Download Astronomy Test Review

Exam Review: Astronomy
Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
____
1. Which is NOT part of our solar system?
a. the sun
b. the Milky Way
c. Jupiter
d. comets and asteroids
____
2. A constellation’s change in position over several hours is caused by
a. Earth’s revolution around the sun.
c. Earth’s rotation on its axis.
b. the tilt of Earth’s axis.
d. the movement of stars.
____
3. The Northern Hemisphere has the most hours of daylight at the
a. vernal equinox.
c. winter solstice.
b. autumnal equinox.
d. summer solstice.
____
4. If it is Monday west of the International Date Line, what day is it east of the line?
a. Sunday
c. Tuesday
b. Monday
d. Wednesday
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5. The event which began the universe was the
a. Milky Way.
b. black hole.
c. big bang.
d. electromagnetic spectrum.
____
6. A constellation’s changing position in the sky, at the same time of the evening, over a period of several weeks
is evidence that
a. Earth is round.
c. Earth rotates on its axis.
b. Earth’s axis is tilted.
d. Earth revolves around the sun.
____
7. The Coriolis effect provides evidence that
a. Earth rotates on its axis.
b. Earth revolves around the sun.
c. The moon revolves around Earth.
d. Earth has an elliptical orbit.
8. The period between successive full moons is
a. 24 hours.
b. 29.5 days.
c. 31 days.
d. 365 days.
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9. Each of Earth’s standard time zones covers about
a. 10°.
c. 24°.
b. 15°.
d. 36°.
____ 10. One line of evidence of Earth’s revolution around the sun is
a. the Coriolis effect.
b. Foucault’s pendulum.
c. the varying positions of a constellation over a period of hours.
d. the varying positions of a constellation over a period of weeks.
____ 11. Our current calendar is most like that of the ancient
a. Egyptians.
c. Aztecs.
b. Babylonians.
d. Romans.
____ 12. What milestone in human space exploration took place in 1969?
a. the first man was launched into space
b. the first human moon landing
c. the first woman was launched into space
d. the first flight of the space shuttle
____ 13. A type of electromagnetic radiation that has waves that are longer than waves of visible light is
a. ultraviolet.
c. gamma ray.
b. X ray.
d. infrared.
____ 14. Which of the following planets do scientists NOT consider a major planet?
a. Saturn
c. Pluto
b. Mercury
d. Neptune
____ 15. Small bodies that orbit planets are called
a. comets.
b. moons.
c. planetesimals.
d. protoplanets.
____ 16. Which of the following laws describes the speed at which objects travel at different points in their orbits?
a. law of equal areas
c. law of eccentricity
b. law of ellipses
d. law of periods
____ 17. The law that describes how a planet orbits the sun is called the
a. law of orbital periods.
c. law of ellipses.
b. law of equal areas.
d. law of periods.
____ 18. Which of the following is NOT true of all the inner planets?
a. They are made of solid rock.
c. They do not have rings.
b. They are called gas giants.
d. They have impact craters.
____ 19. Impact craters are caused by
a. solar bursts.
b. atmospheric changes.
c. exploding volcanoes.
d. collisions with objects in space.
____ 20. Which of the following planets experiences a runaway greenhouse effect?
a. Venus
c. Mars
b. Pluto
d. Earth
____ 21. The factors that contribute to Mercury’s daily temperature fluctuation of about 600°C are the planet’s slow
rotation and
a. its close proximity to the sun.
b. its dense atmosphere.
c. its heavy, rocky, waterless terrain.
d. the absence of an ozone layer to regulate temperature.
____ 22. Kepler’s first law states that planets orbit the sun in paths called
a. ellipses.
c. epicycles.
b. circles.
d. periods.
____ 23. The two inner planets most alike in size, mass, and density are
a. Mercury and Venus.
c. Venus and Earth.
b. Earth and Mars.
d. Mars and Mercury.
____ 24. Kepler’s third law describes the relationship between the average distance of a planet from the sun and the
planet’s
a. orbital period.
c. gravitational pull.
b. average temperature.
d. inertia.
____ 25. Kepler’s second law states that equal areas are covered in equal amounts of time as an object
a. spins on its axis.
c. orbits the sun.
b. travels one light year.
d. completes an eclipse.
____ 26. Which of the following planets has the most complex ring system?
a. Neptune
c. Uranus
b. Jupiter
d. Saturn
____ 27. Which of the following planets has seasons like Earth’s because its axis tilts at an almost identical angle?
a. Mercury
c. Pluto
b. Venus
d. Mars
____ 28. Which of the following separates the outer planets from the inner planets?
a. the asteroid belt
c. the Kuiper belt
b. the Great Red Spot
d. a large magnetic field
____ 29. A rotating cloud of gas and dust from which Earth’s solar system formed is called a(n)
a. solar nebula.
c. solar eclipse.
b. supernova.
d. astronomical explosion.
____ 30. When the solar system formed, smaller bodies joined together through collision and the force of gravity to
form larger bodies called
a. moons.
c. planetesimals.
b. protoplanets.
d. planets.
____ 31. The asteroid belt can be found between which two planets?
a. Earth and Mars
c. Mars and Jupiter
b. Jupiter and Saturn
d. Saturn and Uranus
____ 32. New, full, gibbous, quarter, and crescent describe
a. the moon’s orbit.
c. phases of the moon.
b. the moon’s rotation.
d. stages of a lunar eclipse.
____ 33. The inner, cone-shaped area of an eclipse’s shadow is called the
a. diamond-ring effect.
c. penumbra.
b. umbra.
d. deep shadow.
____ 34. How does the gravitational pull of the moon on the side of Earth facing the moon compare with its pull on the
opposite side?
a. It is stronger.
c. It is equal.
b. It is weaker.
d. No one knows.
____ 35. When the moon is waxing, its lighted part appears to
a. increase in size.
c. decrease in size.
b. become invisible.
d. become totally visible.
____ 36. The forces of gravity and inertia together cause
a. eclipses.
c. tides.
b. waning.
d. orbits.
____ 37. Meteors are often called
a. long-period comets.
b. shooting stars.
c. meteorites.
d. fireballs.
____ 38. The forces of inertia and the gravitational pull of the moon on Earth cause
a. tides.
c. lunar eclipses.
b. solar eclipses.
d. phases.
____ 39. What happens when the shadow of one celestial body falls on another celestial body?
a. an umbra
c. a penumbra
b. an eclipse
d. an ellipse
____ 40. A meteor is a meteoroid that
a. travels close to Earth.
b. is larger than 20 km.
c. burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
d. is older than the planets.
____ 41. The sun converts matter into energy in the
a. corona.
b. convective zone.
c. radiative zone.
d. core.
____ 42. Most of the sun’s energy is a result of
a. nuclear fusion.
b. nuclear fission.
c. atomic reactions.
d. coronal mass ejection.
____ 43. When hydrogen nuclei fuse into helium nuclei
a. the nuclei die.
c. particles collide.
b. energy is released.
d. particles neutralize.
____ 44. In the sun’s radiative zone, energy moves
a. by convection.
b. by radiation.
c. by solar wind.
d. by solar ejection.
____ 45. Auroras are frequently seen
a. near the equator.
c. before a sunspot cycle.
b. after solar flares.
d. every 11 years.
____ 46. What is the hottest layer of the sun’s atmosphere called?
a. convective zone
c. radiative zone
b. corona
d. photosphere
____ 47. The temperature of the sun’s core is approximately
a. 15,000,000°C.
c. 4,000°C.
b. 20,000,000°C.
d. 150,000°C.
____ 48. What elements make up most of the sun’s mass?
a. carbon and oxygen
c. helium and nitrogen
b. carbon and hydrogen
d. hydrogen and helium
____ 49. Which of the following are part of the sun’s atmosphere?
a. nucleus and core
c. photosphere and chromosphere
b. radiative zone and convective zone
d. aurora and borealis
____ 50. Particles thrown off the sun’s corona that can affect Earth’s magnetic field are called
a. a coronal mass injection.
c. nuclear fusion.
b. a coronal mass ejection.
d. a sunspot.
____ 51. During nuclear fusion in the sun, which of the following occurs?
a. Atomic nuclei split apart.
b. The aurora australis appears.
c. Hydrogen nuclei combine to produce a helium nucleus.
d. A solar eclipse results.
____ 52. Which of the following are all part of the sun’s atmosphere?
a. photosphere, aurora, corona
c. photosphere, corona, chromosphere
b. chromosphere, aurora, photosphere
d. convective zone, photosphere, corona
____ 53. One of the final products of the fusion of two hydrogen nuclei in the sun is always
a. a helium nucleus.
b. a more-massive hydrogen nucleus.
c. hydrogen protons.
d. two nuclei made up of two neutrons and one proton.
____ 54. What are northern lights?
a. coronas
b. prominences
c. solar flares
d. auroras
____ 55. What color are the coolest stars?
a. orange
b. blue
c. white
d. red
____ 56. Stars appear to move in the sky because
a. the sky is rotating.
b. Earth is moving.
c. the universe is expanding.
d. galaxies are forming.
____ 57. A small, hot, extremely dense core left after a star collapses is a
a. red giant.
c. black dwarf.
b. pulsar.
d. white dwarf.
____ 58. During the main sequence stage, how is energy generated in a star’s core?
a. Hydrogen fuses into helium.
c. Helium fuses into hydrogen.
b. Carbon fuses into hydrogen.
d. Carbon fuses into oxygen.
____ 59. After its temperature rises to 10,000,000°C, a protostar becomes a star when
a. nuclear fusion ends.
c. nuclear fission begins.
b. nuclear fusion begins.
d. nuclear fission ends.
____ 60. What is a galaxy?
a. stars, dust, and gas bound together by gravity
b. debris, dirt, and trash bound together by gravity
c. air, gas, and rock in the universe
d. planets, moons, and stars bound together by magnetism
____ 61. What type of galaxy is the Milky Way?
a. elliptical
b. spherical
c. irregular
d. spiral
____ 62. What is a light-year?
a. the distance light travels in a year
b. the speed of light in a year
c. the time it takes to travel to a star
d. the distance to the sun
____ 63. What color are the hottest stars?
a. red
b. yellow
c. white
d. blue
____ 64. By analyzing the light that a star emits, astronomers can determine
a. the motion of a star.
b. the composition and temperature of a star.
c. the size and weight of a star.
d. the galaxy that the star belongs to.
____ 65. Circumpolar stars in the Northern Hemisphere appear to circle
a. the moon.
c. Proxima Centauri.
b. the sun.
d. Polaris.
____ 66. What is apparent magnitude?
a. the brightness of a star as it appears from Earth
b. the true brightness of a star
c. the brightness of the moon as it appears from Earth
d. the numerical size of a star
____ 67. What are constellations?
a. recognizable groups of galaxies and the regions of space surrounding them
b. apparently fixed, recognizable patterns of stars and the regions of space around them
c. patterns of stars and galaxies that can be identified with color spectra
d. groups of stars that can only be distinguished with special equipment
____ 68. The surface temperature of star is plotted against the star’s luminosity on the
a. Doppler effect.
c. cosmic background radiation map.
b. parallax graph.
d. H-R diagram.
Exam Review: Astronomy
Answer Section
MULTIPLE CHOICE
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