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Astro 10/Harpell
Quiz 1
For Questions 1 – 4, Complete the following sentences using the letter for the correct terms from the list
below:
a. Distance
b. Time
c. light hours.
d. light minutes
e. Astronomical Unit
1.
2.
3.
4.
The distance from the sun is 1 ________________
This distance to the sun can also be described as eight _____________
A light year is a unit of _______________
the distance from the sun to Jupiter is about 0.67 _________ (hint: 0.67 = 40/60)
5.
Since the distance from the to the Sun is about 150,000,000 km and Mars is 1.5 AU from the sun,
how far away from the Earth is Mars at Opposition? Hint: 1.5 x 150 = 225
a. 104 km
b. 1 x 108 km
c. 7.5 x 107 km d. 250,000,000 km
6.
a)
b)
c)
d)
Which of the following describes our Cosmic Address correctly?
LPC, Planet Earth, Solar System, Local Group, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Supercluster.
LPC, Planet Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Local Supercluster.
LPC, Planet Earth, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Solar System, Local Supercluster.
LPC, Planet Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Supercluster, Local Group.
For Questions 7 – 10, Complete the following sentences using the letter for the correct terms from the list
below:
a. 14 billion
b. four light years
c. six minutes
d. 1 second
e. 4.5 billion
7.
8.
The Earth formed about ____________ years ago.
If the age of the earth was compressed into one calendar year, modern humans first appear about
__________ before midnight on December 31 st
9. the big bang (beginning of time in the local universe) occurred about _________ years ago.
10. If the age of the earth was compressed into one calendar year, Galileo’s first use of the telescope
(about 1600 AD) occurred about __________ before midnight on December 31 st
For Questions 11 - 14, Complete the following sentences using the letter for the correct terms from the list
below:
a. Cassini
b. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
c. Saturn
d. Titan
e. Mars Opportunity Rover
In the recent movie “Avatar” the moon Pandora was the home to a variety of life forms including Very
Cool Humanoids (VCH).
11. Perhaps the creator and director of Avatar, James Cameron, had been thinking about the moons of the
planet ________. (see image labeled (11,12,13)
12. The planet described in #11 has a real moon named Pandora, and a moon called _________ which has
the only atmosphere with pressure comparable to that on Earth.
13.The image shown here (#11,12,13) was taken and sent back to earth form the ongoing ____________
spacecraft mission.
14. The space based image of a crater shown here also shows another spacecraft from Planet Earth. This
image was taken by the ________________ . See image labeled #14,15
15. the robotic rover in the image is the _____________.
16. What is this likely the image of (see image #16)_______
a) Orion Nebula b) Milky Way Galaxy
c) Andromeda Galaxy d) An exploding Star
.
17. If the Earth were a globe one foot in diameter, the moon would be the size of a baseball located
about ___________ away.
a) 30 feet
b) 10 feet
c) 100 feet
d) 1000 feet.
For Questions 18 – 21, Complete the following sentences using the letter for the correct terms from the list
below:
a. Alpha Centauri
b. Kepler Space Telescope
c. Terrestrial
d. twenty light years
e. four light years
18. the group of stars shown here can only be seen in the Southern Hemisphere and includes the
closet star to Earth. At right is the Southern Cross. The brightest star at lower left is called
____________.
19. The star described above is approximately ____________ away.
20. The______________, which trails the Earth in orbit about the sun, has been pointing at a section
of the sky for the past three months. Already it has discovered a system of planets larger than the
planet Jupiter in orbits closer to its star than the Planet Mercury is to our sun.
21. The actual Mission described above is intended to discover ____________ planets as they transit
their parent star, slightly dimming the image of the star
22. The vast majority of all the objects in this image are: (see image #22,23)
a) bright stars in our own galaxy
b) distance galaxies
c) stars in the local group
d) exploding stars near the center of our galaxy.
23. For the most distant objects shown in #22,23, the light we received left:
a) before the Earth was formed.
b) about thirty thousand years ago
c) more than 20 billion years ago
d) a few seconds before the image was taken.
24. Why do astronomers interested in finding planetary systems with intelligent life typically search
around third generation stars like our sun?
a) Because all third generation stars live long enough to produce intelligent life.
b) Because it is assumed that intelligent beings are made of the same heavy elements we are, and these
elements require at least two previous generations of stars to create them.
c) Because third generation stars are all located at the proper distance from the galactic center.
d) Because all the first and second generation stars have long since exploded.
25. If the assumption that intelligent life evolved in similar ways to life on Earth, and also that life must
exist around third generation stars is correct, then we can assume:
a) there are no intelligent civilizations other than here on Earth
b) if there are other intelligent civilizations, then probably quite rare, and are unlikely to be much, much
older than we are.
c) if there are other intelligent civilizations, then they are probably very common and are likely to be much,
much older than we are.