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Astronomy Test Name__________________________________________________
Choose the best 35 of the following 40 questions. If you do not specify the answers you want me to count, I will count the first 30 questions.
1) The orbit of a comet around the sun is shpaed like a(n)
a) circle
b) square
c) celestial sphere
d) ellipse
2) All meteorites are also
a) meteoroids
b) asteroids
c) androids
d) hemorrhoids
3) The Trojan asteroids
a) cross the earth’s orbit
b) cross the orbit of Mars
c) are located at Jupiter’s Lagrange points
d) cannot be mentioned on TV programs airing before 10 PM
4) The two main repositoies of comets in our solar system are
a) the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud
b) the Asteroid Belt and the LaGrange Points
c) the photosphere and the chromosphere
d) the rock n’roll museum in Cleveland
5) The first human to observe an asteroid was
a) Polish
b) Syrian
c) Sicilian
d) Cheektowagan
6) A carbonaceous chondrite may contain
a) large amounts of helium gas left over from the big bang
b) numerous impact craters from being struck by asteroids
c) amino acids, the basic building blocks of life
d) the fossilized remains of Dino, the Flintstone’s dogasaurus.
7. A solar prominence and a solar filament differ because
a) the filament is brighter than the prominence
b) the prominence contains the spectra of calcium ions which do not appear in the filament
c) prominences are the outer region of sunspots whereas filaments are found in the umbra
d) a prominence is simply a filament viewed from the side
8. Of the following which is the hottest
a) a sunspot
b) the chromosphere
c) the photosphere
d) the corona
9. The sun is powered by
a) nuclear fusion
b) nuclear fission
c) uranium and plutonium
d) Niagara Mohawk
10. According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity
a) Energy can neither be created nor destroyed
b) Matter can neither be created nor destroyed
c) Matter can be converted into energy and vice versa
d) Relatives in motion remain in motion
11) The next MINIMUM in the sunspot cycle will be roughly
a) 2005
b) 2011
c) 2050
d) 3011
12) The typical photon produced in the interior of the sun reaches the surface in
a) 17 seconds
b) 17 days
c) 17 years
d) 170,000 years
13) Which of the following processes can lead to the release of energy during hydrogen fusion in the interior of the sun?
a) matter anti-matter annihilation
b) uranium fission
c) production of carbon
d) fragmentation of helium-3 into a proton and a deuteron
14) A star of apparent magnitude -1 would be (roughly)
a) brighter than the sun
b) as bright as the moon
c) as bright as Jupiter
d) extremely dim, and not viewable under light pollution conditions
15) If the sun were 10 parsecs away its apprent magnitude would equal
a) its absolute magnitude
b) its apprent magnitude anywhere else in space
c) -27.1
d) +27.1
16) The hottest stars have a maximum light output in what part of the spectrum?
a) infra red
b) red
c) green
d) blue
17) What is the correct ordering for the spectral classifications of stars, from blue to red?
a) OBAFGKM
b)VBGYOR
c) MKGFOBA
d) SUNARU
18) Spectroscopic binaries can be observed via
a) the Doppler shift of their radiation
b) their position on the main sequence
c) their relative magnitude
d) their angular separation
19) What is the name of the diagram shown above
a) Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
b) Pauli Exclusion Diagram
c) Magnitude Chart
d) a wiggly line with lots of tiny black blobs
20) The arrows labeled D point to the central wavy line. Stars along this line are referred to as members of
a) the dwarf sequence
b) the luminosity sequence
c) the main sequence
d) the diner’s club
21) Referring to the above diagram, our sun is currently located at
a) position A
b) position B
c) Position C
d) Position D (top arrow)
22) Referring to the above diagram, our sun will move to what region shortly after it runs out of hydrogen
a) position A
b) position B
c) Position C
d) Position D (top arrow)
23) Referring to the above diagram, our sun will move to what region when it becomes a white dwarf
a) position A
b) position B
c) Position C
d) Position D (bottom arrow)
24) Parallax is useful in measuring the distances to
a) nearby stars
b) distant stars
c) large galaxies
d) planets and asteroids, but not stars
25) The Pleiades is an example of
a) a reflection nebula
b) an emission nebula
c) a planetary nebula
d) why I should never have taken astronomy
26) New stars being formed in an emission nebula often appear as
a) an open cluster
b) a glalactic cluster
c) a globular cluster
d) a serendipitous cluster
27) After a star burns up its hydrogen core, the next fuel it utilizes is
a) helium
b) carbon
c) silicon
d) bottled propane
28) For a low mass star, after it has consumed its helium,
a) it begins to burn carbon.
b) it begins to burn neon
c) it begins to cool
d) it becomes a red giant
29) For a high mass star, after it has consumed its helium
a) it begins to burn carbon.
b) it begins to burn silicon
c) it begins to cool
d) it becomes a red giant
30) For a high mass star, the evolutionary stage which uses up the least time is the one where which of the following is the principal fuel?
a) helium
b) carbon
c) silicon
d) iron
31) A large main sequence star may ultimately become
a) a white dwarf
b) a planetary nebula
c) a supernova
d) a helium giant
32) After a supernova associated with very heavy star, often referred to as a Type II supernova,, Which of the following is most likely object to be left behind
a) a planet
b) asteroids and comets
c) a black hole
d) poker chips
33) Elements heavier than iron must come from
a) a red giant
b) a white dwarf
c) a supernova
d) a stony asteroid
34) A pulsar is really
a) a large carbon burning star
b) a neutron star
c) a rapidly rotating galaxy
d) a red giant
35) A Black Hole that collapses to a point and does not spin is called
a) a Schwarzchild black hole
b) a Kerr black hole
c) A Hertzsprung-Russell black hole
d) a black hole that is small and doesn’t spin
36) Our galaxy is in the shape of
a) a globular cluster
b) an ellispse
c) a sphere
d) a spiral
37) How many (major) spiral arms does our galaxy contain
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
38) The part of the sun that we actually see is
a) the photosphere
b) the chromosphere
c) the corona
d) the interior
39) The tail of a comet always points
a) towards the sun
b) away from the sun
c) in the same direction as the comet is traveling
d) in the direction opposite to the direction of travel of the comet
40) The surface temperature of the sun (the photosphere) is roughly (in Celsius degrees)
a) 600
b) 6,000
c) 60,000
d) 6,000,000
41) The sun rotates
a) uniformly
b) differentially: more rapidly at the equator than at the poles
c) differentially: more rapidly at the poles than at the equator
d) There is no evidence that the sun rotates
42) What fraction of the stars that we know of lie on the main sequence?
a) 10%
b) 50%
c) 75%
d) 90%
43) The color of many reflection nebula is
a) blue for the same reasons that the sky is blue
b) yellow due to sodium emissions
c) green due to the Balmer lines
d) white due to the reflected starlight
44) If a collapsing gaseous object has less than 8% of the mass of the sun, it is likely to become
a) a white dwarf
b) a brown dwarf
c) a neutron star
d) a black hole
45) Balck holes
a) last forever
b) evaporate with the largest black holes having the longest lifetime.
c) evaporate with the smallest black holes having the longest lifetime.
d) who cares? leave me alone!
EXTRA CREDIT: 20 Points added to this exam
Every body always complains: he didn’t ask me what I knew--she really didn’t ask what she emphasized--I studied the exact opposite of what it asked for on the test. OK--so put up or shut up--tell me what you know that was not included on this exam. I won’t give credit for stuff that is already here, though you may need to use some of it to fill in the details of your essay--in addition if you know some topics in much greater detail than is asked for on the exam, then that’s fine too--just tell me what you know, about anything we have covered form the chpater on asteroids and comets onward--this is your chance to grab a few extra points and to show what you know--so go for it.
Use the bottom here and also the back of the sheet for your answer.