Deck 1: The Scale of the Cosmos

Question 1

Using the cosmic calendar,where the Big Bang happened January 1,in what month did the Milky Way form?

A)January
B)March
C)August
D)December

Answer 1

March

Question 2

What is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun?

A)1 million kilometres
B)1 billion kilometres
C)1 light year
D)1 Astronomical Unit

Answer 2

1 Astronomical Unit

Question 3

Which of the following has the distances arranged in order from smallest to largest?

A)kilometre, light year, millimetre, Astronomical Unit
B)Astronomical Unit, millimetre, light year, kilometre
C)millimetre, kilometre, Astronomical Unit, light year
D)light year, kilometre, Astronomical Unit, millimetre

Answer 3

millimetre, kilometre, Astronomical Unit, light year

Question 4

What does a typical galaxy like our Milky Way galaxy contain?

A)primarily planets
B)gas and dust only
C)stars, planets, gas, and dust
D)a single star and planets

Question 5

What is the ratio of the diameter of the Sun to the diameter of the Earth?

A)100 : 1
B)1000 : 1
C)10,000 : 1
D)100,000 : 1

Question 6

How long ago did the Big Bang happen?

A)4.5 billion years
B)13.7 billion years
C)37 billion years
D)45 billion years

Question 7

What is another way to say 2.9×10⁷?

A)29 thousand
B)290 thousand
C)2.9 million
D)29 million

Question 8

In the diagram,what is the diameter of Mercury?

A)about 240 kilometres
B)about 2400 kilometres
C)about 24,000 kilometres
D)about 2.4×10⁶ kilometres

Question 9

If the distance to the nearest star is 4.2 light years,what can we conclude about the star?

A)The star is 4.2 million AU away.
B)The star's light takes 4.2 years to reach us.
C)The star must have formed 4.2 billion years ago.
D)The star must be very young.

Question 10

It takes light 1.3 seconds to travel from the Moon to the Earth and 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth.How much farther from the Earth is the Sun,compared to the Moon?

A)2.1 times farther
B)6.2 times farther
C)10 times father
D)370 times farther

Question 11

How many stars are in the Milky Way galaxy?

A)about 100 trillion
B)about 100 billion
C)about 100 million
D)about 100, 000

Question 12

The Earth has a radius of about 6400 kilometres,the Sun has a radius of about 7.0×10⁵ kilometres,and a rubber ball has a radius of 6.4 centimetres.If you were to construct a scale model of the solar system using the rubber ball to represent the Earth,what is the radius of a ball needed to represent the Sun in your model?

A)7.0 cm
B)70 cm
C)700 cm
D)7000 cm

Question 13

Why is scientific notation used in astronomy?

A)It makes it easy to write big or small numbers.
B)All astronomical distances are expressed in metric units.
C)It makes conversions between units easy.
D)Astronomers invented scientific notation.

Question 14

From 1979 to 1999,what planet was farther from the Sun than Pluto?

A)Earth
B)Jupiter
C)Uranus
D)Neptune

Question 15

In the diagram,what is the diameter of Jupiter?

A)about 7.0×10⁴ kilometres
B)about 1.4×10⁵ kilometres
C)about 7.0×10⁵ kilometres
D)about 3.5×10⁶ kilometres

Question 16

How long does it take light to cross the Milky Way galaxy?

A)about 8 minutes
B)about 8 years
C)about 80,000 years
D)about 200 million years

Question 17

How many centimetres are there in one kilometre?

A)1,000
B)10,000
C)1×10⁵
D)1×10⁶

Question 18

Which of the following is another way to express 1.65 billion?

A)1.65×10⁵
B)1.65×10⁶
C)1.65×10⁹
D)1.65×10¹²

Question 19

If light takes 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth and over 4 hours to travel from the Sun to the planet Neptune,what is the distance from the Sun to Neptune?

A)5 Astronomical Units
B)30 Astronomical Units
C)0.6 light years
D)5 light years

Question 20

The speed of light is 3.0×10⁵ km/sec,and it takes light 1.3 seconds for light to travel from the Moon to the Earth.Based on this information,what is the distance to the Moon?

A)2.3 kilometres
B)3.9 kilometres
C)230,000 kilometres
D)390,000 kilometres

Question 21

How are planets and stars different?

A)Planets are larger than stars.
B)Planets reflect light, while stars produce their own light.
C)Stars move across the sky faster than planets.
D)Planets are brighter than stars.

Question 22

If an object is 1,000 light years away,how do we see it?

A)as it looked 1,000 years ago
B)as it appeared to our ancestors 1,000 years ago
C)as it looked 1,000 light years ago
D)as it is right now, but it appears 1,000 times dimmer

Question 23

An Astronomical Unit is larger than a light year.

Question 24

The numbers 9.81×10⁵ and 981,000 are equivalent.

Question 25

A supercluster refers to a large group of stars within the Milky Way.

Question 26

A light year is the distance that light travels in one year.

Question 27

A(n)___________________ is the largest known structure in the universe.

Question 28

A kilometre contains 1 million metres.

Question 29

Light takes about 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth,and about 40 minutes to travel from the Sun to Jupiter.Jupiter is about ____________________ AU from the Sun.

Question 30

The name of the average distance from the Earth to the Sun is one ____________________.

Question 31

The Sun is a star in the Milky Way galaxy.

Question 32

What is the reason for compressing the history of the universe into a single year in the cosmic calendar?

A)to compare astronomical timescales with human experience
B)to emphasize how old the universe is
C)to simplify calculations of ages of objects in the universe
D)to express the distances of objects in light-years

Question 33

Why do astronomers measure distances in strange units like astronomical units and light-years?

A)these units are more convenient when dealing with large distances
B)these units are part of the metric system
C)these units are about the same size as a typical star
D)these units can more easily be expressed using scientific notation

Question 34

The metric system is a decimal system.

Question 35

The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is 1 Astronomical Unit.

Question 36

A(n)____________________ is the distance that light would travel in one year.

Question 37

Assume the size of the Sun is represented by a baseball (diameter about 7 cm).At this scale the Earth is about 15 metres (150 million kilometres,or 8 light minutes)away.How far away,to scale,would the nearest stars to the Sun be? Pick the closest answer.

A)100 metres away
B)about the distance across 50 soccer fields (50 x 100 metres, or 5 kilometres)
C)about the distance between Toronto and Windsor (330 kilometres)
D)about the distance from Toronto to Vancouver (4300 kilometres)

Question 38

The number 52,600,000,000 would be written in scientific notation as ____________________.

Question 39

Which sequence below is correctly ordered from smallest to largest size?

A)Earth, solar system, Milky Way galaxy, clusters of galaxies
B)solar system, Earth, galaxy clusters, Milky Way galaxy
C)Earth, Milky Way galaxy, solar system, galaxy clusters
D)galaxy clusters, solar system, Milky Way galaxy, Earth

Question 40

The nearest star is 1 light year from the solar system.

Question 41

Briefly describe the scientific method.

Question 42

Why do we measure some distances in astronomy in light years and some in Astronomical Units?

Question 43

Explain the difference between a light year and the orbital period of the Earth.

Question 44

Why would the English system of units be more useful if a foot contained 10 inches?

Question 45

From what you know about Astronomical Units and light years,how would you define a light minute?

Question 46

Describe the difference between a solar system and a galaxy.

Question 47

"I live 20 minutes from Centre City." How is this statement similar to giving astronomical distances in light years?

Question 48

Considering that the Sun is about 1/100 AU in diameter and a typical planet like the Earth is 1/10,000 AU in diameter,discuss whether or not our Solar System is crowded or empty.