• (1) If cold molecular clouds are visibly ``dark'', then how do we observe them?
    (a) Molecular gas clouds give off copious amounts of gamma-ray emission.
    (b) The rotation and vibration of the molecules in these clouds emit microwaves.
    (c) Only molecular clouds in which stars are forming are detectable.
    (d) Interstellar molecular gas clouds are excellent X-ray emitters.
    (e) We can't observe molecular clouds - they are theoretical predictions.

  • (2) The halo of our galaxy contains:
    (a) emission nebulae
    (b) old globular clusters
    (c) young blue stars
    (d) a supermassive black hole
    (e) neutrino matter

  • (3) The ``nova'' phenomena is caused by
    (a) the beam of radiation of a nearby pulsar illuminating the surface of a red giant star and incuding intense heating.
    (b) hydrogen ``burning'' explosively on the surface of a white dwarf star after mass transfer from a binary companion
    (c) the capture and rapid compression of matter by a black hole
    (d) a planetary nebula expanding and contracting around the surface of a white dwarf
    (e) the violent and often explosive birth of a new star in a dense cluster of stars

  • (4) In the Algol binary star system one member is a 3 solar mass main-sequence star and the other star is a 1 solar mass sub-giant. How do we believe that a star system such as this might have come to exist?
    (a) Although both stars probably formed from the same clump of gas, the more massive one must have had its birth slowed.
    (b) The two stars probably were once separate but became a binary via a close encounter
    (c) The main-sequence star probably is a pulsating variable star and therefore appears to be less massive
    (d) Despite the low odds of finding a system with two such massive stars, there is nothing surprising about the fact that such systems exist.
    (e) The giant must once have been the more massive star but transferred some of its mass to its companion.

  • (5) Two astronomers disagree on the value of Hubble's constant, Ho. Prof. Randy Redshift has measured it to have a value of 50 km/s/Mpc and Prof. Pauline Pulsar believes it to be 75 km/s/Mpc. Whose universe is older?
    (a) Prof. Randy Redshift
    (b) Prof. Pauline Pulsar
    (c) Neither. Ho has nothing to do with the age of the universe.
    (d) There is not enough information to figure this out

  • (6) What wavelength(s) would be suitable for studying the center of the Milky way galaxy?
    (a) Visual and ultraviolet
    (b) Only visual
    (c) Infrared and radio
    (d) Only Ultraviolet
    (e) Only radio

  • (7) What is the evidence for dark matter at the edges of our Galaxy?
    (a) bending of starlight at the edge of the Milky Way
    (b) the rapid decrease of velocities at the edge of the visible disk
    (c) the flattening of velocities at the edge of the visible disk
    (d) the supermassive black hole at our Galaxy's center
    (e) there isn't any; no dark matter exists in our Galaxy

  • (8) Hubble's Constant Ho tells us about which of the following?
    (a) the rate of expansion of the universe
    (b) the density of galaxies in the distant universe
    (c) how bright the early universe was
    (d) the temperature of the universe now
    (e) the likelihood of life in the universe

  • (9) Which of the following best approximates the distance to the nearest star (outside of the the Sun), the center of the Galaxy, the nearest spiral galaxy (in that order)?
    (a) 100,000 light years, 1 million light years, 1 billion light years
    (b) 1 billion light years, 1 million light years, 100,000 light years
    (c) 1 AU, 100,000 light years, 1 million light years
    (d) 4 light years, 25,000 light years, 2.5 million light years
    (e) 25,000 light years, 100,000 light years, 2.5 million years

    ANSWERS: 1 (b), 2 (b), 3 (b), 4 (e), 5 (a), 6 (c), 7 (c), 8 (a), 9 (d)