Deck 1: Thinking Like an Astronomer

Question 1

When a change occurs on the surface of the Sun, how long does it take before astronomers on Earth can see the change?

A) 8 minutes
B) 11 hours
C) 1 second
D) 1 day
E) It reaches us instantaneously.

Answer 1

8 minutes

Question 2

A light-year is a unit commonly used in astronomy as a measure of

A) time.
B) speed.
C) mass.
D) distance.
E) acceleration.

Answer 2

distance.

Question 3

A light-hour is a measure of

A) time.
B) distance.
C) energy.
D) speed.
E) acceleration.

Answer 3

distance.

Question 4

If one thinks about the distance between Earth and the Moon, 384,400 km, approximately how much of that distance would Saturn and its rings take up?

A) much more than this distance
B) less than half this distance
C) more than half this distance
D) exactly this distance
E) None of these choices is correct.

Question 5

The time it takes light to cross Neptune's orbit is closest to which of the following?

A) instantaneous
B) a second
C) a quick meal
D) a night's sleep
E) the time between presidential elections

Question 6

Our galaxy and the few dozen nearest galaxies are known as the

A) Solar System.
B) Milky Way.
C) Local Group.
D) Virgo Supercluster.
E) Laniakea Supercluster.

Question 7

The distance to the nearest large spiral galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, is 2.4 * 10²² m.How long does it take light to travel from Andromeda to us?

A) 4.4 years
B) 360 years
C) 1.2 thousand years
D) 2.5 million years
E) 4.5 billion years

Question 8

One of the nearest stars, Alpha Centauri, is 4.4 light-years from Earth.The time it takes light to travel from Alpha Centauri to us is

A) 1.25 seconds.
B) 8.3 minutes.
C) 4.4 years.
D) 600 years.
E) 2.2 million years.

Question 9

After the Sun, the next nearest star to us is approximately ________ away.

A) 8 light-seconds
B) 80 light-minutes
C) 40 light-hours
D) 4 light-years
E) 200 light-years

Question 10

What is the approximate number of stars in the Milky Way?

A) 10 million
B) 300 million
C) 10 billion
D) 300 billion
E) 1 trillion

Question 11

The diameter of the Moon is

A) larger than the distance across the continental United States.
B) roughly equal to the longest distance across Texas.
C) more than half the distance across the continental United States.
D) less than half the distance across the continental United States.
E) None of these choices is correct.

Question 12

The Sun is a

A) supercluster.
B) moon.
C) galaxy.
D) star.
E) planet.

Question 13

The Andromeda Galaxy is also part of the Local Group, so it is also part of

A) the Solar System.
B) the Milky Way.
C) the Moon.
D) the Virgo Supercluster.
E) dark energy.

Question 14

How many times larger is our galaxy (100,000 light-years across) than our Solar System (11 light-hours across)?

A) 100
B) 1,000
C) 10,000
D) 10⁶
E) 10⁸

Question 15

The number of planets in our Solar System is

A) six.
B) eight.
C) nine.
D) twelve.
E) twenty.

Question 16

According to the figure below, if you were to specify your address in the universe, listing your membership from the smallest to largest physical structures, it would be

A) Earth, Local Group, Solar System, Andromeda, the universe.
B) Earth, Solar System, Local Group, Milky Way, the universe.
C) Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Local Group, Laniakea Supercluster, the universe.
D) Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Laniakea Supercluster, the universe.
E) Earth, Laniakea Supercluster, Milky Way, Solar System, the universe.

Question 17

Milky Way is the name of

A) our Solar System.
B) the galaxy in which we live.
C) the local group of galaxies we are in.
D) the supercluster of galaxies we are in.
E) the entire universe.

Question 18

One of the nearest stars is Alpha Centauri, whose distance from Earth is 4.2 * 10¹⁶ m.How long does it take light to travel from Alpha Centauri to us?

A) 1.25 seconds
B) 8.3 minutes
C) 4.4 years
D) 560 years
E) 6,200 years

Question 19

According to the figure below, Earth is located approximately

A) at the center of the Milky Way.
B) near the center of the Milky Way.
C) about halfway out from the center of the Milky Way.
D) at the farthest outskirts of the Milky Way.
E) outside the Milky Way, which is why we can see it as a band across the night sky.

Question 20

The average distance between Earth and the Sun is 1.5 *10¹¹ m, and light from the Sun takes approximately ________ to reach Earth.

A) 8 seconds
B) 8 minutes
C) 8 hours
D) 8 days
E) 8 years

Question 21

Before you can scientifically test a hypothesis, you must use the hypothesis to develop a

A) scientific theory.
B) claim that cannot be falsified.
C) prediction to test.
D) computer model.
E) new fact.

Question 22

A hypothesis is an idea that is

A) Falsifiable.
B) undeniably true.
C) not falsifiable.
D) always part of a larger theory.
E) absolutely untrue.

Question 23

Our universe is approximately 13.7 ________ years old.

A) hundred
B) thousand
C) million
D) billion
E) trillion

Question 24

The figure below measures distances in the amount of time it takes light to travel.If the circumference of Earth is a snap of your fingers (1/7 second), the diameter of the Solar System is approximately equal to

A) the length of a quick lunch.
B) the time to turn a page in a book.
C) the length of the workday.
D) the time you spent in high school.
E) a human lifetime.

Question 25

Which of the following is true?

A) A scientific theory is an undisputed fact.
B) If continual testing of a hypothesis shows it to be valid, it may become an accepted theory.
C) A hypothesis must never have one or more testable predictions.
D) A scientific theory must not be able to be proven wrong when scientists acquire new data.
E) A hypothesis can become a theory without it being tested.

Question 26

In science an idea that cannot be tested is

A) a hypothesis.
B) not a scientific idea.
C) a theory.
D) a principle.
E) a law.

Question 27

The speed of light is approximately

A) 3,000 km/s.
B) 30,000 km/s.
C) 300,000 km/s.
D) 3 million km/s.
E) 3 billion km/s.

Question 28

A theoretical model is

A) a made-up explanation.
B) a detailed description in terms of known physical laws or theories.
C) a testable assumption.
D) a scientific law.
E) a detailed computer simulation.

Question 29

A hypothesis may become a theory

A) automatically, as the terms mean the same thing.
B) if a majority of scientists agree on its propositions.
C) after it has been logically proved.
D) if it makes at least one verifiable prediction.
E) after many repeated attempts to falsify it fail.

Question 30

In the scientific method, a fact is a(n)

A) opinion or an idea.
B) observation or a measurement.
C) type of test.
D) opinion backed by an expert.
E) rigorously tested theory.

Question 31

A theory is

A) tied to known physical laws.
B) able to make testable predictions.
C) a hypothesis that has withstood many attempts to falsify it.
D) subject to being revised by new evidence.
E) all of these

Question 32

The scientific method is a process by which scientists

A) prove theories to be known facts.
B) gain confidence in theories by failing to prove them wrong.
C) show all theories to be wrong.
D) test the ideas of Aristotle.
E) survey what the majority of people think about a theory.

Question 33

The statement "our universe is but one of a multitude of isolated universes" is best characterized as a(n)

A) speculative but unscientific idea.
B) scientific fact.
C) physical law.
D) hypothesis that is currently being tested.
E) impossible situation.

Question 34

The first event in the history of the universe is called the

A) Great Beginning.
B) Manhattan Project.
C) Universal Spring.
D) Big Bang.
E) None of these are correct, as the universe had no beginning.

Question 35

Light from the Andromeda Galaxy that is just reaching us first left Andromeda when

A) the woolly mammoth last walked the Earth.
B) humans began exploring the skies with telescopes.
C) Homo erectus first walked the Earth.
D) the Solar System formed.
E) the universe began.

Question 36

A scientific theory can be shown to be wrong if

A) cultural beliefs evolve to contradict it.
B) scientists gather new data that contradict its predictions.
C) it cannot explain all phenomena in the universe.
D) it was first proposed as conjecture.
E) a majority of people do not accept it.

Question 37

The majority of the mass in our universe is made up of

A) planets.
B) stars.
C) galaxies.
D) dust.
E) dark matter.

Question 38

A ________ becomes a ________ when repeated testing of its predictions does not disprove it.

A) hypothesis; scientific method
B) theory; scientific revolution
C) phenomenon; theory
D) hypothesis; theory
E) law; theory

Question 39

The majority of the energy in our universe is

A) radiated by stars from the nuclear fusion going on in their cores.
B) the kinetic energy found in the collisions of galaxies.
C) the gravitational potential energy of superclusters.
D) emitted in radioactive decays of unstable elements.
E) made up of dark energy that permeates space.

Question 40

How long does it take light to travel from the center of the Laniakea Supercluster (5 *10²³ m away) to us?

A) 7,000 years
B) 54,000 years
C) 120,000 years
D) 12 million years
E) 54 million years

Question 41

The volume of a sphere is related to its radius by the formula .Using algebra to solve for R, we get

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)

Question 42

Scientific notation is used in astronomy primarily because it allows us to

A) write very large and very small numbers in a convenient way.
B) talk about science in an easy way.
C) change easy calculations into hard calculations.
D) change hard calculations into easy calculations.
E) explain science to engineers.

Question 43

If you have a stuffy nose, a fever, chills, and body aches and a doctor treats you for the flu rather than four separate diseases that account for each of your symptoms, this is an application of

A) Newton's hypothesis.
B) Occam's razor.
C) Aristotle's test.
D) Einstein's relativity.
E) the Copernican principle.

Question 44

The language of patterns, and therefore of science, is

A) Greek.
B) mathematics.
C) calculus.
D) Java.
E) Latin.

Question 45

When you see a pattern in nature, it is usually evidence of

A) a theory being displayed.
B) quantum mechanics in action.
C) a breakdown of random clustering.
D) an underlying physical law.
E) a decrease in entropy.

Question 46

If nature behaves according to a certain physical law, then that law should result in

A) random behavior.
B) repeating patterns.
C) Occam's razor.
D) quantum mechanics.
E) the Big Bang.

Question 47

One of the central assumptions in astronomy is that the physical laws of nature

A) change when objects move at high speed.
B) change throughout the age of the universe.
C) depend on the mass of the objects involved.
D) are the same everywhere in the universe.
E) change noticeably from place to place.

Question 48

(6 * 10⁵) * (3 *10^-2) =

A) 1.8 * 10³
B) 1.8 * 10⁴
C) 1.8 *10⁶
D) 1.8 * 10⁸
E) 1.8*10^-3

Question 49

The number 123,000 written in scientific notation is

A) 1.23* 10⁶
B) 1.23 *10⁵
C) 1.23 * 10³
D) 1.23 * 10^-6
E) 1.23 * 10^-3

Question 50

The figure below shows the night sky as it appears to an observer in the United States at the same time of the night but at four different seasons of the year.A reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from these images is that

A) the stars move about the sky randomly.
B) the stars appear to rotate over the course of a year.
C) the night sky is always the same.
D) there are only four possible configurations of stars in the sky.
E) the position of the stars changes the temperature of the Earth.

Question 51

Albert Einstein's theory of relativity replacing Isaac Newton's theory of gravity is an example of

A) a failure of the scientific method.
B) Occam's razor.
C) the cosmological principle.
D) the provisional nature of scientific knowledge.
E) the need for creativity in scientists.

Question 52

When two explanations describe something equally well, ________ says that we should assume the simpler one.

A) Newton's hypothesis
B) Occam's razor
C) Aristotle's test
D) Einstein's biggest blunder
E) the Copernican principle

Question 53

Because of ________, we can conclude that gravity works the same way on Earth as it does on Mars.

A) Newton's theory of relativity
B) Einstein's special theory of relativity
C) Sagan's planetary principle
D) the cosmological principle
E) the hypothetical statute

Question 54

The number 1.5 * 10⁴ can also be written as

A) 0.00015
B) 0.0015
C) 1,500
D) 15,000
E) 150,000

Question 55

If the speed of light is 3 * 10⁵ km/s and 1 km = 0.62 mile, what is the speed of light in miles per hour (mph)?

A) 670 million mph
B) 670 thousand mph
C) 186 mph
D) 186 thousand mph
E) 3.2 billion mph

Question 56

When you let go of an apple, you expect it to fall to the ground.This is because

A) down is the only direction it can go in.
B) apples always move directly toward the largest object.
C) your science teacher has told you that is the only possibility.
D) red colors are attracted to green colors.
E) there has been a past pattern of objects always falling toward the Earth.

Question 57

The area of a circle is related to its diameter by the formula Using algebra to solve for D, we find that

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)

Question 58

The cosmological principle states that

A) the universe is expanding in all directions at the same rate.
B) a unique center of the universe exists.
C) the universe looks the same everywhere and in all directions as long as you look on large enough spatial scales.
D) physical laws change from place to place in the universe.
E) the universe is in a "steady state."

Question 59

(1.2* 10⁹) * (4 *10^-3) *

A) 3 * 10⁶
B) 3 * 10⁵
C) 3 * 10¹⁰
D) 3*10¹¹
E) 3 *10¹²

Question 60

A scientific principle is

A) a scientific law.
B) a detailed description in terms of known physical laws or theories.
C) a general idea or sense about the universe.
D) an easily testable statement.
E) the next step beyond a scientific theory.

Question 61

Using the method of comparing distances to time intervals to get a handle on the large distances in astronomy, compare the diameter of our Solar System, which is 6 *10¹², to the diameter of the galaxy, which is 1.2 *10²¹, by calculating the time it would take for light to travel these diameters.For reference, the speed of light is 3 *10⁸ m/s.

Question 62

Approximately how many viruses are there at time step 10 in the figure below?

A) 500
B) 1,000
C) 1,500
D) 2,000
E) 2,500

Question 63

What is the slope of line in the figure below?

A) 0 km/h
B) 6 km/h
C) 6 h/km
D) 60 km/h
E) 60 h/km

Question 64

If you compare the diameter of Earth to 1 minute of time, then what interval of time would represent the diameter of the Solar System? Assume the diameter of the Solar System is approximately 80 AU.

Question 65

How would you respond to someone who stated that "Evolution is not proven; it is just a theory"?

Question 66

What would you say to someone who said, "It would take light-years to get to the Andromeda Galaxy"?

Question 67

The orbital period of Mercury is 88 days.What is its orbital period in units of seconds?

A) 76,000 seconds
B) 7.6 million seconds
C) 7.6 billion seconds
D) 760 billion seconds
E) 76 million seconds

Question 68

Describe how we can use travel times as a measure for distances.

Question 69

What is the only thing that makes the Sun an exceptional star?

Question 70

The study of whether or not life exists elsewhere in the Solar System and beyond is called

A) origins.
B) biochemistry.
C) cosmology.
D) astrobiology.
E) exoplanetology.

Question 71

When we look at distant objects, we see them as they were in the past.Why is this?

Question 72

What implication does the finite speed of light have on what we observe in the universe?

Question 73

What does the word dark mean in the terms dark matter and dark energy?

Question 74

Suppose you were writing to a pen pal in another universe.What address would you put on the envelope that included all the major structures in which we reside? (Hint: Your cosmic address should begin with "Earth" and end with "the universe.")

Question 75

Which graph in the figures below is a plot of a linear behavior?

A) figure (a)
B) figure (b)
C) figure (c)
D) none of these
E) all three graphs

Question 76

What are the units of the vertical axis in the figure below?

A) km
B) hours
C) km/h
D) h/km
E) There are no units on this axis.

Question 77

What is the Local Group?

Question 78

Using the method of comparing times to get a handle on the large distances in astronomy, compare the size of Earth to the size of the visible universe.Start by making the size of Earth comparable to a snap of your fingers, which lasts about 1/7 second.Show your computation.

Question 79

Explain the scientific definitions for the terms idea, hypothesis, and theory, and how they are distinct concepts from one another.

Question 80

Approximately how many viruses are there at time step 5 in the figure below?

A) 2
B) 10
C) 30
D) 90
E) 100