Deck 16: Beyond Our Solar System

Question 1

Examine the figure. Which of the four options shown here most closely matches the evolution of a high-mass star?

A)A
B)B
C)C
D)D

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Examine the figure. Which of the four lettered locations on this graph is closest to the position that Earth's Sun will end up in at the end of its stellar life cycle?

A)A
B)B
C)C
D)D

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which one of the objects listed below has the largest size?

A)globular clusters
B)galaxies
C)nebulae
D)galactic clusters

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Nebulae are strands or clumps of ________.

A)space
B)interstellar matter
C)degenerate matter
D)energy

Question 5

Cepheid variables are important stars to cosmologists because their ________ can be determined from their rate of pulsation.

A)age
B)amount of degenerate matter
C)rate of expansion
D)absolute magnitude

Question 6

Which color stars have the coolest surface temperature?

A)red
B)blue
C)yellow
D)orange

Question 7

Which of the following types of nebulae doesn't fit with the other three?

A)emission nebulae
B)reflection nebulae
C)dark nebulae
D)planetary nebulae

Question 8

Edwin Hubble used Cepheid variables to ________.

A)establish that the universe was very, very large
B)formulate the big bang theory
C)deduce that the universe was expanding
D)calculate the density of a neutron star

Question 9

A star having the same mass of Earth's Sun is likely to first evolve into a ________ before becoming a ________.

A)white dwarf; red giant
B)red giant; protostar
C)red giant; white dwarf
D)black hole; neutron star

Question 10

According to the big bang theory, the first two elements to form in the universe were ________.

A)gluons and quarks
B)hydrogen and iron
C)hydrogen and helium
D)oxygen and carbon

Question 11

Which color stars have the highest surface temperature?

A)red
B)blue
C)yellow
D)orange

Question 12

________ are objects from which light cannot escape because of the immense gravitational pull at its surface. They are produced during supernova events.

A)Neutron stars
B)Black holes
C)Black dwarves
D)White dwarves

Question 13

Which of the following four figures shows the correct set of arrows, corresponding to the evolution of a mid-sized star like Earth's Sun?

A)

B)

C)

D)

Question 14

Examine the figure. Which of the four lettered locations is closest to the position of Earth's Sun on this graph?

A)A
B)B
C)C
D)D

Question 15

Examine the figure. Which of the four lettered locations is closest to the position of the supergiant Betelgeuse on this graph?

A)A
B)B
C)C
D)D

Question 16

We are residents of the ________ galaxy.

A)Milky Way
B)Orion
C)Pleiades
D)Messier 83

Question 17

________ is the measure of a star's brightness.

A)Parallax
B)Absolute magnitude
C)Color (spectral analysis)
D)Absolute intensity

Question 18

Cosmology is the study of ________.

A)our solar system
B)stars
C)the universe
D)making people more beautiful

Question 19

A light-year is ________.

A)a long time
B)the distance light travels in one (Earth)year
C)a kind of super-dense star near the end of its life-cycle
D)the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation between ultraviolet and infrared

Question 20

The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram shows ________.

A)the age of the universe
B)the relationship between luminosity and temperature of stars
C)the development of a nebula into a star system
D)the density of black holes

Question 21

Some of the largest and the smallest galaxies are elliptical in shape.

Question 22

Examine the figure and then evaluate the following statement: Based on the red light, this is likely to be a reflection nebula.

Question 23

Rapidly rotating neutron stars ________.

A)produce radio waves at their magnetic poles, causing them to be perceived (from Earth's perspective)as pulsars
B)are more dense than black holes
C)have a central barred region
D)cannot be detected directly, but we can observe their gravitational effects on other physical objects

Question 24

Examine the figure and then evaluate the following statement: Based on its shape, this is a barred spiral galaxy.

Question 25

Most galaxies in the universe are moving away from us.

Question 26

A star's size (volume)is directly proportional to its mass.

Question 27

When galaxies collide, each of the individual stars in one galaxy will smash into an equivalent star in the second galaxy.

Question 28

Hubble's law states that galaxies are receding from us at a speed that is proportional to ________.

A)their distance
B)their mass
C)their luminosity (absolute magnitude)
D)their age

Question 29

Degenerate matter is something you would expect to find in a dark nebula.

Question 30

Smallest white dwarves have the largest mass.

Question 31

Low-mass stars produce black holes at the end of their life-cycle.

Question 32

Stars with a surface temperature of about 3000 K appear red in color.

Question 33

"Red shift" refers to the tendency of stars to cool over time and thus to become red in color.

Question 34

Examine the figure. At the center of this object, a cosmologist would expect to find ________.

A)a black hole or neutron star
B)a red giant
C)a protostar or nebula
D)a barred spiral galaxy

Question 35

The majority of stars are in the main-sequence stage.

Question 36

The larger a star's magnitude number, the brighter it will appear.

Question 37

Why are neutron stars called "neutron stars"?

A)They are new versions of old stars; "Neu Tron" means " New Star" in Hungarian.
B)They are so dense that protons and electrons fuse to form neutrons.
C)They appear to emit short pulses of radio waves.
D)They are composed of neutrons gathered from the surrounding nebula by the terrific gravity of the neutron star. Electrons and protons, being less massive, aren't as likely to be pulled in.

Question 38

The measure of a star's brightness is called its absolute magnitude.

Question 39

The point in stellar evolution when a star has used up all its fuel and is radiating away its remaining thermal energy as light is the ________ stage.

A)black dwarf
B)red giant
C)black hole
D)white dwarf

Question 40

The Milky Way is in a galactic cluster called the Local Group.

Question 41

The Crab Nebula is a planetary nebula that formed due to a(n)________ in the year 1054 A.D., an event recorded by Chinese astronomers.

Question 42

The biggest explosions in the universe are ________ associated with the death of high-mass stars.

Question 43

This graph is called a(n)________ showing the relationship of temperature to absolute magnitude for various stars.

Question 44

Observations of the redshift of most galaxies led to the idea of an expanding universe, also known as ________ theory.

Question 45

Match the types of nebulae in the first column with the correct descriptions in the second column. Each nebula type may have more than one corresponding description.

A)reflection nebulae
B)dark nebulae
C)emission nebulae
D)planetary nebulae
1)spherical in shape
2)bluish in color
3)make up the dark patches we observe within the Milky Way
4)reddish in color
5)form when a medium-mass star reaches the end of its red giant stage, and throws off its bloated outer atmosphere
6)don't emit or reflect light
7)mainly made of hydrogen
8)mainly made of dust
9)a region where stars are actively forming
10)made of the same material as bright nebulae

Question 46

Identify and label each of the different portions of this H-R diagram.

Question 47

When a star is so dense that its atoms have their electrons smashed in toward the nucleus (resulting in densities about a million times greater than water), the resulting material is called ________.

Question 48

Very large red stars, such as Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion, are called ________.

Question 49

A star's ________ can be determined from its color.

Question 50

________ is a kind of matter that doesn't interact with visible light, but exerts a gravitational pull on other matter. It is hypothesized to exist in great quantities in the universe.

Question 51

How do we calculate or determine the distances to stars? What units do we use the distances between stars and/or galaxies?

Question 52

The Sun is a mid-sized ________ star that is about halfway through its stellar life-cycle.

Question 53

Though they are called ________, these objects are not really empty space but very, very dense objects, so dense that their gravity pulls nearby material irresistibly in toward them, even light. Some of this material is altered on its way in to this death spiral - and it gives off X-rays in two jets.

Question 54

If the universe is sufficiently dense, gravity will someday pull it all back together in an event called ________, sort of like the big bang in reverse.

Question 55

Clumps of gas and dust dispersed through a large volume of space are the birthplace of stars. They are called ________.

Question 56

A(n)________ results when the outward-directed gas pressure (created by thermal nuclear energy)is balanced in a stable relationship with inward-directed gravitational force.

Question 57

If a star ends its life cycle as a black hole, that implies it has a(n)________ mass.

Question 58

Briefly discuss stellar evolution in the context of a star like the Sun. What forces are opposing one another throughout the life of a star and how do they influence the various stages in the life cycle of a star?

Question 59

The fate of the universe (i.e., whether it expands forever or eventually collapses back on itself)is determined by its ________.

Question 60

Examine this photo of the Milky Way taken from Earth shortly after sunset. If you were there when this photo was taken, and a friend asked you to explain what you're seeing here, what features would you point out to them? What explanations would you give?

Question 61

A star is observed through a telescope, and a measurement of the star's spectrum is made. The left side of the star appears to be bluer than the center of the star, but the right side appears to be redder. What's going on here? Interpret these observations as fully as possible.

Question 62

Nasa image
This image is a "map" of the universe's microwave background radiation. It shows 13.77 billion year old temperature fluctuations from shortly after the big bang (shown as color differences)that correspond to the gravitational "seeds" that grew to become the galaxies. Why is this heterogeneity important?

Question 63

Compare and contrast a high-density universe with a low-density universe in terms of its ultimate fate.

Question 64

At the center of the Milky Way galaxy, a supermassive black hole is thought to exist. Similar supermassive black holes are thought to exist at the center of spiral galaxies throughout the universe. The stars that originally formed these black holes must have been extraordinarily large. Why would stars potentially have been much larger earlier in the history of the universe?