Observational Astronomy Exam Review
Course Introduction
Observational Astronomy introduces students to the techniques, tools, and principles involved in the direct study of celestial objects and phenomena. Emphasizing hands-on experience, the course covers the use of telescopes and other astronomical instruments, methods for collecting and interpreting astronomical data, and techniques for recording and analyzing observations. Topics include celestial coordinate systems, photometry, spectroscopy, and astrometry, as well as the practical challenges of night-sky observation. Students will conduct observational projects, learn data reduction methods, and develop an understanding of how observations inform our knowledge of the universe.
Recommended Textbook
Astronomy Today 8th Edition by Eric Chaisson
Available Study Resources on Quizplus
28 Chapters
2941 Verified Questions
2941 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/1005 Page 2
Chapter 1: Charting the Heavens: The Foundations of Astronomy
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
94 Verified Questions
94 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19903
Sample Questions
Q1) That Polaris will not always be the pole star is due to:
A) the sidereal day being shorter than the solar day.
B) precession shifting the celestial pole.
C) the Moon following the ecliptic, instead of the equator.
D) the Earth's revolution being slightly less than exactly 365.25 days.
E) the Solar winds blowing the Earth farther away from the Sun.
Answer: B
Q2) While watching a star,you see it moves 15 degrees across the sky.How long have you been watching it?
A) 1 hour
B) 3 hours
C) 15 minutes
D) 15 seconds
E) 1 minute
Answer: A
Q3) How far above or below the ecliptic can the Sun move?
Answer: The Sun follows the ecliptic eastward across the sky,never leaving it.
Q4) The Milky Way galaxy contains about ________ stars.
Answer: 100 billion
Page 3
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 2: The Copernican Revolution: The Birth of Modern Science
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19904
Sample Questions
Q1) The eccentricity of a perfectly circular orbit is 1.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) When a planet retrogrades,it appears to move westward for weeks at a time. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) What contribution to astronomy was made by Tycho Brahe?
A) The planets' orbits around the Sun are ellipses, not circles.
B) The Earth is not the center of the Universe.
C) His observations of planetary motion with great accuracy proved circular orbits could not work.
D) His telescope revealed the moons of Jupiter before Galileo noted them.
E) Retrograde motion must be explained by epicycles larger than those of Ptolemy.
Answer: C
Q4) Using Newton's first law,describe the motion of a body is moving in the absence of any net external force.
Answer: in a straight line at constant speed forever
Page 4
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 3: Radiation: Information from the Cosmos
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19905
Sample Questions
Q1) How do sound and light waves differ?
Answer: Sound waves travel much slower,and need a physical medium,such as air,to be transmitted.Light travels best in the vacuum of space.
Q2) Which of these is constant for ALL types of electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum?
A) amplitude
B) wavelength
C) frequency
D) velocity
E) photon energy
Answer: D
Q3) Contrast the speeds of sound and light in watching a flash of lightning,then listening for the thunder to follow.
Answer: Light travels at 300,000 km/sec,so the flash of light is almost instantaneous from a few miles away; sound travels at about a fifth of a mile per second,so if the thunder follows the lightning by five seconds,the bolt hit about a mile away.
Q4) The distance between two successive wave crests is the ________ of a wave.
Answer: wavelength
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 4: Spectroscopy: The Inner Workings of Atoms
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
94 Verified Questions
94 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19906
Sample Questions
Q1) A binary star system is one with two stars orbiting each other.How can the Doppler effect be used to find binary stars whose orbital plane is along our line of sight? Their periods?
Q2) Why are molecular lines usually found in infrared and radio regions,not as visible lines?
Q3) The radial velocity of a star's motion in space can also broaden its spectral lines. A)True
B)False
Q4) The broader the spectral line,the higher the pressure of the gas that is creating it. A)True B)False
Q5) The absorption lines for a cool thin gas are identical in color and energy to the emission lines of the same gas if hot enough to glow. A)True B)False
Q6) If we increased the pressure in the gas of a blackbody,how will the spectral lines be affected?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 6
Chapter 5: Telescopes: The Tools of Astronomy
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19907
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following greatly improves the angular resolution of radio maps?
A) Schmidt corrector plates
B) more sensitive spectrometers
C) switching from film to CCD imaging
D) use of interferometers
E) chilling the infrared detectors
Q2) Refractor telescopes suffer from this separation of light into its component colors.
A) limited diffraction
B) spherical aberration
C) chromatic aberration
D) bad seeing
E) refraction
Q3) What is a CCD,and how does it work? Why is it replacing film?
Q4) What problem is adaptive optics designed to correct?
A) the opacity of the Earth's atmosphere
B) defects in the optical figuring, such as with the adaptive optics on HST
C) slight tracking errors in trying to compensate for our unsteady rotation
D) the effects of atmospheric turbulence
E) the absorption of ultraviolet by the ozone layer
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 7
Chapter 6: The Solar System: Comparative Planetology and Formation Models
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
151 Verified Questions
151 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19908
Sample Questions
Q1) Of all the terrestrial planets,Mercury's orbit is most eccentric and tilted most above the ecliptic.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What physical characteristics of Mercury distinguish it among all the planets in our solar system?
Q3) What is true about solar system densities?
A) The denser planets lie closer to the Sun.
B) In differentiated bodies, the denser materials lie near their surfaces.
C) The asteroids all have about the same density.
D) Saturn has the same density as water.
E) Planetary density increases with increasing distance from the Sun.
Q4) Conservation of angular momentum means that a spinning body tends to:
A) fly apart.
B) slow down.
C) wobble into an eccentric orbit.
D) gravitationally collapse.
E) keep spinning.
Page 8
Q5) Contrast the orbits of comets and asteroids.
Q6) Explain the effect angular momentum has on a gas cloud as it contracts.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 9
Chapter 7: Earth: Our Home in Space
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19909
Sample Questions
Q1) Subduction of higher density oceanic plates under the continents not only creates deep trenches but also tall volcanic chains ashore as well.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The oldest rocks on our crust are radioactively dated at about:
A) 200 million years old.
B) one billion years old.
C) 2.7 billion years old.
D) four billion years old.
E) 4.6 billion years old.
Q3) Why do volcanic mountain chains,such as the Andes,accompany deep trenches like the Nazca Trench off South America?
Q4) The energy for plate tectonics comes primarily from radioactive decay in our core.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Seismic P-waves can travel through both solid and liquid materials.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 10
Chapter 8: The Moon and Mercury: Scorched and Battered Worlds
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
112 Verified Questions
112 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19910
Sample Questions
Q1) Based on Mercury's peak temperature of about 700 K,what would the average molecular speed of carbon dioxide be? How does this compare to Mercury's escape velocity? If Mercury's atmosphere initially had substantial carbon dioxide,in line with what is believed about the early atmospheres of the other terrestrial planets,do you think Mercury would have retained this atmosphere? Why/why not? Would your answer change if you considered only Mercury's coldest regions that are around 125 K?
Q2) What is the primary source of erosion on the Moon? Why does change take so long there?
Q3) The rate of cratering:
A) has remained constant over the last 4.6 billion years.
B) has recently increased with more collisions in the asteroid belt.
C) fluctuates over time, with massive bodies occasionally coming in from the Oort Cloud.
D) shows that large asteroid impacts are more common now than in the past.
E) shows that most interplanetary debris was swept up soon after the formation of the solar system.
Q4) Why is it so difficult to observe the planet Mercury from Earth?
Q5) Describe the relation between Mercury's spin and orbit.
Q6) Why does the Moon lack a true atmosphere?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 11
Chapter 9: Venus: Earth's Sister Planet
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
98 Verified Questions
98 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19911
Sample Questions
Q1) No evidence of impact craters has been found on Venus.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Venus has larger volcanoes than Earth's Hawaii.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Venus can appear as a crescent through the telescope.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Venus' rotation:
A) is the fastest of the terrestrial planets.
B) is counterclockwise, like the other planets.
C) takes longer than its orbit around the Sun.
D) axis is highly tilted to its orbital plane, causing large seasonal changes.
E) is tidally locked to the Sun.
Q5) Why is Venus' rotation unusual?
Q6) Like our own,the magnetic field of Venus has been seen to reverse polarity.
A)True
B)False
Q7) The Greenhouse Effect on Venus is due to ________ in its atmosphere.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 12
Chapter 10: Mars: A Near Miss for Life?
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19912
Sample Questions
Q1) The residual polar cap that does not vanish during the Martian summer is ________.
Q2) The largest volcano in the solar system,________,is found on Mars.
Q3) The ________ hemisphere of Mars is lower,smoother,and younger than the other one.
Q4) What makes the view of Mars in the summer of 2003 so spectacular?
A) There were huge dust storms that made the planet appear much brighter than usual.
B) The feature known as Olympus Mons erupted spewing ash into the Martian atmosphere.
C) Mars had an angular size comparable to the full moon.
D) Mars was both at perihelion and opposition, creating the perfect viewing conditions from Earth.
E) Earth's atmosphere was amazingly clear everywhere for months making the view of spectacular Mars available to everyone.
Q5) The magnetic field of Mars was first detected by the Mars Global Surveyor.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Seasonal changes in the darker surface features of Mars are due to ________.
Q7) Compare the days,seasons,and years of Mars and Earth.
Page 13
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 11: Jupiter: Giant of the Solar System
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
101 Verified Questions
101 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19913
Sample Questions
Q1) The Galileo mission put a spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter.Which statement about that spacecraft is true?
A) The spacecraft crashed into the moon Europa.
B) The spacecraft's probe measured windspeeds in Jupiter's atmosphere.
C) A saltwater ocean was discovered on Jupiter.
D) Intense magnetic fields were discovered in the asteroid belt.
E) A probe was released which soft landed on Io.
Q2) What is thought to be the cause of Io's volcanoes?
A) Jupiter's magnetosphere and its charged particles
B) Jupiter's gravity and the heat it creates
C) tidal stresses from both Jupiter and Europa
D) solar radiation focused by Jupiter's gravity
E) radioactive decay in Io's interior
Q3) The Great Red Spot has been seen on Jupiter as long as we have had telescopes capable of observing it.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is the origin of Io's volcanism?
Q5) Contrast the compositions of Jupiter's belts and zones.
Q6) What is oblateness,and what does it tell us about Jupiter's interior?
Page 14
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 12: Saturn: Spectacular Rings and Mysterious
Moons
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
104 Verified Questions
104 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19914
Sample Questions
Q1) Saturn is noticeably oblate because:
A) it has strong magnetic fields that deform its shape.
B) its powerful gravity acts stronger on the closer poles than the distant equator.
C) it is a fluid body that is spinning rapidly.
D) it is tidally distorted by the pulls for its satellite system.
E) All of the above are correct.
Q2) Contrast the size,mass,and density of Jupiter and Saturn.
Q3) Saturn's bands,oval storm systems,and turbulent flow patterns are powered by:
A) convective motion and rapid rotation.
B) the Greenhouse Effect.
C) a liquid metallic hydrogen interior.
D) the fusion in Saturn's core.
E) the tides of Titan.
Q4) Helium is more abundant at Saturn than at Jupiter.
A)True
B)False
Q5) A typical ring particle is about the size of a snowball.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 15
Chapter 13: Uranus and Neptune: The Outer Worlds of the Solar System
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
108 Verified Questions
108 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19915
Sample Questions
Q1) In what ways are the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune unusual?
Q2) The planet Neptune is:
A) easily visible with the naked eye.
B) barely visible with the naked eye.
C) visible with at least small telescopes or binoculars.
D) only visible with a large, high-quality telescope.
E) only visible with a space-based telescope.
Q3) What is the prediction for the future of Triton?
A) It will provide the raw material for a future Neptunian ring.
B) It will develop active volcanoes as Neptune's tidal stresses become greater.
C) It will crash into Nereid when the smaller moon comes too close.
D) Its orbit, while retrograde, is very stable and will not change.
E) Its retrograde orbit will throw it back out into the Kuiper Belt again, with Pluto.
Q4) Why are the moons and rings of Uranus and Neptune believed to be dark?
Q5) Because the poles of Uranus spend 42 years in darkness,the temperatures between the northern and southern hemispheres of Uranus differ by as much as hundreds of Kelvins,depending on where Uranus is in its orbit.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 16
Chapter 14: Solar System Debris: Keys to Our Origin
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
114 Verified Questions
114 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19916
Sample Questions
Q1) One of the best known craters on Earth is the Barringer Crater in Arizona.It was formed by:
A) a large volcanic eruption.
B) the same impact thought to have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
C) the impact of an asteroid whose mass was around 200,000 tons.
D) testing of nuclear bombs during the Cold War.
E) the impact of a comet whose mass was around 25 tons.
Q2) Describe the odd rotations of Pluto and Charon.
Q3) The orbits of most comets:
A) are like the planets, fairly circular and in the ecliptic plane.
B) lie almost entirely beyond the orbit of Neptune.
C) have perihelions within the orbits of Mercury.
D) go no farther out than Pluto, then return to the Sun again.
E) are shorter than the 76 year period for Comet Halley.
Q4) The asteroid Vesta seems to have once been volcanically active,amazing for its small size.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the Kirkwood Gaps? What role does Jupiter play?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 17
Chapter 15: Exoplanets: Planetary Systems Beyond Our Own
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
74 Verified Questions
74 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19917
Sample Questions
Q1) ________ in the early solar system might explain many of the observed irregularities.
Q2) Orbital resonances are a characteristic of some extrasolar systems but are not seen in our solar system.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The ________ around a star is the region where liquid water could exist on a planet.
Q4) Describe an example of catastrophic creation in our solar system.
Q5) Why do instruments that are looking for transiting planets need to look for very small brightness changes?
Q6) When looking for the radial velocity changes or "wobbles" detected due to Doppler shifts,which mass combination is most likely to be detected?
A) high mass star, high mass planet
B) high mass star, low mass planet
C) low mass star, high mass planet
D) low mass star, low mass planet
E) a high mass planet; the mass of the star is irrelevant
Q7) Why are infrared observations useful when observing extrasolar planets?
Page 18
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 16: The Sun: Our Parent Star
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
113 Verified Questions
113 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19918
Sample Questions
Q1) How does solar luminosity vary during the sunspot cycle?
Q2) About what percent of the incoming energy from the Sun reaches Earth's surface?
A) 80-100%
B) 70-90%
C) 60-80%
D) 50-70%
E) 30-60%
Q3) By what mechanism does solar energy reach the Sun's photosphere from the layer just underneath it?
A) differentiation
B) ionization
C) radiation
D) convection
E) conduction
Q4) The concept of hydrostatic equilibrium is critical to understanding how the Sun has remained stable long enough for life to evolve here.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Iron is observed in the Sun's ________.
Q6) Why is studying the neutrino so vital to understanding the solar interior?
Page 19
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 17: The Stars: Giants,Dwarfs,and the Main Sequence
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
107 Verified Questions
107 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19919
Sample Questions
Q1) Stars of the main sequence all fall in luminosity class ________.
Q2) About 500 stars can be seen by the naked eye from somewhere on Earth.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What types of observations are necessary to determine the motion of a star through space?
Q4) Procyon lies about 13 light years distant,thus its parallax is about:
A) 0.01".
B) 0.25".
C) 0.40".
D) 0.65".
E) 1.3".
Q5) What is proper motion? How is it related to transverse velocity?
Q6) Two stars have apparent magnitudes of 0 and 5.If both stars are 117 parsecs away,which star is intrinsically brighter and by what factor is it brighter than the other?
Q7) What types of observations are necessary to determine the absolute luminosity of a star?
Q8) In a large sampling of stars,the largest group represented in the H-R diagram will be the main sequence stars.Why are they so common? Page 20
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 21
Chapter 18: The Interstellar Medium: Gas and Dust among the Stars
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19920
Sample Questions
Q1) Explain how "forbidden" lines appear in spectra of emission nebulae.
Q2) Unlike the ultraviolet photons originally emitted by the embedded stars of an emission nebula,the photons emitted by the recombination of electrons with atoms: A) do not escape the nebula.
B) escape the nebula.
C) are re-absorbed by neutral hydrogen atoms.
D) bounce around inside the nebula.
E) are scattered by the dust particles.
Q3) What is the temperature of the gas in the dark dust clouds,and why is this important to molecule formation?
Q4) Why are dark dust clouds largely misnamed?
A) The cloud is an illusion, for the dust is evenly distributed around the Galaxy.
B) Dust clouds do radiate energy, but not as much light as the stars do.
C) It is ice, not dust, which make them look dark.
D) They contain much more gas than dust.
E) All of the above are correct.
Q5) If dark nebulae are really dark,how do we know they are there?
Page 22
Q6) Neutral hydrogen may be detected between the stars because it emits ________.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 19: Star Formation: A Traumatic Birth
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
108 Verified Questions
108 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19921
Sample Questions
Q1) In terms of Jupiter masses,what is the range of brown dwarfs? What are objects above and below this range called?
Q2) Our Sun,along with most of the stars in our neighborhood,probably formed:
A) a few million years ago.
B) about 10 million years ago.
C) hundreds of millions of years ago.
D) billions of years ago.
E) at the beginning of the universe.
Q3) Rotation of the protostar helps generate the magnetic fields and bipolar flows.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is the key factor that determines the temperature,density,radius,luminosity,and pace of evolution of a protostellar object?
A) composition of the nebula
B) rotation of the nebula
C) mass of the nebula
D) temperature of the nebula
E) magnetism of the nebula
Q5) Contrast the brightest stars of young open and old globular clusters.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 23
Chapter 20: Stellar Evolution: The Life and Death of a Star
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
107 Verified Questions
107 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19922
Sample Questions
Q1) Relate hydrostatic equilibrium to the star's mass,composition,and evolution off the main sequence.
Q2) Mass transfer will almost always occur for spectroscopic and eclipsing binaries.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Describe the helium flash and why it occurs.
Q4) Which of these will the Sun probably become in the very distant future?
A) hypernova
B) supernova
C) pulsar
D) planetary nebula
E) nova
Q5) How has the chemical composition of the core of the Sun changed in the past 4.5 billion years? Are earthlings (if any)likely to freeze in another 4-5 billion years? Explain.
Q6) In an H-R Diagram,the path showing changes in a star's luminosity and surface temperature as a function of time is called its ________.
Q7) When a low-mass star runs out of hydrogen in its core,it gets brighter.Why?
Q8) Why can we say a star spends its life trying to maintain equilibrium?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 24
Chapter 21: Stellar Explosions: Novae,Supernovae,and
Formation of the Elements
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
104 Verified Questions
104 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19923
Sample Questions
Q1) What role does the main sequence mass of the star play in the formation of heavy elements in the giant stage?
Q2) Compare the amount of time a 20 solar mass star will stay on the main sequence to the length of time its iron core can exist.
Q3) After reaching its peak luminosity in hours or days,a nova declines in brightness over a period of a few ________ before returning to its pre-explosion luminosity.
Q4) Of all elements,________ has the most stable and tightly bound nucleus.
Q5) At temperatures of ________ K,photons can split apart nuclei until only protons and neutrons are left in photodisintegration.
A) ten million
B) 100 million
C) one billion
D) ten billion
E) one hundred billion
Q6) A recurring nova could eventually explode as a Type I supernova.
A)True
B)False
Q7) Contrast the progenitors of a type I and a type II supernova.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 25
Chapter 22: Neutron Stars and Black Holes: Strange States of Matter
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
113 Verified Questions
113 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19924
Sample Questions
Q1) What can we detect from matter that has crossed an event horizon?
A) Gamma-ray bursts
B) Radio waves if the matter was traveling fast enough
C) Visible light
D) X-rays if the matter was dense
E) Nothing
Q2) All neutron stars must begin as millisecond pulsars just after their supernova creation.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Why is the light from near a black hole redshifted?
Q4) Special relativity predicts that light bends near dense objects.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Explain why the Crab Nebula cannot involve a rapidly rotating white dwarf star.
Q6) X-ray bursters are similar to novae,except the collapsed star is a neutron star,not a white dwarf.
A)True
B)False
Q7) Relate escape velocity to the event horizon. Page 26
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 27
Chapter 23: The Milky Way Galaxy: A Spiral in Space
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19925
Sample Questions
Q1) The Galactic center in ________ is best studied using radio and infrared observations.
Q2) Which two classes of objects were critical to the Shapley-Curtiss Debate of 1920?
A) white dwarfs and red giants
B) open clusters and emission nebulae
C) globular clusters and spiral nebulae
D) emission nebulae and spiral nebulae
E) planetary nebulae and white dwarfs
Q3) In age,Population I stars are typically much ________ than those of Population II.
Q4) Henrietta Leavitt's period-luminosity relation for ________ indicates that longer periods mean more luminosity.
Q5) While yet unproven,the proposed WIMPS would be:
A) massive like neutrons, but more elusive than neutrinos.
B) made of only strong magnetic fields.
C) rapidly decaying due to the weak nuclear force.
D) changing charges and polarities too rapidly to pin down.
E) the basic building blocks of neutrons and protons.
Q6) Who discovered the period-luminosity relationship,and why was it so critical?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 28
Chapter 24: Galaxies: Building Blocks of the Universe
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
106 Verified Questions
106 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19926
Sample Questions
Q1) Quasars usually have their distances measured by what technique?
A) Type II supernovae
B) Cepheids
C) Parallax
D) Hubble's Law
E) Tully-Fisher relation
Q2) Orientation counts; if looking down the jets of an active core,we see a blazar.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Galaxies are classified into types solely on the basis of their color.
A)True
B)False
Q4) You observe a spiral galaxy with a large central bulge and tightly wrapped arms.It would be classified an:
A) Sc.
B) Sb.
C) Sa.
D) SO.
E) E7.
Q5) Distinguish an E0 from an E7 galaxy.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 29
Chapter 25: Galaxies and Dark Matter: The Large-Scale
Structure of the Cosmos
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
104 Verified Questions
104 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19927
Sample Questions
Q1) A galaxy that was once a quasar is likely to:
A) have burned all its fuel by now and be dark.
B) now be a dwarf irregular.
C) have a black hole at its nucleus.
D) still be a quasar.
E) be less than 5 billion years old.
Q2) A merger between two large galaxies of comparable size will most likely produce:
A) two small elliptical galaxies.
B) a large elliptical galaxy.
C) a small elliptical galaxy and a small spiral galaxy.
D) a large spiral galaxy.
E) a small elliptical galaxy and a large spiral galaxy.
Q3) If the merger theory is correct,the brightest active galactic nuclei should:
A) be in the smallest elliptical galaxies.
B) contain the youngest stars.
C) contain the least mass.
D) contain supermassive black holes.
E) form small irregular galaxies.
Q4) What is a galaxy's rotation curve? To which galaxies is it best applied,and what does it tell us about the distribution of dark matter?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 30
Chapter 26: Cosmology: The Big Bang and the Fate of the Universe
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
101 Verified Questions
101 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19928
Sample Questions
Q1) Contrast dark matter and dark energy with respect to their roles in the future of the universe.
Q2) What is the meaning of a "closed" universe?
A) The universe will expand forever.
B) The universe will someday stop expanding and start to collapse.
C) The universe will stop expanding in an infinite amount of time.
D) The universe is in a steady-state.
E) The universe will disappear into a white hole in time.
Q3) A Hubble Constant of H = 70 km/sec/ Mpc suggests a maximum age for the universe of ________.
Q4) Homogeneity and isotropy,taken as assumptions regarding the structure and evolution of the universe,are known as:
A) Obler's Paradox.
B) Hubble's Law.
C) Wien's Law.
D) the Cosmological Principle.
E) the Grand Unified Theory.
Q5) Most astronomers agree to interpret ________ Law to mean that the present day universe is expanding.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 31
Chapter 27: The Early Universe: Toward the Beginning of Time
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
110 Verified Questions
110 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19929
Sample Questions
Q1) The scarcity of what isotope is a critical test of the density of the present cosmos?
A) carbon 14
B) deuterium
C) helium 3
D) helium 4
E) lithium 5
Q2) The period from about one to 100 seconds after the Big Bang is called the:
A) pair-production era.
B) atomic epoch.
C) nuclear epoch.
D) quark epoch.
E) lepton epoch.
Q3) Describe the conditions of matter and radiation when in a state of thermal equilibrium.
Q4) When an electron is formed from a gamma ray collision,a positron is also made.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The universe was two minutes old when ________ started to form from deuterium fusion.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 32
Chapter
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/19930
Sample Questions
Q1) Which classes of stars with large habitable zones probably don't last long enough for life to evolve to use them?
Q2) The ________ habitable zone is set by the activity of the nucleus on the inside,and the rate of star formation and proper chemistry on the outside.
Q3) During which step in cosmic evolution did diverse life forms begin to arise?
A) particulate evolution
B) stellar evolution
C) chemical evolution
D) biological evolution
E) cultural evolution
Q4) In terms of its thick and chemically active atmosphere of hydrocarbons,which jovian moon was visited by the Huygens probe in 2005?
A) Europa
B) Triton
C) Titan
D) Titania
E) Enceladus
Q5) What is the "water hole"? Why is it so promising to radio astronomers?
Q6) Why does SETI concentrate on the water hole?
33
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.