Download Astronomy Test

Astronomy Unit Test
Multiple choice (2 points each)
1. Which of the following is the best summarizes Kepler’s third law of motion?
a) The farther a planet is from the Sun, the shorter the period of revolution.
b) The farther a planet is from the sun, the longer the period of revolution.
c) All planets have the same period of revolution.
d) All planets are an equal distance from the Sun.
2. In the year 14000, the earth’s axis will point to the star Vega instead of the North Star
as it does now. The reason for this is:
a) Kepler’s Laws of motion
b) Newton’s law of gravity
c) Perihelion
d) Precession
3. Which movement is responsible for day and night?
a) revolution
b) precession
c) nutation
d) rotation
Use the picture below to answer questions 4-6.
A
D
B
C
4. At which letter is the northern hemisphere experiencing its shortest daylight hours?
a) A
c) C
b) B
d) D
5. Letter C represents the:
a) autumn equinox
b) spring equinox
c) summer sosltice
d) winter solstice
6. At letter D, the most intense solar radiation occurs at:
a) 23 ½ degrees north latitude
b) 23 ½ degrees south latitude
c) The equator (0 degrees latitude)
d) The north pole (90 degrees north latitude)
7. How often do sunspot maximums occur?
a) every 25 years
c) every 11 years
b) every 50 years
d) every 2 months
8. Why are we concerned about a sunspot maximum year?
a) An increase in sunspots is linked to a decrease in temperatures.
b) An increase in sunspots is linked to more cases of skin cancer.
c) An increase in sunspots is linked to more disruptions of communication.
d) An increase in sunspots is linked to a nuclear winter.
9. What is the shape of a planet’s orbit around the Sun?
a) circle
b) a straight line
c) ellipse
d) irregular
Use the picture below to answer questions 10-11.
10 .The picture above illustrates:
a) nutation
b) precession
c) rotation
d) barycenter
11. The center of mass is closer to Pluto than Charon because:
a) Pluto has more mass
b) Charon has more mass
c) Pluto is made of ice
d) Charon has a greater density
12. What is the source of energy for photosynthesis?
a) water
b) sun
c) gravity
d) carbon dioxide
13. Which of the following is a method of energy transfer to Earth from the Sun?
a) conduction
b) convection
c) radiation
d) carbonation
14. Which of the following protect Earth from harmful electromagnetic radiation?
a) the atmosphere
b) the oceans
c) The magnetic field
d) Both a and c
15. What is it called when the Earth is CLOSEST to the Sun?
a) aphelion
b) perihelion
c) during an eclipse
d) at the foci
16. What causes the Earth to have seasons?
a) the rotation of Earth on its axis
b) the tilt of Earth’s axis
c) nutation
d) the barycenter of the Sun
17. Which of the following is a TRUE statement regarding Kepler’s planetary laws?
a) The path a planet takes around the Sun is a circle.
b) The closer a planet is to the sun, the slower it moves in its orbit.
c) The time it takes a planet to make one revolution around the sun is
proportional to the distance that planet is away from the Sun.
d) The galaxies are getting bigger.
18. What lies at the center of our solar system?
a) Mercury
c) Halley’s comet
b) Pluto
d) the Sun
19. The sun produces energy through nuclear fusion by converting:
a) Oxygen nuclei into nitrogen
c) hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei
b) Oxygen nuclei into carbon dioxide
d) helium nuclei into hydrogen nuclei
20. The process of releasing energy by burning is known as:
a) nuclear fusion
b) nuclear fission
c) radioactive decay
d) combustion
21. Through nuclear fusion, the sun releases energy that is _____________ times
greater than an H-bomb.
a) 10
b) 1 million
c) 1000
d) 100,000
22. Sunspots are regions of the sun’s surface that have a(n) _______________
temperature than the rest of the surface.
a) cooler
b) warmer
c) equal
d) varying
Use the diagram below to answer questions 23-26.
B
C
A
H
G
D
F
E
23. Which of the following depicts ionized gases, in the form of loops, that are trapped in
a magnetic field emitted from sunspots?
a) c
b) e
c) h
d) a
24. Which of the following is the region where energy is transferred to the surface of the
sun by small pockets of continuously moving circles?
a) a
b) b
c) c
d) d
25. The part of the sun that is seen during a solar eclipse is labeled
a) c
b) d
c) e
d) f
26. Two features that appear in the photosphere are:
a) a & c
b) f & h
c) e & f
d) d & e
27. The astronomer who mentored Johannes Kepler was:
a) Sir Isaac Newton
b) Tycho Brahe
c) Aristarchus
d) Ptolemy
28. Eratosthenes major contribution to the field of astronomy was:
a) calculating the diameter of the earth
b) making a star catalogue
c) concluding that the earth was the center of the universe
d) calculating the circumference of the earth
29. The Ptolemaic system/model of the universe took into account this apparent
backwards motion of the planets.
a) retrograde motion
b) perihelion
c) rotation
d) astronomy
30. Combustion produces which of the following as well as energy?
a) hydrogen
b) propane
c) helium
d) carbon dioxide
Worth 15 points for 1st and 3rd / Worth 5 points for 2nd
In a paragraph, explain why Earth experiences it’s 4 seasons. Be sure to include the
meanings behind solstice and equinox in your answer. Your paragraph should be at
least 8 sentences long.
Honors Assessment Astronomy ( 5 points each)
SHOW ALL YOUR WORK. YOU WILL RECEIVE NO CREDIT IF YOU DO NOT
FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.
Apply Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion to answer the following questions. P is the
time period in years, and d is the solar distance in AU’s.
P2=d3
1. Jupiter is 5.2 AU’s from the Sun. How long does it take Jupiter to make one
revolution? (3 points)
2. Neptune takes 164.8 earth years to complete one revolution around the Sun.
How far away is Neptune from the Sun? (3 points)