Exam 1: Science and the Universe: a Brief Tour

The smallest piece of an element (like gold or lead) that still has all the properties of that element is called

The way scientists know that a hypothesis in astronomy is a reasonable description of nature is to

The star that provides energy for life on Earth is

By the term universe, astronomers mean

Of these which is the closest to us?

Of these, which is the largest?

A light year is

Light travels 3 x 10⁵ meters every second. That number in words is

For scientists, an element (like gold) is defined by

The Astronomical Unit (AU) as defined by astronomers is

When the authors of our textbook say that astronomers are like police detectives trying to solve crimes, they are explaining that:

You are on a camping trip, far away from city lights. You look up into the dark night sky, and see lots of stars, some brighter, some dimmer. All the stars you see with your unaided eye are

A large body in space that consistently makes its own light (instead of merely reflecting another body's light) is called

Even with the best and largest telescopes, we can't see all the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, even though these same telescopes can show us other galaxies. Why is that?

The natural object (not one that humans built) in space that's closest to Earth is

The location of the Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy is

Which of the following is the Earth NOT located in?

All molecules (like molecules of water or carbon dioxide) are made up of

A star is 230 light years away. The light we see tonight from that star left it

The laws of nature (as determined by scientists)