Astronomy Questions and Answers
You observe the Moon rising at noon. Its phase is
first quarter
During which phases of the moon do you expect to observe a solar eclipse
new moon
Which of the following apples is accelerating the most?
All accelerate at the same rate
Asian astronomers
(All of these choices are correct) Kept detailed records of unusual celestial events, Devised ways to predict eclipses, Recorded the existence of sunspots
When a bus makes a sudden stop the passengers lurch forward because of _________blank law.
Newtons first
One observation that supported an Earth-centered solar system is _________.
the lack of parallax in the stars
A parachutist jumps out of an airplane and opens her parachute. She then floats downward at a constant rate. Why is she not accelerating?
The parachute provides an upward force to balance gravity, so the net force is zero.
When would You expect to see the moon near the north star
never
As you are sailing in the open ocean, you observe that the North Star appears lower in the horizon every night. In which direction are you traveling?
South
While riding a bicycle, if you stop pedaling you will continue to move forward due to _________blank.
inertia
Which of the following would you expect to observe during the December solstice in Australia
Nights are longer than daylight,The weather would be warmer than in June,The sun has reached its highest point of the year
Select all of the following conditions that you would expect to observe during the December solstice in Iceland
The sun rises very much to the south of east,The weather would be colder than it is in June, Nights are longer than daylight
Mars completes one orbit around the Sun in approximately two Earth years. Mars orbits at an average distance to the Sun of about 1.5 AU, and Mars’ mass is about 1/10 of Earth’s mass. Therefore, Mars’ orbital speed is _________blank the orbital speed of Earth.
lower than
If the Earth turns one full rotation in approximately 1440 minutes, how many degrees per minute does the sky turn?
.25 Degrees
Starship I weighs 2 tons and requires a speed of about 11 km/s to escape from Earth. The escape velocity from Earth of Starship X that weighs 4 tons is _________blank.
11 km/s
If the Earth reversed its direction of spin…
•The Sun would rise in the west and set in the east.,•The stars would circle Polaris clockwise.•The Moon would rise in the west and set in the east.
An astronaut has a mass of 60 kilograms before she takes off in her ship. When she reaches Earth’s orbit, her mass is _________blank; when she lands on the Moon, her mass is _________blank.
The same as on earth; the same as on earth
If the Moon is waning gibbous in Chicago, then that night in Australia the Moon will be:
Waning Gibbous
A rocket blasts propellant out of its thrusters and “lifts off,” heading into space. What provided the force to lift the rocket?
the action of the propellant accelerating down, giving a reaction force to the rocket.
During a solar eclipse the black circle in the middle is
The moon covering the sun
If the distance between two bodies is increased by a factor of 3.00, the gravitational force between them is _________blank by a factor of _________blank.
decreased; 9
If the Moon were to expand to twice its current diameter, we would have total solar eclipses
more often than now but less than every month
What is Newton’s Second law of motion?
Force equals mass times acceleration, F=ma.
Circumpolar stars are stars that are
Neither rise nor set
A 200-kg spacecraft is launched to the Moon. While in orbit around the Moon, its weight is
zero.
A 200-kg spacecraft is launched to the Moon. While in orbit around the Moon, its mass is
200 kg.
“Annual motion” refers to changes in the positions of stars in the sky as the result of _________.
Earths motion as it orbits the sun
What do we call the line that the sun traces across the celestial sphere
The ecliptic
The Equinox is when
the number of daylight hours are equal to number of night time hours everywhere on earth
On what date/s does the Sun rise exactly due east and set exactly due west?
March 21 and September 22
What causes the seasons?
The tilt of the Earth’s axis relative to earths orbit
The Northern Hemisphere is warmer in its summer months because
the Sun is in the sky for a longer period of time and the sun is more directly overhead during this time
On the vernal equinox, the Sun rises
due east
Which of the following lists electromagnetic waves in increasing order of wavelength?
X-rays, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, radio waves
The Moon rises later each day because _________.
the Moon shifts eastward relative to the stars in its orbit around the Earth
The moon take approximately__ to go through a cycle of phases.
30 days
When does the full Moon phase occur
when the Earth is between the sun and moon
Are the Sun and the Moon ever above the horizon at the same time?
yes sometimes
After A full moon how
long is it until the next new moon?2 weeksHow do we know that the Sun contains hydrogen?Because the Sun’s spectrum contains absorption lines that match the spectrum of hydrogenWhen the Moon and the Sun lie exactly in the same direction in the sky, what phase of the Moon would you see?new moonAn ordinary light bulb (the so-called “incandescent”) emits light by heating a metal filament. What kind of spectrum do you expect to observe from the incandescent light bulb?Continuous spectrumThe Full Moon sets atsunriseWhich of the following statements correctly describes white light?White light is a mixture of all visible wavelengths.During which phase of the moon do you expect to observe a lunar eclipse?FullThe wavelength of red light is _________blank the wavelength of blue light.longer thanSolar eclipses can occur during__ moonThe newThe nucleus of the hydrogen atom consists ofone proton.During a solar eclipse, the__ cast a small circular shadow on the__Moon; EarthIn materials like glass or water the speed of light is _________blank.reducedAt totality during the lunar eclipse, the Moon generally appears _______ in color.ReddishA _________blank is a particle of light.photonAn annular solar eclipse occursWhen the Moon in its orbit is farthest from the Earth, and, so not able to cover the complete disk of the SunIf a photon’s frequency increases its wavelengthwill decrease.Are the Sun and the Moon ever above the horizon at the same timeyes sometimesHow is light different from sound?Sound requires a medium to move through; light does not.The sidereal month is _________.the time the Moon takes to complete an orbit relative to the background starsIn the particle model, light is _________blank.a packet of energy moving through spaceWhat do we call if when a planet moves backwards (east to west) through the stars?retrograde motionThe visible spectrum is _________blank.the range of wavelengths of light that human eyes can detectThe Planets(other than Earth) known to ancient Western Cultures wereMercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and SaturnThe wavelength of a wave describes _________blank.the distance between two successive peaks in a waveAs the planets orbit the Sun, they are never far from the ____ on the celestial sphere.eclipticWhat is the relationship between wavelength (λ) and frequency (f)? (“c” is the speed of light.)λf = cIslamic scholars(All of these choices are correct) Studied and expanded upon older texts in astronomy, Made detailed studies of the motions of the planets, Influenced the naming of bright stars, Developed algebraThe spectral lines of a star will appear _________blank if the star is moving away from Earth.red-shifted (i.e., shifted toward the longer wavelengths)Kepler’s third, or harmonic, law states that theSemi-major axis of an orbit cubed equals the period squared.The Doppler shift applies only to the line spectrum. It does not apply to the continuous (blackbody) spectrum.FALSEOne of Tycho Brahe’s major contributions was to provethat a supernova(exploding star) was much farther away than the planets, and also that a comet was outside of earths atmosphereA pencil inside a water glass appears to be bent because ofrefraction of light.Galileo was the first to observe the phases of _____.venusWhat is a disadvantage of using a single large lens in a telescope?All of these choices are correct.Keplers__ law states that the orbits of planets are elliptical, with the Sun at one focus1stIf a 3-meter diameter telescope is doubled in size, then its new light collecting power wouldincrease by a factor of four.During the month of January, the Earth goes through the point of closest approach to the Sun. Using Kepler’s Second law we can conclude that the Earth moves faster in January than in July.TRUEHow does the light-gathering power of a telescope affect the ability to see faint objects?Faint objects are brighter if the telescope can gather a lot of light.___ was the first person to measure the circumference of the earthEratosthenesLight travels _________blank in water than in air.slowerWhen was it known that the earth was spherical in shape?at the time of the ancient greekaChromatic aberration creates images fringed with color when using which kind of telescope?refractorThe angular size of an object increases as the distance to the observer increasesFALSEUsing _________blank, scientists can use a few smaller telescopes to take images with the same resolution as a much larger telescope.interferometryOne observation supporting the idea of a spherical Earth is that___(all of these choices are correct) The shape of the earth’s shadow on the moon during an eclipse is circular, A traveler moving south will see stars they could not previously see, a ship moving away from the observer will move such that the hull is not seen, then the sails disappear over the horizon.The ability of a telescope to show two very close objects separately is called its _________blank.resolving powerThe curved shape of the Earth’s shadow during an eclipse was evidence for _________.a spherical earthWhich is the most efficient means of recording light?charge-coupled device (CCD)The Sun and the Moon have an angular size of approximately ____.0.5 degreeThe best site for placing an X-ray telescope is _________blank.above Earth’s atmosphereThe similarity of the Sun’s and the Moon’s angular sizes allow ____ to occur.eclipsesHow is a CCD better than film for astronomical imaging?All of these choices are correct.The sun and the moon have the same angular size. If the sun is 400 times farther away than the moon, the sun must be ___ time the size of the moon400xWhat technique does a radio telescope use to focus incoming light?reflectionIn the heliocentric model, the retrograde motion of the planets was explained as the consequences of the different orbital speeds of the planets, without the use of epicylcesTRUEThe accretion disk of a black hole is typically very hot. What kind of telescope would we use to observe it at its strongest wavelength?a space-based X-ray telescopeThe apparent size of an object based on the amount of sky it covers is called its ____.angular sizeRadio telescopes allow us to observe objects that are too cold to emit strongly in the visible part of the spectrum. Astronomers still use images of these object for study. What kind of images are these?false-color imagesOne of two identical buildings is nearby, the other is twice as far away as the first. The angular size of the more distant building is ___ the nearby buildings angular size1/2X-rays are blocked by _________blank and _________blank present in Earth’s atmosphere.ozone; oxygenThe shift of a star’s apparent position due to the Earth’s motion around the Sun is called ____.parallaxWhich space telescope is observing X-rays?the Chandra ObservatoryWhat is retrograde motion?occasional east to west motion of the planets relative to the stars over many successive nightsWhy must radio telescopes have very large dishes?A large mirror is necessary to resolve radio-emitting images. The Hubble Telescope gets much clearer images of astronomical objects than ground-based telescopes because it has a much larger mirror than ground-based telescopes.FALSE What is “seeing”?the distortion of an image due to an atmospheric turbulence