Which of the following practices is not considered to be plagiarism?

A. Copying the answer from your neighbor during an exam

B. Combining Wikipedia answers with APOD descriptions

C. Formulating the answer in your own words

D. Selecting answers from a web source and giving the reference to that source

Approximately, how many astronomical units (AU) are there in one light year (ly)?

A. 12

B. 5,280

C. 63,000

D. 1,000,000

The number 7.14 x 10^6 is equivalent to:

A. 7,140,000

B. 7,140

C. 0.00000714

D. 714,106

Why does the Moon appear to move relative to the stars as observed from Earth?

A. It is due to Moon rotating on its axis

B. It is due to the Earth rotating on its axis

C. It is due to Moon revolving around the Earth

D. It is due to the Earth rotating around the Sun

What types of distances are typically listed in parsec?

A. Distances to stars

B. The length of speed-skating races

C. Distances in the solar system

D. The diameter of the universe

Which is Kepler’s first Law

A. The orbits of planets are ellipses with the Sun at one focus

B. Force equals mass times acceleration

C. The orbits of planets are circles with the Sun at the center

D. What goes up has to come down

What does Kepler’s second law indicate about the orbital speed of a planet?

A. The orbital speed of each planet is constant

B. The orbital speed of a planet varies in no predictable way

C. A planet moves at its slowest when it is closest to the sun

D. A planet moves at its fastest when it is closest to the sun

On Earth, if we drop a feather and a hammer at the same moment from the same height, we see the hammer hit the ground first. On the moon both strike the ground at the same time. Why?

A. The surface gravity of Earth is stronger than the gravity of the moon

B. There is no air resistance effect on the moon

C. In strong gravity fields, heavier objects fall faster

D. None of the above

If the semi-major axis of a planet is 4 AU, what is its orbital period?

A. 4 years

B. 8 years

C. 16 years

D. 64 years

The mass of α Cen A is about 8 times larger than the mass of it’s distant, faint binary companion,

Proxima Centauri. Which describes best the location of the center-of-mass of the α-Proxima system?

A. Half-way between the two stars

B. 8 times closer to α Cen than to the Proxima

C. Because α Cen A has an almost equaly massive, close-in companion α Cen B, there is no such thing as a center of mass in this system

D. 8 times closer to the Proxima than to α Cen

Consider the energy output of the Sun. How is this energy produced, year after year after year?

A. The Sun is made up of coal, that slowly burns up to emit the energy we observe today

B. Inside the Sun, a process called nuclear fusion occurs that powers the Sun

C. The Sun is slowly getting smaller and is converting its gravitational potential energy into light

D. Because the Sun is very hot and ionized, there is a semi-continuous electric discharge happening

(a.k.a., lightning) that generates the light that we see

A spy satellite orbiting Earth that is designed to “resolve” objects the size of people needs to have a

mirror:

A. that fully reflects X-rays so as to be able to penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere

B. as large as 10 meters because it is a really difficult job to see a person at such a large distance

C. of medium size, say one foot, because this task is neither very difficult nor very easy

D. that needs not be very big, say three inches, since the spy satellite is orbiting so close to the Earth

According to Newton’s laws, how does the amount of gravitational force exerted on Earth by the Sun

compare to the amount of gravitational force exerted on the Sun by Earth?

A. The amount of force exerted on Earth by the Sun is greater by the ratio of the Sun’s mass to

Earth’s mass

B. The amount of force exerted on the Sun by Earth is negligible

C. The amount of force exerted on the Sun by Earth is greater by the ratio of the Sun’s mass to

Earth’s mass

D. The amount of force exerted on the Sun by Earth is the same as the amount of force

exerted on Earth by the Sun

Suppose that Planet Q exists such that it is an identical planet to Earth in mass and size, yet orbits

the Sun at a distance of 3 AU. How does the amount of gravitational force exerted on Planet Q by the

Sun compare to the amount of gravitational force exerted on Earth by the Sun?

A. The amount of force on Planet Q is 1/3 the force on Earth

B. The amount of force on Planet Q is 3 times the force on Earth

C. The amount of force on Planet Q is 1/9 the force on Earth

D. The amount of force on Planet Q is 9 times the force on Earth

Which of the following would cause the gravitational force between the Moon and the Earth to decrease

by the largest amount?

A. Double mass of the Earth

B. Halve the mass of the Earth

C. Quadruple the mass of the Moon

D. Halve the radius of the Moon

The visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum can be divided into seven color bands: red, orange,

yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (from long to short wavelength). A single photon of which of

these colors has the greatest amount of energy?

A. red

B. orange

C. blue

D. violet

The entire electromagnetic spectrum can be divided into seven bands: radio, microwave, infrared,

visible, ultraviolet, X ray, and gamma ray (from longest to shortest wavelength). To which of these

two bands is Earth’s atmosphere the transparent?

A. X ray and gamma ray

B. ultraviolet and infrared

C. visible and ultraviolet

D. visible and radio

Which power of a telescope might be expressed as ”0.5 seconds of arc”?

A. light gathering power

B. resolving power

C. magnifying power

D. all the above

Which power of a telescope is the most important?

A. light gathering power

B. resolving power

C. magnifying power

D. the strong force

What advantage do the builders of large telescopes today have over the previous generation of telescope

builders?

A. Large mirrors can now be made thinner and lighter than before

B. Tracking celestial objects today is computer controlled and can take advantage of simple/cheap

mounts

C. High-speed computing today can be used to reduce the effect of Earth’s atmosphere

D. all the above

The primary mirror of telescope A has a diameter of 20 cm, and telescope B has a diameter of 100 cm.

How do the light gathering powers of these two telescopes compare?

A. Telescope A has 5 times the light gathering power of telescope B

B. Telescope B has 5 times the light gathering power of telescope A

C. Telescope A has 25 times the light gathering power of telescope B

D. Telescope B has 25 times the light gathering power of telescope A

An astronomer proposes to install an adaptive optics system on the successor to the Hubble Space

Telescope, the “James Web Space Telescope.” This idea is:

A. Wonderful because it compensates the blurring due to the atmosphere

B. Wonderful: it compensates the thermal stresses due to the enormous heat load from the Sun

C. Nonsense!, it is a space telescope above the atmosphere

D. Nonsense!, the JWST is so large that is does not need any adaptive optics

What do the newer light-sensitive electronic CCD chips do better than the older photographic plates

coated with light-sensitive chemicals?

A. They have a greater sensitivity to light

B. They can detect both bright and dim objects in single exposure

C. The CCD images are easier to manipulate

D. All the above

Why must far-infrared telescopes be cooled to a low temperature?

A. To reduce interfering heat radiation emitted by the telescope

B. To protect the sensitive electronic amplifiers from overheating by sunlight

C. To improve their poor resolving power

D. To improve their poor magnifying power

If the temperature of star B is twice the temperature of star A, what can we say about the energy

emitted by the surface of star B compared to the energy emitted by star A?

A. Each square meter of B emits 2x as much energy per second as A

B. Each square meter of B emits 4x as much energy per second as A

C. Each square meter of B emits 8x as much energy per second as A

D. Each square meter of B emits 16x as much energy per second as A

Which subatomic particle(s) ha(s)(ve) no charge?

A. neutron

B. proton

C. electron

D. proton; and neutron

The amount of electromagnetic energy radiated from every square meter of the surface of a black body

each second is

A. proportional to temperature

B. inversely proportional to temperature

C. proportional to temperature to the fourth power

D. inversely proportional to temperature to the fourth power

The wavelength of maximum intensity that is emitted by a black body is:

A. proportional to temperature.

B. inversely proportional to the temperature

C. proportional to temperature to the fourth power

D. inversely proportional to temperature to the fourth power.

. Of the following, which color represents the lowest surface temperature for a star?

A. yellow

B. white

C. red

D. blue

What conditions produce a bright (emission line) spectrum?

A. a hot solid, liquid, or high-density gas

B. a hot low-density gas

C. light from a continuous spectrum source passing through a cooler low-density gas

D. all the above

Which of the following is true of an atomic nucleus?

A. It contains all of an atom’s positive charge

B. It contains no electrons

C. It contains more than 99% of an atom’s mass

D. all the above

What is the acceleration of gravity of Earth?

A. about 10 m^2/s downwards

B. about 10 m^2/s^2 downwards

C. about 10 m/s^2 downwards

D. about 10 m^2/s upwards

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

A. 7.5 kg

B. 15 kg

C. 30 kg

D. 60 kg

Suppose an object is moving in a straight line at 50 km/hr. According to Newton’s first law of motion, the object will

A. continue to move in the same way forever, no matter what happens

B. continue to move in the same way until it is acted upon by a force

C. eventually slow down and come to a stop

D. continue to move in a straight line forever if it is in space, but eventually come to a halt if it is on Earth

Gasoline is useful in cars because it has

A. gravitational potential energy

B. chemical potential energy

C. electrical potential energy

D. kinetic energy

Which of the following statements correctly describes the law of conservation of energy?

A. An object always has the same amount of energy

B. Energy can change between many different forms, such as potential, kinetic, and thermal

C. The fact that you can fuse hydrogen into helium to produce energy means that helium can be turned into hydrogen to produce energy

D. It is not really possible for an object to gain or lose potential energy, because energy cannot be destroyed

The wavelength of a wave is

A. how strong the wave is

B. the distance between two adjacent peaks of the wave

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

Which of the following statements about electrical charge is true?

A. Two negative charges will attract each other

B. Two positive charges will attract each other

C. A positive charge and a negative charge will repel each other

D. positive charge and a negative charge will attract each other

Which of the following statements about electrons is not true?

A. Electrons orbit the nucleus somewhat like planets orbiting the Sun

B. Within an atom, an electron can have only particular energies

C. An electron has a negative electrical charge

D. Electrons have a lot of mass compared to protons or neutrons

Observations of radio waves from astronomical objects suffer from poorer resolution than visible observations because

A. the signals are so weak in the radio region.

B. the wavelength of radio waves is much longer than the wavelengths of visible light.

C. radio telescopes are generally much smaller in diameter than optical telescopes.

D. it is very difficult to detect radio waves.

You are in a space ship heading directly towards 3 stars. The stars are the same distance away from

you. One star is red, one star is yellow, and one stars is blue. Which star has a blueshifted spectrum?

A. all of them

B. the yellow star

C. the blue star

D. the red star

Dubhe, in Ursa Major, is a spectroscopic binary star 2 stars each have more mass than the Sun, but

separated by 23 AU. They orbit every 44 yr. Why aren’t these stars a visual binary?

A. One is always in front of the other

B. They are too far away to resolve

C. They are too faint to see

D. They both emit mostly non-visible light

Imagine that the Sun’s core was somewhat cooler than it is today. What would that change about fusion

inside the Sun?

A. Fusion could not happen

B. Fusion reactions would be less frequent

C. Fusion reactions would happen at a higher rate

D. H would not fuse, but He would

Imagine you blow up a balloon and knot it. Then you take the balloon into the freezer department at

Costco. What will happen to the balloon?

A. The balloon will expand

B. The balloon will shrink

C. The balloon will start leaking

D. Nothing

Two stars have same Temperature (T), but 1 has 2x bigger radius (R) How do their Luminosities (L)

compare?

A. Bigger star has 4x bigger L

B. Bigger star has 2x bigger L

C. Bigger star has 2x smaller L

D. Bigger star has 8x bigger L

Two stars have same T, but one star has 4x bigger Luminosity. How do their Radii compare?

A. Brighter star has 16x smaller R

B. Brighter star has 4x smaller R

C. Brighter star has square root of 8x smaller R

D. Brighter star has 2x larger R

Two stars have the same apparent brightness (b), but one is further away than the other one. Which

has the larger luminosity?

A. They have the same luminosity

B. Can’t tell with the provided info

C. The more distant one has higher luminosity

D. The more distant one has lower luminosity

The stars Antares and Mimosa have the same luminosity Antares is spectral type M and Mimosa is

spectral type B. Which star is larger in radius?

A. Antares

B. Mimosa

C. They are the same size

D. Insufficient information to determine

Apparent brightness is?

A. a numerical scale that measures stellar brightness

B. a measure of the distance of a star

C. the location of a star in the HR diagram

D. a numerical scale that measures stellar faintness

The apparent magnitudes of the Sun, Proxima Centauri and Sirius are approximately -26, +11 and

-1.5, respectively. Rank these three objects from brightest to faintest (to the human eye).

A. Sun, Sirius, Proxima Cen

B. Proxima Cen, Sirius, Sun

C. Proxima Cen, Sun, Sirius

D. Sun, Proxima Cen, Sirius

Absolute brightness is?

A. a numerical scale that measures the intrinsic power of stars

B. a measure of the distance of a star

C. the apparent brightness of a star if it were at a distance of 10 pc

D. a measure of the temperature of a star

A Hertzsprung-Russel diagram is a plot of the following stellar properties:

A. brightness versus age

B. color versus apparent brightness

C. age versus radius

D. temperature versus luminosity

The spectral sequence (OBAFGKM) sorts stars according to

A. color

B. luminosity

C. core temperature

D. radius

On a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, where would we find stars that are cool and dim?

A. upper right

B. lower right

C. upper left

D. lower left

On a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, where on the main sequence would we find stars that have the

greatest mass?

A. upper right

B. lower right

C. upper left

D. lower left

On a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, where would we find white dwarfs?

A. upper right

B. lower right

C. upper left

D. lower left

The mass-luminosity relation is valid for:

A. super giants

B. white dwarfs

C. main-sequence stars

D. proto stars

The stellar main-sequence is determined by:

A. hydrogen burning in the stellar core

B. helium burning in the stellar core

C. deuterium burning in a shell around the core

D. the CNO cycle

What would the HR diagram look like if we plotted brightness (b) on the y-axis instead of luminosity

(L)?

A. About the same as if we plotted using L

B. A complete jumble, with no patterns

C. The main sequence would still be obvious, but the white dwarfs and giants/supergiants would be

all mixed up

D. The patterns would be reversed, like a mirror image

Considering supergiants (SG), white dwarfs (WD), main-sequence stars (MS) and giants (G), which

ordering in absolute luminosity is most correct? (from bright to faint)

A. SG, G, MS, WD

B. G, MS, WD, SG

C. SG, WD, MS, G

D. WD, MS, G, SG

What type of spectrum (in visible light) would you see from a reflection nebula?

A. Emission, because the dust is heated by starlight

B. Absorption, because the dust is reflecting starlight

C. Absorption, because the dust is scattered thinly in space

D. Continuous, because the dust is solid

Interstellar dust is made up of

A. hydrogen & helium

B. hydrogen & silicon

C. helium & silicon

D. silicon, carbon, oxygen & iron

A dark cloud is characterized by

A. the absence of stars in certain regions when taking optical images of the sky, while infrared images do show the stars

B. the absence of stars in certain regions when taking optical images of the sky

C. the absence of stars in certain regions when taking x-ray images of the sky

D. the absence of stars in certain regions when taking infrared images of the sky, while optical images do show the stars

When you see a reflection nebula, what else might you see nearby

A. an extra-solar planet

B. a bright star nearby

C. a dark cloud

D. an emission nebula

Which of the following is the most common type of main-sequence star?

A. an O star

B. an M star

C. an G star

D. an F star

If the temperature of star B is twice the temperature of star A, what can we say about the energy emitted

by the surface of star B compared to the energy emitted by star A?

A. Each square meter of B emits 2x as much energy per second as A

B. Each square meter of B emits 4x as much energy per second as A

C. Each square meter of B emits 8x as much energy per second as A

D. Each square meter of B emits 16x as much energy per second as A

Which of the following is not known to be a component of the interstellar medium?

A. molecular clouds

B. helium clouds

C. hydrogen clouds

D. coronal gas

A giant molecular cloud typically needs an external triger to start collapings to start forming stars.

This trigger could be:

A. Galaxy-scale spiral shock waves

B. Colliding molecular clouds

C. Supernova explosions

D. All the above

During a star’s formation, the protostar shrinks from gravity. How does its rotation change?

A. Its rotation will slow down.

B. Its rotation will stay the same

C. Its rotation will speed up

D. Its random, so we can’t tell

Consider the formation of stars form the interstellar medium, which of the following phases do they

not go through

A. contraction

B. red giant

C. protostellar disk

D. strong stellar wind

The temperature of a gas is a measure of the:

A. density of the gas

B. amount of heat that flows out of the gas

C. total number of atoms in the gas

D. average motion of its atoms

If a star has weak Balmer lines in its spectrum, what are possible reasons?

A. The star is much cooler than 10,000 K.

B. The star is much warmer than 10,000 K.

C. The star contains no hydrogen

D. either the star is much cooler than 10,000 K; or the star is much warmer than 10,000 K

The luminosity (total energy emitted per second) of a star is an excellent measure of:

A. the radius of the star

B. the mass lost from the Sun due to magnetic reconnection (per second)

C. the temperature of the star

D. the amount of hydrogen converted into helium (per second)

Which is closest to the temperature of the core of the Sun?

A. 10,000 K

B. 100,000 K

C. 1,000,000 K

D. 10,000,000 K

How does the Sun generate energy today?

A. nuclear fission

B. nuclear fusion

C. chemical reactions

D. gravitational contraction

The light radiated from the Sun’s surface reaches Earth in about 8 minutes, but the energy of that light

was released by fusion in the solar core about

A. several years ago

B. tens of years ago

C. about a hundred years ago

D. about one hundred thousand years ago

Since all stars begin their lives with the same basic composition, what characteristic most determines

how they will differ?

A. color they are formed with

B. mass they are formed with

C. time they are formed

D. luminosity they are formed with