Chapter One Quiz

CHAPTER ONE QUIZ

1. When did the study of astronomy, even casually, begin?

A. Prehistoric times B. Babylonians in around 1600 BCE C. Native Americans in around 1000 BCE D. Ancient Greeks in 400 BCE

2. Which civilization probably started documenting astronomical information first?

A. Greeks B. Babylonians C. Egyptians D. Persians

3. What was the main accepted paradigm in the Copernican Revolution?

A. That the earth rotated on a tilted axis. B. That there was no such thing as true retrograde motion of the planets C. That the planets as listed prior to that were out of order. D. That the sun was the center of the solar system.

4. According to the Copernican theory, what best explains the phenomenon of retrograde movement of the planets?

A. Planets rotate on an axis. B. Planets undergo actual retrograde movement at times. C. The rotation of earth gives the illusion of retrograde movement. D. The planets participate in epicycles as they rotate around the sun.

5. Why couldn’t Tycho Brahe determine the size of stars accurately?

A. They were too small to detect. B. They were too far away. C. Their light is diffused too much in the atmosphere. D. There is too great a parallax effect.

6. What finding did Tycho Brahe get right based on his observations of the planets and stars?

A. That the comets exist outside of the atmosphere. B. That the geoheliocentric model of the solar system was accurate. C. That the earth was nonmoving. D. That the stars were very far away.

7. Which of Newton’s laws most discusses the issue of the acceleration of an object?

A. Newton’s first law B. Newton’s second law C. Newton’s third law D. Newton’s law of universal gravitation

8. What did Galileo not discover as part of his observations of the skies?

A. The contents of the Milky Way. B. The moons of Jupiter. C. The geocentric model of the solar system. D. The elliptical orbits of the planets.

9. Which telescopes have the greatest resolution in detecting sources of electromagnetic radiation?

A. Those that are satellite-based B. Those that are reflecting telescopes C. Those that are small rather than large D. Those that detect radio waves

10. Because of the absorption of waves by the atmosphere, which type of telescope is most likely to need to be deployed onto a satellite?

A. Radio wave telescope B. Microwave telescope C. Infrared telescope D. Gamma ray telescope