Nautical Sciences Unit 4 Practice Exercise

What object is defined as a chunk of rock or metal orbiting in outer space?
1. An asteroid
2. A meteorite
3. A meteoroid
4. A comet
5. A meteor
What are comets commonly named after?
1. Mythological figures
2. The person or persons who first discovered them.
3. Great astronomers from history
4. Mountain ranges on Earth
5. Kings and Queens
What was the first series of U.S. spacecraft to explore other planets in our solar system?
1. The Orbiting Solar Observatories (OSO)
2. Sputnik
3. Pioneer
4. Mariner
5. Explorer
Which of the following statements about the Moon is TRUE?
1. Visible starlight is roughly the same on the surface of the Moon as on the surface of the Earth.
2. Sounds travel farther on the Moon than on the Earth.
3. The Moon is roughly one-quarter the size of Earth.
4. The Moon circles the Earth once every 30 days.
5. The Moon is iron-poor.
Astronomers and other scientists that speculate on the nature of the universe are called what?
1. Astrophysicists
2. Cosmologists
3. Universalists
4. Astrologers
5. Deep Thinkers
Which of the following facts about Pluto is False?
1. It was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989.
2. It is considered to be a binary planetary system.
3. It has only one satellite, Charon.
4. Mass and density calculations indicate it is composed of rock and methane ice.
5. For 20 years in its 248-year orbit of the Sun, it is inside the orbit of Neptune.
Which of the following planets is closer to the Sun than is the Earth?
1. Mars
2. Saturn
3. Venus
4. Jupiter
5. Neptune
The Earth's orbit around the Sun is known as the "plane of the _________."
1. Ecliptic
2. Orbital period
3. Ephemeris
4. Ellipse
5. Solar year
Buried, super-heavy magnetic concentrations beneath the lunar surface are called what?
1. Mascons
2. Tektites
3. Igneous
4. Breccia
5. Regolith
What NASA mission to Saturn arrived in July of 2004?
1. Voyager
2. Galileo
3. Hubble
4. Apollo
5. Cassini
Which of the star types below would have the longest life?
1. Blue giants
2. White dwarfs
3. Red giants
4. Yellow, main-sequence stars
5. Orange dwarfs
What part of the Sun visibly extends out to a distance of 7 million miles?
1. Solar prominences
2. Sunspots
3. The photosphere
4. The chromosphere
5. The corona
What planet is often called the "twin" of Uranus?
1. Jupiter
2. Earth
3. Saturn
4. Venus
5. Neptune
Which of the following is a source of energy on Earth that can be traced back directly to the Sun.
1. Hot springs
2. Chemical energy in plants
3. Nuclear energy
4. Lunar tidal energy
5. Heat released by volcanoes
What celestial objects look like normal stars yet emit hundreds of times more energy than most galaxies?
1. Black Holes
2. SETIs
3. Pulsars
4. Coronas
5. Quasars
The Huygens probe will be released by the __________ spacecraft to study Saturn's moon _________.
1. Cassini, Rhea
2. Galileo, Titan
3. Cassini, Mimas
4. Galileo, Rhea
5. Cassini, Titan
With this type of telescope, the secondary mirror causes the light to focus behind the objective mirror.
1. Newtonian Reflector
2. Refracting
3. Radiotelescope
4. Spectrograph
5. Cassegrain Reflector
What was the name of the first U.S. satellite?
1. Explorer I
2. Voyager I
3. MIR I
4. Sputnik I
5. Skylab
Which type of nebula consist of a nova with a large cloud of particles surrounding it?
1. Dark nebula
2. Supernovas
3. Back holes
4. Planetary nebula
5. Bright nebula
Which of the following statements about radiotelescopes is incorrect?
1. The antenna dishes can be made of wire mesh.
2. They must be very sensitive to detect faint radio waves from space.
3. They must be larger than optical telescopes because radio waves are longer than light waves.
4. They do not require the precision of optical telescopes.
5. Because of the nature of radio waves, radiotelescopes cannot match the precision of optical telescopes.
Which type of meteorites do not resemble any rock or glass substance on Earth?
1. Aerolites
2. Tektites
3. Breccia
4. Siderites
5. Fireballs
The launch of what satellite marked the beginning of the space age?
1. Sputnik I
2. Skylab
3. Galileo
4. Explorer I
5. Voyager I
What is the most commonly used measurement of astronomical distances?
1. A light-year
2. An astronomical unit
3. A nautical mile
4. A kilometer
5. A parsec
What is the name of the light-giving surface of the Sun?
1. The chromosphere
2. The corona
3. The lithosphere
4. The photosphere
5. The prominence
What is special about the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Socorro, New Mexico?
1. It has an array of radar telescopes which allows the accurate measurement of distances to objects within our solar system.
2. It is the site of the world's largest conventional reflecting telescope.
3. It is the location of the world's largest stationary radiotelescope.
4. It is the location of the world's largest steerable radiotelescope.
5. It combines a number of small radiotelescopes via computer control to form the equivalent of a giant radiotelescope.
What is the name given to the average distance from the Earth to the Sun?
1. One light year
2. One parsec
3. One solar unit
4. One solar distance
5. One astronomical unit
What is the other name for a almanac, or star chart?
1. An ephemeris
2. A Magellan
3. An ecliptic
4. An ellipse
5. A perturbation
What famous comet has a period of around 75 years, making it a frequent sight over the history of mankind?
1. The Shoemaker-Levy comet
2. Hale-Bopp
3. Comet Swift-Tuttle
4. The comet Kohoutek
5. Halley's comet
Which of the following is NOT a site of a large radiotelescope?
1. The Eifel Mountain Observatory near Bonn, Germany
2. The Jodrell Bank Observatory at Cheshire, England
3. The U.S. Naval Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona
4. The Robert Byrd Observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia
5. The Arecibo Observatory at Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Which of the following facts about the moon Triton are true?
1. Large-scale sulphur volcanism has been noted on its surface.
2. It wasn't discovered until the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by in 1989.
3. Most of what we know about this planet was provided by the Pioneer 12 spacecraft.
4. It is the largest moon of Saturn.
5. It is the coldest body ever measured in our solar system.
What spacecraft was launched in October 1990 to explore the regions over the Sun's north and south poles?
1. Ulysses
2. Galileo
3. Mariner
4. Skylab
5. Explorer
The brightness that a star would have 10 parsecs away from the Earth is known as the star's ________________________.
1. Luminosity magnitude
2. Spectral luminosity
3. Absolute magnitude
4. Apparent magnitude
5. Observed magnitude
Larger groupings of stars are called what?
1. Bright nebula
2. Binaries
3. Dark nebula
4. Planetary nebula
5. Star clusters
What is the relative positions of the Moon, Earth and Sun during a new Moon?
1. The Earth is between the Moon and the Sun
2. The Earth and the Sun are equal distances from the Moon
3. The Moon is between the Earth and the Sun
4. The Earth and the Moon are equal distances from the Sun
5. The Sun is between the Earth and the Moon
Where is the world's largest stationary radiotelescope located?
1. At the Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico
2. At the Robert Byrd Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia
3. At the Eifel Mountain Observatory near Bonn, Germany
4. At the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona
5. At the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England
What is the cause of meteor showers?
1. Remnants of broken-up asteroids
2. Solar wind energy
3. The break-up of man-made satellites falling back into the Earth's atmosphere
4. Pockets of hydrogen and helium gas trapped within the solar system
5. Remnants of broken-up comets
Which of the following statements about observatories is false?
1. They should be located where there is a steady atmosphere.
2. They must be dark inside and out.
3. The telescope and its cameras are operated by astronomers wearing heavy clothing as a protection against the cold.
4. They must be the same temperature inside and out.
5. The location should afford a maximum number of clear nights.
Which other planet is closest to the Earth in terms of size, mass and density?
1. Jupiter
2. Mars
3. Saturn
4. Venus
5. Mercury
During a solar eclipse, what is the darkest part of the shadow of the Moon called?
1. The photosphere
2. The aurora
3. The penumbra
4. The umbra
5. The corona
Which planet below is the only one which spins clockwise?
1. Venus
2. Mars
3. Earth
4. Jupiter
5. Saturn
The series of 8 spacecraft called the OSO series studied all of the following except....
1. The Sun's Ultraviolet activity
2. Solar Flares
3. The Earth's Magnetosphere
4. The Sun's X-Ray activity
5. The Sun's Corona
How are moonquakes and earthquakes different?
1. Moonquakes are much more frequent than earthquakes.
2. Earthquakes are much stronger than moonquakes.
3. Moonquakes can't be measured like earthquakes, using seismometers.
4. There is no significant difference between earthquakes and moonquakes.
5. Earthquakes are local events whereas moonquakes cause the whole Moon to vibrate.
X-rays and atomic particles from the Sun racing thousands of miles beyond the planets in our solar system is known as what?
1. The Aurora Australis
2. Solar Prominences
3. The Solar Wind
4. The Corona
5. The Aurora Borealis
What is the closest star to the Earth?
1. Proxima Centauri
2. The Sun
3. Arcturus
4. Alpha Centauri
5. Polaris
What are tektites?
1. Broken rocks from the impact of meteorites on the Moon.
2. Rocks that were once molten but later became solidified.
3. This is a term for the lunar dust layer which covers the entire surface of the Moon.
4. Tiny glass spheres no larger than sand granules found on the surface of the Moon.
5. People who role-play that they on a cast member of the TV show Star Trek.
Who first proposed the expanding-universe or "Big Bang" theory?
1. Georges Lemaitre
2. Galileo Galilei
3. Sir Isaac Newton
4. Albert Einstein
5. Edwin Hubble
Which of the following was not a discovery about Jupiter made by the Galileo spacecraft?
1. Evidence of liquid water beneath the moon Europa's surface.
2. That Jovian winds speeds can be in excess of 400 mph.
3. The discovery of liquid water on the surface of the planet.
4. That helium in Jupiter is very nearly the same as in the Sun.
5. Evidence of volcanic activity on the surface of Jupiter's moon Io.
What objects are thought to be the most plentiful bodies in our solar system?
1. Siderites
2. Meteorites
3. Planets
4. Comets
5. Asteroids
What is the name of the outermost layer of the Earth's atmosphere?
1. The photosphere
2. The corona
3. The magnetosphere
4. The chromosphere
5. The exosphere
What is the name of the effort to scan microwave frequencies of the 1,000 closest stars to Earth in search of radio transmissions of intelligent origin?
1. COBE
2. OSO
3. Sputnik
4. SETI
5. Hubble
What U.S. spacecraft produced the first detailed radar maps of Venus?
1. Galileo
2. Viking
3. Explorer
4. Mariner
5. Magellan
What are siderites mainly composed of?
1. Rock and ice
2. Silicon
3. Iron and nickel
4. Hydrogen and Helium
5. Oxygen, silicon and magnesium
Which of the following is NOT one of the theories concerning the formation of craters on the Moon?
1. They were formed by large volcanoes.
2. They were formed by earthquake shocks generated by the Moon as it cooled.
3. They formed by the bubbling action of the molten Moon as it cooled.
4. All of these are possible theories for the formation of the Moon's craters.
5. They formed through the impact of huge meteorites.
Which of the following planets cannot be seen without a telescope?
1. Saturn
2. Venus
3. Neptune
4. Uranus
5. Mercury
Scientists have observed that there appears to be a sunspot cycle, with large sunspot activity occurring on the Sun every ______ years.
1. Seven
2. Thirteen
3. Fifteen
4. Forty
5. Eleven
Which of the planets listed below does not have a satellite moon?
1. Mars
2. Neptune
3. Jupiter
4. Venus
5. Pluto
Which of the planets is able to easily retain all kinds of gases in its atmosphere?
1. Mars
2. Venus
3. Earth
4. Jupiter
5. Mercury
Which of the following statements is FALSE concerning the maria on the Moon?
1. They were most likely made a billion years later than the Moon or Earth.
2. They show fewer signs of meteorite bombardment.
3. They cover up older craters.
4. Some maria have definite magnetic fields.
5. They are younger than the rest of the Moon.
What is the technical name for a stony meteorite?
1. A Tektite
2. A Siderite
3. A Aerolite
4. A fireball
5. A Breccia
What celestial objects are thought to be rapidly rotating compressed stars in the last stages of stellar life?
1. Coronas
2. SETIs
3. Quasars
4. Black Holes
5. Pulsars