Part I: Multiple Choice Questions (135 points total). There are 45 multiple choice questions worth 3 points each. Choose the best answer and record it on the scan sheet. 1. What prevents a white dwarf from collapsing to a black hole? A. The highly compressed electrons exert degeneracy pressure. B. Fission of complex elements releases heat. C. Fusion of complex elements generates heat. D. The highly compressed neutrons exert degeneracy pressure. 2. In order from the hottest to the coolest stars, the order of the stellar spectral sequence is A. MKGFABO B. ABFGKMO C. OBAFGKM D. OBFGAMK 3. Modern cosmology supposes that the Universe came from a "big bang" event about 13 billion years ago. Evidence for this is A. the uniformity of the abundance of hydrogen and helium. B. the cosmic background radiation. C. the Hubble expansion. D. all of these answers. 4. The proton proton chain A. produces chains of protons which are then broken apart to produce the Sun's energy. B. is a three step process which converts some mass to energy as helium nuclei are formed. C. is the runaway reaction that produces the fission of iron during a supernova explosion. D. adds protons together until a massive carbon nucleus is produced at the core of the Sun. 5. Even if a "wormhole" could be constructed for interstellar travel, it would be dangerous to use because A. Objects might spontaneously fly out of it. B. Worms are unpleasant. C. Tidal forces would crush ships entering it. D. There would be no way back from the other side. 6. Hubble's Law enables astronomers to estimate the distance to a galaxy if they can determine the galaxy's A. velocity of recession. B. mass. C. spectral type. D. temperature. 7. Many things that we use today, such as automobiles, are made from iron. What was the original source of the iron mined from Earth? A. the original Big Bang creation event. B. blobs of liquid metal ejected from the Sun. C. the core of an exploding supernova. D. mass lost from red giant stars. 8. Evidence that the Universe contains much unobserved dark matter is the A. excessive amounts of gas found in spiral galaxies. B. powerful radio emission from the centers of spirals. C. flat rotation curves of spiral galaxies. D. excessive amount of dark dust in spiral galaxies. 9. Which of the following is NOT one of Kepler's Three Laws? A. planets sweep out equal areas in equal times. B. the square of the period of a planet's orbit equals the cube of its semi-major axis. C. the shapes of planetary orbits are ellipses. D. objects of different masses fall at the same rate. 10. The age of a star cluster can be deduced from A. the turn-off point of stars on its main sequence. B. the number of stars it contains. C. its radial velocity. D. its location in the Milky Way galaxy. 11. If the average density of the Universe were greater than the critical density, the Universe would A. continue to contract forever. B. eventually stop expanding and then contract. C. continue to expand forever. D. eventually stop contracting and begin expansion. 12. Hubble classified galaxies by their appearance. Which of the following types of galaxies do NOT fall on Hubble's tuning fork diagram? A. Peculiar galaxies. B. Spiral galaxies. C. Elliptical galaxies. D. Barred spiral galaxies. 13. The phases of the Moon are caused by A. the rotation of the Earth. B. the highly elliptical orbit of the Moon. C. our differing viewing angle of the illuminated half of the Moon. D. the Earth's shadow cast on the Moon as the Earth moves in between the Sun and the Moon. 14. Most of the helium in the Universe is believed to have been produced in A. red giants. B. the Big Bang. C. supernovae. D. main sequence stars. 15. In about 5 billion years, the sun will become A. a supernova. B. a black hole. C. a red giant. D. a neutron star. 16. When neutron degeneracy fails in a high-mass star, it becomes a A. white dwarf. B. black hole. C. pulsar. D. neutron star. 17. What is the Chandrasekhar limit? A. The smallest mass a star can have and still burn hydrogen. B. The size of a black hole. C. The distance from the center of a galaxy at which Population I stars turn to Population II stars. D. The maximum possible mass of a white dwarf. 18. The measurements of radial motions of astronomical objects using the Doppler effect have been instrumental in A. the discovery that our Universe is expanding. B. illustrating the need for dark matter in galaxies. C. discovering planets around other stars. D. All of these answers. 19. The hypothesis that pulsars were spinning white dwarfs was excluded because A. pulsars spin too fast. B. white dwarfs have broad absorption lines. C. white dwarfs emit X-rays. D. pulsars always have red giant companions. 20. For main sequence stars, the general rule is: the higher the surface temperature, the A. less luminous are the stars. B. more numerous are the stars. C. greater the masses of the stars. D. more common are binary stars. 21. In which part of the Milky Way are Population I stars like the sun most likely to be found? A. bulge. B. nucleus. C. halo. D. disk. 22. The oldest star clusters are A. globular clusters. B. galactic clusters. C. open clusters. D. the Pleiades. 23. The Sun derives its energy from A. chemical reactions that convert hydrogen and oxygen into carbon, accompanied by the release of neutrinos. B. the fusion of hydrogen into helium. C. the conversion of energy into mass. D. a steady gravitational contraction of its core. 24. The visible light spectrum of a typical star like our Sun shows A. bright emission lines B. shows all of the other answers depending on the season on Earth C. dark absorption lines D. no spectral lines at all 25. Interstellar dust between Earth and a star causes the star's light to appear A. dimmer and bluer. B. brighter and bluer. C. brighter and redder. D. dimmer and redder. 26. What is the Solar Nebula? A. Another name for the Sun's outer atmosphere. B. The disk of gas from which the Sun and planets formed. C. Gas ejected from the Sun which fills the inner Solar System. D. A cloud of gas around the outer edges of the Solar System. 27. Most stars are composed of A. about 1/4 hydrogen and 3/4 helium. B. mostly iron in their core. C. about 3/4 hydrogen and 1/4 helium. D. equal parts hydrogen and helium. 28. The assumption that matter is evenly distributed across the large scale of the universe is A. Hubble's law. B. the Cosmological Principle. C. the Tully-Fisher relation. D. cosmological redshift. 29. The phase of the moon today is A. waxing crescent. B. waning gibbous. C. waxing gibbous. D. waning crescent. 30. A Type I supernova occurs when A. an accreting white dwarf exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit. B. a low mass star reaches the end of its life. C. a massive star has burnt the last of its nuclear fuel. D. two neutron stars collide. 31. A solar eclipse is caused by A. the Moon moving directly between the Sun and Earth. B. the Moon making its closest approach to the Earth. C. the Earth moving directly between the Sun and Moon. D. the planet Venus entering its crescent phase. 32. Cosmological redshift is the result of the A. expansion of the universe. B. supermassive black holes. C. galaxies speeding away from us. D. Tully-Fisher relation. 33. The ecliptic plane is A. the plane in which the comets orbit the Sun. B. the plane in which the planets orbit the Sun. C. the plane in which the Moon orbits the Earth. D. the plane in which the satellite Dactyl orbits the asteroid Ida. 34. Which planet can never be seen on the meridian at midnight? A. Jupiter B. Mercury C. Saturn D. Mars 35. Why is the cosmic background radiation so cool? A. interstellar dust grains absorbs and cools it. B. we are moving through it so fast it just looks cool. C. the expansion of the Universe has lengthened its wavelength. D. it is emitted by cool stars. 36. Galileo found that the Ptolemaic system can not explain A. lunar phases. B. the retrograde motions of the planets. C. his observations of parallax. D. his observation of the phases of the planet Venus. 37. The main sequence is primarily a sequence in stellar A. size. B. age. C. mass. D. composition. 38. Compared to its neighboring planets, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, the surface of the Earth is relatively young. This youthful appearance results from A. tectonic activity still shaping the surface of the Earth. B. the Earth is furthest from the Sun. C. the fact that few major impacts ever occur on the Earth. D. the Earth having the largest Moon of all of these planets. 39. How can astronomers determine whether the unseen companion in an X-ray emitting binary star system is a black hole or a neutron star? A. Black holes show up as a black dot and neutron stars show up as a pulsar. B. Any binary system having an unseen companion must contain a black hole. C. If the mass of the unseen companion exceeds three solar masses, it must be a black hole. D. Only neutron stars can emit X-rays; black holes emit nothing. 40. In the "Great Debate" between Curtis and Shapley, evidence that the sun is not near the center of the Milky Way was provided by the observation that A. cepheids had been seen in other galaxies. B. dust reddens star light. C. most globular clusters are on one side of the sky. D. spiral nebulae could be seen to rotate. 41. The pulses seen from a pulsar are caused by A. gobs of hot gas from an accretion disk falling rhythmically onto the star's surface. B. the star's rapid rotation sweeping beams of radiation across the viewer's line of sight. C. a dark companion periodically eclipsing the bright ``pulsar' itself. D. the star's radius expanding and contracting as it burns iron in its core. 42. The cosmic micorwave background radiation comes from A. quasars. B. the solar nebula. C. the Big Bang. D. radio galaxies. 43. Star counting in the disk of the Milky Way galaxy cannot be used to locate the center because A. the stars do not extend all the way to the center. B. interstellar dust obscures all but the nearest stars. C. the stars are not uniformly distributed in the disk. D. there are too many stars to be counted. 44. The terrestrial planets are rocky because A. the Sun converted all the hydrogen and helium in the inner Solar System into iron and nickel. B. the Sun's gravity drew primarily heavy elements into the inner part of the early Solar System. C. Once planetesimals formed, the rocky ones drifted inward and the icy ones moved outward in the Solar System. D. Only rocky material was able to condense in the hot inner parts of the early solar nebula. 45. If an alien astronomer in a distant galaxy looks at the galaxies it can see, it will observe that A. half of the galaxies are moving away and half of them are moving toward it. B. other galaxies are stationary. C. other galaxies are moving away from it. D. other galaxies are moving toward it. 1. A. 2. C. 3. D. 4. B. 5. C. 6. A. 7. C. 8. C. 9. D. 10. A. 11. B. 12. A. 13. C. 14. B. 15. C. 16. B. 17. D. 18. D. 19. A. 20. C. 21. D. 22. A. 23. B. 24. C. 25. D. 26. B. 27. C. 28. B. 29. D. 30. A. 31. A. 32. A. 33. B. 34. B. 35. C. 36. D. 37. C. 38. A. 39. C. 40. C. 41. B. 42. C. 43. B. 44. D. 45. C.