OpenStax Astronomy/Test 1 Study guide
Astronomy midterm Test 1 Study Guide
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- Study guide' links reading materials and/or relevant equations.
Astronomy midterm Test 1 Study Guide-v1s1
edit1. When did astronomy split between theoretical and observational branches?
- ___ a) In the last decade
- ___ b) In the 20th century
- ___ c) In the 18th century
- ___ d) After Galileo
- ___ e) In the 19th century
2. What does the Wikipedia 'Astronomy' call astrology?
- ___ a) the belief that all people should learn astronomy
- ___ b) the belief system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects.
- ___ c) the study of planetary atmospheres
- ___ d) the study of planetary cores
- ___ e) the study of comets and asteroids
3. Cosmology is the study of
- ___ a) the oceans
- ___ b) the formation of the solar system
- ___ c) the universe as a whole
- ___ d) the birth and death of stars
- ___ e) planetary atmospheres
4. What does the Wikipedia 'Astronomy' article say about astronomy and astrophysics
- ___ a) They are often considered to be opposites
- ___ b) They must be in agreement or the result cannot be trusted
- ___ c) They are often in conflict
- ___ d) They often yield different results
- ___ e) They are often considered to be synonymous
5. The goecentric theory put the Sun
- ___ a) in orbit around Earth
- ___ b) at the center of the solar system
- ___ c) none of the above or below are true
- ___ d) at the center of the universe
- ___ e) orbiting around the Moon
6. In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos estimated the size of
- ___ a) the Moon and Sun
- ___ b) Earth and the Moon
- ___ c) the Sun
- ___ d) Earth and the Sun
- ___ e) the Moon
7. In the 19th century Fraunhoffer and Kirchoff studied light from the Sun and found
- ___ a) a wobble that led to the discovery of new planets
- ___ b) a golden ring
- ___ c) Mercury's shadow
- ___ d) sunspots and the sunspot cycle
- ___ e) spectral lines and concluded that they were caused by the elements
8. The ancient Greeks discovered (named) most of the constellations
- ___ a) in the eastern hemisphere
- ___ b) in the southern hemisphere
- ___ c) in both all hemispheres
- ___ d) in the northern hemisphere
- ___ e) in the western hemisphere
9. When did astronmers establish that the Milky way is only one of many billions of galaxies in the universe?
- ___ a) 16th century
- ___ b) 14th century
- ___ c) 20th century
- ___ d) 18th century
10. According to the Wikipedia Astronomy article, the first known efforts in the mathematical and scientific study of Astronomy began
- ___ a) among the Babylonians
- ___ b) in south America
- ___ c) in central America
- ___ d) among the Chinese
- ___ e) in ancient Greece
11. How many years did it take before Europe made a device as sophisticated as Antikythera?
- ___ a) 1500 years
- ___ b) 300 years
- ___ c) 3000 years
- ___ d) 30 years
- ___ e) 15,000 years
12. The saro cycle was about repeating cycles of
- ___ a) seasons
- ___ b) planets
- ___ c) eclipses
- ___ a) Galileo
- ___ b) Aristotle
- ___ c) Ptolemy
- ___ d) Kepler
- ___ e) Copernicus
14. In what century was parallax first used to measure the distance to a Star (other than our Sun)?
- ___ a) 17th century
- ___ b) 19th century
- ___ c) 16th century
- ___ d) 20th century
- ___ e) 18th century
15. The largest galaxy in the local group is
- ___ a) M52
- ___ b) Andromeda
- ___ c) M-31
- ___ d) ant-galexy
- ___ e) Milky way
16. What two names are associated with the first new planet found (after those known by the ancients using the naked eye)
- ___ a) Uranus and George's Star
- ___ b) Pluto and Goofy
- ___ c) Mercury and Friendship
- ___ d) Neptune and the Alabama Streaker
- ___ e) Mars and the Candy Bar
17. The historical record shows that in 1066 AD a supernovae was discovered by astronomers in _____ and _____
- ___ a) Egypt and China
- ___ b) Greece and North America
- ___ c) Greece and Central America
- ___ d) Greece and China
- ___ e) China and South America
- ___ a) the magnetic field of Venus
- ___ b) a dying star
- ___ c) a supernovae remnant
- ___ d) the magnetic field of Saturn
- ___ e) colliding galaxies
19. Wihlem Conrad Rontgen, a pioneer in X-rays is famous for his photo of
- ___ a) a double star
- ___ b) Barnard's star
- ___ c) The Sun
- ___ d) a supernovae
- ___ e) his wife
20. Earth based infrared observatories tend to be located in
- ___ a) where the air is cold
- ___ b) near the north and south poles
- ___ c) underground
- ___ d) near the equator
- ___ e) where the air is dry
21. The shortest wavelength of electromagnetic radiation is associated with
- ___ a) blue light
- ___ b) gamma rays
- ___ c) infrared
- ___ d) ultra violet
- ___ e) X-rays
- ___ a) one galaxy
- ___ b) none of these is correct
- ___ c) a globular cluster
- ___ d) a cluster of galaxy
- ___ e) an open cluster of stars
23. Most of the ______ that astronomers observe from Earth is seen in the form of synchrotron radiation, which is produced when electrons oscillate around magnetic fields.
- ___ a) energy
- ___ b) meteorites
- ___ c) photons
- ___ d) radio waves
- ___ e) meteors
24. Most gamma rays are
- ___ a) from hot stars
- ___ b) from the Sun
- ___ c) from cold stars
- ___ d) in bursts
- ___ e) the Andromeda galaxy
25. Studies in the infrared are useful for objects that are
- ___ a) cold
- ___ b) in other galaxies
- ___ c) inside the solar system
- ___ d) associated with supernovae
- ___ e) in our own galaxy
26. The best place to observe neutrinos is
- ___ a) near the north and south poles
- ___ b) near the equator
- ___ c) where the air is dry
- ___ d) underground
- ___ e) where the air is cold
27. An active galaxy is emitting a significant amount of its energy from _____
- ___ a) nuclear fission
- ___ b) nuclear fusion
- ___ c) magnetism
- ___ d) exploding stars
- ___ e) gravity
28. The Wikipedia article Sidereus Nuncius suggests that the inventor of the telescope was likely to be
- ___ a) none of these
- ___ b) Galileo
- ___ c) a Chinese scientist
- ___ d) A Greek scholar
- ___ e) a lensmaker
29. Galileo called his telescope
- ___ a) the liberator
- ___ b) an optical cannon
- ___ c) the magic eye
- ___ d) a mistake
- ___ e) a double magnifying glass
30. The "terminator" for Galileo was
- ___ a) his trial for heresy
- ___ b) the equator
- ___ c) sunrise or sunset
- ___ d) the division between east and west
- ___ e) the most distant star he could see
31. Galileo used the terminator to
- ___ a) observe the wobble of the Moon's orbit
- ___ b) correlate color with whether the region had mountains
- ___ c) compensate for stellar parallax
- ___ d) deduce the color beneath the dust layer
- ___ e) none of these
32. Galileo used the terminator to
- ___ a) publicize his ideas
- ___ b) correlate dark and light regions with terrain
- ___ c) measure the height of mountains
- ___ d) compensate for stellar parallax
- ___ e) two of these
33. What statement is FALSE about Galileo and the Median Stars
- ___ a) Galileo named them after a famous and wealthy family
- ___ b) motion could be observed after observing a moon for just one hour
- ___ c) they are actually moons
- ___ d) they were lined up
- ___ e) they were described by Aristotle
34. The title of Galileo's book, Sidereus Nuncius, is often translated as ____, but it is probably more proper to translate it as _______
- ___ a) the motion of the earth - - the location of the earth
- ___ b) Starry messenger - - Starry message
- ___ c) the moons of Jupiter
- ___ d) the Moon close up - - the Moon through a telescope
- ___ e) the motion of the stars - - the location of the stars
35. The Wikipedia article, Sidereus Nuncius, points out that what the ancient Greek scientist thought was a cloudy star was really
- ___ a) the rings of Saturn
- ___ b) a supernovae remnant
- ___ c) a planetary nebula
- ___ d) many faint stars
- ___ e) a comet
36. Galileo's naming of the "Medicean Stars"
- ___ a) two of these are true
- ___ b) broke an agreement he made with the Pope to stop writing about astronomy
- ___ c) caused his house arrest
- ___ d) was controversial because stars were supposed to be named after Roman gods
- ___ e) might have earned him a promotion
37. When the German astronomy Marius provided evidence that he (Marius) had first seen the moons of Jupiter, Galileo
- ___ a) didn't care; he was a true scientist
- ___ b) pointed out that the telescope Marius was using could not have seen the Moons
- ___ c) used his political contacts to ensure that he (Galileo) would get credit
- ___ d) won the argument using his knowledge of calendars
- ___ e) appealed to the Pope
38. Prior to the publication of Sidereus Nuncius, the Church
- ___ a) had given Galileo a commission to look into the Copernican heliocentric system
- ___ b) none of these are true (according to the Wikipedia permalink to Sidereus Nuncius.)
- ___ c) was unaware of any controversy concerning the Copernican heliocentric system
- ___ d) had outlawed all discussion of the Copernican heliocentric system
- ___ e) accepted the Copernican heliocentric system as strictly mathematical and hypothetical
39. The Ptolemaic system was geocentric.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
40. The Ptolemaic system was heliocentric.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
41. Most ancient Roman and most medieval scholars thought the Earth was flat.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
42. Evidence for the Copernican system is that the Earth does not seem to move.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
43. The ancient Greeks believed in circular orbits, causing them to devise the epicycle and the deferent.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
44. Copernicus was a university-trained Catholic priest dedicated to astronomy.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
45. In the late 16th century, Tycho Brahe invented his system to resolve philosophical and what he called “physical" problems with the geocentric theory.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
46. Copernicus shared his heliocentric theory with colleagues decades before he died.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
47. In the late 16th century, Tycho Brahe invented his system to resolve philosophical and what he called “physical" problems with the heliocentric theory.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
48. An argument used to support the geocentric model held that heavenly bodies, while perhaps large, were able to move quickly.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
49. Tycho tended to favor religious arguments over scientific arguments when justifying his opinions about the geocentric/heliocentric controversy.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
50. Tycho was the first to propose an earth-orbiting sun had planets in orbit around the Sun.
- ___ a) TRUE
- ___ b) FALSE
51. At noon a 1st quarter moon would be
- ___ a) overhead
- ___ b) below the horizon
- ___ c) western horizon
- ___ d) eastern horizon
52. At 6pm a new moon would be
- ___ a) eastern horizon
- ___ b) below the horizon
- ___ c) overhead
- ___ d) western horizon
53. At 6am a full moon would be
- ___ a) overhead
- ___ b) western horizon
- ___ c) eastern horizon
- ___ d) below the horizon
54. At 6pm a 1st quarter moon would be
- ___ a) below the horizon
- ___ b) overhead
- ___ c) western horizon
- ___ d) eastern horizon
55. At midnight a third quarter moon would be
- ___ a) eastern horizon
- ___ b) overhead
- ___ c) below the horizon
- ___ d) western horizon
56. At noon a new moon would be
- ___ a) eastern horizon
- ___ b) below the horizon
- ___ c) overhead
- ___ d) western horizon
57. At 6pm a third quarter moon would be
- ___ a) eastern horizon
- ___ b) below the horizon
- ___ c) overhead
- ___ d) western horizon
58. At noon a third quarter moon would be
- ___ a) western horizon
- ___ b) overhead
- ___ c) eastern horizon
- ___ d) below the horizon
59. At 6am a 1st quarter moon would be
- ___ a) overhead
- ___ b) western horizon
- ___ c) eastern horizon
- ___ d) below the horizon
60. At 6am a new moon would be
- ___ a) overhead
- ___ b) below the horizon
- ___ c) western horizon
- ___ d) eastern horizon
Key to Astronomy midterm Test 1 Study Guide-v1s1
edit1. When did astronomy split between theoretical and observational branches?
- - a) In the last decade
- + b) In the 20th century
- - c) In the 18th century
- - d) After Galileo
- - e) In the 19th century
2. What does the Wikipedia 'Astronomy' call astrology?
- - a) the belief that all people should learn astronomy
- + b) the belief system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects.
- - c) the study of planetary atmospheres
- - d) the study of planetary cores
- - e) the study of comets and asteroids
3. Cosmology is the study of
- - a) the oceans
- - b) the formation of the solar system
- + c) the universe as a whole
- - d) the birth and death of stars
- - e) planetary atmospheres
4. What does the Wikipedia 'Astronomy' article say about astronomy and astrophysics
- - a) They are often considered to be opposites
- - b) They must be in agreement or the result cannot be trusted
- - c) They are often in conflict
- - d) They often yield different results
- + e) They are often considered to be synonymous
5. The goecentric theory put the Sun
- + a) in orbit around Earth
- - b) at the center of the solar system
- - c) none of the above or below are true
- - d) at the center of the universe
- - e) orbiting around the Moon
6. In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos estimated the size of
- + a) the Moon and Sun
- - b) Earth and the Moon
- - c) the Sun
- - d) Earth and the Sun
- - e) the Moon
7. In the 19th century Fraunhoffer and Kirchoff studied light from the Sun and found
- - a) a wobble that led to the discovery of new planets
- - b) a golden ring
- - c) Mercury's shadow
- - d) sunspots and the sunspot cycle
- + e) spectral lines and concluded that they were caused by the elements
8. The ancient Greeks discovered (named) most of the constellations
- - a) in the eastern hemisphere
- - b) in the southern hemisphere
- - c) in both all hemispheres
- + d) in the northern hemisphere
- - e) in the western hemisphere
9. When did astronmers establish that the Milky way is only one of many billions of galaxies in the universe?
- - a) 16th century
- - b) 14th century
- + c) 20th century
- - d) 18th century
10. According to the Wikipedia Astronomy article, the first known efforts in the mathematical and scientific study of Astronomy began
- + a) among the Babylonians
- - b) in south America
- - c) in central America
- - d) among the Chinese
- - e) in ancient Greece
11. How many years did it take before Europe made a device as sophisticated as Antikythera?
- + a) 1500 years
- - b) 300 years
- - c) 3000 years
- - d) 30 years
- - e) 15,000 years
12. The saro cycle was about repeating cycles of
- - a) seasons
- - b) planets
- + c) eclipses
- + a) Galileo
- - b) Aristotle
- - c) Ptolemy
- - d) Kepler
- - e) Copernicus
14. In what century was parallax first used to measure the distance to a Star (other than our Sun)?
- - a) 17th century
- + b) 19th century
- - c) 16th century
- - d) 20th century
- - e) 18th century
15. The largest galaxy in the local group is
- - a) M52
- + b) Andromeda
- - c) M-31
- - d) ant-galexy
- - e) Milky way
16. What two names are associated with the first new planet found (after those known by the ancients using the naked eye)
- + a) Uranus and George's Star
- - b) Pluto and Goofy
- - c) Mercury and Friendship
- - d) Neptune and the Alabama Streaker
- - e) Mars and the Candy Bar
17. The historical record shows that in 1066 AD a supernovae was discovered by astronomers in _____ and _____
- + a) Egypt and China
- - b) Greece and North America
- - c) Greece and Central America
- - d) Greece and China
- - e) China and South America
- - a) the magnetic field of Venus
- + b) a dying star
- - c) a supernovae remnant
- - d) the magnetic field of Saturn
- - e) colliding galaxies
19. Wihlem Conrad Rontgen, a pioneer in X-rays is famous for his photo of
- - a) a double star
- - b) Barnard's star
- - c) The Sun
- - d) a supernovae
- + e) his wife
20. Earth based infrared observatories tend to be located in
- - a) where the air is cold
- - b) near the north and south poles
- - c) underground
- - d) near the equator
- + e) where the air is dry
21. The shortest wavelength of electromagnetic radiation is associated with
- - a) blue light
- + b) gamma rays
- - c) infrared
- - d) ultra violet
- - e) X-rays
- + a) one galaxy
- - b) none of these is correct
- - c) a globular cluster
- - d) a cluster of galaxy
- - e) an open cluster of stars
23. Most of the ______ that astronomers observe from Earth is seen in the form of synchrotron radiation, which is produced when electrons oscillate around magnetic fields.
- - a) energy
- - b) meteorites
- - c) photons
- + d) radio waves
- - e) meteors
24. Most gamma rays are
- - a) from hot stars
- - b) from the Sun
- - c) from cold stars
- + d) in bursts
- - e) the Andromeda galaxy
25. Studies in the infrared are useful for objects that are
- + a) cold
- - b) in other galaxies
- - c) inside the solar system
- - d) associated with supernovae
- - e) in our own galaxy
26. The best place to observe neutrinos is
- - a) near the north and south poles
- - b) near the equator
- - c) where the air is dry
- + d) underground
- - e) where the air is cold
27. An active galaxy is emitting a significant amount of its energy from _____
- - a) nuclear fission
- - b) nuclear fusion
- - c) magnetism
- - d) exploding stars
- + e) gravity
28. The Wikipedia article Sidereus Nuncius suggests that the inventor of the telescope was likely to be
- - a) none of these
- - b) Galileo
- - c) a Chinese scientist
- - d) A Greek scholar
- + e) a lensmaker
29. Galileo called his telescope
- - a) the liberator
- + b) an optical cannon
- - c) the magic eye
- - d) a mistake
- - e) a double magnifying glass
30. The "terminator" for Galileo was
- - a) his trial for heresy
- - b) the equator
- + c) sunrise or sunset
- - d) the division between east and west
- - e) the most distant star he could see
31. Galileo used the terminator to
- - a) observe the wobble of the Moon's orbit
- + b) correlate color with whether the region had mountains
- - c) compensate for stellar parallax
- - d) deduce the color beneath the dust layer
- - e) none of these
32. Galileo used the terminator to
- - a) publicize his ideas
- - b) correlate dark and light regions with terrain
- - c) measure the height of mountains
- - d) compensate for stellar parallax
- + e) two of these
33. What statement is FALSE about Galileo and the Median Stars
- - a) Galileo named them after a famous and wealthy family
- - b) motion could be observed after observing a moon for just one hour
- - c) they are actually moons
- - d) they were lined up
- + e) they were described by Aristotle
34. The title of Galileo's book, Sidereus Nuncius, is often translated as ____, but it is probably more proper to translate it as _______
- - a) the motion of the earth - - the location of the earth
- + b) Starry messenger - - Starry message
- - c) the moons of Jupiter
- - d) the Moon close up - - the Moon through a telescope
- - e) the motion of the stars - - the location of the stars
35. The Wikipedia article, Sidereus Nuncius, points out that what the ancient Greek scientist thought was a cloudy star was really
- - a) the rings of Saturn
- - b) a supernovae remnant
- - c) a planetary nebula
- + d) many faint stars
- - e) a comet
36. Galileo's naming of the "Medicean Stars"
- + a) two of these are true
- - b) broke an agreement he made with the Pope to stop writing about astronomy
- - c) caused his house arrest
- - d) was controversial because stars were supposed to be named after Roman gods
- - e) might have earned him a promotion
37. When the German astronomy Marius provided evidence that he (Marius) had first seen the moons of Jupiter, Galileo
- - a) didn't care; he was a true scientist
- - b) pointed out that the telescope Marius was using could not have seen the Moons
- - c) used his political contacts to ensure that he (Galileo) would get credit
- + d) won the argument using his knowledge of calendars
- - e) appealed to the Pope
38. Prior to the publication of Sidereus Nuncius, the Church
- - a) had given Galileo a commission to look into the Copernican heliocentric system
- - b) none of these are true (according to the Wikipedia permalink to Sidereus Nuncius.)
- - c) was unaware of any controversy concerning the Copernican heliocentric system
- - d) had outlawed all discussion of the Copernican heliocentric system
- + e) accepted the Copernican heliocentric system as strictly mathematical and hypothetical
39. The Ptolemaic system was geocentric.
- + a) TRUE
- - b) FALSE
40. The Ptolemaic system was heliocentric.
- - a) TRUE
- + b) FALSE
41. Most ancient Roman and most medieval scholars thought the Earth was flat.
- - a) TRUE
- + b) FALSE
42. Evidence for the Copernican system is that the Earth does not seem to move.
- - a) TRUE
- + b) FALSE
43. The ancient Greeks believed in circular orbits, causing them to devise the epicycle and the deferent.
- + a) TRUE
- - b) FALSE
44. Copernicus was a university-trained Catholic priest dedicated to astronomy.
- + a) TRUE
- - b) FALSE
45. In the late 16th century, Tycho Brahe invented his system to resolve philosophical and what he called “physical" problems with the geocentric theory.
- - a) TRUE
- + b) FALSE
46. Copernicus shared his heliocentric theory with colleagues decades before he died.
- + a) TRUE
- - b) FALSE
47. In the late 16th century, Tycho Brahe invented his system to resolve philosophical and what he called “physical" problems with the heliocentric theory.
- + a) TRUE
- - b) FALSE
48. An argument used to support the geocentric model held that heavenly bodies, while perhaps large, were able to move quickly.
- + a) TRUE
- - b) FALSE
49. Tycho tended to favor religious arguments over scientific arguments when justifying his opinions about the geocentric/heliocentric controversy.
- - a) TRUE
- + b) FALSE
50. Tycho was the first to propose an earth-orbiting sun had planets in orbit around the Sun.
- - a) TRUE
- + b) FALSE
51. At noon a 1st quarter moon would be
- - a) overhead
- - b) below the horizon
- - c) western horizon
- + d) eastern horizon
52. At 6pm a new moon would be
- - a) eastern horizon
- - b) below the horizon
- - c) overhead
- + d) western horizon
53. At 6am a full moon would be
- - a) overhead
- + b) western horizon
- - c) eastern horizon
- - d) below the horizon
54. At 6pm a 1st quarter moon would be
- - a) below the horizon
- + b) overhead
- - c) western horizon
- - d) eastern horizon
55. At midnight a third quarter moon would be
- + a) eastern horizon
- - b) overhead
- - c) below the horizon
- - d) western horizon
56. At noon a new moon would be
- - a) eastern horizon
- - b) below the horizon
- + c) overhead
- - d) western horizon
57. At 6pm a third quarter moon would be
- - a) eastern horizon
- + b) below the horizon
- - c) overhead
- - d) western horizon
58. At noon a third quarter moon would be
- + a) western horizon
- - b) overhead
- - c) eastern horizon
- - d) below the horizon
59. At 6am a 1st quarter moon would be
- - a) overhead
- - b) western horizon
- - c) eastern horizon
- + d) below the horizon
60. At 6am a new moon would be
- - a) overhead
- - b) below the horizon
- - c) western horizon
- + d) eastern horizon
- Attribution (for quiz questions) under CC-by-SA license
- http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Astronomy_(wikipedia)/Quiz01&oldid=1387156
- https://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Astronomy_(wikipedia)/Quiz02&oldid=1387715
- https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Astronomy_college_course/Wikipedia_Sidereus_Nuncius/Quiz01
- http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Ptolemy,_Copernicus_and_Tycho_systems/Quiz01&oldid=1388143
- http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Lunar_Phases/Quiz(simple)&oldid=1388138
- Study guide
- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy&oldid=586057527
- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sidereus_Nuncius&oldid=587554840
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Guy_vandegrift/Astronomy_college_course/Ptolemy,_Copernicus_and_Tycho_systems
- http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Astronomy_college_course/Lunar_Phases&oldid=1190185