Astro Final Exam
Global warming is thought to be caused by the
addition of carbon dioxide
About _____ of the known asteroids orbit the Sun in the asteroid belt.
75%
Mars' atmosphere is
95% carbon dioxide.
Venus' atmosphere is
96% carbon dioxide
Which of the following does NOT describe the differences between a star and a brown dwarf?
A brown dwarf must be in orbit around a star.
The general length of time for the formation of planets is
3 to 30 million years.
Imagine that you are building a scale model of the Earth and the Moon. You are going to use a 12-inch basketball to represent the Earth and a 3-inch tennis ball to represent the Moon. To maintain the proper distance scale, about how far from the surface of the basketball should the tennis ball be placed?
30 feet
The moon in our solar system most likely able to support life and may be a key science mission in the future is
Europa
Most of the radio emissions from the center of the Galaxy come from two sources: _____ and _____.
hot gas; high speed electrons in magnetic fields
Typically, the nucleus of a comet isTypically, the nucleus of a comet is
just a few kilometers across.
Tycho Brahe is best known for his
large and accurate instruments and accurate position measurements of the stars, Sun, Moon, and planets.
Calculations suggest that a supernova _____ away from us would certainly end all life on Earth.
less than 50 light-years
Which of these is NOT observational evidence supporting the past presence of liquid water on the surface of Mars?
linear canals
The apparent brightness of a star depends on two things: _____ and _____.
luminosity; distance
Which of the following properties of a neutron star is NOT one of those which allow it to be detected as a pulsar?
made (almost) entirely of neutrons
The cloud formations of the giant planets are
mainly in layers with breaks between the clouds so we can see lower layers
If the expansion of the universe is accelerating, then the Hubble time
makes the universe seem too young
The most prominent surface feature of Io is
many active volcanoes
How long it takes a star to form depends on its
mass
Newton's reformulation of Kepler's laws allows us to determine the
masses of objects from their motion.
Match the term with its description.
measures north and south latitude ranges between 180 degrees east to 180 degrees west longitude measured from the equator latitude ranges between 90 degrees north to 90 degrees south latitude measured along the equator longitude measures east and west longitude
When Eratosthenes observed the angle at which the Sun's rays produced a shadow from a column in Alexandria, he was
measuring the circumference of the Earth
Which of these is a curious surface characteristic found on Charon by the New Horizons spacecraft?
reddish colored polar cap
Philosophers of science sometimes call the idea that there is nothing special about our place in the universe
the Copernican principle.
Meteor showers are created when
the Earth passes through a comet's dust stream
Life may be rather common among planets. The Copernican principle also suggests that intelligent life like us might be common. Life around older stars may have started a billion years earlier than we did on Earth, so they may have had a lot more time to develop advanced technology such as sending information, probes, or even life-forms between stars. If so, the question of ``Where are they?'' is called,
the Fermi paradox
The acceleration of the expansion of the universe was detected by comparing the distances measured by
the Hubble law against type Ia supernovae
The observation by Galileo that Venus went through a complete set of phases demonstrated that
the Ptolemaic model is incorrect
The primary, driving force behind solar activity is
the Sun's dynamic magnetic field.
When the [proto-]star begins to retain its heat,
the collapse rate slows down and the star "moves" to the left on the H-R diagram.
The chemical composition of a planet formed from the solar nebula depends mainly on
the condensation temperature of the nebula materials and their distance from the forming Sun.
At first, _____ was thought to be the cause of the spiral arm structure.
the differential rotation of the galaxy
One of the many things astronomers have discovered by studying other planetary systems is
the existence of whole classes of exoplanets that we simply don't have in our solar system.
We have difficulty with the concept of the singularity at the center of a black hole because
the laws of physics, as we know them, break down.
If we reduce all the sizes and distances in the solar system by a factor of one billion, the Earth becomes the size of a grape and the diameter of the Sun becomes the size of a
adult human
The environment of giant molecular clouds enables the formation of stars because these clouds
have cold interiors
Observations show that nearly all very young protostars
have disks and that the disks range in size from 10 to 1000 AU.
Primitive stone meteorites are those which
have not been subjected to heat and pressure since their formation.
Observations of exoplanets has revealed that the most common exoplanets
have radii between 1.4 and 2.8 that of Earth.
The ratio of Mercury's spin and orbital motions is
2:3
Matching
(solar system small body) TNO Outside the orbit of Neptune (solar system small body) Asteroids Between Mars and Jupiter (solar system small body) Comets Outer regions of the solar system (solar system small body) Dust Throughout the solar system
Put the layers of the Sun's interior in order from innermost to outermost layer.
1. Core 2. Radiative Zone 3. Convective Zone
The surface of Venus is dominated by about 75% _____ and two _____.
1. Lava plains 2. highland continents
The "Great Dark Spot" is a storm on ____ with a diameter ______
1. Neptune 2. about the size of the Earth
Place these seven stellar spectral classes in order of temperature from high temperature to low temperature.
1. O 2. B 3. A 4. F 5. G 6. K 7. M
Put the steps of a high-mass star's core collapse and explosion event in order.
1. The collapse of the core into a ball of neutrons. 2. A shock wave propagates outward from the core. 3. Neutrinos provide the push of the outer layers of the star out into space. 4. Electrons are absorbed by protons, creating neutrons and neutrinos. 5. The nuclear fusion of heavier and heavier elements.
Place the following stages of a spectrometer in order of light flow.
1. The light passes through a narrow slit at the telescope's focus point. 2. The light is collimated by a lens. 3. The light passes through a prism. 4. A lens focuses the image of the spectrum. 5. A detecting device collects the images.
When an atom absorbs light, _____ moves _____ in energy level.
1. an electron 2. up
A _____ star is hotter than a _____ star.
1. blue 2. red
Order the answers to complete this description of Mercury's orbit around the Sun. "Mercury is the _____ planet to the Sun and in accordance with Kepler's third law, it has the _____ period of revolution about the Sun and the _____ average orbital speed. As you might expect, it's best seen when its eccentric orbit takes it as _____ from the Sun as possible. The semimajor axis of Mercury's orbit is _____ kilometers, or _____ AU. However, because its orbit has the high eccentricity of _____, Mercury's actual distance from the Sun varies from _____ kilometers at perihelion to _____ kilometers at aphelion."
1. nearest 2. shortest 3. highest 4. far 5. 58 million 6. 0.39 7. 0.206 8. 46 million 9. 70 million
The first spacecraft to reach the outer planets was in the year
1973
The average temperature of the cosmic background radiation is about
2.73 K
Astronomers were able to make tremendous progress in mapping the spiral structure of the Milky Way after the discovery of the
21-cm radiation that comes from cool hydrogen.
"precession" is best described as
A "wobble motion" of the Earth's axis
Which of the following is NOT an example of astronomy from an ancient culture?
A correct understanding of the cause of the oceans' tides.
You overhear two students discussing Ptolemy's model of planetary motion. The first student says, "Ptolemy's model had the motionless Earth at the center of the universe with everything else in motion around it on circles called epicycles and deferents." The second student says, "That's basically true, except the Earth was not quite at the center." How do you respond to this discussion?
Agree with the second student.
Which of these is an important result from landing humans on the Moon?
All of these answers.
Which of these techniques has NOT been used to explore other planets, moons, or objects in our solar system?
All of these techniques have been used.
Which of these is NOT a characteristic (or pattern) of the planets used for modeling the formation process of the solar system?
All the planets orbit within the magnetosphere of the Sun.
The sunspot cycle averages _____ in length, where the _____ of sunspots reaches a high count and then returns to a low count. The years where the number of sunspots are at a maximum are called _____ years. The solar cycle is the more general cycle, lasting _____. This is the cycle where the Sun's _____ reverses polarity.
Blank #1 11 years Blank #2 number Blank #3 solar maximum Blank #4 22 years Blank #5 magnetic field
As an observer moves away from a light source, the intensity of the light _____ as the _____ of the distance between the observer and the light source.
Blank #1 D.decreases Blank #2 A.inverse square
In the giant impact theory of the formation of the Moon, the Earth was struck by an object the size of _____ and the ejected debris contained very little _____.
Blank #1 F. Mars Blank #2 E. of the metallic cores
TNOs are a part of what is called the _____, a large area of space beyond _____ that is also the source of many _____.
Blank #1 Kuiper Belt Blank #2 Neptune Blank #3 comets
The basic building blocks of life are called ____ which are used to build _____.
Blank #1 amino acids Blank #2 proteins
The gravitational force that one object exerts on another is due to its _____ and the _____ the other object.
Blank #1 mass Blank #2 distance to
Between three and four _____ after the beginning, the entire universe was acting like _____.
Blank #1 minutes Blank #2 the center of a star
A source of rapid, sharp, intense, and extremely regular pulses of _____ led to the discovery of _____.
Blank #1 radio radiation Blank #2 pulsars
Which of these has NOT been a definition of the standard meter?
Equal to 1/40030173.6 of the circumference of the Earth's equator.
Match the early lunar formation hypotheses with its description.
Capture Theory The Moon formed elsewhere in the solar system and fell into orbit around the Earth. Sister Theory The Moon formed together with (but independent of) Earth, as we believe many moons of the outer planets formed. Fission Theory The Moon was once part of Earth, but somehow separated from Earth early in the formation process.
Objects with both asteroid and comet characteristics have been given the designation,
Centaur Objects
Which of these is NOT a possible ending fate of a comet that enters the inner solar system
Coalescing to form larger comets
Which of the following surface features does NOT appear on Mars
Coronae
Which of these does NOT describe an effect of the atmosphere on astronomical observation?
Decreased light-gathering power.
Which of the following describes one reason that the northern and the southern hemispheres have opposite seasons?
During a day of the year when the Sun is high in the sky in the northern hemisphere, it is low in the sky in the southern hemisphere
Matching
Emission Spectrum -Appears as a pattern of bright lines -From a hot low density cloud Continuous Spectrum -An array of all wavelengths or colors of the rainbow -From a hot dense energy source (lightbulb) Absorption Spectrum Consists of a pattern of dark lines Hot dense energy source going through a cool low density cloud
The Moon does NOT rotate on its axis, thereby keeping one face toward the Earth at all time.
False
The Moon has a magnetic field and thus must be made almost entirely of iron.
False
The total energy radiated from a black body is inversely proportional to its absolute temperature
False
Venus shows no signs of tectonic activity on its surface - its surface has no tectonic features.
False
On about September 22, the Sun sets directly to the west as shown on the diagram below. Where would the Sun appear two weeks later?
Further South.... But if the date was changed to March 21, it would continue to set further north
If you could see stars during the day, this is what the sky would look like at noon on a given day. The Sun is near the stars of the constellation Gemini. Near which constellation would you expect the Sun to be located at sunset?
Gemini
Which of the following is NOT one of the world's largest radio telescopes?
Hale Observatory
On occasion, the jets of high-speed particles streaming away from the protostar collide with a somewhat-denser lump of gas nearby, excite its atoms, and cause them to emit light. These glowing regions are known as
Herbig-Haro objects.
If the rate at which the universe is expanding is changing (increasing or decreasing) with the passage of time, then the
Hubble constant must be changing with time.
Which two of these important properties of the universe can the simple Big Bang model NOT explain? I) chemical composition, II) uniformity, III) critical density, IV) current temperature
II and III.
(solar system small body) Moons
In orbit around planets
Which of these statements is NOT an argument put forth by Copernicus in support of a heliocentric model?
In order for the Moon to keep the same face toward us, it must rotate on its axis, and thus the Earth can rotate on its axis as well.
What is the limit to the Fisher-Tully relation for measuring galactic distance?
It only works on spiral galaxies.
The magnetic field of ___ was discovered by its radio emissions while the magnetic fields of the other giant planets were discovered by spacecraft
Jupiter
Match the description of the ring system to the planet.
Jupiter very faint, gossamer ring (the book does not even mention the existence of this planet's ring) Saturn composed primarily of water ice and are typically the size of ping-pong balls, tennis balls, and basketballs Neptune narrow and faint, composed of dark materials and not easy to see Uranus narrow ribbons of dark material with broad gaps in between
Match
Maria The dark, relatively smooth features that cover 17% of the Moon's surface Impact Basins Lava filled regions produced by collisions with large chunks of material, early in the Moon's history Highlands the lighter, heavily cratered regions of the Moon
One of the principal goals of the Viking landers on _____ (in the 1970's) was to search for life.
Mars
Mercury is a body dominated by its iron core. Astronomers think this may have happened because
Mercury is likely to have experienced several giant impacts very early in its history
Match the component of the universe with the percentage of its contribution to the composition of the universe.
Ordinary matter. D. About 5%. Dark matter. B. About 27%. Dark energy. A. About 68%.
Which of the following lists is correctly arranged in order of closest-to-most-distant from the Earth?
Moon, Sun, Pluto, Stars
As seen from your current location, when will an upright flagpole cast no shadow because the Sun is directly above the flagpole?
Never from your current position
When the Moon appears to completely cover the Sun (an eclipse), the Moon must be at which phase?
New Moon
General Relativity is required to understand black holes because
Newton's theory of gravity does not explain the interaction of light beams with a gravitational field.
The New Horizons spacecraft gave us information about Pluto's surface. Which of these features did we not observe on the surface?
Nitrogen gysers
Which of these is the original definition of the meter?
One ten-millionth of the distance along Earth's surface from the equator to the pole.
One of the biomarkers we might use in the search for extraterrestrial life is the presence of _____ because it would be hard to explain its presence in the atmosphere except by the presence of biology.
Oxygen
The closest star to us is
Proxima Centauri
Which of the following observations links pulsars to supernova explosions?
Pulsars have been found within supernova remnants.
Match
Refraction The bending of a beam of light Dispersion The violet light is bent more than the red light Reflection The rebound of a light wave from a surface
The measured age of primitive meteorites
Should be the age of the solar system because they would have formed with the solar system
Which of the following would make you weigh half as much as you do right now?
Take away half of the Earth's mass
Which of these is NOT an advantage of using telescopes in space.
Space-based telescopes are less expensive than ground-based telescopes because they can be operated remotely.
Match the gas characteristic with the gas type.
Temperature of about 10,000K. ionized hydrogen Temperatures typically about 10K. giant molecular clouds Temperatures of a million kelvins or greater. ultra-hot interstellar gas
According to modern ideas and observations, what can be said about the location of the center of the Universe?
The Universe doesn't have a center
Where does the Sun's energy come from?
The combining of lighter elements into heavier ones
Which of the following is NOT a hazard to life from a nearby supernova explosion?
The creation of heavier elements.
Which of these is the current definition of the meter?
The distance light can travel in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458.6 of a second.
Which of these processes can trigger the formation of new stars in a giant molecular cloud like the one in Orion?
The explosion of massive stars when they run out of fuel.
Which of these observations is NOT evidence for a spherical Earth?
The motion of celestial objects can be modeled as being on a rotating sphere.
Which of these is NOT a part of the explanation of the origin of astrology?
The observation of a comet heralded the death of a king or destruction of a civilization.
The orbital characteristics of Pluto are very different from other planets. This includes its
The orbital characteristics of Pluto are very different from other planets. This includes its
You hear two students explaining how modern astronomers model the apparent motion of the sky: The first student says, "The celestial sphere assumes that all the stars are the same distance from Earth and that the sphere rotates around a motionless Earth." The second student says, "That's correct, except that it does not assume the Earth is motionless. The Earth or the sphere can rotate with no difference in the appearance of the sky from the Earth." With which student do you agree?
The second student.
An emission line is created by an atom when an electron drops down in energy level.
True
Which of the following is responsible for binding the nucleons of the atom?
The strong nuclear force.
Which of the following is the least probable for the evolution of the universe?
The universe will eventually slow, come to a stop and collapse, creating a new expanding universe after passing through a singularity.
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a habitable environment for life as we know it?
There must be periods of night and day.
Astronauts inside the Space Shuttle float around as it orbits the Earth because...?
They are falling in the same way as the Space Shuttle
You have two smooth balls (so you can ignore air resistance) one twice as heavy as the other. You hold one in each hand at the same height above the ground. You release them at the same time. What will happen?
They will hit the ground at the same time.
In a young planetary system, even if we cannot see the planets directly, the planets can concentrate the dust particles into clumps and arcs that are much larger than the planets themselves and thus are more easily imaged.
True
The Earth's magnetic field originates in the Earth's liquid, metallic core.
True
The Moon's surface features are dominated by the results of impacts
True
The circumstellar disks observed around young stars provide evidence in support of our models for the formation of the solar system.
True
Compared to the distance to the Moon, how far away is the Space Shuttle (when in space) from the Earth?
Very close to Earth
Imagine that the Earth's orbit were changed to be a perfect circle about the Sun so that the distance to the Sun never changed. How would this affect the seasons?
We would continue to experience seasons in the same way we do now.
Which of these is NOT one of the largest optical telescopes in the world?
Yerkes Telescope
An object having the appearance of a rather faint, diffuse spot of light somewhat smaller than the Moon and many times less brilliant might be
a comet
As viewed from our location, the stars of the Big Dipper can be connected to form the shape of a pot with a curved handle. To where would you have to travel to first observe a considerable change in the shape formed by these stars?
a distant star
The principle cause of our intense interest in Mars in the decades before the dawn of the space age was that
a few astronomers believed that they saw evidence of an intelligent civilization of Mars
Newton concluded that some force had to act on the Moon because
a force is needed to pull the Moon away from straight-line motion.
A lunar eclipse can be seen more frequently from any given place on Earth than a solar eclipse because
a lunar eclipse can be seen from the entire night side of Earth.
One of the two theories of planetary ring formation states the rings may have been
a moon which was never allowed to form because of the planet's tidal forces
The giant planets probably have
a rocky core
With you arm held straight, your thumb is just wide enough to cover up the Sun. If you were on Saturn, which is 10 times farther from the Sun that Earth is, what object could you use to just cover up the Sun?
a strand of spaghetti
Two students are discussing the distance measuring method of triangulation. Student one says, "If you were to measure the distance to the stars from the planet, Jupiter, you would be able to measure greater distances." Student two says, "If you were to measure the distance to the stars from the planet, Jupiter, you would be able to measure the distance of fainter objects." You should ...
agree with student one
You hear two students discussing spectra. Student one says, "The types of spectra are related to the temperature of the material. Absorption spectra are created by cold, thin gasses absorbing photons and emission spectra are created by hot, thin gasses releasing photons." Student two says, "No, the temperature of the material has nothing to do with the type of spectrum produced, it only determines the number of photons released." You should...
agree with student one
Two students are discussing main sequence stars on the H-R diagram. Student one says, "The higher mass, main-sequence stars are on the upper right of the H-R diagram but they have not yet run out of fuel." Student two says, "No. The higher mass, main-sequence stars are in the upper left of the H-R diagram because they have higher temperatures as well." You should,
agree with student two.
Two students are discussing the interstellar medium and nebulae. Student one says, "Nebulae are regions of high dust density, but the interstellar medium is nothing more than gas." Student two says, "No. Nebulae are just regions where the density of the interstellar medium is much above average. They are made of both gas and dust, just as is the interstellar medium." You should
agree with student two.
Any theory about the formation of the solar system must be able to explain
all motions must be explained.
Of the planetary systems we have observed,
all of these answers are correct.
To [Slipher's] surprise, the spectral lines of most galaxies (spiral nebulae) showed
an astounding red shift.
Planets with geologic activity have
an atmosphere
An atom that is unbalanced between proton and electron count, is called
an ion
The early universe must have had tiny density fluctuations from which such structures could evolve. Regions of higher-than-average density would have attracted additional matter and eventually grown into the galaxies and clusters that we see today. It turned out that these denser regions would
appear to us to be colder spots.
A star's radius can be inferred by looking at its spectrum because the spectrum is affected by the star's
atmospheric pressure
The idea that free fall is indistinguishable from zero gravity is called the
equivalence principle
The Doppler effect can be used to measure the radial speed of celestial objects
because the amount of wavelength shift is related to the radial speed of the object
Which of these makes a false statement: "In comparison to a partial solar eclipse, during the totality portion of a total solar eclipse you can...
become permanently blinded if you observe it without eye protection
The path the Sun makes against the background stars as it moves on the celestial sphere is called _____ and the Sun moves on that path at the rate of about _____.
blank #1 the ecliptic blank #2 1 degree per day
The hottest stars are what color?
blue
The polar ice caps of Mars consist mainly of
both carbon dioxide and water ices
The dark lines in the image of the spectrum of light coming from a gas
can tell us the chemical composition of the gas
The chemical composition of the interstellar medium is
changed by the birth and death of stars.
One of the main events during the continued evolution of the solar system up to today, is the
changing orbits of Jupiter and Saturn possibly causing the "heavy bombardment era"
Stars which never rise or set are located in the _____ zone of the celestial sphere.
circumpolar
Two adjectives describing the general surface conditions on Mars are
cold and desolate
The disk structure of the Milky Way is thought to be primarily the result of the
collapse of a single cloud with rotational motion.
Comets have a broad range of orbital periods because they
come from different sources in the solar system.
Even if we ignore dark energy, the evidence is that the universe will
continue to expand forever.
Match the Sun's atmospheric layer with its characteristics.
corona transparent, contains gas flows called filaments chromosphere transparent, but absorbs some photons photosphere opaque, but releases photons
Which of these surface features, discovered by the first spacecraft mission (Mariner 4) to Mars, was NOT expected to be seen on Mars?
craters
The wind patterns on the giant planets are
created for reasons similar to Earth's, but are then distorted by the high rotation rate of the planets
Match the Earth inner structure layer with its short description.
crust solid, basalt and granite outer core liquid, iron and nickel mantle more or less solid, but rock can deform and flow inner core probably solid, iron and nickel
Match the object with a description of it orbit.
eccentricity of 0.8 comet mostly found between 2.2 and 3.3 AU asteroid most of orbit far away from the Sun comet large semi-major axis comet small semi-major axis asteroid
According to Kepler, the orbits of the planets are
ellipses with the Sun at one focus.
Generally, which of these has the primary influence on the temperature of a planet's surface?
distance from Sun
Make this a true statement: "Newton's law of gravity _____ where as Einstein's formulation does."
does not predict the bending of a light beam by gravity
The general appearance of the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn) is
east-west cloud bands.
Match the region of the sky to the description of the apparent motion of the stars, as viewed from northern latitudes.
eastern horizon the stars rise on this horizon southern horizon the stars make arc-paths across the sky western horizon the stars set on this horizon northern horizon the stars never rise or set on the horizon
An organism (usually a microbe) that tolerates or even thrives under conditions that most of the life around us would consider hostile, such as very high or low temperature or acidity, is known as an
extremophile
A rift zone is where the continental plates are colliding and a subduction zone is where the continental plates are separating
false
From what we have learned from our explorations of Mars, Mars could never have had any life on its surface.
false
The distances we measure with the methods we have discussed are therefore only accurate to within a certain percentage of error -- but these errors are surprising small.
false
The momentum of a body cannot be changed by an outside influence (force).
false
The soil surface of the Moon is hard and rocky
false
The rotation of the gas giants is
faster than any other planet in our solar system
In the proton-proton chain, the reaction step which creates deuterium is the _____ step.
first
Match the solar activity with its description.
flares The most violent event on the surface of the Sun, lasting 5 to 10 minutes. eruptive prominences Send matter upward into the corona at high speeds for more than one million kilometers above the photosphere. plages Bright "clouds" in the chromosphere around sunspots. coronal mass ejection Immense quantities of material, thrown off at high speeds. quiescent prominences Graceful loops of plasma remaining nearly stable for many hours or days.
Match the terms to their definition.
fusion releases energy by combining small nuclei to make bigger ones fission releases energy by splitting big nuclei into smaller ones binding energy energy used to hold the nucleons together
General Relativity is Einstein's version of
gravity
Newton's and Einstein's theories of gravity can both calculate the acceleration due to gravity between two massive objects, but Einstein's theory can also explain
how objects can interact without physical contact.
Which of the following serve as the basis for our biological chemistry?
hydrocarbon
Titan's thick atmosphere creates enough pressure to allow liquid _____ to mimic the water cycle on Earth.
hydrocarbons
The chemical composition of the atmospheres of the giant planets is mostly
hydrogen and helium
If the internal pressure in a star were not great enough to balance the weight of its outer parts, the star would collapse somewhat, contracting and building up the pressure inside. On the other hand, if the pressure were greater than the weight of the overlying layers, the star would expand, thus decreasing the internal pressure. Expansion would stop, and equilibrium would again be reached when the pressure at every internal point equaled the weight of the stellar layers above that point. This process is the result of
hydrostatic equilibrium
Match a characteristic of a model universe with its name.
hyperbolic (saddle) shaped universe C. open universe has exactly the critical mass density A. flat universe expands to the point where gravity causes it to collapse B. closed universe
Which of the following is NOT a classification of an asteroid?
icy
Life as we know it employs two main molecular systems:
information-containing molecules D. DNA molecules which carry out the chemical work of the cell A. proteins
The unusual surface features on Europa may be explained by
interactions with Jupiter's intense magnetic field the moon having a global, water-ocean under its crust
The uniformity [in temperature] of the cosmic microwave background radiation in every direction
is a confirmation of the cosmological principle.
Our estimate of the age of the universe (the Hubble time, T0)
is equal to the reciprocal of the Hubble constant.
The large craters in the Venusian plains indicate an average surface age that is only between 300 and 600 million years. These results indicate that Venus
is indeed a planet with persistent geological activity
Match the layer of the atmosphere with its short description.
mesosphere Meteors burn up in this layer. ionosphere Many atoms are ionized. the stratosphere Protects the surface from some of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. the troposphere near 50c below freezing ozone layer Protects the surface from some of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation.
Larger dust or rock particles entering Earth's atmosphere and creating a brief, fiery trail (not hitting the ground) are properly called
meteors
Match the electromagnetic band with a typical use for that band.
microwave satellite communications, telephones, cooking gamma-rays none (given by the book) radio wireless, voice or image-based communications infrared heat lamps, remote controls ultraviolet "black light," creating skin cancer, medical sterilization x-rays medical exams, bone fractures
In the earliest times of the first few minutes after the beginning of the expansion of the universe, it was so hot that the universe contained
mostly radiation.
Planets like Jupiter may form farther out in the protoplanetary disk and then
move inward toward the star by gravitational interactions with the other planets to form "hot Jupiters."
On the large scale, the universe at any given time is the same everywhere (homogeneous and isotropic). As a result, the expansion rate
must be the same everywhere during any epoch of cosmic time.
Uranus' rings are
narrow and black.
One way of dating the formation of planets is by counting craters. Another way involves
natural radioactivity of some chemical elements found in rocks
The best observatory sites are NOT
next to cities
The greenhouse effect acts on Venus the same way it acts on Earth. However it is stronger on Venus because
of the greater amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
the atmosphere (head) of a comet
often as large as jupiter
Astronomers can use the numbers of craters on different parts of the same world to provide important clues about how regions on that world evolved. On a given planet or moon, the more heavily cratered terrain will generally be ...
older
We have had to revise our ideas about the formation of planetary systems because
our ideas were based only on our solar system - a single example.
Which of the following is a particle of light?
photon
Copernicus ordered the planets from the Sun by
placing the planets by orbital period, with the shortest orbital period closest to the Sun.
A small object in the Orion nebula shows up very bright in infrared but is not seen in visible light because it is buried in dense, gas and dust. This object could be a
protostar
For a test of the validity of astrology, two statisticians examined the reenlistment records of the United States Marine Corps. If Sun signs can predict strong personality traits, then those who reenlisted (____) distributed preferentially in those one or few signs that matched the personality of someone who loves being a Marine.
should have been - and were NOT
In a demonstration, a student is putting a tennis ball on a thin sheet of rubber which is stretched over a frame. This is one way of
showing all of these concepts.
As a white dwarf ages, it will
simply fade away to become a black dwarf.
The selection effect explains why
some stars that are close to us cannot be seen while those that can be seen with the unaided eye are distant.
One proposed form of dark matter is that it is
some type of elementary particle we have not yet detected here on earth.
Which of the following formulas represent the relationship between wave speed, wavelength and frequency?
speed = wavelength × frequency
When forming an impact crater, the size of the excavated crater depends primarily on the
speed of impact
If a light source is receding from the observer, the light waves will be
spread out, making the spectral lines appear red shifted.
The H-R diagram is based on the _____ and the _____ of the stars.
temperature; luminosity
The primary reason that stellar spectra look different is because the stars have different
temperatures
Of the three main rings of Saturn,
the B Ring is the brightest and has the most closely packed particles, whereas the A and C Rings are translucent.
The first motivation for defining standards of measurement was
the requirements of commerce.
Life on Mars (in present time) is probably not possible because
the surface has been sterilized by ultraviolet radiation
It is impossible to learn about Venus' surface by ground-based observation because
the surface is not visible because it is shrouded by dense clouds
The largest volcano on Mars, Olympus Mons, is three times higher than ___ as measured from their bases
the tallest mountain on Earth
One of the properties of the planets that can be explained with collisions is
the unusual or unexpected spin axis orientations of some of the planets
The lunar phases are caused by
the visibility (from Earth) of the lit half of the moon
How does the speed of radio waves compare to the speed of visible light?
they travel at the same speed
The geological activity we observe on Europa and Io are driven by
tidal heating, due to their slightly eccentric orbits around Jupiter.
The Oort cloud is composed of
trillions of potential comet nuclei.
A horoscope is a chart showing the positions of the planets in the sky at the moment of an individual's birth.
true
How planets appear to move in the sky is a combination of their actual motions plus the motion of Earth about the Sun
true
One of the biggest challenges in building the next generation of ground-based telescopes is in constructing the huge mirrors.
true
Planets with molten (hot) interiors have geologic activity and those with solid (cold) interiors do not.
true
The Moon's gravity is stronger on one side of the Earth compared to the other side of the Earth. This causes the oceans' tides.
true
Venus is a planet that has experienced widespread volcanism.
true
Finish this statement: "Dark matter could have had much greater variations in density and been able to come together to form gravitational 'traps' that could then have begun to attract ordinary matter immediately after the universe became transparent. As ordinary matter became increasingly concentrated, it could have
turned into galaxies quickly."
Which of these EM regions is blocked (primarily) by the atmosphere's ozone layer
ultraviolet
Hubble's law relates _____ to _____ which allows us to determine the distance to remote galaxies.
velocity; distance
The two main reasons Venus is inhospitable to human life are
very high surface temperature and atmospheric pressure.
Match the type of binary star system with its description.
visual binary Stars which can be separated in the eyepiece of a telescope. spectroscopic binary Stars which can NOT be separated in the eyepiece of a telescope. eclipsing binary Stars where they pass in front of each other alternatively
One of the most exciting results from analysis of martian surface samples have been the discovery of ___ in them
water and organic compounds
The primary reason it is so difficult for us to understand the structure of the Milky Way is that
we are inside it, and surrounded by gas and dust.
match
weight A force due to gravity density ratio of mass to volume volume A measure of the amount of space taken by an object Mass A measure of the amount of material in an object
If Valles Marineris were on Earth, it
would stretch from Washington D.C. to Los Angels.
Match each term to its definition.
zenith The point above the observer's head. local meridian A line drawn from due north to due south, passing directly overhead. prime meridian A line drawn from the North Pole to the South Pole through Greenwich, England. horizon A line dividing ground from sky.
