Astro-Quiz:

Answer These!


1. The constellation Boötes represents a
(a) charioteer
(b) herdsman
(c) hunter
(d) plowman

2. What Japanese automobile brand name is the Japanese word for the Pleiades?
(a) Honda
(b) Mitsubishi
(c) Subaru
(d) Toyota

3. Which of the following is true about the Galilean moons of Jupiter?
(a) Without the glare of Jupiter they would be visible to the naked eye.
(b) There are certain times when all four of them can be seen on the same side of Jupiter.
(c) They are all larger than Pluto.
(d) All of the above.

4. Phobos and Deimos are
(a) moons of Mars
(b) moons of Saturn
(c) moons of Uranus
(d) asteroids

5. What did Galileo discover when he observed Venus through his telescope?
(a) It has rings.
(b) It has phases like the Moon.
(c) It has a thick atmosphere.
(d) It has moons of its own.

6. The time between one full moon and the next is approximately
(a) 27.3 days
(b) 28 days
(c) 29.5 days
(d) 30.5 days

7. Cepheid variable stars are used by astronomers as a measure of
(a) the star's age
(b) distance from Earth
(c) sky transparency
(d) the speed of light

8. What is the source of energy of a supernova explosion?
(a) electromagnetic forces
(b) fission of heavy elements
(c) fusion of light elements
(d) gravitational collapse

9. An astronomical unit is
(a) the average mass of a star
(b) the minimal mass needed for a brown dwarf to initiate fusion
(c) the distance between the Sun and the Earth
(d) the brightness of a first-magnitude star

10. Jupiter rotates on its axis once every
(a) 10 hours
(b) 22 hours
(c) 5 days
(d) 14 days

11. The point of the Moon's orbit where it is farthest from the Earth is called its
(a) apogee
(b) eccentricity
(c) perigee
(d) perilune

12. On the Moon, the term maria refers to
(a) lunar highlands
(b) lunar plains
(c) a type of crater named after the astronomer Maria Mitchell
(d) a type of radioactive rock named after the physicist/chemist Marie Curie

13. Baily's Beads might be seen
(a) in the tail of a comet
(b) in the rings of Saturn
(c) during a total solar eclipse
(d) during a meteor shower

14. The albedo of an object is a measure of
(a) the shape of its orbit
(b) the inclination of its orbit
(c) its mass
(d) its reflectivity

15. The astronomer Tycho Brahe used what kind of telescope?
(a) a reflector with a spherical mirror
(b) a reflector with a parabolic mirror
(c) a refractor with a plano-convex objective lens
(d) none of the above