Glendale Community College » Astronomy » Astro 110 - The Solar System » Fall 2019

Astro 110 - The Solar System » Fall 2019 » Exam 1

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Question #1

__________ hypothesized that planetary motions could be explained by a force arising from the attraction between the mass of the planet and Sun that decreased with the square of the distance between them.

A. Tycho Brahe

B. Nicolaus Copernicus

C. Johannes Kepler

D. Isaac Newton

Question #2

If an object is moving in a circular orbit at a constant speed, which of the following is FALSE?

A. Its velocity is not zero.

B. Its acceleration is not zero.

C. Its acceleration is zero.

D. There is an unbalanced force acting on it.

Question #3

Which of the following statements is correct?

A. The tides on Earth are caused by the pull of the Sun’s gravity.

B. The tides on Earth are caused by the pull of the Moon’s gravity.

C. The tides on Earth are caused by changes in the Earth’s orbital speed.

D. The tides on Earth are caused by the tilt in the Earth’s axis.

Question #4

Spring tides occur at

A. third quarter and full moons.

B. first quarter and third quarter moons.

C. new moon and first quarter moon.

D. noon and midnight.

E. new moon and full moon.

Question #5

Which of the following would cause the force on the Moon by the Earth to increase by the largest amount?

A. All of the changes listed would cause the same increase in the force.

B. double the mass of the Moon.

C. double the mass of Earth.

D. move the moon two times closer to Earth.

E. None of the changes listed could cause the force to increase.

Question #6

Which of Newton’s Laws states that if an unbalanced force acts on an object, then the object’s motion changes?

A. Newton’s 3rd Law

B. Newton’s Law of Gravitation

C. Newton’s 2nd Law

D. Newton’s 1st Law

Question #7

If the star Polaris has an altitude of 35° then we know that:

A. our latitude is +35°

B. our longitude is +55°

C. our latitude is +55°

D. our longitude is +35°

Question #8

If you go out at exactly 9 P.M. each evening over the course of one month, the position of a given star will move westward by tens of degrees. What causes this motion?

A. The Earth’s rotation on its axis

B. The revolution of the Moon around the Earth

C. The revolution of the Sun around the Earth

D. The revolution of the Earth around the Sun

Question #9

The Local Group is a member of the Virgo Supercluster.

A. FALSE

B. TRUE

Question #10

The celestial equator is

A. a line around the sky directly above Earth's equator.

B. both a line around the sky directly above Earth's equator and the dividing line between the north and south celestial hemispheres.

C. the dividing line between the north and south celestial hemispheres.

D. both the dividing line between the north and south celestial hemispheres and the path that the sun appears to follow on the celestial sphere as Earth orbits the sun.

E. the path that the sun appears to follow on the celestial sphere as Earth orbits the sun.

Question #11

Which of Galileo’s discoveries provided the greatest evidence that the Sun must be at the center of the solar system?

A. that Venus goes through phases

B. that Saturn has rings

C. that the Sun rotates on its axis

D. that Mars moves with retrograde motion

E. that Jupiter has several moons orbiting it

Question #12

Ptolemy's model of the universe

A. contained epicycles.

B. was heliocentric.

C. is the model we currently use.

D. included elliptical orbits.

Question #13

Why did Galileo's observations of moons orbiting Jupiter disagree with geocentric model of the universe of his time?

A. The moons appeared to be too small, and therefore too far away, to be considered part of the solar system.

B. The moons did not appear to orbit the Sun.

C. The moons moved in non-circular orbits about Jupiter.

D. The moons did not appear to orbit the Earth.

Question #14

The greatest inaccuracy in Copernicus' model of the solar system was that the planets

A. traveled in elliptical orbits.

B. traveled on epicycles whose centers followed orbits around the Earth.

C. travel in circular orbits with uniform motion.

D. were allowed to travel backwards in their orbits.

Question #15

Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion are based on detailed observations made by which astronomer?

A. Galileo Galilei

B. Tycho Brahe

C. Isaac Newton

D. Nicholas Copernicus

E. Johannes Kepler

Question #16

If a small weather satellite and a larger communications satellite with twice the mass of the weather satellite are orbiting Earth at the same altitude above Earth’s surface, which of the following is true?

A. None of these.

B. The large communications satellite will have an orbital period that is twice as long as the weather satellite.

C. The large communications satellite will have an orbital period that is half as long as weather satellite.

D. The large communications satellite will have an orbital period that is more than twice as long as the weather satellite.

Question #17

During the full moon phase, how much of the illuminated portion of the Moon’s surface is visible from Earth?

A. less than half

B. more than half

C. none

D. half

E. all

Question #18

Which of the following is FALSE?

A. In some phases, the Moon can be observed during the day.

B. Everyone on Earth observes the same phase of the Moon on a given night.

C. The observed phase of the Moon changes over the course of one night.

D. The phases of the Moon cycle with a period of approximately one month.

Question #19

On which day of the year does the Sun reach its northernmost point in the sky?

A. Vernal equinox

B. Autumnal equinox

C. Summer solstice

D. Winter solstice

Question #20

The sun is on the celestial equator at the times of the

A. the sun is on the ecliptic and is never on the celestial equator.

B. autumnal equinox and the vernal equinox.

C. summer solstice and the winter solstice.

D. the sun is always on the celestial equator.

Question #21

In what phase and location described below will the Moon be, when a lunar eclipse occurs?

A. Full phase and below the plane of Earth’s orbit.

B. New phase and crossing Earth’s orbital plane.

C. None of these.

D. Full phase and crossing Earth’s orbital plane.

E. New phase and below the plane of Earth’s orbit.

Question #22

Which of the following is NOT visible during totality of a total solar eclipse?

A. the chromosphere of the sun.

B. the photosphere of the sun.

C. prominences.

D. the corona of the sun.

Question #23

If there is a full Moon out tonight, approximately how long from now will it be in the third quarter phase?

A. Three to four days

B. One month

C. One week

D. Two weeks

Question #24

The longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on the summer solstice.

A. TRUE

B. FALSE

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