AST 2002 -Final Exam Review
Questions and Actual Answers 2025-
2026 Updated.
T or F: Luminosity of the sun is not measured in kilograms but in Watts. - Answer True
T or F: The moons of the outer planets show no volcanic activity -- only the terrestrial planets
actually have volcanoes. - Answer False
T or F: The photosphere of the sun has a temperature of about 5800 K, but parts of the sun's
upper atmosphere are actually hotter than 1,000,000 K. - Answer True
T or F: We have never seen the SN 1987A supernova remnant get brighter or dimmer. - Answer
False
T or F: Galaxies cannot gravitationally lens another galaxy. - Answer False
T or F: There are no binary star systems in the Big Dipper. - Answer False
T or F: If the only thing you know about a star is its spectral type, O B A F G K or M, then you can
deduce its total mass. - Answer False
T or F: Jupiter has no effect on anything in the asteroid belt. - Answer False
T or F: We are still waiting for Betelgeuse to "evolve" off the Main Sequence. - Answer False
Venus has _____ clouds. - Answer sulfuric acid
Why do asteroids and comets differ in composition? - Answer Asteroids formed inside the
frost line, while comets formed outside.
The supernova 2016gkg discovered by amateur astronomer Victor Buso was noteworthy
because ______ - Answer Buso and others measured the very earliest stages of the
supernova's intense brightening.
What is the common trait of all main-sequence stars? - Answer They generate energy
through hydrogen fusion in their core.
,The length of the day on Venus is ________ as compared to Earth's day, and its radius is
________ as compared to Earth's radius. - Answer much longer/a bit smaller but almost the
same size
Hydrogen fusion procedes whenever the nuclei have relatively high amounts of _____ - Answer
kinetic energy
Carbon fusion occur in high-mass stars but not in low-mass stars because ________. - Answer
the cores of low-mass stars never get hot enough for carbon fusion
This star has the coolest surface temperature. - Answer Barnard's Star
Planetary orbits in our solar system are: - Answer fairly circular and in the same plane.
Compared to the star that it evolved from, Betelgeuse is _____ - Answer cooler and brighter.
Astronomers using the Chandra spacecraft's xray telescope have studied the Cas-A supernova
remnant in the constellation Cassiopeia. Their studies have revealed ____ - Answer amounts
of elements in the remnant, like 10,000 Earth masses of sulfur.
The beautiful red H-alpha spectral line of hydrogen is actually ____ - Answer an important
part of hydrogen's quantum "fingerprints" which allow scientists to identify hydrogen anywhere
in the universe.
The light cone, built of light paths, with 45 degree tilt, is a boundary in spacetime relative to
your position at U.
It forms the boundary of ____ - Answer the future that you can physically affect.
We can say that space and time switch roles as you cross the event horizon. One way to express
that is to say that ____ - Answer the inevitable future point is not a day but a location, r = 0.
You and your astronaut crew are near the Cygnus X-1 black hole, orbiting at r = 30M, a safe
distance. After a coin flip, you are assigned to dive from the spaceship and into the event
horizon. In astrophysics nomenclature, the location of the event horizon is ________. - Answer
r = 2M
, You and your astronaut crew are near the Cygnus X-1 black hole, orbiting at r = 30M, a safe
distance. After a coin flip, you are assigned to dive from the spaceship and into the event
horizon. Your communication device is a high power blue laser. As you beam out your TPS
report back to the mother ship at r = 30 M and all the way back to Earth in flat space, r→∞, the
signal ________. - Answer Doppler shifts toward the red.
Our star's spectrum is crossed by dark lines produced by atoms in the solar atmosphere that
________ light at certain wavelengths. - Answer absorb
Getting a star's parallax distance, in parsecs or in light-years, is important because ____ -
Answer measuring the luminosities of stars, requires we must first compensate for the
dimming effects of distance on light, and to do that, we must know how far away they are.
The process of measuring the apparent brightness of stars is called ________. - Answer
*photometry*, from the Greek photo meaning "light" and -metry meaning "to measure"
The approximate temperature of our benchmark star, Vega, is - Answer 10,000 K
Astronomers use the patterns of lines observed in stellar spectra to sort stars into a spectral
class. These spectral classes fall into the following pattern, ordered by surface temperature,
hottest to coolest. - Answer O, B, A, F, G, K, M
It is customary to plot H-R diagrams in such a way that
-the star's temperature rating is on the horizontal axis, with temperature increasing toward the
________ of the horizontal axis,
-and the star's luminosity measurement is on the vertical axis, with higher luminosity toward
the top of the axis. - Answer left
How many electrons in a neutral iron atom? - Answer 26
In a common everyday iron-56 atom, 56Fe, how many neutrons are located in the nucleus? -
Answer 30
At 8:45 PM Eastern time in mid-April, the constellation Cassiopeia is located near the ________
horizon and the constellation is visible toward the ________ horizon and about to set. - Answer
northern/western
Victor Buso will always be remembered along with Supernova 2016 gkg because ____ - Answer
he is an amateur astronomer who discovered this incredible supernova.
Questions and Actual Answers 2025-
2026 Updated.
T or F: Luminosity of the sun is not measured in kilograms but in Watts. - Answer True
T or F: The moons of the outer planets show no volcanic activity -- only the terrestrial planets
actually have volcanoes. - Answer False
T or F: The photosphere of the sun has a temperature of about 5800 K, but parts of the sun's
upper atmosphere are actually hotter than 1,000,000 K. - Answer True
T or F: We have never seen the SN 1987A supernova remnant get brighter or dimmer. - Answer
False
T or F: Galaxies cannot gravitationally lens another galaxy. - Answer False
T or F: There are no binary star systems in the Big Dipper. - Answer False
T or F: If the only thing you know about a star is its spectral type, O B A F G K or M, then you can
deduce its total mass. - Answer False
T or F: Jupiter has no effect on anything in the asteroid belt. - Answer False
T or F: We are still waiting for Betelgeuse to "evolve" off the Main Sequence. - Answer False
Venus has _____ clouds. - Answer sulfuric acid
Why do asteroids and comets differ in composition? - Answer Asteroids formed inside the
frost line, while comets formed outside.
The supernova 2016gkg discovered by amateur astronomer Victor Buso was noteworthy
because ______ - Answer Buso and others measured the very earliest stages of the
supernova's intense brightening.
What is the common trait of all main-sequence stars? - Answer They generate energy
through hydrogen fusion in their core.
,The length of the day on Venus is ________ as compared to Earth's day, and its radius is
________ as compared to Earth's radius. - Answer much longer/a bit smaller but almost the
same size
Hydrogen fusion procedes whenever the nuclei have relatively high amounts of _____ - Answer
kinetic energy
Carbon fusion occur in high-mass stars but not in low-mass stars because ________. - Answer
the cores of low-mass stars never get hot enough for carbon fusion
This star has the coolest surface temperature. - Answer Barnard's Star
Planetary orbits in our solar system are: - Answer fairly circular and in the same plane.
Compared to the star that it evolved from, Betelgeuse is _____ - Answer cooler and brighter.
Astronomers using the Chandra spacecraft's xray telescope have studied the Cas-A supernova
remnant in the constellation Cassiopeia. Their studies have revealed ____ - Answer amounts
of elements in the remnant, like 10,000 Earth masses of sulfur.
The beautiful red H-alpha spectral line of hydrogen is actually ____ - Answer an important
part of hydrogen's quantum "fingerprints" which allow scientists to identify hydrogen anywhere
in the universe.
The light cone, built of light paths, with 45 degree tilt, is a boundary in spacetime relative to
your position at U.
It forms the boundary of ____ - Answer the future that you can physically affect.
We can say that space and time switch roles as you cross the event horizon. One way to express
that is to say that ____ - Answer the inevitable future point is not a day but a location, r = 0.
You and your astronaut crew are near the Cygnus X-1 black hole, orbiting at r = 30M, a safe
distance. After a coin flip, you are assigned to dive from the spaceship and into the event
horizon. In astrophysics nomenclature, the location of the event horizon is ________. - Answer
r = 2M
, You and your astronaut crew are near the Cygnus X-1 black hole, orbiting at r = 30M, a safe
distance. After a coin flip, you are assigned to dive from the spaceship and into the event
horizon. Your communication device is a high power blue laser. As you beam out your TPS
report back to the mother ship at r = 30 M and all the way back to Earth in flat space, r→∞, the
signal ________. - Answer Doppler shifts toward the red.
Our star's spectrum is crossed by dark lines produced by atoms in the solar atmosphere that
________ light at certain wavelengths. - Answer absorb
Getting a star's parallax distance, in parsecs or in light-years, is important because ____ -
Answer measuring the luminosities of stars, requires we must first compensate for the
dimming effects of distance on light, and to do that, we must know how far away they are.
The process of measuring the apparent brightness of stars is called ________. - Answer
*photometry*, from the Greek photo meaning "light" and -metry meaning "to measure"
The approximate temperature of our benchmark star, Vega, is - Answer 10,000 K
Astronomers use the patterns of lines observed in stellar spectra to sort stars into a spectral
class. These spectral classes fall into the following pattern, ordered by surface temperature,
hottest to coolest. - Answer O, B, A, F, G, K, M
It is customary to plot H-R diagrams in such a way that
-the star's temperature rating is on the horizontal axis, with temperature increasing toward the
________ of the horizontal axis,
-and the star's luminosity measurement is on the vertical axis, with higher luminosity toward
the top of the axis. - Answer left
How many electrons in a neutral iron atom? - Answer 26
In a common everyday iron-56 atom, 56Fe, how many neutrons are located in the nucleus? -
Answer 30
At 8:45 PM Eastern time in mid-April, the constellation Cassiopeia is located near the ________
horizon and the constellation is visible toward the ________ horizon and about to set. - Answer
northern/western
Victor Buso will always be remembered along with Supernova 2016 gkg because ____ - Answer
he is an amateur astronomer who discovered this incredible supernova.
