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Astronomy 100, Final
A
Name____________________________________ ID #__________________________
No notes, No books; You can use calculators
The letter at the top of the test needs to correspond to letter at top of the answer sheet.
Constants that you may need to know:
• c = 3 x 108 m/s
• G = 6.67 x 10-11 m3/(kg-s2)
• h = 6.626 x 10-34 J-s
• g = 9.8 m/s2
• σ = 5.7 x 10-8 W/(m2-K4)
• 1 parsec = 3.26 light years
• Hubble’s constant = 71 km/s/Megaparsec
• 1 Megaparsec = one million parsecs
1) How much mass, if completely turned into energy, will release 4.5 x 1015 Joules of
energy?
A) 1 kilogram
B) 20 kilograms
C) 0.01 kilograms
D) 0.05 kilograms
E) 0.005 kilograms
2) Which spectral types of stars have cooler surface temperatures than the Sun?
A) O and B
B) M and F
C) K and M
D) F and M
E) B and A
3) Which spectral type on the main sequence would you expect to have the highest
probability of eventually becoming a black hole?
A) A
B) F
C) O
D) G
E) M
Astronomy 100, Final
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4) Which of these planets was visited by the two Viking spacecrafts?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Venus
Saturn
Mars
Neptune
Pluto
5) During its main sequence lifetime, the sun fuses hydrogen into ____________.
A) helium
B) carbon
C) iron
D) carbon
E) hydrogen
6) Which of these following terms is not used as a technique (or is part of a technique) to
determine distances to objects in the universe?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Parallax
Main Sequence Fitting
Tully Fisher Relation
Cepheid Variables
Maunder Minimum
7) Current estimates of the age of the solar system is that the solar system is about
___________ old.
A) 14 million years
B) 14 billion years
C) 5 billion years
D) 5 million years
E) 500 million years
8) A galaxy is moving away from us at a speed of 3,550 km/s. How far is this galaxy
away from us?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
10 Megaparsecs
100 Megaparsecs
50 Megaparsecs
20 Megaparsecs
200 Megaparsecs
Astronomy 100, Final
9) If the luminosity of a galaxy is 2 billion solar luminosities and its mass is 40 billion
solar masses, its mass-to-light ratio is __________________.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
0.05 solar masses per solar luminosity.
40 solar masses per solar luminosity.
3.33 solar masses per solar luminosity.
20 solar masses per solar luminosity.
2 solar masses per solar luminosity.
10) What happens if the density of the universe is below the critical density?
A) the universe will stop expanding and start contracting
B) the universe will continue expanding
C) the universe will start forming more supernovas
D) the universe will start forming more stars
E) the universe will start becoming warmer
11) The force that binds protons together in the nucleus is called ….
A) Gravity
B) Electromagnetism
C) the Strong force
D) the Weak force
E) Dark matter
12) How far will light travel in one hour in space?
A) 1.8 x 1010 meters
B) 2.16 x 1012 meters
C) 1.08 x 1012 meters
D) 1.08 x 1013 meters
E) 1.8 x 1012 meters
13) Which of these wavelengths of light has the smallest energy per photon?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
gamma ray
x-ray
ultraviolet
visible
infrared
A
Astronomy 100, Final
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14) What do electrons, neutrinos, and quarks have in common?
A) They all have positive charges
B) They all have negative charges
C) They can not be broken down into smaller constituent parts
D) They can be broken down into smaller constituent parts
E) They all have fractional charges
15) The habitable zone around a star is where the surface temperature of a planet in the
zone could allow it to have ___________ on its surface.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Oxygen gas
liquid water
solid carbon
nitrogen gas
solid iron
16) If it is 70 Kelvin, what is the temperature in Celsius?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
-213.15 degrees Celsius
343.15 degrees Celsius
-203.15 degrees Celsius
-158.15 degrees Celsius
-143.15 degrees Celsius
17) We measure the stellar parallax of a star to be 0.8 arc seconds. What is the distance
to this star?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
1.25 parsecs
8 parsecs
2.5 parsecs
25 parsecs
80 parsecs
18) Why is the star Polaris important to navigation?
A) It is the brightest star in the sky.
B) It is close to the position of the north celestial pole in the sky
C) It travels through all the constellations in the zodiac
D) It is close to the position of the south celestial pole in the sky.
E) Mars is always found close to the position of Polaris in the sky.
Astronomy 100, Final
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19) Which two types of telescopes are typically found on the surface of the Earth and
used to measure radiation from astronomical objects?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Gamma ray and X-ray
Gamma ray and Radio
Visible and Radio
X-ray and Visible
X-Ray and Ultraviolet
20) If the Earth were moved to a distance of 0.5 astronomical units from the Sun, how
much stronger or weaker would be the gravitational force between the Sun and Earth be?
A) The force would be 2 times stronger.
B) The force would be 4 times stronger.
C) The force would be unchanged.
D) The force would be 2 times weaker.
E) The force would be 4 times weaker.
21) Right ascension and declination are used to pinpoint locations on the …
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Earth
Celestial Sphere
Sun
Mars
Jupiter
22) What is an astronomical unit?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
the average radius of the Sun
the average diameter of the Earth
the average distance between the Sun and the Earth
the average distance between the Earth and the Moon
the average distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies
23) What is produced by the collision of an electron and a positron?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
2 quarks
2 photons
2 protons
2 neutrons
2 neutrinos
Astronomy 100, Final
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24) Which zone of the Sun transports energy to the surface due to warm material
expanding and rising and cooler material contracting and falling?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Core
Radiation zone
Convection zone
Corona
Chromosphere
25) An isotope of an element is distinct from a different isotope of the same element
because it has a different number of __________ in its nucleus.
A) atoms
B) photons
C) neutrons
D) protons
E) electrons
26) An atom which has 6 protons and 8 neutrons will be electrically neutral if it
contains …
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
6 electrons.
4 electrons.
2 electrons.
8 electrons
14 electrons
27) Which planet is closest to the Sun?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Mars
Venus
Earth
Jupiter
Saturn
28) The International Astronomical Union divided the sky into ______ constellations in
1928.
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
13
88
192
17
156
Astronomy 100, Final
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29) Rotation curves of a galaxy plot …
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
rotation velocity versus mass of the galaxy
rotation velocity versus distance from the center of the galaxy
mass versus luminosity of the galaxy
luminosity versus distance from the center of the galaxy
rotation velocity versus luminosity of the galaxy
30) Dark energy is a name given to energy that could be _______
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
causing the universe to collapse
causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate
created by the interactions between MACHOs and WIMPs
increasing the rate of fusion in stars
causing galaxies to collide
31) The highest mass stars on the main sequence have _______________ relative to
lower mass stars.
A) higher surface temperatures and lower luminosities
B) lower surface temperatures and smaller radii
C) higher surface temperatures and larger luminosities
D) lower surface temperatures and larger radii
E) higher surface temperatures and smaller radii
32) What is the wavelength of a photon of light if the frequency is 3.00 x 1015 Hz?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
1 x 1025 m
1 x 10-23 m
1 x 10-2 m
1 x 10-7 m
3 x 10-15 m
Astronomy 100, Final
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Use Table 1 for questions 33 and 34.
Table 1. Here are some stars and their spectral classification
Star
Classification
Sirius A
A1 V
Achernar
B5 V
Aldebaran B
M2 V
Fomalhaut B
K4 V
Capella
G6 V
33)
Put the stars in Table 1 in the order from hottest to coolest surface temperatures?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
34)
Sirius A, Achernar, Aldebaran B, Fomalhaut B, Capella
Achernar, Sirius A, Capella, Fomalhaut B, Aldebaran B
Achernar, Sirius A, Capella, Aldebaran B, Fomalhaut B
Capella, Achernar, Sirius A, Aldebaran B, Fomalhaut B
Fomalhaut B, Capella, Sirius A, Achernar, Aldebaran B
If all of the stars in Table 1 were at the same distance from Earth, which star
would you expect to be the brightest?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Sirius A
Achernar
Aldebaran B
Fomalhaut B
Capella
35) Differences in the pattern of absorption lines seen in stars of different spectral type
are primarily due to differences in the star's …
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
distance from Earth.
surface temperature.
magnetic field strength.
chemical composition.
radial velocity.
Astronomy 100, Final
36) Pulsars are …
A) rapidly pulsing white dwarfs.
B) vibrating main sequence stars.
C) rapidly rotating neutron stars
D) rapidly spinning black holes.
E) rapidly rotating black holes
37) What are Black Holes?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
are slowly rotating neutron stars.
are white dwarfs that have finally ceased all nuclear reactions.
are white dwarfs that have cooled and no longer produce visible light.
are the end products of stars like the sun.
are a name given to matter so compressed that even light can't escape.
38) The zenith has an altitude of
A) 0 degrees
B) 45 degrees
C) 30 degrees
D) 90 degrees
E) 60 degrees
A
Astronomy 100, Final
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39) How do the most massive stars end their lives?
A) in a violent supernova explosion.
B) by producing a planetary nebula
C) by becoming a white dwarf star
D) as a main sequence star
E) in a violent helium flash
40)
At present, what is the primary way that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence
(SETI) is carried out?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
By searching for planets around distant stars.
By using X-ray telescopes to search for exhaust from interstellar spacecraft.
By measuring the reflectance spectra of the Moon
By using radio telescopes to search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
By analyzing high-resolution images of nearby stars in search of evidence for
structures that could not have developed naturally.