Download Astronomy Test: Units 1 and 2

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Astronomy Test: Units 1 and 2
On your answer sheet, write (A) for True or (B) for False
1. The average distance from the Earth to the sun is 150,000,000 km.
2. There are about 100 billion stars in the solar system.
3. An astrology unit is the distance light travels in one year (approximately 9.5 x 1012 km).
4. The sun is a star that is located in the Milky Way.
5. The sun contains more than 99% of the mass in our solar system
6. Earth is unique because it is the only planet with a moon.
7. Planets, asteroids, and comets all orbit the sun.
8. The scientific method is a shorthand way of writing very large or small numbers.
9. The numbers 9.81 x 106 and 981,000 are equivalent.
10. The Local Group contains the Milky Way galaxy and about 20 other nearby galaxies.
Multiple Choice: Choose the answer that best completes the statement.
11. The age of the universe is approximately
a. 1.4 million years
b. 1.4 billion years
c. 14 million years
d. 14 billion years
12. The average distance from the Earth to the sun is
a. 1 AU
c. 100,000 km
b. 1 million km
d. 1 light year
13. If the nearest star is 4.2 light-years away, then
a. the star is 4.2 million AU away.
b. the light we see left the star 4.2 years ago
c. the star must have formed 4.2 billion years ago.
d. the star must be very young.
14. A galaxy contains
a. mostly planets.
b. lots of gas & dust but few stars.
c. a single star and planets.
d. lots of gas, dust, and stars.
15. The Milky Way Galaxy
a. contains about 100 billion stars.
b. is about 100 light years in diameter.
c. revolves around our solar system.
d. is made of our sun and the objects that revolve around it.
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16. The Local Group is
a. the group of planets similar to Earth that include Mercury, Venus, and Mars.
b. a group of about 20 galaxies of which the Milky Way is a member.
c. a large group of filaments within a much larger void.
d. the group of stars closest to the sun.
17. 7.9 x 104 is the same as
a. 7900
b. 79,000
c. 0.079
d. 0 .00079
18. The speed of light is approximately _____.
a. 30,000 km/second
d. 300,000 km/hour
b. 300,000 km/second
e. 30,000 km/hour
Matching: For #19-26, match the terms below (A-H) to their definitions. Each term is used only once.
A. Galaxy
B. Astronomical Unit
C. Star
D. Light Year
E. Milky Way
F. Scientific Notation
G. Solar System
H. S.I.
19. The average distance from the Earth to the sun.
20. The spiral galaxy that contains the Earth and sun.
21. The sun, planets, moons, asteroids, and comets are the major parts of this.
22. A unit of distance determined by how far light travels in a set period of time.
23. A luminous globe of gas held together by its own gravity and supported by the internal pressure
generated by nuclear fusion.
24. The system of recording very large or small numbers by using the power of 10.
25. A large system of stars, star clusters, gas, dust, and nebulae orbiting a common center of mass.
26. The system of units used by scientists around the world.
Multiple Choice: Choose the answer that best completes the statement.
27. Why are Stonehenge and The Big Horn Medicine Wheel thought to be ancient astronomical
observatories?
a. Petroglyphs at each site describe how they were used to make observations.
b. Ancient Greek writings list the important discoveries made at each of these two sites.
c. Stones at each site aligned with significant rising and setting positions.
d. All of the above
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28. Plato and Aristotle proposed that all heavenly motion is
a. constantly changing
b. circular
c. uniform (at a constant rate)
d. Both a and b.
e. Both b and c
29. How did Ptolemy account for the retrograde motion of the planets?
a. Planets slow down, stop, and then reverse their orbital direction around the Sun.
b. Inner planets orbit the Sun faster and pass outer planets as they orbit around the Sun.
c. Planets move on circular paths called epicycles as they move along their orbits around Earth.
d. The Sun and Moon orbit Earth, whereas all the other planets orbit the Sun.
30. Which of these is NOT a “first principle” of ancient Greek astronomy?
a. the heavens are perfect
b. heavenly bodies move with uniform motion
c. the earth is the center of the universe
d. the sun is the center of the universe
31. Who taught that the Earth is stationary at the center of the universe with the Sun, the Moon,
and the planets moving around Earth in perfect circles?
a. Copernicus
b. Newton
c. Aristotle
d. Galileo
32. How did Nicolaus Copernicus account for the retrograde motion of the planets?
a. Planets slow down, stop, and then reverse their orbital direction around the Earth.
b. Inner planets orbit the Sun faster and pass outer planets as they orbit around the Sun.
c. Planets move on circular paths called epicycles as they move along their orbits around Earth.
d. The Sun and Moon orbit Earth, whereas all the other planets orbit the Sun.
33. What feature of Aristotle's model of the universe was included in the model proposed by
Copernicus?
a. Earth is stationary and at the center.
b. Mercury and Venus move around the Sun.
c. Uniform circular motion.
d. Elliptical orbits.
34. What was the most important contribution of Tycho Brahe to modern astronomy?
a. The invention of the optical telescope.
b. The discovery of four moons orbiting Jupiter.
c. The first heliocentric model of the universe.
d. Years of accurate measurements and observations of planetary positions.
35. How did Kepler's first law of planetary motion alter the Copernican system?
a. It changed the perfect circles to ellipses.
b. It added epicycles to the perfect circles.
c. It placed the Earth at one focus of each orbit.
d. Both a and c
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36. What does Kepler's second law indicate about the orbital speed of a planet?
a. The orbital speed of each planet is constant.
b. A planet moves at its slowest when it is closest to the Sun.
c. A planet moves at its fastest when it is closest to the Sun.
d. The orbital speed of different planets varies in different ways.
37. Galileo's discovery of four moons orbiting Jupiter showed that planetary bodies could move and
carry moons. This supports the model of the universe presented by
a. Aristotle
b. Ptolemy
c. Copernicus
d. Pythagoras
38. Which statement below best describes the difference between your mass and your weight?
a. Your mass is constant and your weight varies throughout your entire life.
b. Your mass is a measure of the amount of matter that you contain and your weight is a
measure of the amount of gravitational pull that you experience.
c. Your mass is a measure of your inertia, whereas your weight is a measure of the amount of
material you contain.
d. The only difference is the unit used to measure these two physical quantities. Mass is
measured in kilograms and weight is measured in pounds.
39. Suppose that Planet Q exists such that it is identical to planet Earth in mass, yet orbits the Sun at a
distance of 5 AU. How does the amount of gravitational force on Planet Q by the Sun compare to the
amount of gravitational force on Earth by the Sun?
a. The amount of the two forces is the same.
b. The amount of force on Planet Q is greater than the force on Earth
c. The amount of force on Planet Q is less than the force on Earth.
d. It is not possible to know the gravitational force on Planet Q, since it is hypothetical.
40. Who first proposed that gravity is the bending of space-time due to the presence of matter (Theory
of General Relativity)?
a. Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601)
b. Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630)
c. Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)
d. Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727)
e. Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)