1. Through which of the following constellations does the ecliptic pass? (a) Cetus (b) Ophiuchus (c) Orion (d) Pegasus
2. A star of magnitude 4.0 is about how many times as bright as a star of magnitude 5.0? (a) 0.8 (b) 1.25 (c) 2.0 (d) 2.5
3. Next to Ursa Minor, which constellation lies closest to the celestial north pole? (a) Camelopardalus (b) Cassiopeia (c) Cepheus (d) Draco
4. Who discovered the planet Uranus? (a) John Flamsteed (b) Edmond Halley (c) William Herschel (d) Charles Messier
5. The large mountains on Mars were formed by (a) volcanic activity (b) uplift of planetary crust driven by plate tectonics (c) debris thrown up by meteoric impacts (d) wind erosion of the surrounding plains
6. The "Sagittarius Arm" refers to (from Earth's point of view) (a) the eastern arm of the Archer, which is holding the bow (b) the western arm of the Archer, which is holding the arrow (c) the neighboring spiral arm of the Galaxy, in the outward direction (d) the neighboring spiral arm of the Galaxy, in the inward direction
7. Which constellation occupies two disconnected regions of the sky? (a) Draco (b) Pisces (c) Serpens (d) Triangulum
8. In astronomy, the term "bar" refers to (a) the elongated nucleus of some spiral galaxies (b) a lane of dust in the central plane of some spiral galaxies (c) a dark belt in the atmosphere of Jupiter (d) the appearance of the asteroid belt as seen from Earth
9. Which constellation represents a river? (a) Aquarius (b) Eridanus (c) Hydrus (d) Indus
10. A fact about binary stars is that (a) they are always the same color because they were formed from the same cloud of matter (b) there can never be stable planetary orbits around either member (c) their orbital periods are too long to be observed within the lifetime of any one human (d) roughly half of all the stars in the sky are binary (or triple, or quadruple, etc.)
11. Which of the following is not an advantage that reflecting telescopes have over refractors? (a) Reflected light does not suffer from chromatic aberration. (b) Reflectors can be made less expensively because there is only one surface to figure. (c) Reflectors can be made larger because they can be supported from underneath. (d) Reflectors usually have a secondary mirror in their light path which helps cut down on stray light in the tube.
12. A fact about the Martian moon Phobos is that (a) a Phobos "month" is shorter than a Mars "day" (b) it orbits in a retrograde direction (c) it can be seen with amateur telescopes when Mars is at opposition (d) it is coated with carbon dioxide frost that has precipitated from Mars' upper atmosphere
13. What is Saturn's largest moon? (a) Tethys (b) Titan (c) Titania (d) Triton
14. There is one hemisphere of the moon which (a) always faces away from Earth (b) is in perpetual darkness (c) is visible only in infrared wavelengths (d) is visible only from the southern hemisphere
15. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is a plot of which two characteristics of a star? (a) brightness and temperature (b) temperature and age (c) age and size (d) size and brightness