Survey of Astronomy
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Survey of Astronomy offers a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental concepts of astronomy, exploring the structure and evolution of the universe. The course covers basic principles such as the motion of celestial objects, the formation and lifecycle of stars, and the characteristics of planets within and beyond our solar system. Students will also examine techniques used in astronomical observation and measurement, as well as recent discoveries in cosmology, exoplanets, and galactic phenomena. This course is designed to build a solid foundation in astronomy for both science and non-science majors, fostering an appreciation for the scale and complexity of the cosmos.
Recommended Textbook
The Essential Cosmic Perspective 6th Edition by Jeffrey O. Bennett
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Chapter 1: Our Place in the Universe
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Q1) Briefly explain what we mean by the statement "The farther away we look in distance, the further back we look in time."
Answer: It means that when we look at a distant object, we see it as it was some time in the past, rather than as it is now. This is because the light we see has taken time to travel from the object to us.
Q2) Suppose we imagine the Sun to be about the size of a grapefruit. How far away are the nearest stars (the three stars of Alpha Centauri)?
A) the length of a football field
B) 2.5 miles
C) 250 miles
D) 2,500 miles
E) 25,000 miles
Answer: D
Q3) Voyager 2 should reach the nearest stars (besides the Sun) in about 500 years.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Discovering the Universe for Yourself
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Q1) Suppose you lived on the Moon near the center of the face that we see from Earth. During the phase of full moon, what phase would you see for Earth? Would it be day or night at your home?
Answer: During the full moon, it would be daytime and you would see the phase of new Earth.
Q2) Which of the following conditions must exist for a solar eclipse to occur?
A) The only condition is that the phase of the Moon must be new.
B) The only condition is that the phase of the Moon must be full.
C) Moon phase is new, and the Moon is passing through the Earth's orbital plane.
D) Moon phase is full, and the Moon is passing through the Earth's orbital plane.
Answer: C
Q3) What makes the North Star, Polaris, special?
A) It is the brightest star in the sky.
B) It is the star straight overhead.
C) It appears very near the north celestial pole.
D) It is the star directly on your northern horizon.
E) It can be used to determine your longitude on Earth.
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: The Science of Astronomy
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Q1) Science can say nothing about the validity of nonscientific practices that do not make testable predictions.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Suppose a comet orbits the Sun on a highly eccentric orbit with an average (semimajor axis) distance of 1 AU. How long does it take to complete each orbit, and how do we know?
A) Each orbit takes about 1 year, which we know from Kepler's third law.
B) It depends on the eccentricity of the orbit, as described by Kepler's second law.
C) It depends on the eccentricity of the orbit, as described by Kepler's first law.
D) Each orbit should take about 2 years, because the eccentricity is so large.
Answer: A
Q3) In the Ptolemaic system, Venus should not show phases.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Making Sense of the Universe: Understanding
Motion, Energy, and Gravity
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Q1) What do we mean by the orbital energy of an orbiting object (such as a planet, moon, or satellite)?
A) Orbital energy is the sum of the object's kinetic energy and its gravitational potential energy as it moves through its orbit.
B) Orbital energy is the object's kinetic energy as it moves through its orbit.
C) Orbital energy is a measure of the object's speed as it moves through its orbit.
D) Orbital energy is the amount of energy required for the object to leave orbit and escape into space.
Q2) Which of the following represents a case in which you are not accelerating?
A) Driving in a straight line at 60 miles per hour
B) Going from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 10 seconds
C) Slamming on the brakes to come to a stop at a stop sign
D) Driving 60 miles per hour around a curve
Q3) Why are astronauts weightless in the Space Station?
A) Because the Space Station is constantly in free-fall around the Earth
B) Because the Space Station is traveling so fast
C) Because there is no gravity in space
D) Because the Space Station is moving at constant velocity
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Chapter 5: Light: the Cosmic Messenger
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Q1) Explain why an absorption line spectrum is not filled back in (to make the original continuous spectrum) by the photons that are emitted as the excited electrons decay back down to their original energy levels.
Q2) Which of the following wavelength regions cannot be studied with telescopes on the ground?
A) radio waves
B) ultraviolet
C) X-rays
D) both B and C
E) both A and C
Q3) Most astronomical objects emit light over a broad range of wavelengths.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The largest effective telescope, created by radio interferometry, is the size of
A) several football fields, in a natural depression in Puerto Rico.
B) tens of miles across, in the deserts of New Mexico.
C) the state of New Mexico.
D) the continental United States.
E) Earth.
Q5) Atomic number refers to ________.
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Chapter 6: Formation of Planetary Systems: Our Solar System
and Beyond
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Q1) According to our present theory of solar system formation, which of the following lists the major ingredients of the solar nebula in order from the most abundant to the least abundant?
A) Hydrogen and helium gas; hydrogen compounds; rock; metal
B) Hydrogen compounds; hydrogen and helium gas; metal; rock
C) Hydrogen and helium gas; rock; metal; hydrogen compounds
D) Hydrogen, water, methane, helium
Q2) The planet in our solar system with the highest average surface temperature is ________.
A) Venus
B) Mercury
C) Earth
D) Neptune
Q3) Explain how the age of a rock can be determined by radiometric dating.
Q4) Describe the ways in which Pluto is different from the terrestrial and jovian planets in the solar system.
Q5) Describe the impact the discovery of extrasolar planets has had for understanding the origin of our own Solar System.
Q6) Briefly summarize the differences between terrestrial and jovian planets.
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Chapter 7: Earth and the Terrestrial Worlds
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Q1) If the Earth rotated much more slowly, which of the following would be a consequence of that?
A) Days would be shorter.
B) Seasons would last longer.
C) Days would get hotter and nights would get colder.
D) Seasons would be more extreme.
Q2) Why does Mars have more extreme seasons than Earth?
A) because it is farther from the Sun
B) because it has a larger axis tilt
C) because it has a more eccentric orbit
D) Because it has more carbon dioxide in its atmosphere
E) all of the above
Q3) In what ways is Earth different from the other terrestrial planets?
A) Its lithosphere is broken into plates that move around.
B) It has oxygen in its atmosphere.
C) Most of its surface is covered with liquid water.
D) Life can be found almost everywhere.
E) All of the above are true.
Q4) Explain how we can estimate the geological age of a planetary surface from its number of impact craters.
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Chapter 8: Jovian Planet Systems
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Q1) Overall, Jupiter's composition is most like that of ________.
A) the Sun
B) Earth
C) a comet
D) an asteroid
Q2) Which statement about Io is true?
A) It is the most volcanically active body in our solar system.
B) It is thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water.
C) It is the largest moon in the solar system.
D) It is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere.
Q3) How many more times is the atmospheric pressure in Jupiter's core greater than the atmospheric pressure at Earth's surface?
A) 10 thousand
B) 100 thousand
C) 1 million
D) 10 million
E) 100 million
Q4) Why does it make sense that the jovian planets farther from the Sun have less mass?
Q5) Why is Triton such an unusual satellite?
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Chapter 9: Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets: Their
Nature, Orbits, and Impacts
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Q1) Why do asteroids and comets differ in composition?
A) Asteroids formed inside the frost line, while comets formed outside.
B) Asteroids and comets formed at different times.
C) Comets formed from the jovian nebula, while asteroids did not.
D) Comets are much larger than asteroids.
E) Asteroids are much larger than comets.
Q2) What is the name of the largest known Kuiper Belt Object?
A) Pluto
B) Charon
C) Sedna
D) Quaoar
E) Eris
Q3) Suppose we discover a new comet on an orbit that brings it closer to the Sun than Mercury every 125 years. What can we conclude?
A) It has been on its current orbit for only a very short time compared to the age of our solar system.
B) It came from the Oort cloud.
C) It came from the Kuiper belt.
D) It has a coma and tail during most of each orbit.
Q4) Why is Pluto now considered to be a Kuiper-belt object?
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Chapter 10: Our Star
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Q1) Which of the following best explains why nuclear fusion requires bringing nuclei extremely close together?
A) Nuclei normally repel because they are all positively charged and can be made to stick only when brought close enough for the strong force to take hold.
B) Nuclei are attracted to each other by the electromagnetic force, but this force is only strong enough to make nuclei stick when they are very close together.
C) Nuclei have to be very hot in order to fuse, and the only way to get them hot is to bring them close together.
D) Fusion can proceed only by the proton-proton chain, and therefore requires that protons come close enough together to be linked up into a chain.
Q2) How do we test our computer models for the interior of the Sun?
A) Sending a probe to the Sun to plunge into its interior
B) Monitoring the helium content of the surface of the Sun
C) Taking movies of the solar prominences and flares
D) Comparing model predictions to how the Sun actually vibrates
Q3) What was the solar neutrino problem?
Q4) Describe two general ways we learn about the Sun's interior.
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Chapter 11: Surveying the Stars
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Q1) Which is brighter in our sky, a star with apparent magnitude 2 or a star with apparent magnitude 7?
Q2) Two stars have the same spectral type. Star X is in luminosity class III, while Star Y is in luminosity class V. Star X must be larger in radius than Star Y.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following statements about spectral types of stars is true?
A) The spectral type of a star can be used to determine its surface temperature.
B) The spectral type of a star can be used to determine its color.
C) A star with spectral type A is cooler than a star with spectral type B.
D) A star with spectral type F2 is hotter than a star with spectral type F3.
E) All of the above are true.
Q4) Which group includes stars that are burning helium in their cores?
Q5) What can we infer, at least roughly, from a star's luminosity class?
A) Its size (radius)
B) Its mass
C) Its age in years
D) Its surface temperature
Q6) Which group includes the Sun?
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Chapter 12: Star Stuff
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Q1) Which method of energy generation is used by the Sun today?
A)H fusion by the proton-proton chain
B)H fusion by the CNO cycle
C)helium fusion
D)matter-antimatter annihilation
E)gravitational contraction
Q2) The helium fusion process works by fusing two helium nuclei into one beryllium nucleus.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which event marks the beginning of a supernova?
A) The sudden collapse of an iron core into a compact ball of neutrons
B) The onset of helium burning after a helium flash
C) The beginning of neon burning in an extremely massive star
D) The sudden initiation of the CNO cycle
Q4) The heaviest element produced by stars or in supernovae is silicon.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Briefly describe how a star forms.
Q6) Briefly summarize the stages of life for a low-mass star.
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Chapter 13: Bizarre Stellar Graveyard
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Q1) There is no upper limit to the mass of a neutron star.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Why is there an upper limit to the mass of a white dwarf?
A) White dwarfs come only from stars with masses less than 1.4 solar masses.
B) The more massive the white dwarf, the greater the degeneracy pressure and the faster the speeds of its electrons. Near 1.4 solar masses, the speeds of the electrons approach the speed of light, and no more mass can be supported.
C) The more massive the white dwarf, the higher its temperature and hence the greater its degeneracy pressure. Near 1.4 solar masses, the temperature becomes so high that all matter effectively melts into subatomic particles.
D) The upper limit to the masses of white dwarfs was determined through observations of white dwarfs in binary systems, but no one knows why the limit exists.
Q3) The maximum mass for a white dwarf is 1.4 solar masses.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is the evidence that gamma-ray bursts originate from beyond the Milky Way Galaxy?
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Chapter 14: Our Galaxy
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Q1) What do we call the bright, sphere-shaped region of stars that occupies the central few thousand light-years of the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) the galaxy's disk
B) the galaxy's bulge
C) a globular cluster
D) the galaxy's halo
Q2) The galactic center lies in the direction of which constellation?
A) Orion
B) the Big Dipper
C) Leo
D) Sagittarius
E) Taurus
Q3) What is a shock wave?
A) A pressure wave that moves faster than the speed of sound
B) A pressure wave that moves slower than the speed of sound
C) A pressure wave that moves faster than the speed of light
D) An electromagnetic wave that can create electrical shocks
E) An electromagnetic wave created when electrons recombine with protons
Q4) Explain why in space, "no one can hear you scream."
Q5) What produces the striking red, blue, and black colors of ionization nebulae?
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Chapter 15: Galaxies and the Foundation of Modern Cosmology
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Q1) Which of the following is evidence for supermassive black holes in active galaxies?
A) the discovery of powerful jets coming from a compact core
B) rapid changes in the luminosity of the galaxy nucleus
C) quasars emit approximately equal power at all wavelengths from infrared to gamma rays
D) the very high speeds of gas orbiting around the galactic nucleus
E) all of the above
Q2) A lenticular galaxy is another name for an elongated elliptical galaxy.
A)True
B)False
Q3) If we say that a galaxy has a lookback time of 1 billion years, we mean that ________.
A) its light traveled through space for 1 billion years to reach us
B) it is now 1 billion light-years away
C) it was 1 billion light-years away when the light left the galaxy
D) it is 400 million years old
Q4) Summarize the links in the distance chain that allow us to estimate distances to the farthest reaches of the universe.
Q5) How do quasars produce so much energy in such a small volume.
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Chapter 16: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe
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Q1) 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.
Q2) When we speak of the large-scale structure of the universe, we mean ________.
A) the overall arrangement of galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and superclusters in the universe
B) the structure of any large galaxy
C) the structure of any individual cluster of galaxies
D) the overall shape of the observable universe
Q3) A galaxy with a lot of dark matter would have a high mass-to-light ratio compared to the Sun.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Briefly describe the four possible expansion patterns (or fates) of the universe.
Page 18
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Chapter 17: The Beginning of Time
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Q1) New Perspectives? Chapter 17 ends the discussion of the origin and evolution of the universe. Galaxy and star formation, as well as the origin of planetary systems, were discussed in earlier chapters. It is perhaps time to reflect upon what has been learned. There is an oft-quoted line in T.S. Eliot's poem Little Gidding (1942): "And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Have you gained any new perspectives on the position of the Earth (and human beings) within the universe through your study of the science of astronomy? If so, what are they?
Q2) In stars, helium can sometimes be fused into carbon and heavier elements (in their final stages of life). Why didn't the same fusion processes produce carbon and heavier elements in the early universe?
A) By the time stable helium nuclei had formed, the temperature and density had already dropped too low for helium fusion to occur.
B) Helium fusion occurred, but the carbon nuclei that were made were later destroyed by the intense radiation in the early universe.
C) Temperatures in the early universe were never above the roughly 100 million Kelvin required for helium fusion.
D) No one knows-this is one of the major mysteries in astronomy.
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Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
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Q1) Which of the following is not key evidence in support of the idea that all life today shares a common ancestor?
A) We have identified fossils of the first life forms that ever existed on Earth.
B) All life uses DNA and the same genetic code.
C) Mapping of gene sequences shows how life is all related.
D) All life builds proteins from the same amino acids and uses ATP to store energy in cells.
Q2) Einstein's theory of relativity tells us that travelers who make a high-speed trip to a distant star and back will ________.
A) age less than people who stay behind on Earth
B) age more than people who stay behind on Earth
C) have more fun than people who stay behind on Earth
D) never be able to make the trip within their lifetimes
Q3) Briefly summarize current knowledge about the term f_life in the equation Number of Civilizations = Np × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \)life × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \)civilization × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \) now
Q4) Briefly explain the Fermi Paradox, namely the paradox of the question "Where are the aliens?"
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