ASTRO 101 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS WITH
DETAILED VERIFIED ANSWERS
How does the interstellar medium obscure our view of most of the galaxy?
The small mixture of dust grains in the interstellar medium absorbs visible light
Greenhouse gases warm a planet like Earth by
retaining more infrared light emitted by the Earth
At present, what is the primary way that astronomers carry out SETI programs (that is,
search for extraterrestrial intelligence)
by using radio telescopes to search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations
What component of the primordial interstellar cloud became the inner planets?
The dust grains
When we look at the great galaxy in Andromeda we see it as it was approximately
2.5 million years ago
Particle physicists are interested in the conditions in the early Universe because
this allows them to test unified field theories uniting the fundamental forces of nature
Which of the following has a linear size or radius closest to the radius of a white dwarf?
the Earth
Harlow Shapley concluded that the Sun was not located at the center of the Milky Way
Galaxy by
mapping the distribution of globular clusters in the galaxy
Dark matter is composed of:
no one knows for sure
Jupiter's composition is closest to that of
, the Sun
About how old is the Solar System?
5,000,000,000 years
You observe a Cephied variable in a distant galaxy, you can now determine the galaxies:
distance
How does the observed density in stars compare with the critical density
it is much less
Hydrostatic equilibrium means that:
stars have a higher temperature and pressure in their centers to support the mass of their outer
layers
Why are objects like Mercury and the moons of Earth, Jupiter and Saturn so heavily
cratered?
Intense bombardment by asteroids and planetesimals subsequent to their birth
Astronomers are interested in particle accelerator experiments such as those conducted at
the Large Hadron Collider because
they will search for particles which may have led to inflation in the early Universe
A red giant star like Arcturus must have a
luminosity much larger than the Sun
Scale the Milky Way down to the size of a compact disc. Which of the following best
describes the size, shape, and distance of the Andromeda Galaxy on the same scale?
a compact disk a few meters away
Why can't current theories describe what happened during the Planck era?
We do not yet have a theory that links quantum mechanics and general relativity.
DETAILED VERIFIED ANSWERS
How does the interstellar medium obscure our view of most of the galaxy?
The small mixture of dust grains in the interstellar medium absorbs visible light
Greenhouse gases warm a planet like Earth by
retaining more infrared light emitted by the Earth
At present, what is the primary way that astronomers carry out SETI programs (that is,
search for extraterrestrial intelligence)
by using radio telescopes to search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations
What component of the primordial interstellar cloud became the inner planets?
The dust grains
When we look at the great galaxy in Andromeda we see it as it was approximately
2.5 million years ago
Particle physicists are interested in the conditions in the early Universe because
this allows them to test unified field theories uniting the fundamental forces of nature
Which of the following has a linear size or radius closest to the radius of a white dwarf?
the Earth
Harlow Shapley concluded that the Sun was not located at the center of the Milky Way
Galaxy by
mapping the distribution of globular clusters in the galaxy
Dark matter is composed of:
no one knows for sure
Jupiter's composition is closest to that of
, the Sun
About how old is the Solar System?
5,000,000,000 years
You observe a Cephied variable in a distant galaxy, you can now determine the galaxies:
distance
How does the observed density in stars compare with the critical density
it is much less
Hydrostatic equilibrium means that:
stars have a higher temperature and pressure in their centers to support the mass of their outer
layers
Why are objects like Mercury and the moons of Earth, Jupiter and Saturn so heavily
cratered?
Intense bombardment by asteroids and planetesimals subsequent to their birth
Astronomers are interested in particle accelerator experiments such as those conducted at
the Large Hadron Collider because
they will search for particles which may have led to inflation in the early Universe
A red giant star like Arcturus must have a
luminosity much larger than the Sun
Scale the Milky Way down to the size of a compact disc. Which of the following best
describes the size, shape, and distance of the Andromeda Galaxy on the same scale?
a compact disk a few meters away
Why can't current theories describe what happened during the Planck era?
We do not yet have a theory that links quantum mechanics and general relativity.
