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OpenStax Astronomy/Test 1 Study guide

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Astronomy midterm Test 1 Study Guide

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Astronomy midterm Test 1 Study Guide-v1s1

[edit | edit source]

1. When did astronomy split between theoretical and observational branches?

___ a) In the last decade
___ b) In the 20th century
___ c) In the 18th century
___ d) After Galileo
___ e) In the 19th century


2. What does the Wikipedia 'Astronomy' call astrology?

___ a) the belief that all people should learn astronomy
___ b) the belief system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects.
___ c) the study of planetary atmospheres
___ d) the study of planetary cores
___ e) the study of comets and asteroids


3. Cosmology is the study of

___ a) the oceans
___ b) the formation of the solar system
___ c) the universe as a whole
___ d) the birth and death of stars
___ e) planetary atmospheres


4. What does the Wikipedia 'Astronomy' article say about astronomy and astrophysics

___ a) They are often considered to be opposites
___ b) They must be in agreement or the result cannot be trusted
___ c) They are often in conflict
___ d) They often yield different results
___ e) They are often considered to be synonymous


5. The goecentric theory put the Sun

___ a) in orbit around Earth
___ b) at the center of the solar system
___ c) none of the above or below are true
___ d) at the center of the universe
___ e) orbiting around the Moon


6. In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos estimated the size of

___ a) the Moon and Sun
___ b) Earth and the Moon
___ c) the Sun
___ d) Earth and the Sun
___ e) the Moon


7. In the 19th century Fraunhoffer and Kirchoff studied light from the Sun and found

___ a) a wobble that led to the discovery of new planets
___ b) a golden ring
___ c) Mercury's shadow
___ d) sunspots and the sunspot cycle
___ e) spectral lines and concluded that they were caused by the elements


8. The ancient Greeks discovered (named) most of the constellations

___ a) in the eastern hemisphere
___ b) in the southern hemisphere
___ c) in both all hemispheres
___ d) in the northern hemisphere
___ e) in the western hemisphere


9. When did astronmers establish that the Milky way is only one of many billions of galaxies in the universe?

___ a) 16th century
___ b) 14th century
___ c) 20th century
___ d) 18th century


10. According to the Wikipedia Astronomy article, the first known efforts in the mathematical and scientific study of Astronomy began

___ a) among the Babylonians
___ b) in south America
___ c) in central America
___ d) among the Chinese
___ e) in ancient Greece


11. How many years did it take before Europe made a device as sophisticated as Antikythera?

___ a) 1500 years
___ b) 300 years
___ c) 3000 years
___ d) 30 years
___ e) 15,000 years


12. The saro cycle was about repeating cycles of

___ a) seasons
___ b) planets
___ c) eclipses


13.
Who drew these sketches?



___ a) Galileo
___ b) Aristotle
___ c) Ptolemy
___ d) Kepler
___ e) Copernicus


14. In what century was parallax first used to measure the distance to a Star (other than our Sun)?

___ a) 17th century
___ b) 19th century
___ c) 16th century
___ d) 20th century
___ e) 18th century


15. The largest galaxy in the local group is

___ a) M52
___ b) Andromeda
___ c) M-31
___ d) ant-galexy
___ e) Milky way


16. What two names are associated with the first new planet found (after those known by the ancients using the naked eye)

___ a) Uranus and George's Star
___ b) Pluto and Goofy
___ c) Mercury and Friendship
___ d) Neptune and the Alabama Streaker
___ e) Mars and the Candy Bar


17. The historical record shows that in 1066 AD a supernovae was discovered by astronomers in _____ and _____

___ a) Egypt and China
___ b) Greece and North America
___ c) Greece and Central America
___ d) Greece and China
___ e) China and South America


18.
What is this?
___ a) the magnetic field of Venus
___ b) a dying star
___ c) a supernovae remnant
___ d) the magnetic field of Saturn
___ e) colliding galaxies


19. Wihlem Conrad Rontgen, a pioneer in X-rays is famous for his photo of

___ a) a double star
___ b) Barnard's star
___ c) The Sun
___ d) a supernovae
___ e) his wife


20. Earth based infrared observatories tend to be located in

___ a) where the air is cold
___ b) near the north and south poles
___ c) underground
___ d) near the equator
___ e) where the air is dry


21. The shortest wavelength of electromagnetic radiation is associated with

___ a) blue light
___ b) gamma rays
___ c) infrared
___ d) ultra violet
___ e) X-rays


22.
What are the blue things in this figure?

___ a) one galaxy
___ b) none of these is correct
___ c) a globular cluster
___ d) a cluster of galaxy
___ e) an open cluster of stars


23. Most of the ______ that astronomers observe from Earth is seen in the form of synchrotron radiation, which is produced when electrons oscillate around magnetic fields.

___ a) energy
___ b) meteorites
___ c) photons
___ d) radio waves
___ e) meteors


24. Most gamma rays are

___ a) from hot stars
___ b) from the Sun
___ c) from cold stars
___ d) in bursts
___ e) the Andromeda galaxy


25. Studies in the infrared are useful for objects that are

___ a) cold
___ b) in other galaxies
___ c) inside the solar system
___ d) associated with supernovae
___ e) in our own galaxy


26. The best place to observe neutrinos is

___ a) near the north and south poles
___ b) near the equator
___ c) where the air is dry
___ d) underground
___ e) where the air is cold


27. An active galaxy is emitting a significant amount of its energy from _____

___ a) nuclear fission
___ b) nuclear fusion
___ c) magnetism
___ d) exploding stars
___ e) gravity


28. The Wikipedia article Sidereus Nuncius suggests that the inventor of the telescope was likely to be

___ a) none of these
___ b) Galileo
___ c) a Chinese scientist
___ d) A Greek scholar
___ e) a lensmaker


29. Galileo called his telescope

___ a) the liberator
___ b) an optical cannon
___ c) the magic eye
___ d) a mistake
___ e) a double magnifying glass


30. The "terminator" for Galileo was

___ a) his trial for heresy
___ b) the equator
___ c) sunrise or sunset
___ d) the division between east and west
___ e) the most distant star he could see


31. Galileo used the terminator to

___ a) observe the wobble of the Moon's orbit
___ b) correlate color with whether the region had mountains
___ c) compensate for stellar parallax
___ d) deduce the color beneath the dust layer
___ e) none of these


32. Galileo used the terminator to

___ a) publicize his ideas
___ b) correlate dark and light regions with terrain
___ c) measure the height of mountains
___ d) compensate for stellar parallax
___ e) two of these


33. What statement is FALSE about Galileo and the Median Stars

___ a) Galileo named them after a famous and wealthy family
___ b) motion could be observed after observing a moon for just one hour
___ c) they are actually moons
___ d) they were lined up
___ e) they were described by Aristotle


34. The title of Galileo's book, Sidereus Nuncius, is often translated as ____, but it is probably more proper to translate it as _______

___ a) the motion of the earth - - the location of the earth
___ b) Starry messenger - - Starry message
___ c) the moons of Jupiter
___ d) the Moon close up - - the Moon through a telescope
___ e) the motion of the stars - - the location of the stars


35. The Wikipedia article, Sidereus Nuncius, points out that what the ancient Greek scientist thought was a cloudy star was really

___ a) the rings of Saturn
___ b) a supernovae remnant
___ c) a planetary nebula
___ d) many faint stars
___ e) a comet


36. Galileo's naming of the "Medicean Stars"

___ a) two of these are true
___ b) broke an agreement he made with the Pope to stop writing about astronomy
___ c) caused his house arrest
___ d) was controversial because stars were supposed to be named after Roman gods
___ e) might have earned him a promotion


37. When the German astronomy Marius provided evidence that he (Marius) had first seen the moons of Jupiter, Galileo

___ a) didn't care; he was a true scientist
___ b) pointed out that the telescope Marius was using could not have seen the Moons
___ c) used his political contacts to ensure that he (Galileo) would get credit
___ d) won the argument using his knowledge of calendars
___ e) appealed to the Pope


38. Prior to the publication of Sidereus Nuncius, the Church

___ a) had given Galileo a commission to look into the Copernican heliocentric system
___ b) none of these are true (according to the Wikipedia permalink to Sidereus Nuncius.)
___ c) was unaware of any controversy concerning the Copernican heliocentric system
___ d) had outlawed all discussion of the Copernican heliocentric system
___ e) accepted the Copernican heliocentric system as strictly mathematical and hypothetical


39. The Ptolemaic system was geocentric.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


40. The Ptolemaic system was heliocentric.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


41. Most ancient Roman and most medieval scholars thought the Earth was flat.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


42. Evidence for the Copernican system is that the Earth does not seem to move.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


43. The ancient Greeks believed in circular orbits, causing them to devise the epicycle and the deferent.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


44. Copernicus was a university-trained Catholic priest dedicated to astronomy.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


45. In the late 16th century, Tycho Brahe invented his system to resolve philosophical and what he called “physical" problems with the geocentric theory.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


46. Copernicus shared his heliocentric theory with colleagues decades before he died.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


47. In the late 16th century, Tycho Brahe invented his system to resolve philosophical and what he called “physical" problems with the heliocentric theory.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


48. An argument used to support the geocentric model held that heavenly bodies, while perhaps large, were able to move quickly.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


49. Tycho tended to favor religious arguments over scientific arguments when justifying his opinions about the geocentric/heliocentric controversy.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


50. Tycho was the first to propose an earth-orbiting sun had planets in orbit around the Sun.

___ a) TRUE
___ b) FALSE


51. At noon a 1st quarter moon would be

___ a) overhead
___ b) below the horizon
___ c) western horizon
___ d) eastern horizon


52. At 6pm a new moon would be

___ a) eastern horizon
___ b) below the horizon
___ c) overhead
___ d) western horizon


53. At 6am a full moon would be

___ a) overhead
___ b) western horizon
___ c) eastern horizon
___ d) below the horizon


54. At 6pm a 1st quarter moon would be

___ a) below the horizon
___ b) overhead
___ c) western horizon
___ d) eastern horizon


55. At midnight a third quarter moon would be

___ a) eastern horizon
___ b) overhead
___ c) below the horizon
___ d) western horizon


56. At noon a new moon would be

___ a) eastern horizon
___ b) below the horizon
___ c) overhead
___ d) western horizon


57. At 6pm a third quarter moon would be

___ a) eastern horizon
___ b) below the horizon
___ c) overhead
___ d) western horizon


58. At noon a third quarter moon would be

___ a) western horizon
___ b) overhead
___ c) eastern horizon
___ d) below the horizon


59. At 6am a 1st quarter moon would be

___ a) overhead
___ b) western horizon
___ c) eastern horizon
___ d) below the horizon


60. At 6am a new moon would be

___ a) overhead
___ b) below the horizon
___ c) western horizon
___ d) eastern horizon


Key to Astronomy midterm Test 1 Study Guide-v1s1

[edit | edit source]

1. When did astronomy split between theoretical and observational branches?

- a) In the last decade
+ b) In the 20th century
- c) In the 18th century
- d) After Galileo
- e) In the 19th century


2. What does the Wikipedia 'Astronomy' call astrology?

- a) the belief that all people should learn astronomy
+ b) the belief system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects.
- c) the study of planetary atmospheres
- d) the study of planetary cores
- e) the study of comets and asteroids


3. Cosmology is the study of

- a) the oceans
- b) the formation of the solar system
+ c) the universe as a whole
- d) the birth and death of stars
- e) planetary atmospheres


4. What does the Wikipedia 'Astronomy' article say about astronomy and astrophysics

- a) They are often considered to be opposites
- b) They must be in agreement or the result cannot be trusted
- c) They are often in conflict
- d) They often yield different results
+ e) They are often considered to be synonymous


5. The goecentric theory put the Sun

+ a) in orbit around Earth
- b) at the center of the solar system
- c) none of the above or below are true
- d) at the center of the universe
- e) orbiting around the Moon


6. In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos estimated the size of

+ a) the Moon and Sun
- b) Earth and the Moon
- c) the Sun
- d) Earth and the Sun
- e) the Moon


7. In the 19th century Fraunhoffer and Kirchoff studied light from the Sun and found

- a) a wobble that led to the discovery of new planets
- b) a golden ring
- c) Mercury's shadow
- d) sunspots and the sunspot cycle
+ e) spectral lines and concluded that they were caused by the elements


8. The ancient Greeks discovered (named) most of the constellations

- a) in the eastern hemisphere
- b) in the southern hemisphere
- c) in both all hemispheres
+ d) in the northern hemisphere
- e) in the western hemisphere


9. When did astronmers establish that the Milky way is only one of many billions of galaxies in the universe?

- a) 16th century
- b) 14th century
+ c) 20th century
- d) 18th century


10. According to the Wikipedia Astronomy article, the first known efforts in the mathematical and scientific study of Astronomy began

+ a) among the Babylonians
- b) in south America
- c) in central America
- d) among the Chinese
- e) in ancient Greece


11. How many years did it take before Europe made a device as sophisticated as Antikythera?

+ a) 1500 years
- b) 300 years
- c) 3000 years
- d) 30 years
- e) 15,000 years


12. The saro cycle was about repeating cycles of

- a) seasons
- b) planets
+ c) eclipses


13.
Who drew these sketches?



+ a) Galileo
- b) Aristotle
- c) Ptolemy
- d) Kepler
- e) Copernicus


14. In what century was parallax first used to measure the distance to a Star (other than our Sun)?

- a) 17th century
+ b) 19th century
- c) 16th century
- d) 20th century
- e) 18th century


15. The largest galaxy in the local group is

- a) M52
+ b) Andromeda
- c) M-31
- d) ant-galexy
- e) Milky way


16. What two names are associated with the first new planet found (after those known by the ancients using the naked eye)

+ a) Uranus and George's Star
- b) Pluto and Goofy
- c) Mercury and Friendship
- d) Neptune and the Alabama Streaker
- e) Mars and the Candy Bar


17. The historical record shows that in 1066 AD a supernovae was discovered by astronomers in _____ and _____

+ a) Egypt and China
- b) Greece and North America
- c) Greece and Central America
- d) Greece and China
- e) China and South America


18.
What is this?
- a) the magnetic field of Venus
+ b) a dying star
- c) a supernovae remnant
- d) the magnetic field of Saturn
- e) colliding galaxies


19. Wihlem Conrad Rontgen, a pioneer in X-rays is famous for his photo of

- a) a double star
- b) Barnard's star
- c) The Sun
- d) a supernovae
+ e) his wife


20. Earth based infrared observatories tend to be located in

- a) where the air is cold
- b) near the north and south poles
- c) underground
- d) near the equator
+ e) where the air is dry


21. The shortest wavelength of electromagnetic radiation is associated with

- a) blue light
+ b) gamma rays
- c) infrared
- d) ultra violet
- e) X-rays


22.
What are the blue things in this figure?

+ a) one galaxy
- b) none of these is correct
- c) a globular cluster
- d) a cluster of galaxy
- e) an open cluster of stars


23. Most of the ______ that astronomers observe from Earth is seen in the form of synchrotron radiation, which is produced when electrons oscillate around magnetic fields.

- a) energy
- b) meteorites
- c) photons
+ d) radio waves
- e) meteors


24. Most gamma rays are

- a) from hot stars
- b) from the Sun
- c) from cold stars
+ d) in bursts
- e) the Andromeda galaxy


25. Studies in the infrared are useful for objects that are

+ a) cold
- b) in other galaxies
- c) inside the solar system
- d) associated with supernovae
- e) in our own galaxy


26. The best place to observe neutrinos is

- a) near the north and south poles
- b) near the equator
- c) where the air is dry
+ d) underground
- e) where the air is cold


27. An active galaxy is emitting a significant amount of its energy from _____

- a) nuclear fission
- b) nuclear fusion
- c) magnetism
- d) exploding stars
+ e) gravity


28. The Wikipedia article Sidereus Nuncius suggests that the inventor of the telescope was likely to be

- a) none of these
- b) Galileo
- c) a Chinese scientist
- d) A Greek scholar
+ e) a lensmaker


29. Galileo called his telescope

- a) the liberator
+ b) an optical cannon
- c) the magic eye
- d) a mistake
- e) a double magnifying glass


30. The "terminator" for Galileo was

- a) his trial for heresy
- b) the equator
+ c) sunrise or sunset
- d) the division between east and west
- e) the most distant star he could see


31. Galileo used the terminator to

- a) observe the wobble of the Moon's orbit
+ b) correlate color with whether the region had mountains
- c) compensate for stellar parallax
- d) deduce the color beneath the dust layer
- e) none of these


32. Galileo used the terminator to

- a) publicize his ideas
- b) correlate dark and light regions with terrain
- c) measure the height of mountains
- d) compensate for stellar parallax
+ e) two of these


33. What statement is FALSE about Galileo and the Median Stars

- a) Galileo named them after a famous and wealthy family
- b) motion could be observed after observing a moon for just one hour
- c) they are actually moons
- d) they were lined up
+ e) they were described by Aristotle


34. The title of Galileo's book, Sidereus Nuncius, is often translated as ____, but it is probably more proper to translate it as _______

- a) the motion of the earth - - the location of the earth
+ b) Starry messenger - - Starry message
- c) the moons of Jupiter
- d) the Moon close up - - the Moon through a telescope
- e) the motion of the stars - - the location of the stars


35. The Wikipedia article, Sidereus Nuncius, points out that what the ancient Greek scientist thought was a cloudy star was really

- a) the rings of Saturn
- b) a supernovae remnant
- c) a planetary nebula
+ d) many faint stars
- e) a comet


36. Galileo's naming of the "Medicean Stars"

+ a) two of these are true
- b) broke an agreement he made with the Pope to stop writing about astronomy
- c) caused his house arrest
- d) was controversial because stars were supposed to be named after Roman gods
- e) might have earned him a promotion


37. When the German astronomy Marius provided evidence that he (Marius) had first seen the moons of Jupiter, Galileo

- a) didn't care; he was a true scientist
- b) pointed out that the telescope Marius was using could not have seen the Moons
- c) used his political contacts to ensure that he (Galileo) would get credit
+ d) won the argument using his knowledge of calendars
- e) appealed to the Pope


38. Prior to the publication of Sidereus Nuncius, the Church

- a) had given Galileo a commission to look into the Copernican heliocentric system
- b) none of these are true (according to the Wikipedia permalink to Sidereus Nuncius.)
- c) was unaware of any controversy concerning the Copernican heliocentric system
- d) had outlawed all discussion of the Copernican heliocentric system
+ e) accepted the Copernican heliocentric system as strictly mathematical and hypothetical


39. The Ptolemaic system was geocentric.

+ a) TRUE
- b) FALSE


40. The Ptolemaic system was heliocentric.

- a) TRUE
+ b) FALSE


41. Most ancient Roman and most medieval scholars thought the Earth was flat.

- a) TRUE
+ b) FALSE


42. Evidence for the Copernican system is that the Earth does not seem to move.

- a) TRUE
+ b) FALSE


43. The ancient Greeks believed in circular orbits, causing them to devise the epicycle and the deferent.

+ a) TRUE
- b) FALSE


44. Copernicus was a university-trained Catholic priest dedicated to astronomy.

+ a) TRUE
- b) FALSE


45. In the late 16th century, Tycho Brahe invented his system to resolve philosophical and what he called “physical" problems with the geocentric theory.

- a) TRUE
+ b) FALSE


46. Copernicus shared his heliocentric theory with colleagues decades before he died.

+ a) TRUE
- b) FALSE


47. In the late 16th century, Tycho Brahe invented his system to resolve philosophical and what he called “physical" problems with the heliocentric theory.

+ a) TRUE
- b) FALSE


48. An argument used to support the geocentric model held that heavenly bodies, while perhaps large, were able to move quickly.

+ a) TRUE
- b) FALSE


49. Tycho tended to favor religious arguments over scientific arguments when justifying his opinions about the geocentric/heliocentric controversy.

- a) TRUE
+ b) FALSE


50. Tycho was the first to propose an earth-orbiting sun had planets in orbit around the Sun.

- a) TRUE
+ b) FALSE


51. At noon a 1st quarter moon would be

- a) overhead
- b) below the horizon
- c) western horizon
+ d) eastern horizon


52. At 6pm a new moon would be

- a) eastern horizon
- b) below the horizon
- c) overhead
+ d) western horizon


53. At 6am a full moon would be

- a) overhead
+ b) western horizon
- c) eastern horizon
- d) below the horizon


54. At 6pm a 1st quarter moon would be

- a) below the horizon
+ b) overhead
- c) western horizon
- d) eastern horizon


55. At midnight a third quarter moon would be

+ a) eastern horizon
- b) overhead
- c) below the horizon
- d) western horizon


56. At noon a new moon would be

- a) eastern horizon
- b) below the horizon
+ c) overhead
- d) western horizon


57. At 6pm a third quarter moon would be

- a) eastern horizon
+ b) below the horizon
- c) overhead
- d) western horizon


58. At noon a third quarter moon would be

+ a) western horizon
- b) overhead
- c) eastern horizon
- d) below the horizon


59. At 6am a 1st quarter moon would be

- a) overhead
- b) western horizon
- c) eastern horizon
+ d) below the horizon


60. At 6am a new moon would be

- a) overhead
- b) below the horizon
- c) western horizon
+ d) eastern horizon


Attribution (for quiz questions) under CC-by-SA license
http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Astronomy_(wikipedia)/Quiz01&oldid=1387156
https://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Astronomy_(wikipedia)/Quiz02&oldid=1387715
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Astronomy_college_course/Wikipedia_Sidereus_Nuncius/Quiz01
http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Ptolemy,_Copernicus_and_Tycho_systems/Quiz01&oldid=1388143
http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Lunar_Phases/Quiz(simple)&oldid=1388138
Study guide
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy&oldid=586057527
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sidereus_Nuncius&oldid=587554840
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Guy_vandegrift/Astronomy_college_course/Ptolemy,_Copernicus_and_Tycho_systems
http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Lunar_Phases&oldid=1190185