QB – Test # 2

Astronomy
Solar System Astronomy – ASTR 101
Test 2 – Question Bank
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1. The Sun's location in the Milky Way Galaxy is
A) near the galactic center.
B) in the galactic disk, roughly halfway between the center and the outer edge of the disk.
C) in the halo of the galaxy, about 27,000 light-years above the galactic disk.
D) at the outer edge of the galactic disk.
Answer: B

2. How do we know the total mass of the Milky Way Galaxy that is contained within the
Sun's orbital path?
A) by applying Newton's version of Kepler's third law (or the equivalent orbital velocity
formula) to the Sun's orbit around the center of the Galaxy
B) by counting the number of stars visible in this region of the galaxy
C) by estimating the amount of gas and dust in between the stars
D) by using the law of conservation of angular momentum to calculate the orbital speeds of
nearby stars
Answer: A

3. Spiral arms appear bright because

A) they contain more hot young stars than other parts of the disk.
B) they contain far more stars than other parts of the galactic disk.
C) they contain more molecular clouds than other parts of the disk.
D) they are the only places where we find stars within the disk of the galaxy.
Answer: A

4. Which of the following types of galaxies are closest to being spherical in shape?
A) Spirals
B) ellipticals
C) Irregulars
Answer: B
5. Which of the following types of galaxies are typically reddest in color?
A) spirals
B) ellipticals
C) irregulars
Answer: B
6. How do elliptical galaxies typically compare to spiral galaxies?
A) Elliptical galaxies are redder and rounder.
B) Elliptical galaxies are redder and flattened.
C) Elliptical galaxies are bluer and rounder.
D) Elliptical galaxies are bluer and flattened.
E) Elliptical galaxies are always much smaller.
Answer: A

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QB – Test # 2

7. The most massive galaxies in the universe are

A) ellipticals.
B) spirals.
C) lenticulars.
Answer: A

8. What kind of galaxy is the Milky Way?

A) an irregular galaxy
B) a spiral galaxy
C) an elliptical galaxy
Answer: C

9. Based on current estimates of the value of Hubble's constant, approximately how old is
the universe?
A) 10 billion years old
B) 12 billion years old
C) 14 billion years old
D) 18 billion years old
E) 20 billion years old
Answer: C

10. You observe a galaxy that is 100 million light-years away. Which of the following do
you see?
A) The light from the galaxy as it is today, and it is blueshifted.
B) The light from the galaxy as it is today, and it is redshifted.
C) The light from the galaxy as it was 100 million years ago, and it is blueshifted.
D) The light from the galaxy as it was 100 million years ago, and it is redshifted.
E) Nothing: the galaxy lies beyond the cosmological horizon.
Answer: D

11. To date, physicists have investigated the behavior of matter and energy at temperatures
as high as those that existed in the universe as far back as ________ after the Big Bang.
A) 1 million years
B) 300,000 years
C) 300 years
D) 3 minutes
E) 10-10 second
Answer: E

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QB – Test # 2

12. What is the main idea of the Big Bang theory?

A) The universe formed from the collapse of a previous universe.
B) All matter and energy in the universe was in an incredibly hot, dense state and space
itself began expanding.
C) The universe as we see it formed from the singularity in a black hole.
D) A massive explosion about 14 billion years ago created all matter and energy that
rushed out to fill the surrounding space.
Answer: B
13. When we say that the electromagnetic and weak forces "freeze out" from the
electroweak force at 10-10 seconds after the Big Bang, what do we mean?
A) These forces are important only at temperatures below the freezing point of water–a
temperature that the universe reached at an age of about 10-10 seconds.
B) "Freezing out" was a term coined by particle physicists who think that the Big Bang
theory is really cool.
C) Prior to this time, the electromagnetic and weak forces could not be distinguished
from each other, but they possessed separate identities following this time.
D) Following this time, neither the electromagnetic nor the weak force was ever
important in the universe again.
E) Following this time, the electromagnetic and weak forces starting cooling the universe,
which is why it is so cold today.
Answer: C

14. What happened to the quarks that existed freely during the particle era?
A) They combined to make protons, neutrons, and their antiparticles.
B) They froze out of the soup of particles at the end of the era.
C) They evaporated.
D) They combined to make electrons and neutrinos.
E) They combined to make W and Z bosons.
Answer: A

15. If the electromagnetic force is stronger than gravity, then why is it overpowered by
gravity on large scales?
A) The electromagnetic force only works on scales of about the size of an atomic
nucleus.
B) The electromagnetic force follows an inverse cube law with distance, rather than an
inverse square law.
C) Electrical charge is canceled out by mass.
D) Most objects are electrically neutral.
Answer: D
16. Which force binds together protons and neutrons in a nucleus?
A) strong force
B) gravity
C) electromagnetic force
D) weak force
Answer: A

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QB – Test # 2

17. Our current theories are unable to describe the conditions of the universe during the
Planck era. About how long after the Big Bang did the Plank era end?
A) 10-10 second
B) 10-35 second
C) 10-43 second
D) 3 minutes
E) 380,000 years
Answer: C
18. What kinds of atomic nuclei were present when fusion ceased at the end of the era of
nucleosynthesis?
A) only hydrogen
B) only helium
C) hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of deuterium and lithium
D) roughly equal amounts of each of the following: hydrogen, helium, deuterium, and
lithium
E) nuclei of all the chemical elements
Answer: C

19. Why did fusion cease only about 5 minutes after the Big Bang (at the end of the era of
nucleosynthesis)?
A) The density of the universe became too low.
B) There was no long any more hydrogen available for fusion reactions.
C) Too many heavy elements were produced.
D) Neutrinos carried off too much energy.
Answer: A

20. When did the photons in the cosmic microwave background first travel freely through
the universe?
A) the moment of the Big Bang
B) about 10-10 second after the Big Bang
C) about 5 minutes after the Big Bang
D) about 380,000 years after the Big Bang
E) At the time, the first stars began to shine in the universe.
Answer: D

21. Approximately how long have cosmic microwave background photons been traveling
through space?
A) 5000 years
B) 380,000 years
C) 14 billion years
D) It depends on which direction they come from.
Answer: C

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QB – Test # 2

22. Our Sun is made of about 28% helium (by mass). Where did this helium come from?
A) Fusion in stars
B) The Big Bang only
C) Mostly from fusion in stars with a small contribution from the Big Bang
D) Mostly from the Big Bang with a small contribution from fusion in stars
E) Radioactive decay of heavier elements only
Answer: D

23. The fact that the sky is dark at night proves that the universe cannot be
A) eternal and unchanging with an infinite number of stars.
B) expanding.
C) more than 20 billion years old.
D) infinite in size.
Answer: A

24. In general, what happens to the density and temperature of a gas as it expands?
A) It gets less dense and cooler.
B) It gets denser and cooler.
C) It gets less dense and hotter.
D) It gets denser and hotter.
Answer: A

25. The four fundamental forces that operate in the universe today are
A) strong force, weak force, electromagnetic force, and gravity.
B) strong force, weak force, electric force, and magnetic force.
C) nuclear force, electromagnetic force, gravity, and tidal force.
D) nuclear force, gravity, electric force, and magnetic force.
Answer: A

26. What is the approximate temperature of the universe (as a whole) today?
A) 3K
B) 3000K
C) 300K
D) The universe cannot be said to have a single temperature.
Answer: A

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QB – Test # 2

27. What does this diagram represent?

A) a particle and antiparticle colliding and converting all their mass into photons
B) two photons spontaneously turning into a particle and an antiparticle
C) a blue electron and a red electron turning into to pink light rays
D) a particle of ordinary matter and a particle of dark matter colliding and becoming two
photons of dark energy
Answer: A

28. This figure shows an all-sky map of the cosmic microwave background recorded by the
Planck telescope. How long did this light travel through space before it reached the
telescope?
A) about 14 billion years
B) about 380,000 years
C) about a million years
D) Depending on what portion of the map we're looking at, the light traveled for times
between just a few minutes and a few billion years.
Answer: A

29. What was the approximate temperature of the universe at an age of 5 minutes?
A) about 300 K
B) about 106 K
C) about 109 K
D) about 1012 K
Answer: C

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QB – Test # 2

30. Stars X and Y both have the same apparent brightness, but star X is 10,000 times as
luminous as star Y. How much farther away is star X than star Y?
A) Star X is 10 times as far away as star Y.
B) Star X is 100 times as far away as star Y.
C) Star X is 10,000 times as far away as star Y.
D) Star X is 10 times closer to us than star Y.
Answer: B

31. Which of the following is not one of the three major categories of galaxies?
A) globular galaxies
B) elliptical galaxies
C) spiral galaxies
D) irregular galaxies
Answer: A

32. Current estimates place the age of the universe at about

A) 10 billion years.
B) 10 million years.
C) 14 billion years.
D) 4-1/2 billion years.
Answer: C

33. What does cosmological redshift do to light?

A) stretches its wavelength
B) makes it brighter
C) makes it slow down
D) makes all light infrared
Answer: A

34. What is the approximate diameter of the disk of the Milky Way?
A) 100 light-years
B) 1000 light-years
C) 10,000 light-years
D) 100,000 light-years
E) 1,000,000 light-years
Answer: D

35. The thickness of the disk of the Milky Way is about ________ the diameter of the disk.
A) 1/10th of
B) 1/1000th of
C) 1/1,000,000th of
D) the same as
Answer: B

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QB – Test # 2

36. Approximately how far is the Sun from the center of the galaxy?
A) 27 light-years
B) 270 light-years
C) 2700 light-years
D) 27,000 light-years
E) 27 million light-years
Answer: D

37. Which of the following are typically found in the halo of our galaxy?
A) open star clusters
B) stars of spectral types O and B
C) globular star clusters
D) cold gas and dust
E) all of the above
Answer: C

38. Which of the following typically orbit within the disk of our galaxy?
A) stars of spectral types O and B
B) globular star clusters
C) the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
D) other galaxies
Answer: A
39. Which of the following represent the oldest stars of the Milky Way?
A) the Sun and other stars with similar mass
B) O stars
C) red giant stars in spiral arms
D) Cepheid variable stars
E) stars in globular clusters
Answer: E
40. Why can't we see the center of our galaxy with our eyes?
A) We are in the center of the Milky Way.
B) There are no stars in the center of the Milky Way, just a supermassive black hole.
C) Interstellar dust and gas absorbs and scatters visible light before it can reach us from
the center.
D) The center of the Milky Way does not emit enough visible light.
E) Stars are too densely spaced in the plane of our galaxy to see all the way to the center.
Answer: C
41. Approximately how long does it take stars in our region of the Milky Way to complete
an orbit around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) 20,000 years
B) 200,000 years
C) 2 million years
D) 200 million years
E) 2 billion years
Answer: D

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QB – Test # 2

42. What does the interstellar medium consist of?

A) many individual stars of varying mass
B) intermediate mass stars
C) asteroids, comets, and planets
D) gas and dust
Answer: D
43. What do astronomers typically refer to as "heavy elements"?
A) elements that are heavier than iron
B) elements that are heavier than carbon
C) elements that are heavier than uranium
D) elements besides hydrogen and helium
Answer: D
44. What are cosmic rays?
A) subatomic particles that travel close to the speed of light
B) a form of light with shorter wavelength than gamma rays
C) fast-moving dust particles in the interstellar medium
D) any light waves from space
Answer: A

45. Where are most elements heavier than hydrogen and helium made?
A) in the gas between the stars
B) in the cores of stars, in supernovae, and during neutron star mergers
C) All elements were made about 5 minutes after the universe began.
D) in the cool atmospheres of red giant stars
E) in white dwarfs
Answer: B

46. Where does most star formation occur in the Milky Way today?
A) in the halo
B) in the bulge
C) in the spiral arms
D) in the galactic center
E) uniformly throughout the Galaxy
Answer: C

47. What powerful force allows black holes to absorb light?

a. Nuclear fusion
b. Electromagnetism
c. Gravity
d. Nuclear bonding
e. All of the above

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QB – Test # 2

48. How do scientists know that black holes exist?

a. By running experiments on the Sun
b. By observing objects and light around black holes
c. By viewing black holes with powerful telescopes
d. All of the above
e. None of the Above

49. How do black holes form?

a. When planets collide
b. When nuclear bombs explode
c. When comets strike planets
d. When giant stars explode
e. When asteroids hit stars

50. Where do super massive black holes likely exist?

a. At the center of the Solar System
b. Inside gas giant planets
c. At the center of galaxies
d. All of the above
e. None of the Above

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51. True or False: Black holes are invisible because they don't reflect light.
a. TRUE
b. FALSE

52. What do we call the boundary around a black hole where nothing can escape its gravity?
a. The Great Wall
b. Singularity
c. Supernova border
d. Pulsar
e. Event horizon

53. What is the center of a black hole called?

a. Iris
b. Singularity
c. Supernova
d. Pulsar
e. Event horizon

54. What is it called when an aging star explodes?

a. Iris
b. Singularity

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QB – Test # 2

c. Supernova
d. Pulsar
e. Event horizon

55. True or False: Black holes were first discovered by Ancient Egyptian astronomers
around 3000 BCE.
a. TRUE
b. FALSE

56. What makes the gravity of a black hole so strong?

a. Its large size and small mass
b. Nuclear reactions at its core
c. It spins at a rate faster than light
d. Its small size and large mass
e. All of the above

57. What is included in the universe?

a. Stars and planets
b. All energy
c. Time
d. All matter
e. All of the above

58. What do scientists call the part of the universe they can see?
a. Viewable universe
b. Visible universe
c. Observable universe
d. Basic universe
e. Timely universe

59. True or False: The universe is expanding at a faster and faster rate.
a. TRUE
b. FALSE

What percentage of the universe is made up of atoms?

a. 4%
b. 10%
c. 20%
d. 50%
e. 100%

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QB – Test # 2

60. What do scientists believe fills up the 'empty space' in the universe?
a. Ether
b. Dark energy
c. Dark matter
d. Hydrogen gas
e. Dark force

61. What do scientists call matter that can't be seen with our current instruments?
a. Ether
b. Dark energy
c. Dark matter
d. Hydrogen gas
e. Dark force

62. How fast is the edge of the universe expanding?

a. So slowly we can hardly measure it
b. Around 1 mile per hour
c. At the speed of light
d. Faster than the speed of light
e. It isn't expanding, it's collapsing

63. What do scientists call the big explosion that started the universe?
a. Original Boom
b. The Explosion
c. Big Bang
d. Initial Blast
e. Ground zero

64. What shape do scientists think that the universe is?

a. Round
b. Square
c. Triangle
d. Rectangle
e. Flat

65. What is the most abundant element in the universe?

a. Oxygen
b. Hydrogen
c. Iron
d. Silicon
e. Gold

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QB – Test # 2

66. Which of the following best defines a galaxy?

a. A giant star
b. An area of high gravity where even light cannot escape
c. A large group of stars spinning around a center of high gravity
d. A star and its planets
e. A large area of empty space

67. What galaxy do we live in?

a. Pinwheel
b. Andromeda
c. Sunflower
d. Whirlpool
e. Milky Way

68. Our galaxy is a part of what galaxy cluster?

a. Local group
b. Magellanic clouds
c. Leo group
d. Ursa Major group
e. ABBA group

69. What type of galaxy is formed by a massive grouping of stars in the shape of a disc?
a. Spiral galaxy
b. Barred spiral galaxy
c. Elliptical galaxy
d. Irregular galaxy
e. None of the Above

70. What type of galaxy is often formed when two other types of galaxies crash into each
other?
a. Spiral galaxy
b. Barred spiral galaxy
c. Elliptical galaxy
d. Irregular galaxy
e. None of the Above

71. What type of galaxy is the Milky Way?

a. Spiral galaxy
b. Barred spiral galaxy
c. Elliptical galaxy
d. Irregular galaxy
e. None of the Above

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QB – Test # 2

72. What type of galaxy has a long bar in the middle with spirals coming off the ends?
a. Spiral galaxy
b. Barred spiral galaxy
c. Elliptical galaxy
d. Irregular galaxy
e. None of the Above

73. What do scientists believe exists at the center of galaxies?

a. A giant star
b. Empty space
c. A massive black hole
d. Dark matter
e. A portal to another universe

74. What galaxy is closest to the Milky Way?

a. Pinwheel
b. Andromeda
c. Sunflower
d. Whirlpool
e. Solar System

75. Around how long does it take the Sun to orbit our galaxy?
a. 1 year
b. 100 years
c. 365 years
d. 1 million years
e. Over 200 million years

76. Stars are made up mostly of what two elements?

a. Iron and nickel
b. Oxygen and hydrogen
c. Silicon and sulfur
d. Hydrogen and helium
e. Helium and Magnesium

77. What process allows stars to produce so much heat and energy?
a. Fossil fuels
b. Hydropower
c. Nuclear fusion
d. Electric wind
e. Photosynthesis

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QB – Test # 2

78. What do we call it when a large star collapses and creates a massive nuclear explosion?
a. Nebulae
b. Protostar
c. Main sequence star
d. Red giant
e. Supernova

79. Which stage in the life cycle of a star lasts the longest?
a. Nebulae
b. Protostar
c. Main sequence star
d. Red giant
e. Supernova

80. What do we call a giant cloud of space dust that will someday form into a star?
a. Nebulae
b. Protostar
c. Main sequence star
d. Red giant
e. Supernova

81. What do we call a star that has ran out of hydrogen and expanded?
a. Nebulae
b. Protostar
c. Main sequence star
d. Red giant
e. Supernova

82. What type of star is the Sun?

a. Red dwarf star
b. Yellow dwarf star
c. Super giant star
d. Neutron star
e. Brown dwarf
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QB – Test # 2

83. What type of star is very small and dense and was created by the collapse of a giant star?
a. Red dwarf star
b. Yellow dwarf star
c. Super giant star
d. Neutron star
e. Brown dwarf

84. What type of star is the most common star in the universe?
a. Red dwarf star
b. Yellow dwarf star
c. Super giant star
d. Neutron star
e. Brown dwarf

85. What color are the largest stars?

a. Brown
b. Red
c. Yellow
d. Green
e. Blue

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