ASTRONOMY 1

PRACTICE EXAM
Professor Miguel A. Moreno, Ph.D., LEED, BPIEA
Atomic and Space Physicist
Former NASA Senior Scientist, Hubble Space Telescope

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Astronomy 1 students:
We salute you on your good accomplishment for your education and your career.
You are completing the General Education Science Requirements.

I’ve heard good things about you, for example, I heard that you were very
knowledgeable about the night sky, the Solar System, Stars, Black Holes, Galaxies
and the Universe.

Well, today I have prepared a few questions for you. Please see below.

I wish you the best of luck! And May the Force be with you.

Yoda

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1. The description 7x35 of the following binoculars means the following

a. Diameters of the objective lens

b. Diameter of the objective lens and magnification
c. Magnification and diameter of the objective lens
d. Resolving power
e. Resolution

2. Can you identify the object shown in the picture below?

a. An Asteroid
b. A Comet
c. A Shooting star
d. A Supernova

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 e. The aurora borealis

3. What constellation is the Big Dipper found in?

a. Ursa Minor

b. Arcturus

c. Canis Major

d. Ursa Major

4. What constellation is this?

a. Andromeda
b. Hercules
c. Orion
d. Pegasus
e. Cygnus

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5. What is the name of the angle alpha between the horizon and a celestial object?

a. Latitute
b. Longitude
c. Altitude
d. declination
e. None of the above

6. What are the basic optical properties of a telescope?

a. Light gathering power, resolving power, resolutions

b. Resolving power, resolutions, light gathering power, aperture of the objective
c. Resolving power, light gathering power, magnification, focus and focal length
d. Resolving power, resolution, light gathering power and magnification
e. Resolving power, resolution, light gathering power and magnification

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The Celestial Sphere

7. Where will the Sun be on June 21st?

a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D

8. Where will the Sun be on December 21st?

a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D

9. What is the declination of the North Star?

a. 90o N
b. 80o N
c. + 90o
d. – 90o
e. None of the above

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10. If the focal length of the objective is 12 meters and the focal length of the eyepiece is
0.20 meters what is the magnification of this telescope?

a. 12
b. 5
c. 20
d. 600
e. 60

11. What is the image shown below?

a. Lunar eclipse
b. Partial lunar eclipse
c. The New Moon
d. A solar eclipse
e. A solar flare

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12. The angle between the eastern and western horizon measured across the sky through
the zenith (in degrees) is:

a. 200
b. 270
c. 180
d. 90

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13. What is the angular size of the full Moon, as viewed from Earth?

a. Two degrees
b. One degree and 30 arcseconds
c. 1.5 degree
d. 30 arcseconds
e. 30 arcminutes

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14. Where are we now?

The Seasons in the Northern Hemisphere

a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
e. E

15. This is an array of telescopes working together, synchronized with atomic clocks.
What kind of telescopes are these?

a. Microwave
b. Infrared
c. Radio
d. Ultraviolet

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16. If you extend your hand to arm's length, you can use your fingers to estimate angular
distances and sizes in the sky. The distance across your palm is about 10°.

a. ? b. c.

Your index finger is about ___________________degrees

a. Two degrees
b. Five degrees
c. Half a degree
d. One degree

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17. The air you breathe, the Earth’s atmosphere, is made of which of the following:

a. Nitrogen and carbon dioxide

b. Oxygen and carbon dioxide
c. Nitrogen and Oxygen
d. Methane and Oxygen
e. Oxygen and Argon

18. What planet is this?

a. Mars
b. Neptune
c. Uranus
d. Saturn
e. Earth

19. Turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere causes which of the following:

a. The Doppler Effect

b. Interference
c. Star twinkling
d. Reflections
e. The space station to shake

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20. The seasons on the Earth are caused by:

a. The precession of the Earth’s spin axis

b. The Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer
c. The tilt of the Earth’s spin axis
d. The focusing of Sun light by the atmosphere
e. None of the above

21. Where were the chemical elements that make up your body, Calcium, Iron, Oxygen,
and Carbon, were manufactured?

a. The Sun
b. The Earth
c. The Big Bang
d. A red giant
e. A supernova

22. How was the Moon formed?

a. By powerful volcanoes
b. By matter thrown out by a fast rotating Earth
c. By the impact of a small comet
d. By the impact on the Earth of an asteroid the size of Mars
e. None of the above

23. Can you identify the light band with a wavelength of the size of a pinhead and the
light with a wavelength of the size of molecules?

a. Ultraviolet and infrared

b. Cosmic rays and infrared
c. Infrared and Ultraviolet
d. Electric waves and Ultraviolet
e. Infrared and Electric waves

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24. What kinds of telescopes are these?

a. Radio
b. X-ray, Radio
c. Ultraviolet
d. Optical, Radio
e. None of the above

25. What kind of telescope is this?

a. Refracting
b. Reflecting
c. Ultraviolet
d. Galilean

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26. What telescope is this?

a. Gamma Ray
b. X-ray
c. Palomar
d. Lowell
e. Hubble

27. Which of the following phenomena are caused by human activity and pollution of
the atmosphere?
a. Global warming, tsunamis, hurricanes
b. Global warming, acid rain, El Nino and la Nina weather systems
c. Global warming, Acid rain, ozone depletion, deforestation
d. deforestation, acid rain, ozone depletion and typhoons
e. None of the above

28. How many stars does the Milky Way Galaxy have?

a. 100 million
b. Only the Sun
c. 10 billion
d. 400 billion
e. One trillion

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29. What is a light year?

a. The characteristic size of light

b. The distance the Earth travels around the sun in one year

c. The distance light travels in one year

d. The time it takes light to travel once around the Earth's orbit

30. A very distant object is viewed

a. As it exists today

b. As it existed many years ago

c. As a distorted image of its appearance long ago

d. As it existed at the beginning of the universe

31. The speed of light is about

a. 600 miles per hour

b. 186,000 miles per second

c. 240,000 miles per second

d. 93,000,000 miles per second

32. An explosion is observed on a star which is twenty light years away. If the explosion

is observed in 1989, it occurred in

a. 1989

b. 2009

c. 1969

d. Can't tell without additional information

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33. The arrow in the figure below points to a specific component of this telescope,
what is it?

a. The objective mirror

b. The objective lens
c. The main reflector
d. Focusing lens
e. The main magnifier

34. What is the name of the large most prominent crater in the lower part of the image?

a. Kepler

b. Copernicus

c. Tycho

d. Galileo

e. Plato

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35. What are the features of the Moon indicated by lines and numbers?

a. Mountains, called Sea of Tranquility

b. Valleys

c. Plateaus

d. Ancient dry lava lakes called Lunar Maria

e. Ancient dry lava lakes called Lunar Planitia

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36. The experiment described below is:

a. The Urey-Maxwell experiment, 1962

b. The Einstein- Drake experiment, 1952
c. An experiment to produce life in the laboratory
d. The Urey-Miller experiment, 1954
e. The Miller-Urey experiment, 1952

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37. Why do we have seasons?

a. The Earth is closest to the Sun during the summer

b. The Earth’s axis precesses, wobbles at 23.5 degrees
c. The Earth’s spin axis is tilted 23.5 degrees with respect to the perpendicular to the
ecliptic plane
d. Global warming causes the seasons
e. Seasonal variability of the Sun’s intrinsic brightness. Because the Sun is a variable star.

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38. This is a model of a moon of a planet in our solar system, it has an ocean of luke- warm
water underneath a crust of ice, this is a place in the solar system that is prominent for the search
of microbial life. What is the name of this moon, and what planet is it orbiting?

a. Mars, Phobos
b. Io, Jupiter
c. Titan, Saturn
d. Earth, Moon
e. Jupiter, Europa

39. Name the Galilean moons in order of increasing distance from Jupiter

a. Io, Ganimede, Europa and Callisto

b. Europa, Io, Ganimede and Callisto
c. Callisto, Io, Europa and Ganimede
d. Titan, Dionis, Europa and Io
e. Io, Europa, Ganimede and Callisto

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40. What planet is this?

a. Venus
b. Mercury
c. A moon of Saturn
d. Titan
e. Mars

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41. Can you identify this image? This is the surface of………….taken by………….

a. Venus, Venera
b. Mars, Spirit
c. Titan, Huygens
d. Io, Galileo
e. Europa, Voyage

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42. What are the names of the two moons of Jupiter shown blank below?

a. Triton and Enceladus

b. Miranda and Charon
c. Ganymede and Triton
d. Europa and Ganymede
e. Titan and Europa
f.

43. What asterism and constellation is this? (with the following stars)

Object Name Type/Translation V Mag

1 Polaris "Pole Star" 2.02
2 Kocab "Star" 2.08
3 Pherkad "Calf" 3.05
4 Yildun "Star" 4.36
5 Pherkad Minor * 5.02

a. Big Dipper, Ursa Major

b. Little Dipper, Ursa Major
c. Little Dipper, Ursa Minor
d. Ursa Minos, Little Dipper

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e. Taurus, Ursa Minor

44. What is the name of the plane defined by the path of the Sun on the sky?

a. Equatorial Plane
b. Celestial Equatorial Plane
c. Plane of the Ecliptic
d. Celestial Ecliptical projection
e. Ecliptic configuration

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45. What are the names of the celestial coordinates of a given object in the sky? (a star for
example, the coordinates indicated by the arrows A and B in that order)

a. Latitude and Longitude

b. Declination and Longitude
c. Right Ascension and Latitude
d. Right Ascension and Declination
e. Longitude and Latitude

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46. Can you identify this planet?

a. Venus
b. Mars
c. Neptune
d. Jupiter
e. Saturn

47. What are the rings of Saturn mostly made of?

a. Dust
b. Small icy particles
c. Asteroids
d. Small comets
e. Grains of sand

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48. Which figure represents a lunar eclipse?

a.

b.

c.

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49. The Sun shines because of a nuclear reaction at the core, can you identify it?

a. Nuclear fusion

b. The release of energy through nuclear fission

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50. What is the name of this robot and what planet did it go to?

a. Path Finder, Mars

b. Spirit, Venis
c. Opportunity, Earth
d. Spirit, Mars
e. Opportunity, Mars Moon Deimos

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51. What is the name of this spacecraft and what planet did it land on and when?

a. Viking I, Mars, September 8, 1976

b. Viking II, Mars, August 24, 1976
c. Opportunity robot, Mars January 6, 2004
d. Huyguens, Titan, October 24, 2007
e. Phoenix, Mars, May 25 2008

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52. What planet is this?

a. Mars
b. Jupiter
c. Mercury
d. Earth
e. Venus

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53. Can you identify the object below?

a. A comet
b. A small rock
c. An asteroid
d. A planet
e. A moon

54.Can you identify the following object?

a. An asteroid

b. Mars moon Phobos

c. A moon of Jupiter

d. The second moon of the Earth

e. None of the above

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55. What are the selected phases of the Moon?

_____________- The Moon’s un-illuminated side is facing the Earth. The Moon is
not visible (except during a solar eclipse).

Waxing Crescent – The Moon appears to be partly but less than one-half illuminated
by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon’s disk that is illuminated is increasing.

_______________- – One-half of the Moon appears to be illuminated by direct

sunlight. The fraction of the Moon’s disk that is illuminated is increasing.

Waxing Gibbous – The Moon appears to be more than one-half but not fully
illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon’s disk that is illuminated is
increasing.

Full Moon – The Moon’s illuminated side is facing the Earth. The Moon appears to
be completely illuminated by direct sunlight.

Waning Gibbous – The Moon appears to be more than one-half but not fully
illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon’s disk that is illuminated is
decreasing.

________________One-half of the Moon appears to be illuminated by direct

sunlight. The fraction of the Moon’s disk that is illuminated is decreasing.

Waning Crescent – The Moon appears to be partly but less than one-half illuminated
by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon’s disk that is illuminated is decreasing.

a. full, first quarter b. new, first quarter c. crescent, full d. new, first quarter, last quarter

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56. Where were the chemical elements that make up your body, Calcium, Iron, Oxygen,
and Carbon, were manufactured?

a. The Sun
b. The Earth
c. The Big Bang
d. A red giant
e. A supernova

57. What is the object in the image below?

a. A comet
b. A planetary cloud

c. The Crab nebula

d. A black hole

e. None of the above

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58. What is a solar day?

a. A solar day is 25 hours long

b. A solar day is 23 hours and four minutes long
c. A solar day is 24 hours and it corresponds to the time it takes a given point on the surface
of the Earth to point towards the sun after one rotational cycle
d. A solar day is the time it takes a given point on the surface of the Earth to point to the a star
again after one rotational cycle

59. The day that has exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness is called
The:

a. equinox.
b. solstice.
c. meridian.
d. zenith.

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60. What constellation is this?

a. Orion the Hunter

b. Andromeda
c. Cassiopeia, the Queen of Ethiopia
d. Gemini
e. Taurus the Bull

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61. What constellation is this?

a. Taurus the Bull

b. Ursa Major, the Bear
c. Virgo
d. Cignus, the Swan
e. None of the above

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62. What constellation is this?

a. Ursa Major, the Bear

b. Virgo
c. Cignus, the Swan
d. Taurus the Bull
e. None of the above

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63. What constellation is this?

a. Ursa Major, the Bear

b. Virgo
c. Cignus, the Swan
d. Taurus the Bull
e. Canis the Dog

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64. What is the constellation that has its name missing?

a. Ursa Major, the Bear

b. Virgo
c. Cignus, the Swan
d. Libra
e. Canis the Dog

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65. What planet is this?

a. Mars
b. Venus
c. Earth’s Moon
d. Pluto
e. Mercury

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66. What will be the final stage in our Sun’s life cycle?

A. Main sequence
B. White dwarf
C. Red Giant
D. Super Red giant
E. Black dwarf

67. Which star colors have the highest surface temp?

A. Red
B. Green
C. Blue
D. Orange
E. Yellow

68. How many times brighter is a star of magnitude five compared to a star of magnitude 6?

a. 6.0
b. 3.0
c. 5.5
d. 2.5
e. 2.4

69. What type of star is the Sun?

a. M

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 b. O
c. K
d. A
e. G

70. When you look up at the night sky and see a white patch of light across the sky, what is it?

a. The star Vega

b. Sirius
c. The Andromeda galaxy
d. The Milky Way galaxy
e. Diffuse star light

71. The light radiated from the Sun's surface reaches Earth in about 8 minutes, but the energy of
that light was released by fusion in the solar core about
A) a thousand years ago.
B) a hundred years ago.
C) ten years ago.
D) one year ago.
E) a million years ago.

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72. Newton's second law of motion tells us that the net force applied to an object equals its
A) momentum times velocity.
B) mass times velocity.
C) energy times acceleration.
D) mass times energy.
E) mass times acceleration.

73. Approximately how long does it take the Sun to orbit the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) 23,000 years
B) 23 billion years
C) 230,000 years
D) 2.3 million years
E) 230 million years

74. What is the Sun mainly made of?

A) hydrogen and oxygen
B) oxygen and carbon
C) hydrogen and helium
D) carbon and nitrogen
E) nearly equal portions of all the elements

75. What do astronomers mean by light pollution?

A) Light pollution refers to pollution caused by light industry as opposed to heavy industry.
B) Light pollution refers to light used for human activities that brightens the sky and hinders
astronomical observations.
C) Light pollution refers to harmful gases emitted by common street lights.
D) Light pollution is another name for sunlight, which makes it impossible to see stars in the
daytime.
E) Light pollution refers to the lights that must be used inside major observatories and that make
it difficult for astronomers' eyes to adapt to darkness.

76. Approximately how fast are you moving with the rotation of the Earth around its axis?
A) 130 km/hr B) 1,600 km/hr C) 13,000 km/hr D) 13 km/hr

77. The age of the universe is

A) between 100 billion and 160 billion years.
B) between 100 million and 160 million years.
C) between 1 billion and 1.6 billion years.

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D) between 10 billion and 16 billion years.
E) between 10 million and 16 million years

78. What causes stars to twinkle?

A) variable absorption by interstellar gas along the line of sight to the star
B) the inability of the human eye to see faint objects
C) bending of light rays by turbulent layers in the atmosphere
D) variations in the absorption of the atmosphere
E) It is intrinsic to the stars—their brightness varies as they expand and contract.

79. The controversial book of this famous person, published in 1543 (the year of his death),
suggested that the earth and other planets orbit the Sun.
A) Copernicus B) Kepler C) Tycho Brahe D) Galileo E) Ptolemy

80. What single property of a star most determines its evolution (life cycle)?
A) mass B) chemical composition C) luminosity
D) radius E) surface temperature

81. Meteors that occur in showers are primarily

A) asteroid fragments B) interplanetary dust fragments
C) comets D) cometary debris

82. Venus is nearly identical to the earth in terms of mass and diameter. What
is the principal component of the Venusian atmosphere?
A) diatomic Oxygen B) atomic Oxygen C) diatomic Nitrogen
D) Carbon Dioxide E) Argon-36

83. The moon and planets shine primarily because

a) they reflect light from the Galaxy
b) they reflect light from the sun
c) they transmit light from the sun
d) they absorb light from the sun.
e) they generate their own light.

84. The Earth's atmosphere effectively transmits most

a) ultraviolet radiation
b) X-ray radiation
c) radio radiation

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d) all of the above
e) only a) and b)

85. It is important to place observatories on mountain tops because

a) it is colder there, making the atmosphere clear.
b) there is less atmosphere, less water vapor, and generally darker skys.
c) there is more ozone, more carbon dioxide, and less heat.
d) you are closer to the stars.
e) none of the above are true.

86. As viewed from Earth, the stars appear to be

a) randomly distributed in space.
b) more numerous in winter than spring.
c) concentrated at the north Galactic pole
d) concentrated in a band called the Milky Way
e) none of the above

87. In the late 1920's Edwin Hubble made a profound discovery.

a) He found that the Milky Way was rotating.
b) He found that the galaxies were made of gas and dust.
c) He found that quasars were very distant.
d) He discovered the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation.
e) He found that the Universe was expanding

88. Why isn't the earth covered with craters like the moon?
a) The moon is older
b) The moon is younger
c) erosion erased them
d) There are more volcanos on the moon
e) both c) and d)

89) What causes a comet to have a tail?

a) The gravitational pull of the sun
b) The gravitational pull of the earth
c) the interaction of the comet with the solar wind
d) both a) and b)
e) none of the above

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90. What is the difference between mass and weight?
a) mass is a measure of the total volume of an object
b) weight is mass squared
c) mass and weight are equivalent
d) weight is a force that depends on the strength of the local gravity
e) none of the above

91. What is the name of the red supergiant that marks Orion's right shoulder?

Betelgeuse
Bellatrix
Taneriss
Regulus

92. Which of the following is the brightest star in the winter night sky of the northern
hemisphere?

Strebe
Aldeberan
Procyon
Sirius

93. What is the name of the star cluster that is also known as “The Seven Sisters”?

Bennekryse
Arcturus
Altair
Pleiades

94. What are the two twin stars in the constellation Gemini?

Voltron & Yularis

Merak & Dubhe
Castor & Pollux
Spica & Arcturus

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95.Which of the following correctly ranks astronomical objects by size, starting with the
smallest?

A. Earth, sun, solar system, galaxy, universe

B. Sun, solar system, Earth, universe, galaxy

C. Universe, galaxy, solar system, Earth, sun

D. Solar system, Earth, sun, universe, galaxy

96. This constellation is very prominent in the Southern hemisphere. What is its name?

a. Lira
b. Pollux

c. South Polaris

d. Cassiopeia

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 e. Crux, Southern Cross

97. What constellation is this?

a. Cassiopeia
b. Andromeda
c. Serpent
d. Dragon
e. Scorpius

98. Polar ice caps on Mars are:

a. An optical illusion
b. Made up of frozen carbon dioxide
c. A permanent lad surface feature without ice
d. Made completely of water ice
e. A combination of mostly frozen carbon dioxide and a smaller concentration of water ice

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99. How old is the Moon?

4.6 billion years

2.6 billion years
900 million years

4.5 Billion years

5.0 billion years

100. What is the equation used to estimate the number of intelligent technological
civilizations in our Galaxy and how many technological civilizations were estimated
by its author?

a. The SETI Equation, 10,000

b. The Carl Sagan Equation, 5,000
c. The Drake Equation, 10,000
d. Maxwell’s Equation, 1,000
e. Einstein’s Equation, 100,000

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