EE8086

NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

SEMESTER 1 EXAMINATION 2009-2010
EE8086 ASTRONOMY: STARS, GALAXIES AND COSMOLOGY

November/December 2009

Time Allowed: 2 hours

INSTRUCTIONS
1.

This paper consists of 50 multiple choice questions and comprises TWELVE (12)
pages.

2.

Each multiple choice question carries 2 marks and each multiple choice question
has only one answer. Answer ALL the multiple choice questions.

3.

This is a closed-book examination.

4.

Indicate your answers to the multiple choice questions on the Answer Sheet
provided by shading the appropriate circle for each question.

5.

You are not allowed to remove this examination paper away from the examination
hall.

1.

What do we mean when we say that the Sun is in gravitational equilibrium?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

2.

The Sun maintains a steady temperature.

The hydrogen gas in the Sun is balanced so that it never rises upward or
falls downward.
The Sun always has the same amount of mass, creating the same
gravitational force.
There is a balance within the Sun between the outward push of pressure
and the inward pull of gravity.
The Sun is stationary in space and all other planets orbit around it.

How many galaxies are there in the observable universe?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

Roughly a thousand times more than the number of stars in our galaxy.
About as many as the number of stars we see in the sky with our naked
eyes.
About as many as the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on
Earth.
Roughly (within a factor of 10) the same as the number of stars in our
galaxy.
Infinite.

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3.

What does the universe look like on the 100 million light-year scale?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

4.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

5.

It breaks apart in a violent explosion.

It becomes a white dwarf.
It becomes a neutron star.
It contracts from a protostar to a main-sequence star.
None of the above.

Which of the following statements is false?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

7.

The Sun generates energy primarily by nuclear fission.

The most accurate way to determine the distance to a nearby star is based
on Cepheid variables.
Variation in the absorption of the atmosphere causes stars to twinkle.
The main constituents of the jovian planets are nitrogen, ammonia and
methane.
The atmosphere of Venus is more acidic than that of Mars.

What happens to the core of a star upon the occurrence of a planetary nebula?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

6.

Galaxies are distributed in a great shell expanding outward from the center
of the universe.
Galaxies are uniformly distributed.
Galaxies are randomly distributed.
Galaxies appear to be distributed in chains and sheets that surround great
voids.
Galaxies are distributed in a hierarchy of clusters, superclusters, and
hyperclusters.

The tides on Earth are an example of Newtons first law of motion.

The more distant a star, the smaller its parallax.
Tidal friction caused by the Earths stretching from the Moons gravity is
gradually slowing down the rotation of the Earth.
Light from white dwarfs shows a gravitational redshift.
Red and orange stars are spread evenly throughout the galactic disk, but
blue stars are typically found only near star-forming regions.

Which of the following planets has the most volcanically active moons?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

Pluto
Neptune
Uranus
Jupiter
Mercury

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8.

What happens when the gravity of a massive star is able to overcome neutron
degeneracy pressure?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

9.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

10.

If you double the mass of fusion material in a hydrogen bomb, you

quadruple the amount of energy generated.
Sunspots are cooler than the surrounding region of the Suns surface.
The mechanism of electrons orbiting an atomic nucleus is like that of
planets orbiting the Sun.
Angular momentum depends upon on mass and angular velocity of the
object.
X-rays are always more intense than visible, infrared and radio waves so
that X-ray is in general hazardous to health.

What is left behind after a supernova event?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

11.

The core contracts and becomes a black hole.

The core contracts and becomes a ball of neutrons.
The core contracts and becomes a white dwarf.
The core contracts and ignites neutron fusion.
The star explodes violently, leaving nothing behind.

Either a white dwarf or a neutron star.

A neutron star.
A white dwarf.
A black hole.
Either a neutron star or a black hole.

Patterns of stars in constellations hardly change in appearance after even a few

thousand years. Why?
A.
B.

C.
D.
E.

Although most stars move through the sky, the brightest stars do not, and
these are the ones that trace the patterns we see in the constellations.
The stars in our sky actually move rapidly relative to us thousands of
kilometers per hour but are so far away that it takes a long time for this
motion to make a noticeable change in the patterns in the sky.
Stars within a constellation move together as a group, which tends to hide
their actual motion and prevent the pattern from changing.
Stars move, but they move very slowly and only a few kilometers in a
thousand years.
Stars are fixed and never move.

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12.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

13.

Which of the following is closest in size (radius) to a white dwarf?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

14.

The Sun
The Earth
A football stadium
A small city
A basketball

Which of the following correctly lists speeds from slowest to fastest?

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

15.

The major heat source of the core of the Earth is natural chemical reaction.
A neutron star is closest in size (radius) to the Sun.
The Big Bang predicts that one in four atoms in the universe is helium.
Spiral arms are bright because they are the only places where we can find
stars within a galaxy.
Most of the planets discovered around other stars are more massive than
Jupiter.

Earths speed of rotation on its axis, Earths speed of revolution about the
Sun, typical speeds of stars in the local solar neighborhood relative to us,
the speed of our solar system orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy,
the speeds of very distant galaxies relative to us.
Earths speed of revolution about the Sun, Earths speed of rotation on its
axis, the speed of our solar system orbiting the center of the Milky Way
galaxy, typical speeds of stars in the local solar neighborhood relative to
us, the speeds of very distant galaxies relative to us.
The speed of our solar system orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy,
Earths speed of revolution about the Sun, Earths speed of rotation on its
axis, the speeds of very distant galaxies relative to us, typical speeds of
stars in the local solar neighborhood relative to us.
Earths speed of revolution about the Sun, typical speeds of stars in the
local solar neighborhood relative to us, Earths speed of rotation on its
axis, the speed of our solar system orbiting the center of the Milky Way
galaxy, the speeds of very distant galaxies relative to us.
The speeds of very distant galaxies relative to us, typical speeds of stars in
the local solar neighborhood relative to us, Earths speed of rotation on its
axis, Earths speed of revolution about the Sun, the speed of our solar
system orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Which scientists played a major role in overturning the ancient idea of an Earthcentered universe, and about when?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

Huygens and Newton; about 300 years ago.

Newton and Einstein; about 100 years ago.
Aristotle and Copernicus; about 400 years ago.
Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo; about 400 years ago.
Aristotle and Plato; about 2,000 years ago.
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16.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

17.

How does the gravity of an object affect light?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

18.

Less energetic light will not be able to escape from a compact massive
object but more energetic light will be able to.
Visible light coming from a compact massive object will be redshifted, but
higher frequencies such as X-rays and gamma rays will not be affected.
Light coming from a compact massive object will be redshifted.
Light coming from a compact massive object will be blueshifted.
Light does not have mass and is therefore not affected by gravity.

Which of the following correctly describes the meridian in your sky?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

19.

The heaviest element produced by stars or in supernovae is silicon.

You can see an absorption line spectrum from a cloud of gas in interstellar
space if the cloud is cool and lies between you and a hot star.
Only hydrogen nuclei are formed during the era of nucleosynthesis.
All brown dwarfs have masses more than about 8% that of our Sun.
The seasonal change in Venus is more pronounced than that of Earth.

The point directly over your head.

A half-circle extending from your horizon due east, through your zenith, to
your horizon due west.
A half-circle extending from your horizon due north, through your zenith,
to your horizon due south.
A half-circle extending from your horizon due east, through the north
celestial pole, to your horizon due west.
The boundary between the portions of the celestial sphere you can see at
any moment and the portion that you cannot see.

Which of the following statement about quasars is false?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

Quasars are powered by the intense production of large numbers of stars

that can only be sustained for a relatively short time.
Some quasars are more than a thousand times more luminous than the
Milky Way.
Quasars are powered by the energy radiated by matter falling into a central
black hole.
Some quasars can change their brightness every few hours.
Quasars were more common in the past.

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20.

Which of the following statements is false?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

21.

Orion is visible on winter evenings but not summer evenings because of

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

22.

All pulsars are neutron stars, but not all neutron stars are pulsars.
Pulsars are kept from collapsing by neutron degeneracy pressure.
A pulsar must have a very strong magnetic field and rotate quite rapidly.
Pulsars can form only in close binary systems.
Pulsars have the same upper mass limit as neutron stars do.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

24.

the location of the earth in its orbit.

interference from the full moon.
the tilt of the earths axis.
baseball on television.
the precession of the earths axis.

Which statement about pulsars is not thought to be true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

23.

Almost all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were made inside
stars.
Neutron stars are the densest objects that we can observe in the universe.
The nebular theory for the formation of the solar system successfully
predicts the equal number of terrestrial and jovian planets.
The universe is between 12 to 20 billion years old based on current
estimates of the value of Hubbles constant.
Earths atmosphere resulted from the impact of icy planetesimals that
originated in the outer regions of the Solar system.

Compared to the star it evolved from, a red giant is hotter and dimmer.
The significant loss of atmospheric gas to space in Mars could be
attributed to the lost of global magnetic field.
Within the frost line, planetesimals were composed entirely of rock and
outside the frost line, planetesimals were composed entirely of ice.
Stars are continually forming in the halo of our galaxy today.
Greenhouse gases absorb infrared light coming from the Sun, and this
absorbed sunlight heats the lower atmosphere and the surface of a planet.

When someone on the Earth observes the Moon in the first-quarter phase,
someone on the Moon facing the earth observes the earth in the
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

first-quarter Earth phase.

new Earth phase.
third-quarter Earth phase.
crescent Earth phase.
full Earth phase.
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25.

Which of the following planets are bluish in color?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

26.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

27.

As compass always points to the North Pole, we may use it to find the
approximate direction of north in a lot of places on Earth.
The symbol E in the formula E = mc2 represents the kinetic energy of a
moving object.
When traveling north from Singapore to China, you will see the North Star
(Polaris) getting lower in the sky.
Keplers laws said that the force of attraction between any two objects
decreases with the square of the distance between their centers.
More massive white dwarfs are smaller than less massive white dwarfs.

Which of the following statements about parallax is false?

A.
B.
C.
D.

E.

28.

Jupiter and Pluto

Saturn and Uranus
Neptune and Uranus
Neptune and Pluto
Saturn and Jupiter

The existence of stellar parallax is direct proof that the earth orbits the
Sun.
The technique of stellar parallax was used by Hubble to determine that the
Andromeda Galaxy (M 31) is about 2 million light-years away.
You can demonstrate parallax simply by holding up a finger and looking at
it alternately from your left and right eyes.
Ancient astronomers were unable to measure parallax and used the
absence of observed parallax as an argument in favor of an Earth-centered
universe.
Measurement of stellar parallax allows us to determine distances to nearby
stars.

On a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, stellar radii

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

increase diagonally from the lower right to the upper left.

decrease from right to left.
are greatest in the lower right and least in the upper left.
are impossible to determine.
are greatest in the lower left and least in the upper right.

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29.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.

C.
D.
E.

30.

What are the conditions required for a lunar eclipse?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

31.

The phase of the Moon can be new or full, and the nodes of the Moons
orbit must be nearly aligned with the earth and the Sun.
The phase of the Moon must be new, and the Moons orbital plane must lie
in the ecliptic.
The phase of the Moon must be full, and the nodes of the Moons orbit
must be nearly aligned with the earth and the Sun.
The phase of the Moon must be new, and the nodes of the Moons orbit
must be nearly aligned with the earth and the Sun.
The phase of the Moon must be full, and the Moons orbital plane must lie
in the ecliptic.

A protostar becomes a main-sequence star when

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

32.

Jupiter is the only jovian planet which has no rings.

The frost line of the solar system is the distance from the Sun where
temperatures were low enough for hydrogen and helium to condense,
between the present-day orbits of Jupiter and Saturn.
Meteorites and asteroids are the only relatively unchanged fragments from
the early period of planet building in the solar system.
Oxygen, water vapor, methane and carbon dioxides are greenhouse gases
found on Earth.
The Earth in our solar system has the strongest magnetic field.

hydrogen fusion is occurring throughout its outer layer.

it becomes luminous enough to emit thermal radiation.
the rate of hydrogen fusion within its core is high enough to sustain
gravitational equilibrium.
hydrogen fission first begins in its core.
the protostar assembles from a molecular cloud.

How did the Ptolemaic model explain the apparent retrograde motion of the
planets?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

It held that the planets moved along small circles that moved on larger
circles around the Sun.
It held that sometimes the planets moved backward along their circular
orbits.
It held that the planets moved along small circles that moved on larger
circles around the earth.
It placed the Sun at the center so that the planets apparent retrograde
motion was seen as the earth passed each one in its orbit.
It varied the motion of the celestial sphere so that it sometimes moved
backward.

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33.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

34.

One of the "nails in the coffin" for the earth-centered universe was
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

35.

at the same temperature but denser than the surface.

at the same temperature and density as the surface.
hotter and denser than the surface.
constantly rising to the surface through convection.
composed of iron.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

37.

the phases of the Moon.

Galileos observations of the moons of Jupiter.
Galileos observation of stars in the Milky Way.
eclipses of the Sun.
the retrograde motion of the planets.

The core of the Sun is

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

36.

Europa is considered likely to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid

water.
Neutrinos is an example of baryonic matter.
Shield volcanoes and plate tectonics are the two geological features that
appear to set Earth apart from all the other terrestrial worlds.
We measure the magnetic field strength at the Sun by observing the sizes
of sunspots: bigger sunspots mean a stronger field.
The primary factor determining whether a white dwarf has an accretion
disk is the mass of the white dwarf.

The fact that the sky is dark at night shows that the observable universe
cannot extend forever.
Mars may have been suitable for life in the past because it has very large
extinct volcanoes.
Photons in the cosmic background radiation originate from the era of
galaxy formation.
Our Sun is an intermediate-mass yellow star.
The cores of the terrestrial worlds are made mostly of metal because
convection gradually brought dense metals downward to the core over
billions of years.

Which of the following is a consequence of Hubbles Law?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

The closer a galaxy is to us, the faster it moves away from us.
All galaxies are moving away from us equally fast.
More distant galaxies appear younger.
The more distant a galaxy is from us, the faster it moves away from us.
The accelerating expansion of the Universe.
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38.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

39.

When a rock is held above the ground, we say it has some potential energy. When
we let it go, it falls and we say the potential energy is converted to kinetic energy.
Finally, the rock hits the ground. What happens to the kinetic energy?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

40.

The energy goes to producing sound and to heating the ground, rock, and
surrounding air.
The rock keeps the energy inside it (saving it for later use).
The energy goes into the ground and, as a result, the orbit of the earth
about the Sun is slightly changed.
It is lost forever. Energy does not have to be conserved.
It is transformed back into gravitational potential energy.

The choices below each describe the appearance of a Hertzsprung-Russell

diagram for star clusters. Which cluster is the youngest?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

41.

It is more preferred to put radio telescope in outer space.

When we analyze whether a world is a possible home to life, the key thing
we look for is the evidence of atmospheric oxygen.
All stars spend approximately the same amount of time on the main
sequence.
Quasars radiate most of their energy as radio emission.
There is an upper limit to the mass of a neutron star.

The diagram shows main-sequence stars of spectral types G, K, and M,

along with numerous giants and white dwarfs.
The diagram shows no main-sequence stars at all, but it has numerous
supergiants and white dwarfs.
The diagram shows main-sequence stars of all the spectral types except O
and B, along with a few giants and supergiants.
The diagram shows main-sequence stars of every spectral type with no
giants or supergiants.
The diagram shows main-sequence stars of every spectral type except O,
along with a few giants and supergiants.

If your mass is 60 kg on Earth, what would your mass be on the Moon?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

60 lb.
50 kg.
60 kg.
10 kg.
10 lb.

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42.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

43.

A standard candle is
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

44.

A filament in a light bulb.

A planet.
A star.
Hot, thin gas.
You!

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

46.

a class of objects in astronomy that all have exactly the same luminosity.
an object for which we are likely to know the true luminosity.
any star for which we know the exact apparent brightness.
an object for which we can easily measure the apparent brightness.
a long, tapered candle that lights easily.

Which of the following objects is not a close approximation of a thermal emitter?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

45.

Emission lines can be found in a blackbody spectrum.

Galaxy collisions were more common in the past.
The appropriate unit for the Suns luminosity is kilogram.
We cannot see past the cosmological horizon because it is infinitely far
away.
The presence of the Moon is essential for the existence of high and low
tides.

There is no gravity in space.

Our Sun will end its life in a planetary nebula and become a white dwarf.
The escape velocity from the earth is greater for larger rockets than for
small ones so that small rocket is preferred for space travel.
Our Earth feels a greater tidal force from the Sun than from the Moon as
the Sun has greater gravitational force.
The best way to observe radio-ray sky is to build a radio ray satellite
telescope.

Pluto is different from the other outer planets in all of the following ways except
which one?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

It has only one moon.

It does not have rings.
Its surface temperature is very cold.
It is made mostly of ice.
Its orbit is not very close to being circular.

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47.

Which of the following statements about a globular cluster is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

48.

Which of the following statements about comets and asteroids is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

49.

Most of the trillions of comets in our solar system have tails.

Comets are balls of ice and dust.
There are about 1 million known asteroids in the solar system.
All asteroids lie in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Only asteroids collide with Earth.

Which of the following statements is true?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

50.

Most of the stars in the cluster are younger than 12 billion years old.
There is an approximately equal number of all types of stars in the cluster.
All stars in the cluster are approximately at the same stage in evolution.
Most stars in the cluster are yellow or reddish in color.
All stars in the cluster have approximately the same mass and colour.

Spectral type, surface temperature, and color all describe the same basic
characteristic of a star.
If the Sun were replaced by a black hole of the same mass, the earth would
soon be sucked into the black hole.
Careful observations of auroras here on Earth allow us to determine the
strength of the Suns magnetic field.
Energy in the Sun is produced by nuclear fusion in the convection zone.
When a returning Space Shuttle enters the atmosphere and begins to slow
down, its kinetic energy is primarily converted into potential energy.

Where would we find red giant stars on a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

Lower left
Upper left
Upper right
Lower right
Centre

End of Paper

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