Download D) It depends on the star

NAME _______________
Astronomy 1001/1005, Midterm #1 – June 11, 2007
Lab Section # ____________
Karl A. Isensee, Summer 2007
Read Instructions Carefully:
1. Mark the answers you choose on this test as it is your only opportunity to
check which answers you got right or wrong. This will not be done for you at a
later time in the departmental office. If you feel that there is a mistake on the
exam, please see Karl Isensee in Physics 475B. You are allowed to bring in one
8.5” x 11” page of notes covered on both sides to the exam
2. Print your name and section # on your answer sheet where appropriate.
3. Use a pencil, make your marks dark and neat, and erase thoroughly
4. There is only one correct answer to each question. Choose the best answer.
5. You may use this test sheet for scratch paper
1) How much time is there in between when a star rises and when it sets?
A) Exactly 24 hours
B) Slightly less than 24 hours
C) Slightly more than 24 hours
D) It depends on the star
2) Stars that never appear to set are called circumpolar. As you move from Earth’s
equator toward the North Pole, the number of circumpolar stars:
A) Increases
B) Decreases
C) Stays the same
D) It depends on your longitude
3) If the Sun’s motion along the ecliptic were reversed, how would its daily motion
appear?
A) It would still rise in the east and set in the west
B) It would now rise in the west and set in the east
C) It would not change
D) One half of Earth would be in perpetual sunlight, one half in perpetual
darkness
4) The general heliocentric approach of Copernicus won favor among astronomers
primarily because it:
A) Explained why we do not feel the Earth move
B) Placed the Earth at the center of the universe
C) Was more aesthetically pleasing than the old model
D) Made more accurate predictions than the old model
5) That Neptune takes longer to orbit the Sun than Earth does is described by which
of Kepler’s Laws?
A) Kepler’s First Law
B) Kepler’s Second Law
C) Kepler’s Third Law
D) It is not explained by any of Kepler’s Laws
6) Consider two planets, A and B, orbiting a distant star. Planet B orbits twice as far
from the star as Planet A does. How does Planet B’s orbital period compare to
Planet A’s?
A) The periods are the same
B) Planet B’s period is half as long
C) Planet B’s period is twice as long
D) Planet B’s period is more than twice as long
7) Which of the following stars is closest to us?
A) Procyon (parallax angle = .29 arcsecond)
B) Ross 780 (parallax angle - .21 arcsecond)
C) Regulus (parallax angle = .04 arcsecond)
D) Sirius (parallax angle = .38 arcsecond)
8) Why are the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn (located at about 23.5
degrees north and south of the equator) important?
A) The Sun is directly overhead those latitudes on the winter and
summer solstices
B) The Sun wobbles between those latitudes due to precession
C) The Sun is overhead the Tropic of Capricorn when it rises, and it is
overhead the Tropic of Cancer when it sets
D) The Sun is directly overhead those latitudes on the spring and fall
equinoxes
9) What is the correct order of types of light, from MOST energetic to LEAST
energetic?
A) Radio Waves, Infrared, Visible Light, Ultraviolet, X-Rays, Gamma Rays
B) Gamma Rays, X-Rays, Ultraviolet, Visible Light, Infrared, Radio
Waves
C) Radio Waves, Ultraviolet, Visible Light, Infrared, X-Rays, Gamma Rays
D) Gamma Rays, X-Rays, Infrared, Visible Light, Ultraviolet, Radio Waves
10) What is the meaning of eccentricity as it applies to planetary orbits?
A) It’s a measurement of how quickly planets move around the Sun
B) It relates to how much the orbit of the planet deviates from circular
C) It relates to how much the planet moves above or below the plane that all
of the planets are in
D) It directly relates to how far away the planet is from Earth on average
11) Let’s say that an object is being accelerated by gravity at exactly 10 m/s2 after
being released at rest (meaning it is not moving when it is released). Which of the
following is a correct description of its motion and/or location over time?
A) After 1 second it is traveling at 10 m/s, after 2 seconds it is traveling at
20 m/s etc.
B) After 1 second it has traveled 10 meters, after 2 seconds it has traveled 20
meters etc.
C) After 1 second it is traveling at 10 m/s, after 2 seconds it is traveling at
100 m/s (102 = 100) etc.
D) After 1 second it has traveled 10 meters, after 2 seconds it has traveled
100 meters (102 = 100) etc.
12) Which of Newton’s Laws gives the best explanation of why a rocket can be used
for propulsion?
A) Newton’s First Law
B) Newton’s Second Law
C) Newton’s Third Law
D) Newton’s Law of Gravitation
13) As it collapsed, the Solar Nebula rotated more and more quickly. Which of the
following principles or laws best tells us why this occurred?
A) Conservation of energy
B) Conservation of angular momentum
C) Conservation of linear momentum
D) Newton’s Second Law
14) What is light?
A) It is only a particle
B) It is only a wave
C) It has some properties of both a wave and a particle
D) None of the above
15) Consider two beams of light, Beam A and Beam B. Beam B has a longer
wavelength than Beam A. How do their frequencies compare?
A) Beam B has a shorter frequency
B) Beam B has a longer frequency
C) Beam A and Beam B have the same frequency
D) Cannot tell from the information given
16) Is radiation dangerous?
A) Always
B) Never
C) It depends on the type of radiation and how powerful it is
D) Only if you are in space
17) What can spectroscopy directly tell us?
A) What a cloud of gas is made out of
B) What temperature a cloud of gas is at
C) How quickly something is moving towards or away from us
D) All of the above
18) Which of the reasons is NOT one of the PRIMARY reasons why astronomers use
telescopes?
A) Telescopes allow astronomers to make dim objects appear brighter
B) Telescopes increase our ability to see small angles (angular resolution)
C) Telescopes magnify objects
D) All of the above are very important reasons to use telescopes
19) Why can’t astronomers build ultraviolet telescopes on the surface of the Earth?
A) Almost all ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere
B) Ultraviolet radiation gets absorbed in space very rapidly, so astronomers
must build their ultraviolet telescopes as close to the objects they want to
observe as possible
C) Ultraviolet telescopes are too expensive to build anywhere
D) Too much ultraviolet light pollution is created on the planet Earth to detect
astronomical ultraviolet sources
20) What is an important advantage that a space based telescope like the Hubble
Space Telescope has over ground based observatories?
A) The Hubble Space Telescope doesn’t have to look through the
atmosphere
B) The Hubble Space Telescope is closer to the stars
C) You can build much larger telescopes in space
D) It is much cheaper to build telescopes in space
21) Which of the following is the most plausible scenario for how the Moon formed?
A) The Moon is an asteroid that the Earth captured at one point in its past
B) The Moon formed just like the planets; it just happened to form near the
Earth
C) The Moon is a comet that the Earth captured at one point in its past
D) The Earth was smashed by a large object, which broke off a piece of
the Earth, which eventually became the Moon
22) Which of the following is the most likely scenario as to why Mars doesn’t have a
strong magnetic field today?
A) Mars isn’t rotating quickly enough to create a magnetic field
B) There are no charged particles on Mars to create a magnetic field
C) The core of Mars no longer is liquid anywhere
D) There aren’t enough metals on Mars to form a magnetic field
23) Locations on the Moon that are dark, smooth, and have a relative low density of
craters are called maria. How did maria form?
A) Plate tectonics smoothed these areas
B) Ancient oceans used to be in those areas
C) The Moon’s magnetic field prevents solar radiation from hitting those
areas, so they appear darker
D) Lava seeped to the surface in those areas
24) Why do temperatures increase with height in the stratosphere?
A) They don’t
B) The Earth’s magnetic field traps charged particles at the top of the
atmosphere and those particles give energy to the upper layers of the
atmosphere
C) There are more ions the higher one goes in the atmosphere
D) More ultraviolet light is absorbed higher up in the atmosphere
25) Which of the following is the most scientifically plausible theory for why Mars’s
atmosphere could have become significantly less dense over time?
A) Its magnetic field disappeared, so solar radiation was able to thin the
atmosphere
B) The massive volcanoes blew the atmosphere into space
C) The massive impact that created the Hellas Basin blew off the atmosphere
D) The lack of an ozone layer meant that the Sun’s ultraviolet light could
remove the atmosphere