Question: A disk of gas and dust appears to be an essential part of star formation.
Answer Choices:
True
False
Answer: True
Question: Please choose the best revision for the sentence below:
Our solar system has eight major planets only one is known to have intelligent life.
Answer Choices:
Our solar system has eight major planets only; one is known to have intelligent life.
Our solar system has eight major planets, only one is known to have intelligent life.
Our solar system has eight major planets; only one is known to have intelligent life.
Our solar system has eight major planets, only, one is known to have intelligent life.
Answer: Our solar system has eight major planets; only one is known to have intelligent life.
Question: The analysis of a diversity of exoplanets has prompted astronomers to update their planetary formation model to include planetary migration. Which of the following are true concerning planetary migration? [More than one]
Answer Choices:
Planetary migration is the best explanation of how systems with hot Jupiters may have formed.
Planetary migration is the aspect of planetary formation where a planet’s orbit may change to allow it to move closer or farther from its star.
Planetary migration proposes that Uranus and Neptune formed near the current locations of Jupiter and Saturn, but they moved out to their present locations through gravitational interactions with other planets.
Planetary migration is a proposed research program to search for Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around exoplanets with the express purpose of sending humans for future exploration.
Answer: Planetary migration is the best explanation of how systems with hot Jupiters may have formed.
Planetary migration is the aspect of planetary formation where a planet’s orbit may change to allow it to move closer or farther from its star.
Question: What makes the Kepler mission so important to exoplanet research?
Answer Choices:
It was the first ground-based telescope capable of using the Doppler effect technique to detect exoplanets.
It is a space-based observatory capable of detecting thousands of exoplanets, many with masses much smaller than Earth.
It is the first ground-based observatory that will not exhibit a selection effect.
It is to be the first space-borne telescope to use the transit method to detect exoplanets.
Answer: It is a space-based observatory capable of detecting thousands of exoplanets, many with masses much smaller than Earth.
Question: I understand that I am responsible for meeting the technology requirements. I understand that I must download and use Stellarium to successfully complete the labs in this course.
Answer Choices:
Yes
No
Answer: Yes
Question: Our solar system has eight major planets, but only one is known to have intelligent life.
Answer Choices:
A) Correct as is.
B) Our solar system has eight major planets, only one is known to have intelligent life.
C) Our solar system has eight major planets but only one is known to have intelligent life.
Answer: C) Our solar system has eight major planets but only one is known to have intelligent life.
Question: In protostar formation, as a molecular cloud collapses it begins to spin faster and flatten. This is due to…
Answer Choices:
The flattening effect.
The accretion centrifusion equation.
The equation effect.
The conservation of angular momentum.
Answer: The conservation of angular momentum.
Question: What process is required to change an object from a protostar into a zero age main-sequence star?
Answer Choices:
The core reaches a high enough surface temperature and a high enough luminosity so that it’s not obscured between the T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stage.
The object begins to outshine all neighboring objects indicating it has grown to a sufficient infrared brightness to be considered a star.
The core temperature of the protostar reaches 10 million K and fusion of hydrogen into helium begins in the core.
Answer: The core temperature of the protostar reaches 10 million K and fusion of hydrogen into helium begins in the core.
Question: What is the primary factor that determines how long it takes a star to form?
Answer Choices:
Its mass
Whether multiple stars form from the same nebula
Molecular cloud mass
Whether the protostar forms quickly or slowly
Luminosity
Answer: Its mass
Question: How do we know that sunspots are associated with strong magnetic fields?
Answer Choices:
By measuring the time required for the Sun to rotate.
By counting the number of sunspots near the Sun’s equator.
By observing prominences near sunspots.
By observing the Zeeman effect.
Answer: By observing the Zeeman effect.
Question: Which of the following was the first commercial software package to incorporate WYSIWYG as a feature?
Answer Choices:
A) WordStar
B) Framework
C) Word
D) WordPerfect
Answer: A) WordStar
Question: Which of the following is required for the conversion of UDP-glucose to glycogen?
Answer Choices:
Glycogen synthase
Branching enzyme
Glycogen phosphorylase
Debranching enzyme
Answer: Both A and B are correct
Question: What state of matter is the Sun?
Answer Choices:
Plasma
Solid
Liquid
Gas
Answer: Plasma
Question: What is the name of the region around a star where an orbiting planet would have a surface temperature capable of sustaining water in the liquid state?
Answer Choices:
The habitable zone
The green area
The H2O Ozone
Answer: The habitable zone
Question: What is the sunspot cycle?
Answer Choices:
A fictional motorcycle used to describe how large sunspots are by imagining how large it would take to drive around them.
The 34 to 34 year period when sunspots appear darkest.
The mere spin to the differential rotation of the Sun that brings sunspots to the photosphere.
The average 11 year cycle in which the number of sunspots increases and decreases.
Answer: The average 11 year cycle in which the number of sunspots increases and decreases.
Question: What is the best possible solution to the solar neutrino problem?
Answer Choices:
The Sun is generating energy faster than by nuclear fusion.
The Sun is generating much less energy than we think it is.
We do not know how to detect electron neutrinos.
Past and future neutrino emission spectra.
Answer: The electron neutrinos created in the Sun change into another type of neutrino that we do not detect.
Question: What makes the discovery of Mayor and Queloz (51 Peg b) so important?
Answer Choices:
It was discovered using a small handheld telescope mounted to a tripod.
It was the first planet discovered without the benefit of the selection effect.
It is the closest exoplanet.
This was the first Jupiter exoplanet discovered around a Sun-like star.
Answer: This was the first Jupiter exoplanet discovered around a Sun-like star.
Question: Which of the following are the reasons the Orion molecular cloud is a useful “laboratory” for studying the stages of star formation?
Answer Choices:
The Orion Nebula is composed of a single nebula of gases and materials not present in most clouds. This allows us to see the chemical components that make up the star formation process.
The Orion Nebula is a recurrent phenomenon forming with the last several years and only takes place in areas where the Hubble Space Telescope can view.
The Orion Nebula is relatively nearby “stellar nursery” so we have a close-up view of star formation processes.
We know the distances to Orion’s star-forming regions, so we can determine the luminosity of objects in the region.
We can observe several stages of the star formation process in stars and protoplanetary disks in the region.
Answer: The Orion Nebula is a relatively nearby “stellar nursery” so we have a close-up view of star formation processes.
We know the distances to Orion’s star-forming regions, so we can determine the luminosity of objects in the region.
We can observe several stages of the star formation process in stars and protoplanetary disks in the region.
Question: What does it mean to say the Sun is in a state of hydrostatic equilibrium?
Answer Choices:
Hydrogen in the solar interior is balanced by the hydrogen in its atmosphere.
The pressure of gravity pulling inward is balanced by the pressure of nuclear fusion pushing outward.
The magnetic field of the Sun is in balance with its rotational speed.
Answer: The pressure of gravity pulling inward is balanced by the pressure of nuclear fusion pushing outward.
Question: Which of the following are true about disks around protostars? [More than one]
Answer Choices:
Protostars all form a flattened disk, but by the time the star reaches the main sequence the disk has grown to be spherical.
By the time a star is about 10 million years old, the densest parts of most disks have been blown away by the central star.
The solar wind is weaker toward the equator of a disk of a star more so with cooler stars. The polar regions to be clear of dust. But the edge of a disk has more debris where the stellar wind is weakest.
Collapsing molecular clouds rotate slower so they condense and the central protostar becomes more massive. This is due to the conservation of angular momentum.
A protostar that is more than about 3 million years old will have a disk of gas and dust, but little dust will reside in the outer part of the disk. The inner region is clear of most dust.
Answer: By the time a star is about 10 million years old, the densest parts of most disks have been blown away by the central star.
A protostar that is more than about 3 million years old will have a disk of gas and dust, but little dust will reside in the outer part of the disk. The inner region is clear of most dust.
Question: The life story of a star can best be understood as a competition between two forces. When the forces are in balance, the star is said to be in a state of hydrostatic equilibrium. What are the two forces?
Answer Choices:
electromagnetism
nuclear pressure
nuclear fusion
friction
gravity
Answer: nuclear pressure
gravity
Question: A large exoplanet that has a fast orbit near enough to its host star so that the planet is heated like that of 51 Peg b is called a …
Answer: Hot Jupiter