Lessons 1-6

Question 1

Who devised a method to measure the circumference of the Earth?

Answer 1

Eratosthenes

Question 2

Which colour of light has the lowest frequency?

Answer 2

Red

Question 3

When fusion begins in a high mass protostar, which kind of star is formed?

Answer 3

Blue star

Question 4

Why doesn’t Venus have a magnetic field like Earth?

Answer 4

Venus does not rotate fast enough

Question 5

What is the dimmest magnitude star that can be seen with the naked eye?

Answer 5

+6

Question 6

Who discovered 228 asteroids in the early 1890’s by using photographic techniques?

Answer 6

Max Wolf

Question 7

How long does it take our Sun to revolve around the center if the Milky Way galaxy?

Answer 7

200,000,000 years

Question 8

Which process allows energy from the sun to reach the Earth?

Answer 8

Radiation

Question 9

What is the difference between a meteoroid and an asteroid?

Answer 9

Meteoroids are small; asteroids are large

Question 10

What is the solid part of comet called?

Answer 10

Nucleus

Question 11

The sun shines most directly on the Tropic of Capricorn on which day? (Northern Hemisphere)

Answer 11

Winter Solstice

Question 12

What is believed to be at the center of most galaxies?

Answer 12

Super massive black holes

Question 13

There are certain gaps in the Asteroid Belt caused by Jupiter’s gravity. What are these gaps called?

Answer 13

Kirkwood Gaps

Question 14

Who first attached a spectroscope to a telescope to study the spectrum of stars?

Answer 14

Angelo Secchi

Question 15

Which two gasses is Jupiter mostly made up of?

Answer 15

Hydrogen and helium

Question 16

What is Pluto’s atmosphere made of?

Answer 16

Methane

Question 17

What are the four categories that galaxies are classified in?

Answer 17

Spiral, barred spiral, elliptical, and irregular

Question 18

Which lunar phase occurs immediately after full moon?

Answer 18

Waning gibbous

Question 19

About how many stars does an average galaxy contain?

Answer 19

100 billion

Question 20

Who determined that planets orbit in ellipses, and not in circles?

Answer 20

Kepler

Question 21

Which method allows us to estimate the distance to the furthest galaxies observable?

Answer 21

Brightest galaxy in cluster

Question 22

Which kind of star allows astronomers to estimate he distance to galaxy up to about 15 million light-years away?

Answer 22

Cepheid variable stars

Question 23

Which satellite is the largest one in the solar system?

Answer 23

Ganymede

Question 24

To which galactic cluster does our solar system belong?

Answer 24

Local Group

Question 25

Which stage of development is the sun at?

Answer 25

Yellow star

Question 26

How many times brighter is a magnitude +1 star than a magnitude +2 star?

Answer 26

2.5 times brighter

Question 27

Which of the following describes how bright a star appears to an observer on Earth?

Answer 27

Apparent magnitude

Question 28

How are mass and luminosity related?

Answer 28

Larger mass implies more luminosity

Question 29

Who proposed that temperatures at the core of the sun were hot enough for thermonuclear fusion?

Answer 29

Arthur Eddington

Question 30

What is the name of Pluto’s satellite?

Answer 30

Charon

Question 31

Where did the majority of stars fall on the H-R diagram?

Answer 31

Main sequence

Question 32

What is the “point of no return” of a black hole called?

Answer 32

Event horizon

Question 33

WHAT IS ANOTHER NAME FOR A “SHOOTING STAR”?

Answer 33

Meteors

Question 34

What is the region called where most of the comets reside?

Answer 34

Oort Cloud