Astronomy Quiz

1. Which describes a white dwarf?

A.) a newly formed, young star

B.) a very dense, 'dead' star

C.) a galaxy consisting of extremely bright stars

D.) a small planet orbiting a star

2. A planetary nebula is

A.) a cloud found on Earth, made of greenhouse gas

B.) a ring around planet like Saturn

C.) a cloud formed when a Red Giant star loses its outer layers

D.) a planet that orbits backward

3. Which describes a Type Ia supernova (which always explode with the same luminosity) ?

A.) they involve a neutron star

B.) they only occur in other galaxies, not ours

C.) they occur after a star has fused elements as heavy as Silicon

D.) they involve a white dwarf that acquires 'too much' mass

4. How will a small, low mass star, (called a “red dwarf”) end its life?

A.) It will explode as a supernova

B.) it will become a black hole

C.) it will become a neutron star

D.) we don’t really know; such stars have never ‘died’ before

5. What will happen to the Sun in about 5 billion years?

A.) it will continue to shine, without change, forever

B.) it will explode, as a supernova

C.) it will become a red giant

D.) it will become a black hole

6. Einstein's theory of gravity (General Relativity) can explain black holes using curved space.

It replaces the theory of gravity discovered by:

A.) Henrietta Leavitt

B.) Ptolemy

C.) Johannes Kepler

D.) Isaac Newton

7. What is a pulsar?

A.) a rapidly rotating neutron star

B.) a star that pulsates by increasing and decreasing its size

C.) a component of a radio telescopes

D.) the product of an electron jumping down an energy level in an atom

8. Why are Cepheid Variable Stars important to astronomy?

A.) they explode

B.) their distances can be measured (via the period-luminosity relation)

C.) the Sun is a Cepheid

D.) they are the only type of star that undergoes nuclear fusion

9. What is meant by hydrostatic equilibrium?

A.) a balance between pressure and gravity at the center of the Sun & other stars

B.) the portion of the universe that is made up of Hydrogen

C.) the primary cause of seasons on Earth

D.) a sudden explosion of a star

10. In 2019, the edge, or Event Horizon of a black hole was observed for the first time. How

could we try to observe what is inside this event horizon?

A.) by sending astronauts there

B.) by sending robotic spacecraft there

C.) using ultra-violet light that emerges from inside the event horizon

D.) the is no known way to do so, since light cannot escape from a black hole

11. During a total solar eclipse in 1919, light from four stars was observed in slightly different

positions than it was previously seen. This confirmed:

A.) that stars can cause an eclipse

B.) that space is curved by the mass of the Sun

C.) that the Sun and the Moon have the same mass

D.) dark matter exists

12. In 1967, Jocelyn Bell, a graduate student, detected radio waves coming from space, using

an antenna she built. What had she discovered?

A.) the first signals from intelligent extraterrestrial beings

B.) an extrasolar planet

C.) the cosmic microwave background

D.) the first pulsar

13. Very massive stars will become black holes. Which best describes a black hole?

A.) a large dark object whose surface absorbs light but does not reflect it

B.) a hole in space where no mass exists

C.) a point of extreme density that curves space around it

D.) a star that shines black light

14. Which describes a Type II (core collapse) supernova?

A.) they involve a white dwarf

B.) they only occur in other galaxies, not ours

C.) they occur when fusion ends, leaving Iron in the core of the star

D.) all low mass stars will experience them

15. What is at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy?

A.) the earth

B.) the Sun

C.) a supermassive black hole

D.) a pulsar

16. Which BEST describes the entire Milky Way Galaxy?

A.) It includes the Sun, all the planets and asteroids & comets.

B.) It includes 100 billion stars, gas, dust, and dark matter

C.) It is an elliptical galaxy

D.) It is at the center of the Universe

17. The time it takes the Sun to orbit the Galactic Center is about

A.) 24 hours

B.) 365 days

C.) 1 light year

D.) 230 million years

18. The Milky Way's globular clusters are located:

A.) in a sphere surrounding the Sun

B.) all near the edge

C.) in the halo, surrounding the center of the galaxy

D.) all in the disk

19. Which technique did Hubble use to measure the distance to the galaxy Andromeda?

A.) Parallax

B.) Cepheid Variable Method

C.) Type Ia Supernovae

D.) Hubble's Law

20. Spiral arms in the Milky Way galaxy are:

A.) dense parts of the Galaxy's disk.

B.) found in the halo.

C.) also found in every galaxy

D.) what globular clusters are made of

21. The oldest stars in our Galaxy can be found:

A.) in the disk of the galaxy

B.) in globular clusters

C.) in open clusters

D.) orbiting black holes

22. Very roughly, how far is it across our galaxy, from one side to the other?

A.) 100,000 Astronomical Units

B.) 1 light year

C.) 1000 light years

D.) 100,000 light years.

23. What type of galaxy is the Milky Way?

A.) Barred Spiral

B.) Irregular

C.) Dwarf Galaxy

D.) Elliptical

24. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds

A.) are planetary nebulae

B.) are small irregular galaxies in the "Local Group"

C.) are each likely to form a solar system

D.) are supernova remnants

25. Terrestrial planets may be good locations for life. Our solar system’s terrestrial planets are:

A.) Mercury & Venus

B.) Earth & Mars

C.) Mercury, Venus, Mars & Earth

D.) Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune & Uranus

25. A large number of Extrasolar planets have so far been detected by

A.) capturing a detailed picture of the planet

B.) measuring a dimming in the star, as a planet ‘transits’ in front of it

C.) spacecraft which have traveled to the planets

D.) X ray observations

26. If a planet orbits a star, the star will wobble. This will cause changes in its spectrum which

can be detected using:

A.) the Period-Luminosity relation

B.) the Doppler Effect

C.) X rays

D.) the Cosmic Microwave Background

27. The Greenhouse Effect occurs when

A.) infrared light emitted by the Earth is trapped by gases in the atmosphere

B.) the Sun's intensity increases as it leaves the Main Sequence

C.) light from a star is green-shifted

D.) the Doppler effect reverses direction

28. The Miller-Urey experiment showed that the atmosphere of early Earth could produce:

A.) fusion reactions similar to those in the Sun

B.) intelligent life

C.) bacteria and other microbes

D.) chemical building blocks of life

29. The Earth formed...

A.) about 6,000 BC

B.) about 4.5 million years ago

C.) about 4.5 billion years ago

D.) about 4.5 quadrillion years ago

30. Life on Earth arose:

A.) a few thousand years ago

B.) about 5 million years ago

C.) about 3.8 billion years ago

D.) over 20 billion years ago

31. The planet Venus is so hot that life, as we know it, could not exist. Why is it so hot?

A.) because Venus is the closest planet to the Sun

B.) because the atmosphere of Venus has a large amount of CO2, a greenhouse gas

C.) because volcanoes of Venus heat the planet up.

D.) because the surface of Venus has extensive nuclear reactions

32. Compared to the previous century, Earth's temperature over the last 10 years has been:

A.) “freezing, with record low temps”

B.) about average

C.) clearly above average

D.) it is impossible to tell because records weren't kept back then.

33. Massive main sequence stars of spectral type O and B are NOT considered likely to have

planets with advanced life forms. Why not?

A.) These stars emit too little light to keep any organisms alive

B.) These stars have too much gravity

C.) The light they emit is too red

D.) These stars don't live long enough for complex life to evolve.

34. What do earthquake faults and seafloor spreading ridges have in common?

A.) they are both examples of tectonic plate boundaries

B.) they are both found deep in Earth's interior

C.) both are known to exist on other planets

D.) both are found near California

35. Which can scientifically explain the observed increase in global temperatures?

A.) a dramatic change in the Sun

B.) there have been many more volcanoes than usual

C.) excess greenhouse effect caused by increased CO2 and CH4 in the atmosphere

D.) Martians are heating the Earth up

36. Which of the following is not a form of electromagnetic radiation (that is, light)?

A.) visible photons coming from the Sun with wavelength 500 nanometers

B.) infrared heat given off by your body

C.) X-rays

D.) All of the above are different forms of light.

37. The present level of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in Earth's atmosphere

A.) is lower than 100 years ago

B.) has increased, but not by much compared to historical records

C.) is difficult to measure reliably

D.) has increased dramatically to a new high level

38. The term "standard candle" refers to:

A.) the luminosity of the Sun

B.) a type of irregular galaxy

C.) any phenomenon which has a known brightness, and can be used to measure distance.

D.) the process by which light is produced from the fusion of hydrogen into helium

39. Earth's atmosphere is mainly made up of:

A.) Hydrogen & Helium

B.) Oxygen

C.) Nitrogen & Oxygen

D.) Methane

40. Which of the following are evidence that global warming is caused by CO2 dumped into

Earth’s atmosphere by humans?

A.) the fact that without greenhouse gasses, like CO2, Earth would be mostly frozen

B.) the correlation between CO2 and temperature over 400,000 years found in “ice core” data

C.) the measured increases in both CO2 levels and temperature in recent decades

D.) all of the above

41. Within our Galaxy, the Sun is located:

A.) near the center

B.) near the edge

C.) orbiting a globular cluster

D.) in the disk, between the center and edge

42. Visible spectral lines are created by atoms in a gas when WHAT changes its energy state?

A.) an electron

B.) a molecule

C.) a neutron

D.) a proton

43. The final factor in the Drake Equation depends on the lifetime of an extraterrestrial intelligent civilization with which we might communicate. If this factor is SMALL then:

A.) Any kind of life, even primitive, is unlikely.

B.) Contact with extraterrestrials is unlikely because they would have destroyed themselves.

C.) Our probability of contacting extraterrestrials is large, because their technology is advanced

D.) Extraterrestrials are among us.

44. Extrasolar planets with very small orbital periods (e.g. 4 days)

A.) cannot exist: they would burn up

B.) have been found in surprisingly large numbers

C.) would be likely to host life

D.) cannot be detected with current methods