Which of the following has your "address" in the correct order?

A) you, Earth, solar system, Milky Way, Local Supercluster, Local Group

B) you, Earth, Local Group, Local Supercluster, solar system, Milky Way

C) you, Earth, solar system, Milky Way, Local Group, Local Supercluster

D) you, Earth, solar system, Local Group, Local Supercluster, Milky Way

E) you, Earth, solar system, Local Group, Milky Way, Local Supercluster

Which of the following statements about the celestial sphere is not true?

A) When we look in the sky, the stars all appear to be located on the celestial sphere.

B) The celestial sphere does not exist physically.

C) Earth is placed at the center of the celestial sphere.

D) From any location on Earth, we can see only half the celestial sphere at any one time.

E) The "celestial sphere" is just another name for our universe

 Which of the following statements about the celestial equator is true at all latitudes?

A) It lies along the band of light we call the Milky Way.

B) It extends from your horizon due east, through your zenith, to your horizon due west.

C) It represents an extension of Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere.

D) It extends from your horizon due north, through your zenith, to your horizon due south.

E) It cuts the dome of your sky exactly in half

What is the ecliptic?

A) the constellations commonly used in astrology to predict the future

B) the Sun's daily path across the sky

C) the Sun's apparent path along the celestial sphere

D) when the Moon passes in front of the Sun

E) the Moon's apparent path along the celestial sphere

Which scientists played a major role in overturning the ancient idea of an Earth-centered universe, and about

when?

A) Aristotle and Copernicus; about 400 years ago

B) Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo; about 400 years ago

C) Aristotle and Plato; about 2,000 years ago

D) Huygens and Newton; about 300 years ago

E) Newton and Einstein; about 100 years ago

Which of the following correctly describes the meridian in your sky?

A) the boundary between the portion of the celestial sphere you can see at any moment and the portion that you cannot see

B) a half-circle extending from your horizon due east, through your zenith, to your horizon due west

C) a half-circle extending from your horizon due east, through the north celestial pole, to your horizon due west

D) the point directly over your head

E) a half-circle extending from your horizon due north, through your zenith, to your horizon due south

 How many arcseconds are in 1°?

A) 360

B) 60

C) 3,600

D) 100

E) 10,00

What is a circumpolar star?

A) a star that is visible from the Arctic or Antarctic circles

B) a star that is close to the south celestial pole

C) a star that always remains above your horizon

D) a star that makes a daily circle around the celestial sphere

E) a star that is close to the north celestial pole

 Which of the following is not a phase of the Moon?

A) full Moon

B) first-quarter Moon

C) new Moon

D) half Moon

E) third-quarter Moo

 If the Moon is setting at 6A.M., the phase of the Moon must be

A) full.

B) third quarter.

C) first quarter.

D) waning crescent.

E) new

 What is an astronomical unit?

A) the average distance from Earth to the Sun

B) any basic unit used in astronomy

C) the length of time it takes Earth to revolve around the Sun

D) the diameter of Earth's orbit around the Sun

E) the average speed of Earth around the Su

 How did Eratosthenes estimate the size of Earth in 240 B.C ?.

A) by observing the duration of a solar eclipse

B) by measuring the size of Earth's shadow on the Moon in a lunar eclipse

C) by sending fleets of ships around Earth

D) by comparing the maximum altitude of the Sun in two cities at different latitudes

E) We don't know how he did it since all his writings were destroyed

 Where was the Sun in Ptolemy's model of the universe?

A) between Earth and the Moon's orbit

B) at the center

C) between the orbits of Venus and Mars

D) at the outer edge, beyond Saturn's orbit

E) slightly offset from the cente

 The controversial book of this famous person, published in 1543 (the year of his death), suggested that Earth

and other planets orbit the Sun.

A) Ptolemy B) Galileo C) Copernicus D) Kepler E) Tycho Brah

 He discovered that the orbits of planets are ellipses.

A) Galileo B) Tycho Brahe C) Copernicus D) Kepler E) Ptolem

 He discovered that Jupiter has moons.

A) Ptolemy B) Aristotle C) Tycho Brahe D) Galileo E) Keple

If your mass is 60 kg on Earth, what would your mass be on the Moon?

A) 10 lb B) 60 lb C) 50 kg D) 60 kg E) 10 kg

 What would happen if the Space Shuttle were launched with a speed greater than Earth's escape velocity?

A) It would travel away from Earth into the solar system.

B) It would be in an unstable orbit.

C) It would travel in a higher orbit around Earth.

D) It would take less time to reach its bound orbit.

E) It would orbit Earth at a faster velocity

 The force of gravity is an inverse square law. This means that, if you double the distance between two large masses, the gravitational force between them

A) weakens by a factor of 2.

B) strengthens by a factor of 4.

C) also doubles.

D) is unaffected.

E) weakens by a factor of 4

 According to the universal law of gravitation, if you double the masses of both attracting objects, then the gravitational force between them will

A) not change at all.

B) increase by a factor of 2.

C) increase by a factor of 4.

D) decrease by a factor of 2.

E) decrease by a factor of 4

 An atom in an excited state contains more of what type of energy than the same atom in the ground state?

A) gravitational potential energy

B) thermal energy

C) kinetic energy

D) mass-energy

E) electric potential energy

 The wavelength of a wave is

A) equal to the speed of the wave times the wave's frequency.

B) how strong the wave is.

C) the distance between a peak of the wave and the next trough.

D) the distance between where the wave is emitted and where it is absorbed.

E) the distance between two adjacent peaks of the wave

 How are wavelength, frequency, and energy related for photons of light?

A) Longer wavelength means lower frequency and higher energy.

B) Longer wavelength means higher frequency and lower energy.

C) Longer wavelength means lower frequency and lower energy.

D) Longer wavelength means higher frequency and higher energy.

E) There is no simple relationship because different photons travel at different speeds

From lowest energy to highest energy, which of the following correctly orders the different categories of electromagnetic radiation?

A) radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X rays, gamma rays

B) radio, X rays, visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, gamma rays

C) visible light, infrared, X rays, ultraviolet, gamma rays, radio

D) gamma rays, X rays, visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, radio

E) infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X rays, gamma rays, radio

 When an electron in an atom goes from a higher energy state to a lower energy state, the atom

A) absorbs a photon of a specific frequency.

B) can absorb a photon of any frequency.

C) absorbs several photons of a specific frequency.

D) emits a photon of a specific frequency.

E) can emit a photon of any frequenc

 The spectra of most galaxies show redshifts. This means that their spectral lines

A) have wavelengths that are shorter than normal.

B) have a higher intensity in the red part of the spectrum.

C) have wavelengths that are longer than normal.

D) have normal wavelengths, but absorption of light makes them appear red.

E) always are in the red part of the visible spectrum

 From laboratory measurements, we know that a particular spectral line formed by hydrogen appears at a wavelength of 121.6 nanometers (nm). The spectrum of a particular star shows the same hydrogen line appearing at a wavelength of 121.8 nm. What can we conclude?

A) The "star" actually is a planet.

B) The star is moving away from us.

C) The star is moving toward us.

D) The star is getting hotter.

E) The star is getting colder

How does the Sun's mass compare with that of the planets?

A) It is a thousand times more massive than Earth.

B) It is a hundred times more massive than all the planets combined.

C) It is about as massive as all the planets combined.

D) It is a thousand times more massive than all the planets combined.

E) It is a hundred times more massive than Earth

 Which planet has the highest average surface temperature, and why?

A) Jupiter, because it is so big

B) Mercury, because it is closest to the Sun

C) Venus, because of its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere

D) Mars, because of its red color

E) Mercury, because of its dense carbon dioxide atmospher

 Which planet, other than Earth, has visible water ice on it?

A) Jupiter B) the Moon C) Mars D) Venus E) Mercur

 Which of the following is furthest from the Sun?

A) Pluto

B) a comet in the Kuiper belt

C) Neptune

D) a comet in the Oort cloud

E) an asteroid in the asteroid bel

Which is the densest planet in the solar system?

A) Mars B) Earth C) Venus D) Jupiter E) Mercury

The planet closest in size to Earth is

A) the Moon. B) Venus. C) Pluto. D) Mars. E) Mercury.

 Which of the following is not a characteristic of the inner planets?

A) They have very few, if any, satellites.

B) They all have solid, rocky surfaces.

C) They all have substantial atmospheres.

D) They are relatively smaller than the outer planets.

E) Their orbits are relatively closely spaced

 Which of the following is not a characteristic of the outer planets?

A) They are all large balls of gas.

B) They are primarily made of hydrogen and helium.

C) Their orbits are separated by relatively large distances.

D) They have very few, if any, satellites.

E) They all have rings

 Why did the solar nebula heat up as it collapsed?

A) Nuclear fusion occurring in the core of the protosun produced energy that heated the nebula.

B) Radiation from other nearby stars that had formed earlier heated the nebula.

C) As the cloud shrank, its gravitational potential energy was converted to kinetic energy and then into thermal energy.

D) Collisions among planetesimals generated friction and heat.

E) The shock wave from a nearby supernova heated the gas

C) As the cloud shrank, its gravitational potential energy was converted to kinetic energy and then into

thermal energy.

 What kind of material in the solar nebula could remain solid at temperatures as high as 1,500 K, such as existed

in the inner regions of the nebula?

A) rocks

B) metals

C) silicon-based minerals

D) molecules such as methane and ammonia

E) hydrogen compound

 What was the frost line of the solar system?

A) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for rocks to condense, between the present-day orbits of Mercury and Venus

B) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for hydrogen compounds to condense into ices, between the present-day orbits of Mars and Jupiter

C) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for asteroids to form, between the present-day orbits of Venus and Earth

D) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for hydrogen and helium to condense, between the present-day orbits of Jupiter and Saturn

E) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for metals to condense, between the Sun and the present-day orbit of Mercur

B) the distance from the Sun where temperatures were low enough for hydrogen compounds to condense

into ices, between the present-day orbits of Mars and Jupiter

 According to the nebular theory, what are asteroids and comets?

A) They are chunks of rock or ice that condensed long after the planets and moons had formed.

B) They are chunks of rock or ice that were expelled from planets by volcanoes.

C) They are the shattered remains of collisions between moons.

D) They are leftover planetesimals that never accreted into planets.

E) They are the shattered remains of collisions between planets

 Rank the five terrestrial worlds in order of size from smallest to largest:

A) Mercury, Moon, Venus, Earth, Mars.

B) Moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.

C) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars.

D) Mercury, Moon, Mars, Earth, Venus.

E) Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth

Which of the terrestrial worlds has the strongest magnetic field?

A) Venus B) Mars C) Mercury D) Earth E) the Moon

 Which of the following most likely explains why Venus does not have a strong magnetic field?

A) Its rotation is too slow.

B) It is too close to the Sun.

C) It does not have a metallic core.

D) It is too large.

E) It has too thick an atmosphere

 Which two properties are most important in determining the surface temperature of a planet?

A) distance from the Sun and atmosphere

B) size and chemical composition

C) composition and distance from the Sun

D) internal temperature and atmosphere

E) size and atmospher

 How large is an impact crater compared to the size of the impactor?

A) 100 times larger

B) 10-20 percent larger

C) the same size

D) 10 times larger

E) 1,000 times large

The relatively few craters that we see within the lunar maria

A) are volcanic in origin, rather than from impacts.

B) were formed by impacts that occurred after those that formed most of the craters in the lunar highlands.

C) were formed by impacts that occurred before those that formed most of the craters in the lunar highlands.

D) are sinkholes that formed when sections of the maria collapsed.

E) were created by the same large impactor that led to the formation of the maria.

 The Caloris Basin on Mercury covers a large region of the planet, but few smaller craters have formed on top of it. From this we conclude that

A) erosion destroyed the smaller craters that formed on the basin.

B) Mercury's atmosphere prevented smaller objects from hitting the surface.

C) the Caloris Basin formed toward the end of the solar system's period of heavy bombardment.

D) the Caloris Basin was formed by a volcano.

E) only very large impactors hit Mercury's surface in the past

 Olympus Mons is a

A) large lava plain on the Moon.

B) stratovolcano on the Moon.

C) shield volcano on Mars.

D) stratovolcano on Mercury.

E) shield volcano on Venus

 Why does Venus have such a great difference in temperature between its "no atmosphere" temperature and its actual temperature?

A) It is so close to the Sun.

B) It has no cooling effects from oceans.

C) It has a high level of volcanic activity.

D) It has a large amount of greenhouse gases in its atmosphere.

E) It has a slow rotation

Which of the following worlds has the most substantial atmosphere?

A) the Moon B) Venus C) Earth D) Mercury E) Mars

Why doesn't Venus have seasons like Mars and Earth do?

A) Its rotation axis is not tilted.

B) It does not have an ozone layer.

C) It is too close to the Sun.

D) It does not rotate fast enough.

E) all of the above

 Where is most of the water on Mars?

A) in its clouds

B) in deep underground deposits

C) distributed evenly throughout its atmosphere

D) in its polar caps and subsurface ground ice

E) frozen on the peaks of its tall volcanoe

 How does Jupiter's core compare to Earth's?

A) It is about 10 times larger both in size and mass.

B) It is about the same size but is 10 times more massive.

C) Jupiter doesn't have a core—it is made entirely from hydrogen and helium.

D) It is about 10 times larger in size and the same mass.

E) It is the same size and mass

 If we know the size of an asteroid, we can determine its density by

A) comparing its reflectivity to the amount of light it reflects.

B) radar mapping.

C) spectroscopic imaging.

D) determining its mass from its gravitational pull on a spacecraft, satellite, or planet.

E) looking for brightness variations as it rotates

 What is Jupiter's Great Red Spot?

A) the place where reddish particles from Io impact Jupiter's surface

B) a large mountain peak poking up above the clouds

C) a hurricane that comes and goes on Jupiter

D) the place where Jupiter's aurora is most visible

E) a long-lived, high-pressure storm

 The four Galilean moons around Jupiter are

A) a mixture of rock and ice, with the ice fraction increasing with distance from Jupiter.

B) all made of rock.

C) a mixture of rock and ice, with the rock fraction increasing with distance from Jupiter.

D) all made of ice.

E) hydrogen and helium gas

 Why are there no impact craters on the surface of Io?

A) It is too small to have been bombarded by planetesimals in the early solar system.

B) Io did have impact craters but they have all been buried in lava flows.

C) Any craters that existed have been eroded through the strong winds on Io's surface.

D) Jupiter's strong gravity attracted the planetesimals more strongly than Io and thus none landed on its surface.

E) Io's thick atmosphere obscures the view of the craters

Which moon has the most substantial atmosphere?

A) Titan B) Europa C) Mimas D) Ganymede E) Io

 How thick are Saturn's rings from top to bottom?

A) a few tens of thousands of kilometers

B) a few kilometers

C) a few tens of meters

D) a few million kilometers

E) a few hundred kilometer

 Which is closest to the average distance between asteroids in the asteroid belt?

A) 100 thousand km

B) 1 million km

C) 1 thousand km

D) 10 thousand km

E) 10 million k

Why isn't there a planet where the asteroid belt is located?

A) A planet once formed here, but it was broken apart by a catastrophic collision.

B) There was too much rocky material to form a terrestrial planet, but not enough gaseous material to form a jovian planet.

C) The temperature in this portion of the solar nebula was just right to prevent rock from sticking together.

D) Gravitational tugs from Jupiter prevented material from collecting together to form a planet.

E) There was not enough material in this part of the solar nebula to form a planet.

 What do we call a small piece of solar system debris found on Earth?

A) meteoroid

B) solar system debris

C) cometary fragment

D) meteorite

E) meteo

 Halley's comet is named after the English scientist Edmund Halley because he

A) was the first to see it in 1682.

B) was the first to publish pictures of it and report it to the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

C) discovered it.

D) was the most famous astronomer in England during its appearance.

E) calculated its orbit and predicted that it would return in 1758

 What part of a comet points most directly away from the Sun?

A) the jets of gas

B) the nucleus

C) the dust tail

D) the plasma tail

E) the com

 Most of the planets discovered around other stars

A) are more massive than Earth and orbit very far from the star.

B) are less massive than Earth and orbit very far from the star.

C) are less massive than Earth and orbit very close to the star.

D) are more massive than Earth and orbit very close to the star.

E) are found around neutron stars

The core of the Sun is

A) hotter and denser than the surface.

B) constantly rising to the surface through convection.

C) composed of iron.

D) at the same temperature but denser than the surface.

E) at the same temperature and density as the surface.

What two forces are balanced in what we call gravitational equilibrium?

A) the strong force and gravity

B) outward pressure and gravity

C) the strong force and kinetic energy

D) outward pressure and the strong force

E) the electromagnetic force and gravity

What is the average temperature of the surface of the Sun?

A) 10,000 K B) 1,000 K C) 1 million K D) 100,000 K E) 6,000 K

Which layer of the Sun do we normally see?

A) photosphere

B) radiation zone

C) convection zone

D) chromosphere

E) corona

At the center of the Sun, fusion converts hydrogen into

A) radiation and elements like carbon and nitrogen.

B) helium, energy, and neutrinos.

C) plasma.

D) radioactive elements like uranium and plutonium.

E) hydrogen compounds.

What is granulation in the Sun?

A) another name for the way sunspots look on the surface of the Sun

B) elements in the Sun other than hydrogen and helium

C) dust particles in the Sun that haven't been turned into plasma

D) lumps of denser material in the Sun

E) the bubbling pattern on the photosphere produced by the underlying convection