question

As opposed to the Bohr model, the quantum mechanical view of the atom depicts electrons as

answer

a cloud that is centered on the nucleus.

question

If you are observing a partial solar eclipse, you must be standing in the

answer

Moon's penumbra

question

There are ____________ constellations in the entire sky.

answer

88

question

The Local Group is the environment around

answer

the Milky Way that contains a few dozen galaxies.

question

How many high tides occur at any given location during the course of one day.

answer

two

question

What is meant by the diffraction limit of a telescope?

answer

It is the best angular resolution the telescope could achieve with perfect optical quality and in the absence of atmospheric distortion.

question

Galileo observed what the geocentric astronomers viewed as imperfections. These observations helped Galileo to show that the heliocentric model was the more accurate model. Which was not an observation of Galileo?

answer

the moons of Saturn

question

No matter where you are on the Earth, stars appear to rotate about a pole called the

answer

celestial pole.

question

When two galaxies collide long streams of stars can be observed. These "tails" are caused by

answer

tidal forces.

question

The time it takes a planet to complete one full orbital revolution is commonly known as its

answer

period.

question

A superior planet is one that is

answer

farther from the Sun than the Earth.

question

Compare two blackbody objects, one at 200 K and one at 400 K. How much larger is the flux from the 400 K object compared to the flux from the 200 K object, assuming they are the same size.

answer

16 times larger

question

Which of the following photons carries the smallest amount of energy?

answer

a microwave photon

question

____________ is the idea that the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is usually the correct one.

answer

Occam's razor

question

The aperture of a telescope is which of the following?

answer

the diameter of the objective lens/primary mirror

question

The number of planets in our Solar System is

answer

eight

question

The most massive elements such as those that make up the terrestrial planets like the Earth were formed

answer

inside stars and supernovae.

question

A light-year is a unit that is used to measure

answer

distance.

question

If we wanted to increase the Hubble Space Telescope's altitude above the Earth and keep it in a stable orbit, we also would need to,

answer

decrease its orbital speed.

question

Star A and Star B have the same luminosity. Star A is twice as far away from the Earth as Star B. How do the brightnesses of Stars A and B compare?

answer

Star B appears four times as bright as Star A.

question

Which of the following is false?

answer

A scientific theory is an indisputable fact.

question

Before charged-coupled devices (CCDs) were invented, what was the device most commonly used for imaging with optical telescopes?

answer

photographic glass plates

question

Which of the following is not true about orbits?

answer

Objects are always circular.

question

As a car drives around a corner at constant speed, the car is

answer

accelerating because the direction is changing.

question

If you observe an isolated hot cloud of gas, you will see

answer

an emission spectrum.

question

When we determine the angular resolution of an interferometer array of radio telescopes using the formula θ ≈ λ/D, the variable D stands for the

answer

separation between the telescopes.

question

A spaceship is traveling toward the Earth while giving off a constant radio signal with a wavelength of 1 meter. What will the signal look like to people on the Earth?

answer

a signal with a wavelength less than 1 meter

question

A scientific theory can be shown to be wrong if

answer

scientists gather new data that contradict its predictions.

question

Which of the following is your "address" in the correct order?

answer

You, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Local Group. Local Supercluster

question

The Moon always keeps the same face toward the Earth because of

answer

tidal locking.

question

For a person who lives at a latitude of +40 degrees, when is the Sun directly overhead at noon?

answer

never

question

An atmospheric window is

answer

a region of the electromagnetic spectrum that can reach the ground.

question

Why do the stars in the sky appear blue, whereas other stars appear red?

answer

The blue stars have higher surface temperatures than the red stars.

question

Retrograde motion is seen when _____________ due to the Earth's rotation.

answer

planets change the direction in which they move across the night sky.

question

Tidal forces are caused by

answer

the difference between the strength of the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun on either side of the Earth.

question

Which of the following properties of an astronaut changes when he or she is standing on the Moon, relative to when the astronaut is standing on the Earth?

answer

weight

question

A spectrograph is

answer

a device used to measure the intensity of light at each wavelength.

question

Newton's first law states that objects in notion

answer

stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

question

The ecliptic is defined by the motion of ____________ in the sky.

answer

the Sun

question

In the scientific method, if an observation does not support the hypothesis, what possible action should not happen next?

answer

Make additional predictions.

question

All of the following statements are true. Which one follows directly from Kepler's third law?

answer

Venus orbits the Sun at a slower average speed than Mercury.

question

A partial lunar eclipse occurs when

answer

the Moon passes through part of the Earth's shadow.

question

If tonight the Moon is in the waxing gibbous phase, in 3 days what is the most likely phase of the Moon?

answer

Full Moon

question

NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astornomy (SOFIA) are two examples of telescopes placed in high-flying aircraft. Why would astronomers put telescopes in airplanes?

answer

To get the telescopes above the majority of the water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere.

question

The early universe was compose mainly of which two elements?

answer

hydrogen and helium

question

In the absence of air resistance, a 0.001-kg piece of paper and a 0.1-kg notebook are dropped from the same height and allowed to fall to the ground. How do their accelerations compare?

answer

The accelerations are the same.

question

The that Kepler's heliocentric model of the Solar System predicted _____________ more easily and accurately than the geocentric model is an illustration of how scientific theories evolve by the scientific method.

answer

retrograde motion of planets

question

The natural tendency of an object to resist changes in motion is called

answer

inertia.

question

Cameras that use adaptive optics provide higher spatial resolution images primarily because

answer

deformable mirrors are used to correct the blurring due to the Earth's atmosphere.

question

If the wavelength of a beam of light were to double, how would that affect its frequency?

answer

The frequency would be two times lower.

question

What could have caused the planets to migrate through the Solar System?

answer

gravitational pull from the Sun

question

Which terrestrial planet has the strongest magnetic eld?

answer

Earth

question

Which property of an extrasolar planet cannot be determined using the Doppler eect?

answer

radius

question

What prevented the Moon from maintaining any atmosphere with which it originally formed?

answer

It is not massive enough.

question

Jupiter's mass is times more than the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined.

answer

around two

question

When the Martian springtime arrives and the daytime temperature reaches 20◦C, what occurs?

answer

Large planet-wide dust storms.

question

The nitrogen in the Earth's atmosphere primary came from

answer

ammonia delivered by comet impacts

question

Earth-sized planets have been found using the___________method(s).

answer

transit and Doppler shift

question

Where are atmospheric vortices usually found on the giant planets?

answer

between oppositely directed zonal winds.

question

We have direct evidence for the current existence of water on the surface of which terrestrial object?

answer

Mars

question

Which terrestrial object shows the least evidence of recent volcanic activity?

answer

Mercury

question

Who first discovered moons around a planet in our Solar System other than the Earth?

answer

Galileo

question

Where do Uranus's and Neptune's strong magnetic elds originate?

answer

salty oceans

question

According to the conservation of angular momentum, if an ice-skater who is spinning with her arms out wide slowly pulls them close to her body, this will cause her to

answer

spin faster.

question

Which moon gives rise to the particles that make up Saturn's E ring?

answer

Enceladus

question

What have astronomers and geologists studied to arrive at the same conclusion about the Earth's origins?

answer

meteorites

question

What is the best description of a moon?

answer

any natural satellite of a planet or asteroid

question

How is the atmosphere of Saturn similar to the atmosphere of the Earth?

answer

They both have jet streams and periods of stormy and calm weather.

question

The giant planets are made primarily by

answer

molecular hydrogen and helium.

question

Which of the following can be used as an indicator of the age of a moon's surface?

answer

all of the these methods(color of the surface, radioactive dating, crater density)

question

What happens to the kinetic energy of gas as it falls toward and eventually hits the accretion disk surrounding a protostar?

answer

It is converted into thermal energy, heating the disk.

question

Why are some of Saturn's rings diffuse?

answer

Unlike other things, the particles in diuse rings collide infrequently, allowing them to maintain highly elliptical and/or inclined orbits and spread out

question

Given the thickness and chemical composition of Venus' atmosphere, by how would you expect its average surface temperature to change between day and night?

answer

There should be almost no change in temperature.

question

The presence of gases such as carbon dioxide and water vapor in a planet's atmosphere is direct evidence of in a planet's history

answer

volcanic activity

question

If you were to fly to Jupiter from the Earth, which of these parts of Jupiter would you come into contact with first?

answer

magnetosphere

question

Which type of meteorite is most commonly found on the Earth?

answer

stony

question

Which of the following eects is not one of the predictions made by models of our Solar System that include planetary migration?

answer

Jupiter has four large moons, with the rest being smaller asteroid sized objects.

question

Approximately how much mass was there in the protoplanetary disk out of which the planets formed, compared to the mass of the Sun?

answer

< 1 percent

question

A large meteor shower will often occur once a year because

answer

the Earth passes through the debris left behind by a specic comet.

question

Aside from Jupiter, which giant planets have atmospheric bands and storms?

answer

Uranus B Saturn C Neptune D all of the above

question

What will eventually happen to the Earth when radioactive decay in its interior cease?

answer

Earthquakes will cease. B The Earth's core will solidify. C The strength of the Earth's magnetic feld will decrease. D Continental drift will cease. E all of the above

question

Meteorites are

answer

A fragments of planetesimals between Mars and Jupiter.

question

How do regular moons rotate in comparison to their planets?

answer

in the same direction

question

Which is not a reason for the large size of volcanoes on Mars as compared to the Earth's smaller volcanoes?

answer

lack of atmosphere, therefore no erosion

question

Global temperature variations on the Earth driven by the Milankovich cycle dier from those driven by the anthropogenic greenhouse eect in that

answer

A they occur over much longer time scale (thousands of years)

question

The major dierence in the composition of the Earth's atmosphere compared to the atmospheres of Venus and Mars is a direct consequence of

answer

C life on the Earth.

question

Which of the following types of Solar System debris were not discovered until the age of telescopes?

answer

asteroids

question

What is the reason Mercury has so little gas in its atmosphere?

answer

D all of the above

question

Which of the following is not a factor that helps explain Earth's lack of craters compared to the Moon?

answer

higher density interior

question

What is a secondary atmosphere?

answer

the atmosphere that remains after the planet has formed

question

The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has been increasing over the last 50 years because of A the growth of the ozone hole

answer

the burning of fossil fuels

question

Which of the following statements is false

answer

During summer in the northern hemisphere of Mars, the polar ice cap melts and liquid water ows outward from it in rivers

question

Mars, Venus, and the Earth are much less heavily cratered than Mercury and the Moon. This is explained by the fact that

answer

C Mars, Venus, and the Earth were geologically active for a longer period of time than Mercury and the Moon

question

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the early Solar System, based on current observations?

answer

The initial composition of the solar nebula varied between its inner and outer regions.

question

Which type of comet is the most common?

answer

long-period comets

question

How does the fraction of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere today compare to what it was 3 billion years ago?

answer

It has signicantly increased.

question

The lithosphere of a planet is

answer

its solid surface

question

What makes carbon dioxide a highly eective greenhouse gas?

answer

It easily absorbs infrared radiation

question

If the Moon had active volcanoes,

answer

the Earth might have a ring

question

What is the age of our Solar System?

answer

4.6 billion years

question

Who of the following was not a proponent of the heliocentric model of the Solar System?

answer

Ptolemy

question

If the Sun is located at one focus of Earth's elliptical orbit, what is at the other focus?

answer

nothing

question

Kepler's second law says that if a planet is in an elliptical orbit around a star, then the planet moves fastest when the planet is

answer

closest to the star.

question

Galileo's telescopic observations of the __________ led him to conclude that the heliocentric model of the Solar System was correct.

answer

moons of Jupiter and phases of Venus

question

Kepler's third law is a relationship between an orbiting object's

answer

period and semimajor axis

question

Secondary craters are

answer

craters formed by ejecta during another impact.

question

Of the following methods, the age of the Solar System can be determined most accurately by

answer

radioactive dating of rocks retrieved from the Moon.

question

The dynamo theory says that planet will have a strong magnetic field if it has

answer

fast rotation and a liquid core.

question

The largest volcano in the Solar System is located on the planet __________ and is called __________.

answer

Mars; Olympus Mons

question

Present-day erosion on the surface of the Moon is primarily caused by Select one:

answer

micrometeorites.

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