute is supported by experimental evidence.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 27: Spacetime and Gravity
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Sample Questions
Q1) As predicted by general relativity,time runs slightly slower at the peak of Mount Everest than it does at sea level.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Suppose two lines appear to be parallel but eventually meet.What type of geometry are you dealing with?
A)flat geometry
B)spherical geometry
C)saddle-shaped geometry
D)Euclidean geometry
E)This situation can never occur.
Q3) Which of the following correctly describes what we mean by a great circle on the surface of Earth?
A)any circle of latitude
B)any circle whose center is at the center of Earth
C)any circle larger than 10,000 km in diameter
D)a circle of longitude
Q4) We expect to directly detect gravitational waves in the near future.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 28: Building Blocks of the Universe
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Q1) Which of the following statements about neutrinos is not true?
A)Neutrinos are neither attracted nor repelled by electrically charged particles.
B)Neutrinos have a mass that is much smaller than the mass of an electron.
C)Neutrinos do not respond to the strong nuclear force.
D)There are three types of neutrinos,and these represent three of the six known types of lepton.
E)Neutrinos do not respond to the force of gravity.
Q2) What is Hawking radiation?
A)a type of high-energy radiation that comes from inside a black hole's event horizon
B)a type of radiation coming from objects supported by degeneracy pressure
C)a hypothesized way for black holes to gradually shrink in mass
D)a type of radiation that we have detected so far only with infrared telescopes in space
Q3) The number of neutrinos in the universe is greater than all the protons,neutrons,and electrons combined.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is quantum tunnelling?
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