Survey of the Universe Pre-Test Questions
Course Introduction
Survey of the Universe offers a comprehensive introduction to astronomy and cosmology, exploring the fundamental concepts that explain the nature and structure of the universe. The course covers the origins, evolution, and fate of the cosmos, with topics including the solar system, stars, galaxies, black holes, dark matter, and dark energy. Through discussions of observational techniques and recent discoveries, students gain a broad understanding of celestial phenomena and the scientific methods used to study the universe beyond our planet.
Recommended Textbook
HorizonsExploring the Universe 14th Edition by Michael A. Seeds
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20 Chapters
2483 Verified Questions
2483 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Here and Now
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97 Verified Questions
97 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A solar system contains
A)primarily planets.
B)large amounts of gas and dust but very few stars.
C)large amounts of gas, dust, and stars.
D)a single star and planets.
E)thousands of superclusters.
Answer: D
Q2) Assume a 100-yard football field represents the 14-billion-year history of the universe with one end as the origin and the other end representing the present. The existence of human beings will extend from ____ to the present "goal line."
A)the 50-yard line
B)the 5-yard line
C)the one-yard line
D)the one-inch line
Answer: D
Q3) The Moon is a large moon compared to the size of its host planet.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 3
Chapter 2: A Users Guide to the Sky
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116 Verified Questions
116 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Angular distance from the horizon to the south celestial pole always equals your latitude.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) A scientific model is a mental conception that provides a framework that helps us think about some aspect of nature.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Seen from the northern latitudes (mid-northern hemisphere), the star Polaris
A)is never above the horizon during the day.
B)always sets directly in the west.
C)is always above the northern horizon.
D)is never visible during the winter.
E)is the brightest star in the sky.
Answer: C
Q4) Earth's rotation axis traces out a cone shape in the sky, precessing in the ___________________ direction.
Answer: clockwise
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Chapter 3: Cycles of the Sun and Moon
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Sample Questions
Q1) At the time of the winter solstice (the start of winter) the sunlight is at a lower angle and thus is ____ than(as) in the start of summer in the northern hemisphere.
A)less intense
B)more intense
C)the same intensity
Answer: A
Q2) The highest atmospheric layer in the Sun is the _______
A)photosphere
B)corona
C)chromosphere
D)prominence
Answer: B
Q3) Relative to the stars, the Moon moves about ____ eastward in the sky each night.
A)1°
B)5°
C)13°
D)27.3°
E)29.5°
Answer: C
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Page 5
Chapter 4: The Origin of Modern Astronomy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The geometry of an ellipse is described by two numbers: the ____ which is half the longest diameter of the ellipse and the ____ which tells us the shape of the ellipse.
A)radius, eccentricity
B)radius, deferent
C)semi-major axis, deferent
D)semi-major axis, epicycle
E)semi-major axis, eccentricity
Q2) Why were Galileo's telescopic observations of the phases of Venus critical evidence in favor of the Copernican theory
Q3) A(n) ____ is a small circle whose center is located on the circumference of another larger circle.
A)equant
B)deferent
C)retrograde loop
D)ellipse
E)epicycle
Q4) Explain why the spring and neap tides occur periodically.
Q5) If a planet takes 140 years to orbit its host star, how far is it in units of A.U.
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Chapter 5: Light and Telescopes
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156 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Chromatic aberration occurs in a ________ telescope when __________.
A)reflecting; different colors of light do not focus at the same point
B)refracting; different colors of light do not focus at the same point
C)reflecting; light of different wavelengths get absorbed by the mirror
D)refracting; light of different wavelengths get absorbed by the lens
Q2) _________________ refers to the ability of a telescope to produce bright images.
Q3) What is the relationship between color and wavelength for light
A)Wavelength increases from blue light to red light.
B)Wavelength decreases from blue light to red light.
C)All colors of light have the same wavelength.
D)Wavelength depends on intensity not color.
Q4) A _______ is used to produce and analyze a spectrum.
A)photo
B)spectrograph
C)photometer
D)charge-coupled device
Q5) A laser guide star is a true star.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Electromagnetic radiation, or light, travels at speed ___________ m/s.
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Chapter 6: Atoms and Spectra
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Sample Questions
Q1) ____ is a set of rules that describes how atoms and subatomic particles behave.
A)Kirchhoff's law
B)Blackbody radiation law
C)The Coulomb force
D)Quantum mechanics
E)The binding energy
Q2) Which of the following cannot be determined from the spectrum of a star
A)chemical composition
B)surface temperature
C)radial (along line of sight) velocity
D)tangential (perpendicular to line of sight) velocity
E)radial (along line of sight) Velocity
Q3) Describe the appearance of each of the three types of spectra described by Kirchhoff's laws. Describe how each of the three types of spectra is formed.
Q4) An atom can be excited
A)if it emits a photon.
B)if it collides with another atom or electron.
C)if it absorbs a photon.
D)if it emits a photon or if it collides with another atom or electron.
E)if it collides with another atom or electron or if it absorbs a photon.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: The Sun
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146 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain how a photon is generated in the core of the Sun and how it is transported out from the Sun.
Q2) Why is the temperature at the region of a sunspot cooler than the photosphere
A)They are holes in the photosphere that reveal the lower temperature gases in the deeper layers.
B)They represent points where streams of cool gas from the corona lower the temperature in those regions of the photosphere.
C)Powerful magnetic fields in the sunspots act upon the atoms of the photosphere to prevent them from emitting light.
D)Powerful magnetic fields inhibit the convective flow of the gases of the photosphere downward, allowing them to cool for longer than would normally be permitted.
Q3) The Sun's magnetic field is evident in the looped shapes of A)solar flares. B)sunspots.
C)the corona.
D)granules.
E)prominences.
Q4) What is the Babcock model
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Page 9
Chapter 8: The Family of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) Consider a two-body system of the Earth orbiting the Sun. The center of mass would be located near the _________.
A)Sun
B)Earth
C)Moon
D)midway point
Q2) White dwarfs have such a low luminosity that even the nearest white dwarfs are not visible to the naked eye.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The method of spectroscopic parallax cannot be applied to stars beyond about 100 pc.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How does the luminosity depend on temperature for stars of the same size
Q5) The most common kinds of stars are low-luminosity stars.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Why do molecular bands only occur in the spectra of the coolest stars
Q7) Luminosity class IV objects are known as ____________________.
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Chapter 9: The Formation and Structure of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) The creation of ________ require(s) that a young hot star (T 25,000 K) be relatively nearby.
A)emission nebulae
B)HI regions
C)molecular clouds
D)the cool gas of the interstellar medium
E)21-cm radiation
Q2) Convection is important in stars because it
A)increases the temperature of the star.
B)mixes the gases of the star.
C)transports energy outward in the star.
D)carries the neutrinos to the surface of the star where they can escape.
E)mixes the gases of the star and transports the energy outward in the star.
Q3) The central cores of which type of star is the lowest temperature
A)protostars.
B)massive main-sequence stars.
C)white dwarf stars.
Q4) YSOs are in hydrostatic equilibrium.
A)True
B)False
Page 11
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Chapter 10: The Deaths of Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) Because more massive stars have more gravitational energy, they can fuse heavier nuclear fuels.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A white dwarf is composed of A)hydrogen nuclei and degenerate electrons.
B)helium nuclei and normal electrons.
C)carbon and oxygen nuclei and degenerate electrons.
D)degenerate iron nuclei.
E)a helium burning core and a hydrogen burning shell.
Q3) Before it ejects a planetary nebula, a star is a A)red giant.
B)black hole.
C)white dwarf.
D)supernova.
Q4) A white dwarf converts __________________ energy into _________________ energy.
A)nuclear, gravitational
B)chemical, potential
C)kinetic, potential
D)gravitational, thermal
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Chapter 11: Neutron Stars and Black Holes
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99 Verified Questions
99 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What evidence do we have that pulsars are neutron stars
Q2) The material that accretes onto a neutron star or black hole is expected to emit X-rays because
A)the material will produce synchrotron radiation.
B)hydrogen nuclei begin to fuse and emit high-energy photons.
C)the material will become hot enough that it will radiate most strongly at X-ray wavelengths.
D)as the material slows down it converts thermal energy to gravitational potential energy.
E)None of the other choices are correct.
Q3) Unseen objects in our galaxy have been found by the bending effect they have on more distant stars' light passing near them. These small objects that don't emit light are calculated to have masses of about 10× the mass of the Sun. Which is the best choice for these objects
A)black hole
B)neutron star
C)white dwarf
D)main-sequence stars
Q4) How can an old pulsar have a very short pulsar period, say less than 0.03 seconds
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Chapter 12: The Milky Way Galaxy
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117 Verified Questions
117 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Sgr A* is believed to be the center of the Milky Way galaxy because I.it lies in the general direction of the center of the galaxy based on observations of globular clusters in the plane of the Milky Way.
II.long-wavelength dust-penetrating images show it to be a region crowded with stars. III.orbits of stars around it indicate a mass several million times that of the Sun within a volume a few light hours in size.
IV.radio observations show it is a concentrated source at the center of swirling clouds of gas.
A)I & II only
B)II & III only
C)I & IV only
D)II & IV only
E)All of I, II, III, & IV
Q2) Any element heavier than helium is collectively referred to as a
Q3) Sgr A* emits radio waves.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Galaxies: Normal and Active
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151 Verified Questions
151 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What evidence do we have that large galaxies cannibalize small galaxies
Q2) Merging of galaxies is known as ____________.
Q3) The Andromeda spiral galaxy is almost edge-on to us. Astronomers have detected the orbital motion of this and other such galaxies' disk material by A)using Hubble's law.
B)measuring Doppler shifts of different parts of the disk.
C)the steady state theory.
D)measuring Doppler shifts of different parts of the disk.
Q4) The Local Group of galaxies is dominated by the presence of spiral galaxies. A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe the kind of observations that have led astronomers to believe that supermassive black holes lie at the center of many galaxies.
Q6) _____________ galaxies have a definite disk component, but contain no evidence of spiral pattern, few hot young stars, and little gas and dust.
Q7) What observational evidence do we have that quasars are the centers of very distant galaxies
Q8) Why should we expect quasars to be small How small should we expect them to be
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Modern Cosmology
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112 Verified Questions
112 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following agrees with a no-center, no-edge Universe
A)a flat geometry
B)a positive-curved geometry
C)a negative-curved geometry
D)All of the other choices are correct.
Q2) The density of the Universe is
A)equal to the critical density if the Universe is closed.
B)equal to the critical density if the Universe is flat.
C)greater than the critical density if the Universe is flat.
D)greater than the critical density if the Universe is open.
E)None of the other choices are correct.
Q3) If the average density of the universe is less than the critical density, the Universe is open.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Cosmetologists are the astronomers and physicists who do research in cosmology.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What evidence do we have that the Universe is expanding
Q6) What is the difference between homogeneity and isotropy
Page 16
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Chapter 15: The Origin of the Solar System
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108 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which planetary fact(s) is(are) explained by the solar nebula theory
A)The orbits are all approximately in the same plane
B)The orbits are all in the same direction
C)Jovian planets are mostly H and He
D)Terrestrial planets are mostly rock and iron
E)All of the other choices are correct.
Q2) Using the graph shown above, find out how many half-lives does it take for all radioactive atoms to decay into daughter products,
A)3
B)2
C)6
D)4
Q3) A newly formed planet or large asteroid becomes molten due to A)the last infalling objects.
B)decay of radioactive element isotopes.
C)the last infalling objects and decay of radioactive element isotopes.
D)none of the other choices as newly formed planets remain solid inside.
Q4) Jovian worlds that orbit close to their host stars are called ____________.
Q5) Massive planets create ____________ Doppler shifts of their stars than lower-mass planets.
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Earth and Moon: Bases for Comparative Planetology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Life is present on Earth because of oxygen.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The central part of Earth's core is solid.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Three major greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are ___________, ___________, and ____________, but ____________ is believed to contribute most to global warming.
Q4) In contrast to the outer solid mantle, parts of the central regions of Earth's interior are thought to be fluid because
A)P seismic waves cannot make it through those regions.
B)S seismic waves cannot make it through those regions.
C)neither P nor S seismic waves can make it through those regions.
D)both P and S seismic waves easily make it through those regions.
Q5) The ____________________ of Earth is composed of rocks at high density that behave as a plastic.
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Q6) By combining three oxygen atoms, a/an ________________ layer formed in Earth's atmosphere, which absorbs UV photons.
Chapter 17: Mercury, Venus, and Mars
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Sample Questions
Q1) Besides Earth, which of the terrestrial planets and/or their satellites show(s) evidence for the possible existence of liquid water flowing on its surface in the past
Q2) What do astronomers generally believe about the origin of Mars's moons
A)They formed with the planet out of the protoplanetary material.
B)They formed elsewhere and were captured at a later time.
C)They were ejected from Mars during its formation.
D)They were once a single moon and a later catastrophic event broke them in two.
Q3) The atmosphere of ____________________ contains acid compounds including sulfuric and hydrochloric acid.
Q4) The geology of Venus appears to be dominated by A)volcanism.
B)plate tectonics.
C)erosion by flowing water.
D)impact cratering.
E)strip mining.
Q5) The atmosphere of Mars primarily consists of ____________________.
Q6) Venus is very hot because its atmosphere is rich in carbon dioxide.
A)True
B)False
Page 19
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Chapter 18: The Outer Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) Regular satellites orbit both in the prograde and retrograde directions.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The atmosphere of ____________ contains mostly nitrogen with some methane.
A)Jupiter
B)Earth's Moon
C)Callisto
D)Titan
E)Miranda
Q3) Which moon of Neptune has a thin atmosphere and frosty polar caps
A)Triton
B)Titan
C)Io
D)Charon
Q4) Triton has a retrograde orbit around Neptune. This means that ____________.
A)Triton orbits in the same direction as Neptune rotates on its axis.
B)Triton orbits in the opposite direction to the way Neptune rotates on its axis.
C)Triton does not orbit around Neptune. Instead, it stands still.
Q5) What evidence do we have that volcanism occurs on Io
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Chapter 19: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets
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Sample Questions
Q1) Meteors strike Earth's atmosphere every day.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Iron meteorites are rare to observe as meteoroids near Earth.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Achondrites are rich in volatiles.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Widmanstätten patterns are found in ____________ meteorites.
Q5) ____________ asteroids are located in the orbit of Jupiter.
Q6) Which of the following is evidence for the connection between comets and meteor showers
A)Meteor and comets have the same appearance in the sky.
B)Meteor showers always occur when a comet is visible.
C)Meteor showers always occur 6 months after a comet passes Earth.
D)Meteor showers are an annual event. Many of these are known to be when the Earth crosses a comet's orbit.
Q7) What does the presence of the Widmanstätten patterns in iron meteorites tell us about their history
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Chapter 20: Astrobiology: Life on Other Worlds
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Sample Questions
Q1) Natural selection is random.
A)True
B)False
Q2) As shown above, which contributes the most to the total noise in the region that may be likely for interstellar communication
A)noise from galaxy
B)noise from Earth's atmosphere
C)background radiation and/or noise from Earth's atmosphere
D)quantum mechanical noise
Q3) The oldest fossils on Earth
A)show that life began in Africa.
B)show that life began in lush regions between large rivers.
C)show that life began in the oceans.
D)are at least 5 billion years old.
E)at most 5 million years old.
Q4) What life form first appeared on Earth at the 0 mark in the timeline above
A)dinosaurs
B)microbial
C)mammals
D)humans
Page 22
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