Astronomy- Final Exam
B is...
Antumbra
Which of the planet orbits is most like the Earth's orbit around the Sun?
B
If you are located in the continental U.S. on the first day of October, how will the position of the Sun be at noon be different two weeks later?
It will be at a position closer to the Horizon.
What time is it when the full moon is highest in the sky?
Midnight
Which takes the most time to complete?
Solar day
Which of the following best describes why the Moon goes through phases?
We see only part of the lit-up face of the moon depending on its position relative to Earth and the Sun.
Imagine that 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 essentially the same way we do now.
A planet is moving in normal motion. Over the course of several nights, how will the planet appear to move relative to the background stars?
West to East
In the H-R diagram above, which star is largest?
1
For how many days was this planet in retrograde motion?
12 days
Star B is low in the northern sky at 9 PM. At what time will Star B be located high in the northwestern sky? (note: star B is lowest at 9 pm and star A highest at 3 am.)
12:00 PM
Roughly how old is the universe?
15 Billion years old
At what time would you see Star A in the southern part of the sky?
3:00 AM
In the pictures above a star is shown moving relative to the Earth (not to scale). For the light from the star reaching Earth, rank these in order from most blueshifted to most redshifted.
4, 3, 1, 2, 5
In the H-R diagram above, which star is hot and dim?
5
At what time would you see Star A rising in the east?
9:00 PM
Which atom would absorb light with the shortest wavelength?
A
Imagine that you are the head of a NASA funding agency that can afford to build only one telescope. Which of the four proposed telescopes below would be best to support?
A Gamma-ray telescope in orbit above the Earth.
Which star would emit the most radiation?
A Hot and large star
On an H-R diagram, how would our Sun be categorized?
A main sequence star
If an electron in an atom moves from an energy level of 6 to an energy level of 3,
A photon of energy 3 is emitted.
Which of the following has the longest wavelength?
A radio wave
Which of the following is the best ranking for the amount of time that each of the stars shown above (A-D), will be above the horizon during a 24 hour period, from least amount of time to greatest amount of time?
A>B=C>D
A bright blue star is moving toward Earth. Which of the choices best completes the following statement describing the spectrum of this star? A(n)___________ spectrum that is ____________ relative to an unmoving star.
Absorption; Blue Shifted.
Which kind of spectrum is given off by a red colored, neon "OPEN" sign?
An emission spectrum with more bright emission lines at the red end of the spectrum.
Based on the locations of the constellations described below, what would the horoscope sign of a person born on this day? (Taurus is high in the southern sky at sunset. Aquarius is on the eastern horizon at sunrise. Scorpius is on the western horizon at noon. Leo is high in the southern sky a midnight.)
Aquarius
In a few words define what an AU is.
Astronomical Unit- the distance between the Sun and the Earth
At which position (A, B, or C) would the spacecraft feel the greatest acceleration?
At position A.
In what direction is Star B moving at 3:00 AM?(note: star B is lowest at 9 pm and star A is highest at 3 am.)
Away from the horizon (up)
According to Kepler's 2nd law, during which portion of the planets orbit "B", "C", or "D", would the planet take the same amount of time as it took for the portion identified with letter "A"? Answer E if you think the planet took the same amount of time to travel through ALL portions of the motion (A, B, C, and D).
B
Which atom would be emitting light with the greatest energy?
B
Which lettered position (A-E) in the image below, best represents the location on Earth that is experiencing summer in the Southern Hemisphere?
B
Which of the four images shown below (A-D) corresponds to a lunar eclipse?
B
Which of the planets shown would experience the least change in speed during a year?
B
The name of the constellation containing Arcturus?
Bootes
Which common phenomenon is contradicted by the particle nature of light and considered evidence for the wave nature of light?
Both diffraction and refraction
Explain how astronomers can tell what a star is made of.
By looking at the spectrum lines of the star, because each element has its own unique spectrum line.
Closest to which point might the net (total) force on the spacecraft be zero?
C
During which part of the planet's orbit (A, B, C, or D) would the planet move with the highest speed? Answer E if you think the planet travels with the same amount of speed during ALL of the portions of the motion (A, B, C, and D).
C
Which "X" could represent the position of the end of the stick's shadow made shortly before sunset during the winter?
C
Which of the above diagram shows a pair of asteroids with the weakest gravitational attraction?
C
Which of the following is the byproduct of burning (or oxidizing) hydrocarbon molecules in fossil fuels?
Carbon-dioxide, water and sulphuric acid.
At a fundamental level, electromagnetic waves (or photons) are emitted when______ accelerate?
Charge particles
Stars in constellations located near Polaris appear to move in circles over a night when viewed from the northern hemisphere of Earth. What are these constellations called?
Circumpolar
Who suggested a geocentric cosmology based upon epicycles and deferents?
Claudius Ptolemy
If Earth were upright with no tilt, would the temperature at your location in July be colder, warmer, or the same as it is currently during the month of July?
Cooler
You look to the Eastern horizon as the moon first rises and see that it is in the full moon phase. Later when the moon reaches its highest position in the sky, which of the moon phases shown at right will the moon look like?
D
Which of the following is the best ranking for the highest temperature (from coolest to hottest) that a glass of water would reach during the 24 hour period at each location.
D, A, C, B, E
Which of the following is the type of spectrum that is observed from the sun here on Earth?
Dark Line Absorption Spectrum
Sunlight observed by Joseph von Freunhofer and he noted something that had never been seen before. What was it?
Dark lines in the spectrum
Henrietta Leavitte, the obscure computer that worked at the Harvard Observatory around the beginning of the 20th century had a handicap. What was it?
Deaf
Which of the following describes one reason that the northern and southern hemispheres have different seasons at the same time?
During a day of the year when the Sun is high in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere it will be low in the sky in the Southern hemisphere.
During which of the portions of the planet's orbit would the planet experience an increase in speed for at least one moment?
During three of the portions shown
Which Moon position (a-e), shown in the diagram at right, best corresponds with the waning crescent phase.
E
Based on the information in the table above, which of the following is the most accurate ranking of the speed of the stars from moving fastest toward the Earth to moving fastest away?
E, A, C, D, B
Rank the telescopes based on their ability to resolve fine detail from the best to worst. For telescopes with more than one mirror, rank based on the combines area of mirrors.
E, A, F, B, C, D.
If a small weather satellite and the large International Space Station are orbiting the Earth at the same altitude above the Earth's surface, which of the following is true?
Each has the same orbital period.
The Sun appears to rise and set in our sky because __________, and you are one year older each time ___________.
Earth rotates on its axis; Earth completes one orbit of the Sun.
Which of the following locations experiences the smallest amount of change in sunlight over the course of a year?
Equator
What do we call the day(s) of the year when the Sun rises due east and sets due west and daylight lasts exactly 12 hours?
Equinoxes
If Earth were titled a little more (35 degrees), during summer at your location you would then
Experience warmer temperatures
Enzo star gives off the same amount of energy as Ferdinand Star. But Enzo star is much much hotter than Ferdinand star. Which star has the greater surface area?
Ferdinand
Suppose you lived on the moon near the center of the side facing the Earth. When Earth is in the new phase, what phase of the moon would people on Earth be seeing?
Full
In what phase and location described below will the moon be in, when a lunar eclipse occurs?
Full phase and crossing Earth's orbital plane
What will an individual's birth sign, 7 months after the time is shown?
Gemini
During the first quarter phase, how much of the total Moon's surface is being illuminated by sunlight?
Half
During the new moon phases, how much of the Moon's total surface is being illuminated by sunlight?
Half
What did Edwin Hubble discover and how did it lead to the Big Bang Theory.
He discovered that the universe is expandint
What time is it when the moon phase shown, first begins to set below the horizon?
In the Early morning.
Warm objects emit thermal radiation. What part of the electromagnetic spectrum is this?/
Infrared
What happens to the light that is missing in an absorption spectrum?
It is absorbed by atoms in a cool, low density cloud.
Which of the following best describes what would happen to a planet's orbital speed if it's mass were doubled but it stayed at the same orbital distance?
It would orbit with the same speed
What component of Earth's motion causes the star to rise earlier on successive nights?
Its orbit around the Sun.
Which constellation will be high in the sky at midnight in 3 months?
Leo
What do astronomers mean by "light pollution"?
Light from artificial sources makes it difficult to see the night sky.
At noon on the day of the winter solstice, how will your shadow appear?
Long and Pointing to the North
A student in your class makes the following comment about the relationship between the location in our solar system and their orbital period and mass: "As we look at planets farther away from the Sun than Mercury we see that their distance gets bigger and that the mass of the planets is also getting larger. So, I think that the farther away a planet is the longer it takes to go around the Sun and the more massive the planet will be too." Which planet listed in the table illustrates the fact that the student is incorrect in their reasoning? Which of the following Laws would you use to explain to this student that their reasoning is incorrect?
Mars; Kepler's 3rd
Energy is emitted from atoms in the form of light (or photons) when electrons...
Move from high energy levels to low energy levels
Which of the following would cause the force on the Moon by the Earth to increase by the largest amount?
Move the Moon two times closer to the Earth.
When would someone expect to see Venus high in the sky at midnight?
Never.
Which phase of the moon rises in the east as the Sun also rises in the east?
New
In what phase and location described below will the Moon be when a solar eclipse occurs?
New phase and crossing Earth's orbital plane
Which of the following sequences of moon phases will occur one after the other within one cycle of phases?
New, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous.
Which of the following astronomers first proposed the heliocentric model of the solar system?
Nicholas Copernicus
Which, if any, of the objects could approximately be the same size as Object D?
None of the above
Which of the following is the correct ranking for the size of the objects A-E from largest to smallest?
None of the above.
Imagine you are standing on the North Pole. Roughly how many of these visible stars are circumpolar?
None of them are
If you had a sundial and wanted to align it to show time, what direction would the 12 PM number on the dial be facing so that the shadow would hit it?
North
Which direction is the camera facing (center) in this picture?
Northeast
Which object could be at rest?
Object C
Which object(s) is giving off just as much energy as object "B"?
Object C
Which of these objects is the smallest?
Object C
Which, if any, of the objects has the same temperature as object B?
Object D
For an observer in the continental U.S., which of the x's (a, b, c, d) in the figure at right correctly shows where the end of the stick's shadow would be located at noon for different times throughout the year? Note the positions of the Sun's shadow at noon on the solstices are labeled for you.
Only Position B
During how many portions of the planet's orbit (A, B, C, and D) would the planet be speeding up the entire time?
Only during one of the portions shown
A is...
Pentumbra
Which constellation was the highest in the sky 6 hours before the time shown in the drawing above?
Pisces
Which of the following rankings is correct for the size (width) of the following objects from SMALLEST TO LARGEST?
Planet, Star, Solar System, Galaxy, Universe.
Kepler's second law says, "a line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal amounts of time." Which of the following statements mean nearly the same thing?
Planets move farther in each unit of time when they are closer to the Sun.
Who suggested a cosmology based upon the following principles?"The heavens represent perfection-the heavens are immutable. The circle is the perfect shape. All heavenly motions must be circular."
Pythagoras
Lenses and telescopes (and eye glasses) can focus light because of what well known phenomenon?
Refraction
Which type of telescope uses two lenses, an objective an objective and an eyepiece?
Refractor
Which shadow plot (A or B) most closely corresponds to the Sun's path through the sky during the summer?
Shadow Plot B
In a few sentences, explain what Henrietta Leavitte's contribution to astronomy was.
She discovered that stars had periods of brightness. She discovered a correlation between luminosity and the period of brightness.This led to other contributions in Astronomy , like Hubble using her data to discover that the universe is expanding .
How long does it take the Earth to rotate exactly 360 degrees?
Slightly less than 24 hours
What would the spacecraft do next if it were moving toward the moon when at position "A" with its engine off?
Slow down
In your own words, explain the difference between a synodic month and s sidereal month
Synodic month is how long a month is judging on the phases of the moon which is what we use now (around 29. Something days). A sidereal month is how long a month is based on the moons orbit around a star (around 27. Something days).
For the day shown, which constellation will be the highest in the sky at midnight?
Taurus
If you could see stars during the day, the drawing above shows what the sky would like at noon on a given day. The Sun is near the stars of the constellation Taurus. Near which constellation would you expect the Sun to be located at sunrise on this same day?
Taurus
Which of the following did Galileo not discover providing evidence that the Sun must be at the center of the solar system?
That Mars moves with retrograde motion
Which of the following statements is true about the location of the Sun at sunset during the middle of summer?
The Sun will set a little North of West
Which of the following correctly ranks locations closest to Earth to farthest from Earth?
The Sun, the edge of our solar system, the star Alpha Centauri, far edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, near side of the Andromeda Galaxy.
Imagine that you throw a ball directly upward. Which of the following statements best describes how Newton's Second Law accounts for the motion of the ball when it reaches its maximum height?
The ball has a net force that is downward and an acceleration that is downward.
Two stars in a binary system are known to be the same size, however one star appears to be sixteen times brighter than the other. What could be concluded?
The brighter star is twice as hot as the other.
In a few words define what a light year is
The distance light travels in a year
Which of the following statements about an ellipse is NOT true?
The focus of an ellipse is always located precisely at the center of the ellipse.
According to Hubble's Law, how does the velocity of a galaxy depend on its distance from the Earth?
The greater the distance, the higher the velocity.
Which of the following would be true about comparing gamma rays and radio waves?
The radio waves would have a longer wavelength and travel the same speed as gamma rays.
Astronomers observe that nearly all galaxies are moving away from us because
The space in between the galaxies is expanding.
How many of Earth locations shown above (A-F) would be experiencing summer?
Three
If the Moon is in the waning gibbous phase tonight, approximately how long will it be until the Moon is in the waxing gibbous phase?
Three weeks
In what direction would the net (total) force point if the space ship were moving toward the Moon when at position "B"?
Toward Earth
Imagine you see Mars rising in the east at 6:30 PM. Six hours later what direction would you face to see Mars when it is highest in the sky?
Toward the South
How many of the following: gamma, x-ray, UV, Visible, IR and radio, coming from space can NOT be detected on the surface of Earth at all?
Two
If the moon is in the new phase today, how many of the moon phases shown below (A-E) would the moon go through during the next 12 days?
Two
Kepler's Laws of planetary motion are based on detailed observations made by which astronomer?
Tycho Brahe
Which of the following is not a form of light?
Ultrasound
C is...
Umbra
One evening at midnight, you observe Leo high in the southern sky at midnight. Virgo is to the east of Leo and Cancer is to the west. One month later, which of these constellations will be high in the southern sky at midnight?
Virgo
Which of the following is most likely the energy output versus wavelength graph for the heat energy of the light radiating from the person sitting next to you taking this test?
Wavelength C
Which of the following groups of moon phases is above the horizon at 9:00 p.m.?
Waxing Gibbous, First Quarter, Full Moon
"Astronomers can see the past." Elaborate on what that means.
When astronomers look at stars,especially the ones farther away, they are seeing light that has taken billions of years to get here, meaning the stars they are seeing they are seeing are actually much older now (like they are seeing a younger image). So the light they are seeing now is from the past.
When the ________ is in the ________ phase and is directly in line with the _________ and the ___________, you get a lunar eclipse.
When the Moon is in the Full Moon phase and is directly in line with the Sun and the Earth, you get a lunar eclipse.
Which of the following is most energetic?
X-Rays
The three spectral curves shown in the graphs above illustrate the energy output versus wavelength for three unknown X, Y, and Z.? Which of the following is the correct ranking for the temperature of the stars, from coldest to hottest?
X<Z<Y
The following diagrams all show the same comet orbit, but each one shows the comet passing through a different segment of its orbit around the Sun. During each segment, a line drawn from the Sun to the comet sweeps out a triangular-shaped, shaded area. Assume that all the shaded regions have exactly the same area. Rank the segments of the comet's orbit based on the length of time it takes the comet to move from point 1 to point 2, from longest to shortest.
Z=y=x=w
When an ambulance passes you standing on the street corner, the wavelength of the sound waves shift from shorter to longer, first explained mathematically by Christian Doppler. This is heard audibly as
an audible shift in pitch from high to low.
Polaris?
c. North Star
Of the "powers" of telescopes, which is the most important?
collecting power
The name of the constellation commonly referred to as "The Big Dipper" is what?
f. Ursa Major
How many stars shown above could have the same luminosity as the star shown at the right?(the lighter shade of gray, the hotter the star).
none
One night, you see the star Sirius rise at exactly 7:36 PM. The following night it will rise
slightly earlier
Some telescopes are placed in space above the Earth's atmosphere primarily for which of the following reasons?
some of the light from objects is absorbed by Earths atmosphere.
Different forms of light (x-ray, radio, visible, gamma, etc.) differ in many ways except in what?
speed
Four Emission lines from a mercury vapor lamp are observed, a violet, blue, green and yellow. Which corresponds to an atomic transmission of the highest energy?
violet
Using the same picture as above, again assume that all the shaded areas have the exact same area. This time, rank the segments of the comet's orbit based on the distance the comet travels when moving from point 1 to point 2, from longest to shortest.
z>w>x>y
