question

If you are currently located within the Moon's umbral shadow, then you are experiencing

answer

total solar eclipse

question

A there is

answer

a collection of testable ideas that have been verified, but can change if further observation requires it

question

In modern times, a constellation is

answer

a well-defined region of sky containing stars, nebulae, galaxies, etc.

question

Polaris is an important star to astronomers because

answer

it is located almost directly over the Earth's north pole

question

stars observable at midnight in january differ from stars observable at midnight in july because

answer

the earth revolves around the sun

question

the northern hemisphere experiences summer in July because

answer

the tilt of the Earth's axis causes long summer days and the Sun's rays to strike most directly

question

the date on which the Sun crosses the celestial equator, moving from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere, is known as

answer

march equinox

question

which of the following lunar phases occur during the waxing portion of the lunar cycle

answer

first quarter

question

if the moon is currently the first quarter phase, approximately how long will it be before it is in the full moon phase?

answer

one week

question

if the moon orbited the Earth in the opposite direction than it currently does, which of the following would NOT change

answer

the length of the sidereal month

question

Based on his experiment to determine the speed of light, Galileo concluded that

answer

light travels faster than human reactions can measure

question

Young's double-slit experiment confirmed that light behaves like a

answer

wave because an alternating patterns of bright and dark bands were observed on a screen

question

which of the following is a form of light?

answer

radio waves, visible light, infrared radiation, gamma rays, all of the above are forms of light

question

visible light carries________ energy and has a _________ wavelength than X-rays.

answer

less, longer

question

Hotter objects emit light _________ intensely and at _________ wavelengths than cooler objects.

answer

more; shorter

question

Can astronomers use Wien's law to determine the temperatures of stars?

answer

Yes, there spectra are well approximated by blackbody curves, and their peak wavelengths allow us to determine their temperatures

question

which of the following stars emits the most energy per second?

answer

a large blue star

question

astronomers have detected red stars that are very luminous. What does this tell us about these stars?

answer

they must be very large

question

a hot, transparent gas emits a(n) spectrum

answer

emission line

question

An observer measures the light emitted by an object and detects a redshift. Which of the following is correct?

answer

the object is moving away from the stationary observer; the observer is moving away from the stationary object; the observer and object are both moving away from each other; all of these may be true

question

Compared to a 1-meter telescope, a 2-meter telescope collects_______light at the same amount of time

answer

four times as much

question

the main purpose of a telescope is to make distant objects appear

answer

brighter

question

adaptive optics a designed to compensate for

answer

atmospheric blurring

question

Earth's atmosphere is most transparent in which two wavelength ranges?

answer

visible and radio

question

in order to observe objects at X-ray wavelengths, X-ray telescopes must be placed

answer

in orbit around the Earth

question

stars appear to move across the sky over the course of one bight because

answer

the earth rotates on its axis

question

the ecliptic is

answer

the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of one year

question

when the moon is located between the Earth and the Sun, we label this as the ____ phase

answer

new moon

question

If the moon is cureently in the first quarter phase, at approximately what time will you see it rise?

answer

noon

question

a solar eclipse can occur when the moon is in the _______ phase(s)

answer

new moon

question

Aristarchus estimated that the angle between the moon and sun during the quarter phases was 87 degrees. In fact, the angle is larger than this. changing this value places the distance to the Sun at a(n) _______ distance than predicted by Aristarchus.

answer

greater

question

a light-year is measure of

answer

distance

question

according to Ptolemy's model of the solar system, retrograde motion occurs when a planet is moving

answer

along the inside of its epicycle

question

Based on Copernicus's model of the solar system, a planet appears to undergo retrograde motion in a _______ solar system as the _______.

answer

heliocentric; Earth passes the planet on the same side of the Sun.

question

the best time to observe Venus at night is when it is at

answer

greatest eastern elongation

question

which of the following observations is NOT possible?

answer

Mars at inferior conjunction

question

the largest observed apparent size of Venus occurs when it is in its _______ phase.

answer

crescent

question

if a comet has a highly elliptical orbit around the Sun, where does it spend most of its orbit?

answer

far from the Sun

question

mercury's orbit is more elliptical than Earth's, but closer to the Sun. Which planet has a greater variation in orbital speed?

answer

mercury, because its orbit is more elliptical

question

which of the following models had planets moving along circular orbits?

answer

Ptolemy; copernicus;kepler; two of the above are correct

question

how many stars are in our solar system?

answer

1

question

How are the orbits of the planets arranged in our solar system?

answer

the inner planets are spaced close together while the outer planets are far apart

question

which comparison between the terrestrial and Jovian planets is FALSE?

answer

Jovian planets are denser than terrestrial planets

question

Astronomers can determine the chemical composition of planetary atmospheres by analyzing their ______ spectra.

answer

absorption

question

Titan is roughly the same size as Mercury, yet Titan has an atmosphere while Mercury does not. This is because Titan is

answer

colder

question

Much of the floor of the Atlantic Ocean is composed of basalt, which is a type of

answer

igneous rock, formed as lava flowed up through a rift and cooled

question

how did the earth form with a dense iron core and low-density crust?

answer

while earth was still molten, denser material sank to the enter while light material rose to the surface

question

Scientists on the planet Zoraxx have seismic wave-stations all over the planet. Whenever a planetquake occurs, P waves are detected everywhere on the planet. This tells us that

answer

the density of the planet smoothly increases with distance

question

which of the following is NOT due to plate tectonics?

answer

canyons

question

which of the following is NOT evidence that Earth has a molten interior?

answer

the average density of Earth is somewhere between that of surface rocks and iron

question

which of the following contributes to Earth's magnetic field?

answer

earth's core is composed of iron; earth has a liquid outer core; earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours; all of the above

question

what are the Van Allen belts?

answer

regions within Earth's magnetic field where charged particles are trapped

question

before living organisms were found on Earth, how was carbon dioxide removed from Earth's atmosphere?

answer

it dissolved in water and formed carbonate rocks

question

in which layer of the Earth does convection not occur?

answer

the outer core

question

what effect would an increase in Earth's albedo have on the planet?

answer

Earth would be colder than it is now.

question

the greenhouse effect occurs because Earth's atmosphere is transparent to ____ light and partially opaque to _____light.

answer

visible; infrared

question

Which of the following layers is not a part of the biosphere?

answer

stratosphere

question

What is the difference between the greenhouse effect and global warming?

answer

the greenhouse effect is a moderate warming of the planet while global warming is a rapid increase in temperature

question

what is the connection between global warming and the ozone layer?

answer

there is not connection between the two

question

what effect does global warming have on the planet?

answer

polar ice caps are melting, causing water levels to rise; basic life forms die off, affecting entire food chains; patterns of rainfall are altered, affecting food production; all of the above are true.

question

Venus is so reflective because

answer

it is covered by clouds the reflect most of the Sun's light

question

most of the impacts that occurred on the Moon occurred

answer

within the first 1 billion years of our solar system's history

question

the fact that craters are circular in shape tells us that they are created by

answer

shock waves created by high-speed impacts

question

the moon has more craters than the Earth because

answer

geologic and meteorological processes have removed evidence of impacts on Earth

question

In general, the smaller the planet...

answer

the more craters per unit area it has; the older its surface is; the farther in the past it became geologically inactive; all of the above are true.

question

The fact that fewer craters are found in the maria regions of the moon than surrounding regions suggest that the maria are

answer

thicker layers of crust that are more resistant to impacts

question

on the side of Mercury opposite the Caloris Basin, a huge impact creater, astronomers found

answer

jumbled terrain

question

which planet has the most craters per unit area?

answer

mercury

question

how do astronomers know what the surface of Venus looks like?

answer

they've bounced radio waves off the surface and measured how the signals return

question

Valles Marineris on Mars is though to have formed by

answer

geologic activity as the surface broke apart along a fault line

question

To determine the rotation rate of Jupiter, astronomers measure the time it takes Jupiter's _______ to complete one rotation

answer

spots

question

the fact that Jupiter and Saturn have densities near 1000 kg/m3 suggests that they are composed mostly of

answer

hydrogen and helium

question

why does Saturn's atmosphere have less helium than Jupiter's?

answer

Saturn is colder than Jupiter

question

Astronomers know that brown ovals on Jupiter are holes in that upper atmosphere, and white ovals are high clouds, because of their different

answer

temperatures

question

the colors of Jupiter's visible cloud surface are dependent on the _______ of the gases in them.

answer

composition and temperature

question

As the Galileo space probe entered Jupiter's atmosphere, it experienced greater wind speeds than at its surface. This tells us that

answer

the winds are driven by Jupiter's interior heat

question

Why do Uranus and Neptune appear bluish in color?

answer

the presence of methane in their atmospheres absorbs red light and only reflects blue light

question

the fact that Uranus and Neptune have the same surface temperature, despite Neptune being twice as far from the Sun, suggests

answer

Neptune has an internal heat source

question

the fact that Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune radiate more energy than they receive from the Sun suggests that they all

answer

are still radiating heat from their gravitational contraction

question

which of the following is NOT a way that Jupiter and Saturn differ from Uranus and Neptune?

answer

Jupiter and Saturn are mainly composed of hydrogen and helium while Uranus and Neptune are mostly composed of methane

question

Saturn lies twice as far away from the Sun as Jupiter. If Jupiter takes roughly 12 years to complete one orbit, how long does it take Saturn?

answer

more than 24 years

question

Given its low temperature and high atmospheric pressure, water on Saturn's moon Titan exits as a

answer

solid

question

the "sand" dunes observed on Titan are primarily composed of

answer

water ice

question

How are the moons Io and Triton different?

answer

Io has sulfur volcanoes while Triton has ice colcanoes

question

Which of the following Jovian planets does NOT have a ring system?

answer

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, All of the Jovian planets have rings

question

Saturn's rings are

answer

composed of widely spaced boulders, each on orbiting Saturn according to Kepler's laws

question

the high reflectivity of Saturn's rings suggests that they are primarily composed of

answer

water ice

question

as a large moon crosses a planet's Roche limit, it will

answer

break into smaller pieces

question

The Cassini division, located between Saturn's A and B rings

answer

has substantially fewer ring particles than the neighboring rings

question

the low reflectivity of Uranus' rings suggests that they are partially composed of

answer

methane ice

question

the carbon atoms that are a part of your body were created

answer

in the deaths of previous generations of stars that existed before ours

question

which of the following facts CANNOT be explained by the theory that the planets formed out of a rotating flattened disk that formed from the solar nebula?

answer

most of the moons in our solar system belong to the Jovian planets

question

in a solar system with a central star that is ten times hotter than our Sun, one would expect the distanced over which terrestrial planets formed to be ________ ours.

answer

greater than

question

the outer planets were able to capture huge gaseous atmospheres while the inner ones could not because they were

answer

cooler; father from the Sun; more massive; all of the above

question

according to the disk instability model, the Jovian planets formed by the

answer

inward collapse of material onto itself

question

for a planet-star system, the center of mass of the two is located

answer

closer to the star

question

is it possible for a nearby star to have a Jovian planet orbiting around it and us not be able to detect it?

answer

yes, if the Jovian planet orbits perpendicular to our line of sight, we will detect it

question

the sun generates energy via

answer

nuclear fusion

question

astronomers determined that our sun will live for a total of 10 billion years by

answer

calculating how long the Sun can fuse its core hydrogen at its current rate

question

which of the following methods for energy transport does NOT take place within the Sun?

answer

conduction

question

where within the Sun is energy created

answer

within the central 25 percent of the Sun

question

where is most of the mass of the Sun located?

answer

within the inner 50 percent of the Sun

question

positively charged electron is called a

answer

positron

question

why don't photons flow freely through the convective zone?

answer

temperatures are low enough that atoms form and absorb the photons

question

the edges of granules are darker than their centers because they have a different

answer

temperature

question

the chromosphere of the Sun emits light in a(n)_____spectrum

answer

emission

question

spicules are typically located

answer

above the edges of granule groups

Solar System Quizzes – Flashcards

Unlock all answers in this set

Haven't found what you were looking for?

Search for samples, answers to your questions and flashcards