1) How many centimeters are there
in one kilometer
a. 100
b. 1000
c. 10,000
d. 100,000
Ans d)
2) Scientific notation is used in science because
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. all of the above
e. none of the above
Ans a)
3) The average distance from Earth to the sun is
a. 1 ly
b. 1 million km
c. 1 million miles
d. 1 billion km
e. 1 AU
Ans e)
4) If the nearest star is 4.2 light-years
away, then
a. the star is 4.2 million AU away.
b. the light we see left the star 4.2 years ago.
c. the star must have formed 4.2 billion years ago.
d. the star must be very young.
e. the star must be very old.
Ans b)
5) A galaxy contains
a. primarily planets.
b. lots of gas and dust but very few stars.
c. lots of gas, dust, and stars.
d. a single star and planets.
e. thousands of superclusters.
Ans c)
6) The Milky Way Galaxy
a. contains about 100 billion stars.
b. is about 100 light-years in diameter.
c. is the largest known object in the universe.
d. all of the above
e. a and c
Ans a)
7) 2.9 x 10000000 is the same as
a. 2.9 thousand
b. 29 thousand
c. 290 thousand
d. 2.9 million
e. 29 million
Ans e)
8) If light takes 8 minutes to reach the earth from the sun and
5 hours to reach Pluto, what is the distance from the sun to Pluto?
a. 5 AU
b. 37.5 AU
c. 37.5 ly
d. 5 ly
e. 0.6 ly
Ans b)
9) A light-year is the time that light travels in one year. a)
True b) False
Ans b)
10) A finger, held at arm's length, fills an angle of about a) 50 degrees. b) 10 degrees. c) 2 degrees. d) one tenth of a degree.
Ans c)
11) The point in the sky that is located 90 degrees from the celestial horizon is the a) equator. b) pole. c) zenith. d) node.
Ans c)
12) An astronaut lands on an unknwn planet. After walking a distance of 400 km toward the north pole of the planet, she notices that the pole star for the planet is 5 degrees higher in the sky. What is the circumference of the planet a) 28,800 km. b) 400 km. c) 4600 km. d) 7200 km.
Ans a)
13) What object is located at one focus of the orbit of the olanet Mars? a) the sun. b) the earth. c) mars. d) Jupiter.
Ans a)
14) A planet has a semimajor axis of 10 AU. The orbital period would be a) 1.7 years. b) 5.2 years. c) 9 years. d) 33 years. e) 100 years.
Ans d)
15) What is the orbital period of an asteroid that has a semimajor axis of 2.8 AU? a) 2.8 years. b) 4.7 years. c) 7.8 years. d) 10.4 years.
Ans b)
16) Suppose planet X has a circular orbit. As viewed from the Earth, the maximum angle between planet X and the sun is 65 degrees. What is the orbital distance of the planet X? a) 0.9 AU. b) 1.4 AU. c) 1.8 AU. d) 2.14 AU.
Ans d)
17 Which of the following bodies is acceleration? a) a body moving in a straight line at constant speed b) a body at rest. c) a body moving in a circle at constant speed. d) a body with no force on it.
Ans c)