Question 1. Galileo made many astronomical discoveries. Which of the following was NOT one of his discoveries?
(A) Sunspots
(B) Moons of Jupiter
(C) Mountains on Venus
(D) The phases of Venus
Question 2. On the celestial sphere, the annual path of the Sun is called _____________.
(A) Solstice
(B) Diurnal
(C) Ecliptic
(D) The eclipse path
Question 3. The first and largest asteroid discovered was _____________.
(A) Trojan
(B) Ceres
(C) Juno
(D) Pallas
Question 4. Accretion is _____________.
(A) The disintegration of matter
(B) The process of matter accumulation due to centripetal force
(C) The process of moon formation for planets
(D) The gradual accumulation of matter in one location usually due to gravity
Question 5. Which of the following planets has the lowest density?
(A) Mars
(B) Saturn
(C) Venus
(D) Mercury
Question 6. What causes a planet to have a magnetic field?
(A) Its rotation about its sun
(B) The Photoelectric effect
(C) The Doppler effec
(D) The dynamo effect
Question 7. A blue shift means a Doppler shift of light from a(an) _____________.
(A) Fixed star
(B) Approaching star
(C) Blue star
(D) Receding star
Question 8. The reason we call an astronomical body a black hole is that _____________.
(A) It is a dead planet
(B) It represents lack of matter in a portion of space
(C) Its gravity is so high that it absorbs its own photons
(D) It is a huge star which appears black at its center
Question 9. Of the following, which is the only planet which CANNOT be seen with the unaided eye?
(A) Saturn
(B) Neptune
(C) Mars
(D) Jupiter
Question 10. What does it mean when someone says that comets have eccentric orbits? Does it mean _____________.
(A) The sun is far from the foci of their orbits
(B) Their orbits are unpredictable
(C) They have nearly circular orbit
(D) They have open orbits
Question 11. Mercury and Venus are said to be inferior planets because _____________.
(A) Their orbits are inside of the Earth’s orbit
(B) Their orbits are faster than the Earth’s orbit
(C) Their orbits are slower than the Earth’s orbit
(D) They are smaller than the other planets that circle the Sun
Question 12. The atmosphere of Venus contains mostly _____________.
(A) Water
(B) Nitrogen
(C) Carbon dioxide
(D) Xxygen
Question 13. The age of the Universe in billions of years is approximately _____________.
(A) 1000
(B) 18
(C) 3.5
(D) 500
Question 14. What are Saturn’s rings composed of?
(A) Highly reflective cosmic clouds
(B) Mixtures of gases
(C) Billions of tiny solid particles
(D) Completely connected solid masses
Question 15. What is the approximate age of our sun?
(A) 20 billion years
(B) 5 billion years
(C) 2 billion years
(D) 1 billion years
Question 16. Which of the following has the greatest density?
(A) Jupiter
(B) Mars
(C) Venus
(D) Sun
Question 17. The Crab Nebula consists of the remnants of a supernova which was observed by _____________.
(A) Several ancient civilizations in 236 B.C.
(B) The Chinese in 1054 A.D.
(C) Kepler and Galileo in 1604
(D) Brahe in 1572
Question 18. Give me the name of the first artificial earth satellite and the year in which it was launched.
(A) SPUTNIK 1960
(B) SPUTNIK 1957
(C) SPUTNIK 1958
(D) SPUTNIK 1956
Question 19. What causes the gas tail of a comet to always point away from the sun?
(A) GFravity
(B) Centrifugal force
(C) Air pressure
(D) Solar wind
Question 20. The diameter of the disk of our galaxy, within a factor of two, is how many light years?
(A) 80,000 LIGHT-YEARS
(B) 70,000 LIGHT-YEARS
(C) 100,000 LIGHT-YEARS
(D) 90,000 LIGHT-YEARS
Question 21. The angular distance between a planet and the Sun, as viewed from the Earth, is called?
(A) Opposition
(B) Latitude
(C) Elongation
(D) Angle of inclination
Question 22. Which of the following Saturnian satellites is known to possess an atmosphere?
(A) Mimas
(B) Dione
(C) Titan
(D) Tethys
Question 23. If we look at a galaxy that is moving AWAY from us, we find that the wavelengths of light coming from this galaxy are _____________.
(A) Unchanged
(B) Shortened
(C) Lengthened
(D) None of above
Question 24. What planet comes closest to the Earth?
(A) Mercury
(B) Venus
(C) Saturn
(D) Mars
Question 25. In a reflecting telescope wherein the tube is the objective mirror placed?
(A) The side of the tube
(B) The bottom of the tube
(C) The middle of the tube
(D) The top to the tube