All nine planets in the solar system have been visited by spacecraft.
Like our Moon and most others, all four large Jovian satellites have one side constantly
fixed toward Jupiter as they revolve and rotate.
The Schwarzschild radius of a black hole is about 3 km per solar mass.
Spectral lines are produced when an electron makes a transition from one energy state
to another.
Prominences are extensions of the solar magnetic fields above sunspots.
The pregalactic blobs started with masses comparable to big globular clusters.
Cepheids are good examples of cataclysmic variable stars.
Most galaxies are spirals.
The solar wind is constantly removing mass from the Sun.
Our nearest stellar neighbor is a little less than 1 parsec away.
Venus can appear as a crescent through the telescope.
Barringer Crater in Arizona is an example of a meteorite impact.
The blue stragglers represent the horizontal branch for globular clusters.
As a rotating gas cloud contracts, it spins faster.
The Sgr A* black hole may contain three million solar masses.
Chandrasekhar’s limit is 1.4 times the mass of our Sun.
Optical interferometry is more in use than radio interferometry.
Meteor showers are the result of collisions between asteroids.
Beyond the scale of superclusters, galaxies are randomly distributed throughout the
universe.
Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe.
In terms of composition and density, the atmosphere of Titan is closer to our own than
any other place we have found in the solar system.
An emission line results from an electron falling from a higher to lower energy orbital
around its atomic nucleus.
Some meteorites are believed to have come from Mars and the Moon.
Almost all the helium in the universe was formed between 2-15 minutes after the Big
Bang.
In addition to revolving around the Sun counter clockwise, most planets also rotate on
their axis counter clockwise.
At decoupling, the protons and electrons formed transparent hydrogen atoms, allowing
the radiation to escape and become the present microwave background.
The gas in the interstellar medium consists of mostly heavy elements.
Unlike the nuclear reactions in the Sun, everyday chemical reactions involve only the
electromagnetic forces.
At the equinoxes, the declination of the Sun must be zero degrees.
Of the terrestrial planets, Mars seems most promising to exobiologists.
Because they all involve formation of iron in the cores of massive stars, all Type II
supernovae are approximately equally luminous.
Among Galileo’s discoveries with his telescope were sunspots.
Jupiter’s axial tilt is similar to that of Mercury, while Saturn’s is more like ours.
When observing a quasar, we are probably looking at a stage of evolution in the very
early universe.
Irr II galaxies may be the result of a collision, or close encounter, of two normal
galaxies.
The larger the parallax shift, the closer an object is to us.
Running water played a major role in shaping Mars in ancient times.
Deneb’s estimated distance of 1400 light-years comes from spectroscopic parallax
measurements.
The south celestial pole is located at a declination of -90 degrees.
Which type of telescope has the simplest light path?
A) prime focus reflector
B) single lens refractor
C) achromatic refractor
D) Newtonian reflector
E) Cassegrain reflector
Which type of binary can have their sizes measured directly by photometry?
A) virtual
B) visual
C) eclipsing
D) spectroscopic
E) astrometric
What observations suggest the mass of the Galaxy goes much farther out than its visible
disc?
A) 21-cm maps of the spiral arms
B) the rotation curve of the outermost portions of the disc
C) the orbits of the open clusters in the disc
D) infrared observations of distant brown dwarfs
E) X-ray images of other galaxies’ discs from Chandra
When the Moon is directly opposite the Sun in the sky, its phase is
A) new.
B) waxing or waning crescent.
C) first or third quarter.
D) waxing or waning gibbous.
E) full.
Of the elements in your body, the only one not formed in stars is
A) hydrogen.
B) carbon.
C) calcium.
D) iron.
E) aluminum.
The Arecibo radio telescope is laid out like which optical telescope design?
A) prime focus reflector
B) Newtonian reflector
C) Cassegrain reflector
D) Coude reflector
E) grazing incidence reflector
The orbits of most comets
A) are like the planets, fairly circular and in the ecliptic plane.
B) lie almost entirely beyond the orbit of Neptune.
C) have perihelions within the orbits of Mercury.
D) go no farther out than Pluto, then return to the sun again.
E) are shorter than the 76-year period for Comet Halley.
The supernova of 1054 AD produced
A) a remnant still visible to the naked eye.
B) a pulsar with a period of 33 milliseconds, visible optically.
C) the closest known neutron star to our Sun.
D) the most famous black hole.
E) no remaining visible trace, as it was a Type I supernova.
If Scorpius is now prominent in the summer sky, in 13,000 years it will be best seen
A) at the same season; the heavens do not change.
B) in the autumn.
C) in the winter sky.
D) in the spring sky.
E) It will not be visible then at all. All of its stars will have vanished by then.
Which are the two most popular candidates for gamma-ray bursters?
A) hypernova making pulsars, and mergers of two white dwarfs
B) mergers of two black holes, and merger of a neutron star and a white dwarf
C) hypernova making a black hole, and merger of two neutron stars
D) collisions between a white dwarf and a giant, and merger of two neutron stars
E) formation of uranium in the core of a supergiant, and collisions of white dwarfs
Which of the Galilean moons is densest and most geologically active?
A) Io
B) Europa
C) Ganymede
D) Callisto
E) Titan
The design of modern X-ray telescopes depends on
A) lenses made of germanium.
B) the prime focus design, with mirrors made of iron.
C) grazing incidence optics.
D) achromatic lenses to keep the X-rays in focus
E) the Cassegrain design, with mirrors made of lead.
What two observations allow us to calculate mass of the portion of the Galaxy within
the Sun’s orbit?
A) the Sun’s mass and velocity in orbit of the Galactic Center
B) the Sun’s age and period of the Galactic Year
C) the Sun’s orbital velocity and its distance from the Galactic Center
D) the Sun’s mass and its age
E) the Sun’s composition and luminosity
That the Tharsis region on Mars has so few craters
A) proves tectonic activity is taking place.
B) is due to the very low elevation of the region.
C) suggests it is the youngest region on the planet.
D) suggests it is at the center of a particularly strong magnetic field.
E) is due to annual flooding and water erosion.
Most pulsars are observed only as ________ sources.
A) gamma-ray burster
B) visible lighthouse
C) ultraviolet repeating
D) radio
E) X-ray
Which method relies on the mass of a dark object revealing its presence?
A) asteroidal occultations
B) ring occultations
C) stellar eclipses
D) temporary brightening of a distant star by a gravity lens
E) pulsars slowing down irregularly
Which of these is not a consequence of dust in the interstellar medium?
A) reddening of stars’ light that passes through the dust
B) blue reflection nebulae around the Pleiades
C) red light from the emission nebulae
D) the dark nebulae that block 90% of the Milky Way from us visually
E) terrestrial planets like our own
What is true of the lunar highlands?
A) They are found on the Moon’s northern hemisphere.
B) They are less heavily cratered than the mare.
C) They are the darker regions of the Moon seen with the naked eye.
D) They are younger than the darker mare.
E) They are the oldest part of the lunar surface.
The Huygens probe of the ESA made a successful landing on
A) Mars.
B) Europa.
C) Saturn.
D) Titan.
E) Triton.
If spectroscopic luminosity classification gives us an estimated distance to the faint star
SAO 47552 of about 3300 light-years, then its parallax would be only
A) 3.3.”
B) 0.1.”
C) 0.033.”
D) 0.01.”
E) 0.001.”
Harlow Shapley found the Milky Way was
A) centered on the Earth.
B) much smaller than previously thought.
C) rapidly expanding.
D) much larger than previously thought.
E) uniformly spherical in shape.
Most of the new star formation in the Galaxy is found in the
A) halo.
B) spiral arms.
C) bulge.
D) galactic center.
E) globular clusters.
The Sun’s observed spectrum is
A) a continuum with no lines, as shown by the rainbow.
B) a continuum with emission lines.
C) only absorption lines on a black background.
D) a continuum with absorption lines.
E) only emission lines on a black background.
What is true of radio telescopes?
A) They have poorer angular resolution than a refractor of the same size.
B) They have better angular resolution than a reflector.
C) They are the smallest, most compact telescopes.
D) They can only be used above the atmosphere.
E) They are most sensitive to the opacity of the ozone layer.
The two names most associated with the discovery of Pluto are
A) Adams and Leverrier.
B) Herschel and Bode.
C) Kuiper and Whipple.
D) Lowell and Tombaugh.
E) Shoemaker and Levy.
The largest known black holes
A) create the dark nebulae in the plane of the Milky Way.
B) can be no more than 1.4 solar masses, according to Chandrasekhar.
C) lie in the cores of the most massive galaxies.
D) can be no bigger than a small city, just like neutron stars.
E) can be no bigger than the Earth, like white dwarfs.
The lunar mare are found
A) uniformly all over the Moon.
B) mainly on the near side.
C) mainly on the far side.
D) only in the dark areas of the lunar poles, where water is not boiled away.
E) only as layered rocks, since the original water was lost long ago.
A circular orbit would have an eccentricity of
A) 0.
B) between 0 and 0.5.
C) between 0.5 and 1.
D) exactly 1.0.
E) infinity.
Which are the four Galilean moons of Jupiter?
A) Europa, Titan, Ganymede, and Callisto
B) Io, Ganymede, Callisto, and Titan
C) Europa, Ganymede, Io, and Triton
D) Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
E) Io, Titan, Triton, and Charon
The Tully-Fisher relation exists between the galaxy’s luminosity and its
A) color.
B) age.
C) rotation.
D) mass.
E) size.
Binary stars separated enough to be resolved in a telescope are called
A) orbital binaries.
B) visual binaries.
C) spectroscopic binaries.
D) astrometric binaries.
E) line-of-sight binaries.
How does Mercury’s rotation relate to the Sun?
A) It always keeps one face tidally locked toward the Sun, as our Moon does with us.
B) Its year is much shorter, only 88 days, than its slow rotation of 243 days on its axis.
C) Its rotation rate is 2/3 as long as its year, due to tidal resonances.
D) Its day is the same length as its year.
E) It does not spin at all, being tidal stopped by the solar tides.
________ paradox asks why the sky is dark at night.
Carbon dioxide dominates the atmospheres of Venus and Mars, but on Earth most of it
lies underground as ________.
Why is Cygnus X-1 considered such a good black hole candidate?
Contrasting a M3Ib and M3V star, they differ primarily in ________ and ________.
The high temperature of the corona is directly responsible for the ________.
What is meant by “neutrino oscillation”?
Compare and contrast latitude and declination. How does each relate to your position
on Earth?
Nuclear ________ explains the Sun’s immense and sustained energy output.
According to the ages of the globular clusters, our Galaxy is about ________ times as
old as the solar system.
A star of five solar masses would reach the main sequence much ________ than our
Sun.
Compare the orbital motion of stars in the Galactic disk with those in the halo.
Based on his star counts, Herschel placed the Sun in the ________ of our Galaxy.
The hypernova model is one possible explanation for ________.
Is Hubble’s tuning fork diagram a real evolutionary tool? Why?
Distinguish an Sa from an Sc galaxy.
The difference in the Moon’s gravitational force on the near and far sides of the Earth
produces a ________.