Interstellar medium/Quiz

Planetary Nebula Abell 39 is captured from the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter using the Schulman 32 inch Telescope. Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona.

Interstellar medium is a lecture about an entity that exists between and around stars. It is a mini-lecture for a quiz section as part of the radiation astronomy course on the principles of radiation astronomy.

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Quiz

Point added for a correct answer:
Points for an incorrect answer:
Ignore the questions' coefficients:

1 A NASA Hubble image of the Ring Nebula contains which of the following?

	very hot helium blue
	ionized oxygen emitting green
	red light from ionized nitrogen
	oxygen forbidden line emission
	Hα
	a forbidden line of sulfur

2 Yes or No, The amino acid glycine may have been discovered in the ISM.

	Yes
	No

3 Which of the following is not a studied characteristic of astrochemistry?

	interstellar atoms
	interaction of radiation with molecules
	nucleosynthesis
	organics of interstellar origin
	interstellar precursors

4 True or False, Black patches of space in certain areas encompassing a star formation are not dark nebulae but actually vast holes of empty space.

	TRUE
	FALSE

5 Which of the following is not a characteristic of super soft X-radiation?

	electromagnetic radiation
	ionizing radiation
	usually hidden by interstellar absorption in the galactic disk
	readily evident in external galaxies
	have energies in the 0.09 to 2.5 keV range

6 True or False, By comparing astronomical observations with laboratory measurements, astrochemists can infer the elemental abundances, chemical composition, and temperatures of stars and interstellar clouds.

	TRUE
	FALSE

7 Complete the text:

The interstellar medium is the gas and dust that pervade space and is the matter that exists between the within a . It blends smoothly into the surrounding medium.

8 True or False, The energy that occupies the same volume as the interstellar medium in the form of electromagnetic radiation is the interstellar radiation field.

	TRUE
	FALSE

9 Intragalactic super soft X-ray sources may be heavily reddened by?

10 True or False, The interstellar medium consists of an extremely dilute (by terrestrial standards) mixture of ions, atoms, molecules, larger dust grains, cosmic rays, and (galactic) magnetic fields.

	TRUE
	FALSE

11 Which phenomenon are associated with the heliosphere?

	a region of space where the interstellar medium is blown away by the solar wind
	a bubble in space
	virtually all the material emanates from the Sun itself
	Voyager 2
	Voyager 1
	the termination shock

12 True or False, The first gamma-ray telescope carried into orbit, on the Explorer 11 satellite in 1961, picked up fewer than 100 cosmic gamma-ray photons.

	TRUE
	FALSE

13 The point where the interstellar medium and solar wind pressures balance is called the

14 True or False, A dimming of light from stars due to absorption and scattering from dust in the interstellar medium is called interstellar extinction.

	TRUE
	FALSE

15 That part of outer space between planets and their star(s) is called?

16 True or False, The planetary nebula NGC 6543 has large concentrations of hydrogen, oxygen and ionized nitrogen.

	TRUE
	FALSE

17 WNM is an acronym for what?

18 True or False, The Hβ emission line does not appear when the F492M filter is used on the Hubble Space Telescope because its wavelength is 486.1 nm.

	TRUE
	FALSE

19 The 1₁₁ → 1₁₀ rotational transition that occurs in the direction of four dark nebulae is likely from what chemical.

20 When ionization cones are present, what green characteristics are usually readily observed?

	O III green emission line
	green continua
	biconical structure
	a common cone axis and apex
	ionized gas
	neon clouds

21 Complete the text:

Match up the item letter with each of the possibilities below:

Interstellar comet - A

Neutrals - B

Geminga - C

star formation region - D

Local Hot Bubble - E

H II regions - F

Ring Nebula - G

molecular cloud - H

supernova remnant - I

Messier 17 - J

empty space - K

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See also

• Astronomy/Quiz
• Green astronomy/Quiz
• Planetary science/Quiz
• Radiation astrochemistry/Quiz
• Radiation astrogeography/Quiz
• Radiation astrohistory/Quiz
• Radiation astronomy/Quiz
• Theoretical radiation astronomy/Quiz

External links

• International Astronomical Union
• NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database - NED
• NASA's National Space Science Data Center
• The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System
• SDSS Quick Look tool: SkyServer
• SIMBAD Astronomical Database
• SIMBAD Web interface, Harvard alternate
• Spacecraft Query at NASA
• Universal coordinate converter

{{Radiation astronomy resources}}