Assignment chapters 12-14 Name________________________________ Section_______________________________ Score:___________ Date:____________

Multiple Choice: In each of the multiple choice questions, select the CORRECT ANSWER. Write the CAPITAL letter of your choice BEFORE the number. STRICTLY NO ERASURES. ERASURES/ALTERATIONS WILL BE MARKED WRONG. 1. Stonehenge is an ancient observatory built in A. ancient Babylon. B. England. C. the Euphrates river valley. 2. Which of the following star colors has the highest temperature? A. blue B. white C. yellow D. red 3. Where a main sequence star is located on the H-R diagram depends on its temperature and its A. distance from the earth. B. composition. C. density of its core. D. mass. 4. About how old is the universe? A. 6.0 billion years B. 10.5 billion years

D. Greece.

C. 13.7 billion years

D. 20 billion years

5. Which type of star has the shortest life span? A. large, very massive B. small, not very massive C. one on the main sequence D. a star about the size of our sun 6. The difference in brightness between two stars is related to the A. amount of light and energy produced by the stars. B. relative size of the stars. C. distance to the stars. D. All of the choices. 7. Nuclear fusion reactions occur in what part of a star? A. core B. radiation zone C. convection zone

D. All of the choices.

8. Nearby stars appear to move ____ relative to Polaris. A. clockwise B. counter-clockwise C. straight by 9. Which of the following depends on your location on earth? A. celestial pole B. celestial meridian C. celestial equator D. All of these depend on your location. 10. The earth rotates A. from west to east. C. at the same rate as it revolves around the sun.

D. in looping circles

B. from east to west. D. twice each day.

11. The number of degrees of arc that Polaris is above the horizon depends on A. the time of night. B. your longitude. C. your latitude. D. your position on the celestial meridian. 12. If the density of the universe is less than a critical value, then A. it might eventually stop expanding. B. it might continue expanding forever. C. it could expand to a fixed size and remain. D. there's probably less dark matter than luminous matter.

13. Which of the following is evidence for the existence of "dark matter" in the universe? A. The rate of expansion of the universe is speeding up. B. Stars eventually use up their fuel and stop shining. C. The outlying stars in a galaxy appear to rotate more rapidly than expected. D. Either there is no proof that dark matter exists, or there is no way to calculate its abundance. 14. The expected life span of a star the size of the sun is A. 10 billion years. B. 1 billion years. C. 100 million years.

D. 10 million years.

15. Compared to a star like the sun, a blue-white star A. is more massive. B. has a higher surface temperature. C. burns its fuel at a greater rate. D. All of the choices. 16. The eventual fate of our sun is to become A. a neutron star. B. a supernova. C. a white dwarf. 17. The Milky Way galaxy is A. spiral. B. elliptical.

D. a black hole.

C. globular.

D. spherical.

18. Most of the stars plotted on a H-R diagram are A. red giant stars. B. white dwarf stars. C. cepheid variables.

D. main sequence stars.

19. Compared to a magnitude 1 star, a star with a magnitude of 2 is A. more than twice as bright. B. less than half as bright. C. ten times as bright. D. less than one tenth as bright. 20. In which part of a newborn star does the fusion reaction occur? A. the core B. the radiation zone C. the convection zone D. in all parts of the star 21. Which one of the following planets is denser than the others? A. Saturn B. Jupiter C. Uranus

D. Earth

22. Which of the following statements about the length of a planet's day is true? A. The closer the planet is to the sun, the shorter is its day. B. The more massive the planet, the longer its day. C. The four gas giants barely rotate at all. D. None of the choices. 23. The earth moves most rapidly in its orbit around A. January 3. B. March 21. C. July 1. 24. The surface temperature of Venus is so high because A. it is so much closer to the sun. B. its day is so long that the side facing the sun gets very hot. C. it has many active volcanoes that heat up the atmosphere. D. its atmosphere traps much of the incoming solar energy. 25. Which of the following is true about the surface of Mars? A. There are numerous active volcanoes. B. It is much too cold for liquid water to exist. C. The polar ice caps are frozen water. D. The greenish areas are due to low, scrubby vegetation. 26. Which planets have no moons? A. Pluto and Neptune B. Mars and Saturn C. Mercury and Venus D. All of the planets have at least one moon.

D. September 22.

27. Which of the following statements about comets is not true? A. Comets are thought to be dirty snowballs. B. The birthplace of comets is a cloud of icy, dusty aggregates beyond the orbit of Pluto. C. Most comets have elliptical orbits with periods around one hundred years. D. The tail of a comet consists of dust and evaporated ices. 28. The earth, other planets, and the rest of the solar system formed A. at the same time as the rest of the stars in the galaxy. B. millions of years ago from elements that have always existed. C. from a giant nebula millions of years ago. D. billions of years ago from elements created in previously existing stars. 29. Most of the mass of the solar system is found in A. the terrestrial planets. B. the gas giants.

C. the comets and asteroids.

D. the Sun.

30. The polar ice caps of Mars are believed to consist mostly of A. water ice. B. solid carbon dioxide. C. frozen ammonia. 31. The smallest planet in the solar system is A. Mercury. B. Mars. 32. A dwarf planet of the solar system is A. Ceres. B. Pluto. 33. The atmosphere of Venus is predominantly A. carbon dioxide. B. nitrogen.

D. frozen methane.

C. Uranus.

D. Venus.

C. Eris.

D. all of the choices.

C. methane.

D. water vapor.

34. Our model of the surface features of Venus was obtained by A. powerful earth-based telescopes. B. cameras on the fly-by Voyager probes. C. radar mapping from the Magellan probe. D. the Venera probes that roamed the surface of the planet. 35. Which of the following about Jupiter is not true? A. Jupiter is mostly made of light elements like hydrogen and helium. B. Much of the planet is composed of hydrogen compressed so greatly that it is liquid. C. The colored bands in Jupiter's atmosphere are believed to result from atmospheric convection. D. Because Jupiter is mostly hydrogen, it is only slightly more massive than the earth. 36. Remnants of asteroids or comets that survive the trip through the earth's atmosphere to strike the surface are called A. meteors. B. meteorites. C. meteoroids. D. "shooting stars". 37. All of the evidence indicates that the universe is about how old? A. 6,000 years B. 4.5 billion years C. 13.7 billion years D. 100,000 billion years 38. Which one of the following planets does not belong with the others? A. Mars B. Jupiter C. Mercury D. Venus 39. The brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon is A. Saturn. B. Jupiter. C. Mars.

D. Venus.

40. During which month of the year does the earth receive the greatest average energy from the sun? A. January B. March C. June D. September

41. How frequently does the sun appear directly overhead in Mexico City ( 20 N latitude)? A. daily B. once a year C. twice a year D. four times a year 42. The slow wobble of the earth's axis is called A. Coriolis. B. solstice. C. perigee.

D. precession.

43. The fact that there are seasons on the earth is largely due to the A. tilt of the earth's axis. B. changing distance of the earth from the sun during its orbit. C. precession of the earth's axis of rotation. D. Coriolis effect. 44. An apparent solar day is A. the interval between two consecutive solar noons. C. rarely exactly 24 hours long.

B. slightly longer than a sidereal day. D. all of the choices.

45. The ancient Greeks believed that the shape of the earth was A. flat. B. a perfect sphere. C. an oblate spheroid. 46. Evidence that the earth is rotating is provided by A. the motion of a pendulum. B. seasonal climatic changes. C. the varying solar day. D. the movement of the constellations.

D. an irregular lump.

47. If your favorite constellation rose at 8:00 PM one night, when would it rise two weeks later? A. at 8:00 PM B. around 7:00 PM C. around 9:00 PM D. It depends on the constellation. 48. North of the Tropic of Cancer, the sun appears directly overhead at noon A. never. B. daily. C. twice a year, at the equinoxes. D. twice a year, at the solstices. 49. South of the Antarctic Circle, the sun appears A. directly overhead only once a year. B. directly overhead twice yearly. C. above the horizon all day at least once during December. D. above the horizon all day at least once during June. 50. In the time 9:00 AM, the "AM" means A. after morning. B. after the meridian. C. astronomical motion. D. before the meridian. 51. The path of a plane flying due north from a spot on the equator would appear to A. continue due north. B. curve to the east. C. curve to the west. D. form an S-shaped curve. 52. We always see the same side of the moon because the A. moon doesn't rotate. B. moon's periods of rotation and revolution are the same. C. moon's orbit is circular. D. period of rotation of both the earth and the moon is the same. 53. During which phase of the moon would we most likely see a solar eclipse? A. full B. first quarter C. last quarter D. new 54. If you were flying east on a jet across three times zones and your watch read 12:00 noon when you landed, you should A. set it to 9:00 AM. B. set it to 3:00 PM. C. set it 6:00 PM. D. leave it at 12:00 for that is when the sun crosses the celestial meridian.

55. A person standing where the moon's penumbra touches the earth will see A. a total solar eclipse. B. an annular eclipse. C. a partial solar eclipse. D. a total lunar eclipse. 56. A lunar eclipse can only occur during which phase of the moon? A. full B. 1st quarter C. last quarter D. new 57. The most recent ice age on earth occurred A. 10,000 years ago. B. 18,000 years ago. C. 75,000 years ago. D. 250,000 years ago.

58. Neap tides result when the moon is A. aligned with the sun and the earth. B. full. C. new. D. in a quarter phase. 59. If you see a full moon, an astronaut on the Moon looking back at Earth at the same time would see a A. full Earth. B. new Earth. C. first quarter Earth. D. last quarter Earth. 60. Strong evidence about former existing life has been found on A. Mars. B. Venus. C. meteorites. D. none of the choices.