MCQ on Solar System Set 4

Question 1. The Magellanic cloud is a _____________.

(A) Star cluster

(B) Super nova remnant

(C) Galaxy

(D) Nebula

Question 2. Andromeda, the nearest galaxy which is similar to the Milky Way, is how far from the Earth? Is it _____________.

(A) 200,000,000 light years

(B) 20,000,000 light years

(C) 2,000,000 light years

(D) 200,000 light years

Question 3. Primary cosmic radiation is characterized by _____________.

(A) Very energetic particles

(B) Isotropic in space

(C) An intensity which is essentially constant in time

(D) All of the above

Question 4. Most stars are cooler than the sun. These stars, the planets, interstellar clouds and star forming regions emit most of their radiant energy in the _____________.

(A) Infrared

(B) Ultraviolet

(C) X-ray region

(D) Visible

Question 5. A white dwarf has a mass of roughly one solar mass but a size of about _____________.

(A) The Earth

(B) Lake Michigan

(C) A car

(D) A basketball

Question 6. Which of the following men was the first to make systematic use of a telescope in astronomy?

(A) Galileo

(B) Kepler

(C) Tycho Brahe

(D) Copernicus

Question 7. PRESENTLY, what is the farthest planet from the sun?

(A) Uranus

(B) Neptune

(C) Pluto

(D) None of the above

Question 8. Give 5 year when Pluto was discovered. 

(A) 1931

(B) 1930

(C) 1925

(D) 1928

Question 9. Of the following phases of the moon, which is the one at which a spring tide occurs? Is it _____________.

(A) New crescent

(B) First quarter

(C) New gibbous

(D) New

Question 10. Whose paradox asks why the sky is not ablaze with starlight if the universe is infinite in extent and uniformly filled with stars?

(A) Miller’s

(B) Schuller’s

(C) Greigheim’s

(D) Olber’s

Question 11. The angular position of the sun at solar noon with respect to the plane of the equator is the definition of _____________.

(A) Solar declination angle

(B) Latitude

(C) Solar azimuth angle

(D) Index of refraction

Question 12. The Sun rotates about it’s own axis approximately _____________.

(A) Once every 60 minutes

(B) Once every 24 hours

(C) Once every 365 days

(D) Varies with solar latitude

Question 13. What was the year of the first lunar landing by man? 

(A) 1970

(B) 1969

(C) 1971

(D) 1972

Question 14. To within 5% what fraction, by mass, of the observable matter in our universe is helium?

(A)  21%

(B) 22%

(C) 25 %

(D) 24%

Question 15. A black hole with the mass of the earth would be the size of _____________.

(A) A marble

(B) A bowling ball

(C) The Moon

(D) The Sun

Question 16. The precession of the Earth refers to the _____________.

(A) Effect of the moon on the Earth’s orbit

(B) Change in orientation of the Earth’s axis

(C) Earth’s motion around the sun

(D) Change from night to day

Question 17. The phenomenon that causes the Moon’s rotation about it’s own axis to be equal to the Moon’s period of revolution about the Earth is called _____________.

(A) Tidal Friction

(B) Orbital Synchronization

(C) Landow Effect

(D) Haner Effect

Question 18. The only supernova explosion in modern times visible in the sky to the naked eye became visible in which year?

(A) 1987

(B) 1989

(C) 1991

(D) 1986

Question 19. Where are most asteroids located? Is it between _____________.

(A) Mars and Jupiter

(B) Earth and Mars

(C) Mars and Venus

(D) Jupiter and Saturn

Question 20. The ring nebula is an example of a planetary nebula. It is _____________.

(A) A ring of stars in a circular orbit

(B) A contracting ring of gas and dust falling circling into a massive object

(C) An expanding ring of gas released from a dying star

(D) A ring of planets circling a star

Question 21. The angular position of an object measured from a fixed point along the horizon is its _____________.

(A) Declination

(B) Zenith

(C) Apogee

(D) Azimuth

Question 22. Globular clusters in our galaxy are primarily found _____________.

(A) In the halo of our galaxy

(B) In the bulge at the center of our galaxy

(C) Distributed throughout the disk including regions between the spiral arms

(D) In the spiral arms

Question 23. Which of the following can be used to see through Venus’s clouds?

(A) Refracting telescopes

(B) Radar

(C) X-rays

(D) Ultraviolet

Question 24. Astronomers use cepheids principally as measures of what? Is it _____________.

(A) Distance

(B) Chemical composition

(C) Speed

(D) Size

Question 25. On February 9, 1991, ROSAT, an orbiting observatory, finished the first ever all-sky survey of _____________.

(A) x-rays

(B) Ultraviolet radiation

(C) Infrared radiation

(D) Radio waves