astro quiz 13

What does the Fermi Paradox say? If life on Earth took a miracle to form, then there should be no life anywhere else Given all the time since the Big Bang and all the stars, why has some form of intelligent life in the Galaxy not established a network throughout the Galaxy and visited us? Given the size of the Galaxy, there should be an exact duplicate of the Earth somewhere and we should have found it If all the planets in our solar system besides Earth are lifeless, then it must follow that most of the planets around other stars are also lifeless and finding life is hopeless When Fermi got ill, he always needed two doctors to diagnose him

Given all the time since the Big Bang and all the stars, why has some form of intelligent life in the Galaxy not established a network throughout the Galaxy and visited us?

One reason that some scientists think that there may be life under the ice-crust of Jupiter's moon Europa is that: meteorites blasted off Europa have been found on Earth and we detect the building blocks of life inside these meteorites from Europa Life has been found on Earth, at the bottom of the ocean, deriving its energy not from sun-light but from hot mineral-laden vents coming from deeper inside our planet; something similar could happen at the bottom of the ocean on Europa Life has already been found on Io, Jupiter's inner-most large moon Europa is unusually warm on its surface; in some places the climate resembles Hawaii on Earth. we are receiving intriguing radio messages from Europa that indicate some form of intelligence lives there

Life has been found on Earth, at the bottom of the ocean, deriving its energy not from sun-light but from hot mineral-laden vents coming from deeper inside our planet; something similar could happen at the bottom of the ocean on Europa

Which of the following is, to the best of our knowledge, in the habitable zone of its star: a "hot Jupiter" taking 4 days to orbit a star like our Sun a Jupiter-mass planet taking 15 years to orbit a slightly cooler star than our Sun all of the above a planet in an orbit the size of the Earth's around a red giant star (much larger and cooler than our Sun) a planet about 1.05 AU from a star like our Sun

a planet about 1.05 AU from a star like our Sun

Coronal Mass Ejections from the Sun have many serious effects on or near the Earth. Which of the following is NOT one of these effects? causing power surges and power outages in parts of the Earth near the poles heating the ionosphere and thus expanding the extent of our planet's atmosphere disrupting the electronics of satellites causing huge cyclones around the equator of the Earth exposing astronauts and airplane passengers to increased amounts of radiation

causing huge cyclones around the equator of the Earth

The hottest zone in the Sun is the chromosphere radiative zone convection zone photosphere core

core

The most common element in the Sun is nitrogen water helium iron hydrogen

hydrogen

Astronomers were surprised to find so many Jupiter-mass planets so close to their stars. According to their best theories and models, such "hot Jupiters" must have formed further out from the star and must have "migrated inward" early on must have formed close to their stars, but only billions of years after the star formed must be falling into their stars and will soon be vaporized must have been captured from a passing star that got very close are absolutely impossible, so they must be mistaken observations

must have formed further out from the star and must have "migrated inward" early on

The telescope that allowed astronomers to discover most of the planets found with the transit method was called the Keck Telescope you can't fool me; just about any telescope can show us many, many planet transits the Very Large Array of radio telescopes the Kepler mission the Hubble Space Telescope

the Kepler mission

The Drake Equation allows astronomers to estimate the location of the Sun within the Milky Way Galaxy the number of ducks that we in the United States use for food each year the rate at which the universe expands the age of the universe the number of civilizations out among the stars with which we might communicate

the number of civilizations out among the stars with which we might communicate

Why was the Kepler mission not able to find planets smaller than Mars, even though it was in space (and had no Earth atmosphere to deal with)? Such planets are only ever detectable using the Doppler shift method Such planets always take longer to orbit their stars than the time the mission lasted Astronomers believe that planets smaller than Mars could not exist Such planets make dips in the light of the star that are too small for Kepler to detect Such planets are red in color, and Kepler's cameras could not see red objects

Such planets make dips in the light of the star that are too small for Kepler to detect

Astronomers have concluded that the Sun's activity varies in an 11-year cycle. Which of the following statements about this cycle is TRUE: Every 11 years sunspots completely cover the Sun, making its surface much darker The number of sunspots gets larger and smaller over the course of 11 years When sunspots are at a minimum, we get the largest number of flares and prominences The Sun's activity cycle is directly connected to the number of earthquakes at the continental plate boundaries on Earth The Sun's activity cycle shows absolutely no connection to its magnetic field

The number of sunspots gets larger and smaller over the course of 11 years

Which of the following statements about the Sun's photosphere is NOT TRUE? The photosphere is significantly hotter than all the layers of the Sun beneath it (further inward) The photosphere is not a solid layer; if a spaceship (that could withstand the heat) fell through it, it wouldn't feel anything when reaching the photosphere The photosphere is much less dense than our Earth's atmosphere Through a telescope, the photosphere looks mottled or granulated The photosphere is the layer where the Sun becomes opaque (you can't see through it)

The photosphere is significantly hotter than all the layers of the Sun beneath it (further inward)

Solar wind particles can be captured by the Earth's magnetosphere. When these particles spiral down along the magnetic field into the atmosphere, they are responsible for: the poor quality of television programming in the world's northern hemisphere the greenhouse effect the reddish color we see during sunsets aurorae (northern and southern lights) tropical storms (regions of rapidly rotating air)

aurorae (northern and southern lights)

What technique did astronomers use to make the first confirmed discovery of a planet around another star like the Sun? block out the light of the star and take a photograph of the fainter planet search for the presence of metallic and rocky elements in the spectrum of the star look for a small dip in the light of the star when the planet crosses its disk measure the Doppler shift of the lines in the star's spectrum and look for periodic changes in this shift due to the pull of the planet as it orbits the star measure the position of the star on the sky very carefully over many years and search for small wiggles in its position due to the gravitational pull of a planet

measure the Doppler shift of the lines in the star's spectrum and look for periodic changes in this shift due to the pull of the planet as it orbits the star

The big surprise about the first planet discovered around another regular star was that it was smaller than Mercury or Pluto in our own solar system had a spectrum which indicated it was made of elements we never find on Earth was inhabited by intelligent creatures which never had to take astronomy quizzes had a mass greater than that of most stars orbited so close to its star it took only 4 days to go around

orbited so close to its star it took only 4 days to go around

Which of the following is a good summary of what most astronomers think about UFO reports in the popular media? UFO's have kidnapped a number of Earth inhabitants, including at least one well-known astronomer; her reports convinced other scientists that UFO's are indeed alien spaceships so far there is no scientific evidence that UFO's have anything to do with life outside the Earth while no UFO's have landed, we have overheard communications between them with our radio surveys and thus have evidence that there are intelligent creatures aboard them UFO's are now known to come from the planet Mars, the only other planet that we know has life on it it is now clearly established that alien spacecraft have crashed on Earth; we have the bodies of the aliens who flew them here

so far there is no scientific evidence that UFO's have anything to do with life outside the Earth

What mechanisms do astronomers believe is responsible for making the Sun's outer atmosphere so much hotter than its photosphere? the Sun's magnetic field interacting with the charged particles that make up the atmosphere light reflected back from the terrestrial planets stirring by comets, meteors, and other pieces of solid material being pulled in by the Sun's strong gravity the ionization of a new element called coronium astronomers really don't have even a guess about what heats the Sun's outermost layers

the Sun's magnetic field interacting with the charged particles that make up the atmosphere

Sunspots are darker than the regions of the Sun around them because they are cooler than the material around them (although still very hot compared to Earth temperatures) they are the shadows of the planets and asteroids seen on the bright surface of the Sun they are located in the corona and not on the photosphere they move much faster around the Sun than other material and thus heat up they consist of different elements than the rest of the Sun

they are cooler than the material around them (although still very hot compared to Earth temperatures)

How do astronomers know what the outer layers of the Sun are made of? the surface layers of Mercury have been laid down by the Sun and are thus made of the same material as the Sun we take an absorption line spectrum of the Sun, and the absorption lines tell us what elements are present in the outer layers we send graduate students there to get samples several spacecraft with good shielding have approached the Sun and obtained samples the Sun's wind gives us an accurate measure of all the different elements in the Sun

we take an absorption line spectrum of the Sun, and the absorption lines tell us what elements are present in the outer layers

From a scientific perspective, which of the following statements about life elsewhere in the universe is best supported by current evidence? the government has evidence (which it is not releasing) that there is at least one other intelligent life form on a planet orbiting another star we only have evidence that life exists around three other stars while we have evidence of the building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe, we have no definite evidence about life around other stars at this time there is no evidence for intelligent life anywhere, even on Earth we have good evidence that life exists on many planets around other stars

while we have evidence of the building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe, we have no definite evidence about life around other stars at this time