Astronomy 101 - Final Exam questions and Verified
Answers
constellations and the moon appear to move across the sky at night because - ANSWER the
earth spins on its axis
T/F: in one day Earth rotates exactly once around it's axis - ANSWER false
What causes Earth's seasons? - ANSWER 23.5 degree tilt of Earth's rotational axis
a total lunar eclipse occurs - ANSWER during the full moon phase
T/F: our galaxy is about 1 million times bigger than Earth - ANSWER false
T/F: The stars in a constellation are physically close to one another - ANSWER false
T/F: The Solar Day is longer than a Sidereal Day - ANSWER true
T/F: The seasons are caused by the precession of Earth's axis - ANSWER false
T/F A lunar eclipse can occur only during the full phase. - ANSWER true
T/F: The angular diameter of an object is inversely proportional to its distance from the
observer - ANSWER true
T/F: If we know the distance of an object from Earth, we can determine the object's size by
measuring its parallax - ANSWER false
,If Earth rotated twice as fast as it currently does, but its motion around the Sun stayed the
same, then - ANSWER the night would be half as long
When a thin crescent of the Moon is visible just before sunrise, the Moon is in its - ANSWER
waning phase
If the Moon's orbit were a little larger, solar eclipses would be - ANSWER more likely to be
annular
If the Moon orbited Earth twice as fast, but in the same orbit, the frequency of solar eclipses
would - ANSWER stay the same
Considering the Moon's phases, everyone on Earth sees - ANSWER the same phase in 24 hours
How did the geocentric model account for day and night on Earth? - ANSWER the sun orbited
the earth
Copernicus' important contribution to astronomy was - ANSWER proposing a model that easily
explained the retrograde motion of the planets
Who published the first astronomical observations made with a telescope? - ANSWER Galileo
Earth is closer to the Sun in January than in July. Therefore, in accord with Kepler's second law: -
ANSWER Earth orbits faster in January
how many meters in 3.6 kilometers? - ANSWER 36,100
1 km =
,place the following prefixes in order from smallest to largest:
micro
centi
nano
milli - ANSWER nano
micro
milli
centi
Match the prefix with the scientific notation for the order of magnitude of the number.
kilo
mega
giga
tera
a. 10^3
b. 10^12
c. 10^9
d. 10^6 - ANSWER kilo - a. 10^3
mega - d. 10^6
giga - c. 10^9
tera - b. 10^12
Calculate, using Newton's law of gravity, the size of the force of attraction between Earth and a
mass of 9.52 kg located on the surface of Earth. Data: Distance to the center of Earth from the
surface = 6370 km. Mass of Earh = 5.98x1024 kg. Gravitational constant G=6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2
- ANSWER 92.3
, T/F: Aristotle proposed that all planets revolve around the sun - ANSWER false
T/F: During retrograde motion, planets actually stop and move backward in space. - ANSWER
false
T/F: The heliocentric model of the universe holds that Earth is at the center and everything else
moves around it. - ANSWER false
T/F: Copernicus's theories gained widespread scientific acceptance during his lifetime. -
ANSWER false
T/F Galileo's observations of the sky were made with the naked eye. - ANSWER false
T/F The speed of a planet orbiting the Sun is independent of the planet's position in the orbit -
ANSWER false
T/F: Keppler's laws only hold for the 6 planets known in his time - ANSWER false
T/F: You throw a baseball to someone, before the ball is caught, it is temporarily in orbit around
the Earth's center - ANSWER true
a major flaw in copernicus's model was that it still had - ANSWER circular orbits
a calculation of how long it would take a planet to orbit the sun would be closely related to
Kepler's - ANSWER third law of planetary distances
If Earth's orbit around the Sun were twice as large as it is now, the new year would be -
ANSWER more than 2 current earth years
Answers
constellations and the moon appear to move across the sky at night because - ANSWER the
earth spins on its axis
T/F: in one day Earth rotates exactly once around it's axis - ANSWER false
What causes Earth's seasons? - ANSWER 23.5 degree tilt of Earth's rotational axis
a total lunar eclipse occurs - ANSWER during the full moon phase
T/F: our galaxy is about 1 million times bigger than Earth - ANSWER false
T/F: The stars in a constellation are physically close to one another - ANSWER false
T/F: The Solar Day is longer than a Sidereal Day - ANSWER true
T/F: The seasons are caused by the precession of Earth's axis - ANSWER false
T/F A lunar eclipse can occur only during the full phase. - ANSWER true
T/F: The angular diameter of an object is inversely proportional to its distance from the
observer - ANSWER true
T/F: If we know the distance of an object from Earth, we can determine the object's size by
measuring its parallax - ANSWER false
,If Earth rotated twice as fast as it currently does, but its motion around the Sun stayed the
same, then - ANSWER the night would be half as long
When a thin crescent of the Moon is visible just before sunrise, the Moon is in its - ANSWER
waning phase
If the Moon's orbit were a little larger, solar eclipses would be - ANSWER more likely to be
annular
If the Moon orbited Earth twice as fast, but in the same orbit, the frequency of solar eclipses
would - ANSWER stay the same
Considering the Moon's phases, everyone on Earth sees - ANSWER the same phase in 24 hours
How did the geocentric model account for day and night on Earth? - ANSWER the sun orbited
the earth
Copernicus' important contribution to astronomy was - ANSWER proposing a model that easily
explained the retrograde motion of the planets
Who published the first astronomical observations made with a telescope? - ANSWER Galileo
Earth is closer to the Sun in January than in July. Therefore, in accord with Kepler's second law: -
ANSWER Earth orbits faster in January
how many meters in 3.6 kilometers? - ANSWER 36,100
1 km =
,place the following prefixes in order from smallest to largest:
micro
centi
nano
milli - ANSWER nano
micro
milli
centi
Match the prefix with the scientific notation for the order of magnitude of the number.
kilo
mega
giga
tera
a. 10^3
b. 10^12
c. 10^9
d. 10^6 - ANSWER kilo - a. 10^3
mega - d. 10^6
giga - c. 10^9
tera - b. 10^12
Calculate, using Newton's law of gravity, the size of the force of attraction between Earth and a
mass of 9.52 kg located on the surface of Earth. Data: Distance to the center of Earth from the
surface = 6370 km. Mass of Earh = 5.98x1024 kg. Gravitational constant G=6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2
- ANSWER 92.3
, T/F: Aristotle proposed that all planets revolve around the sun - ANSWER false
T/F: During retrograde motion, planets actually stop and move backward in space. - ANSWER
false
T/F: The heliocentric model of the universe holds that Earth is at the center and everything else
moves around it. - ANSWER false
T/F: Copernicus's theories gained widespread scientific acceptance during his lifetime. -
ANSWER false
T/F Galileo's observations of the sky were made with the naked eye. - ANSWER false
T/F The speed of a planet orbiting the Sun is independent of the planet's position in the orbit -
ANSWER false
T/F: Keppler's laws only hold for the 6 planets known in his time - ANSWER false
T/F: You throw a baseball to someone, before the ball is caught, it is temporarily in orbit around
the Earth's center - ANSWER true
a major flaw in copernicus's model was that it still had - ANSWER circular orbits
a calculation of how long it would take a planet to orbit the sun would be closely related to
Kepler's - ANSWER third law of planetary distances
If Earth's orbit around the Sun were twice as large as it is now, the new year would be -
ANSWER more than 2 current earth years
