Astronomy 122&, Fall 2009

Answers

1. The Astronomical Unit (AU) is the average distance between
d) the Sun and the Earth

2. What is the length of the AU?
c) 92 million miles, or 150 million km

3. The radius of the Sun's planetary system out to Neptune in AU is roughly
c) 30

4. The distance to the nearest star (other than the Sun) in light years is
b) 4

5. The speed of light in miles per second is
b) 186,000, or 300,000 km/s

6. The Earth's diameter is roughly
e) 13,000 kilometers, or 8000 miles

7. The Sun's diameter is how many times that of Earth?
c) 100

8. The diameter of our Galaxy in light years is roughly
d) 100,000, which contains 90% of its stars

9. About how many stars are there in our Galaxy?
e) 200 billion, or more

10. How far away (in light years) is the nearest Galaxy that is similar to ours?
b) two million (the Andromeda galaxy, M 31)

11. Which constellation is most related in mythology and appearance to Ursa Minor?
a) Ursa Major (both are bears and have Dipper asterisms)

12. What constellation contains Polaris and the North Celestial Pole?
c) Ursa Minor (at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper)

13. Which constellation is always visible from Urbana (never setting)?
e) Ursa Minor (as it's close to the pole)

14. What constellation does not belong to the Perseus myth?
c) Draco (the Dragon)

15. A first magnitude star is how many times brighter than one of sixth magnitude??
e) 100

16. The Big Dipper is in
e) Ursa Major

17. Which is not a constellation of the Zodiac?
d) Cepheus

18. Most proper star names are
d) Arabic

19. The modern constellations were invented
d) between AD 1600 and 1800

20. Which would ordinarily be the name of the brightest star in a constellation?
b) Alpha

21. The Milky Way is made of
a) stars in the disk of our Galaxy

22. Which is a modern constellation?
a) Microscopium (the Microscope)

23. Who developed a system that numbered stars by constellation?
d) John Flamsteed

24. The Winter Triangle is made of stars in
d) Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor (Betelgeuse, Sirius, Procyon)

25. The brightest star in our sky is
e) Sirius